Hi.....!!

Nanning

I never thought I'd say this but I find myself missing China.....!!! Yes, it was an incredibly hectic, tiresome, trip......Yes, we were emotionally and physically exhausted, but it will go down as a trip of a lifetime, and not just because we were able to bring Isabella home.....! In all my years, I never would have guessed that I would have traveled to China......and, barring our adoption, probably wouldn't have......but, I loved the Guangxi province, and in particular, Nanning.....It was a beautiful city, with great parks, great weather, and friendly people........Beijing, you can take or leave it....too hectic....bustling....too tiresome......Nanning is where we spent a good part of our time.......where we relaxed with the other families...got to interact with our daugther......People ask if we'll ever go back to China, and much as we'd love to, not sure....but, if we ever did go back, would definitely spend most of the time in the Nanning area.....

Bella and Jianna

In Feb, we took a 'road trip' to visit our friends, the Pagano's, in New York.....we had a BLAST....!!! What a great trip (and what a great family.....!!).....We were able to take the train in on Saturday to New York City with the kids...(Zach, of course, loved the HUGE Toys R Us near Times Square, which boasts an indoor ferris wheel, a larger than life moving dinosaur, and TONS of toys....!!)....We did get over to Rockerfeller Center.....and saw everyone ice skating.....All and all, it was a fun weekend, and a lot shorter driver than we expected....We are hoping to make it back out this summer when the weather is warmer.....

I am attaching a picture of Bella and Jianna......Bella will be turning 2 in May and Jianna will be 3 in July.............Both girls were great and played well together......If you look closely, you can see that I am wearing a New York Giants Super Bowl tee shirt, the result of my bet with the Pagano men......(wearing a Super Bowl Tee shirt for the Pats losing is far better than what Zach wanted, which was to have whoever lost the bet to dye their hair pink.....needless to say, Zach 'escaped' wearing a Super Bowl tee, as we could not find one in his size....)......

Gung Hay Fat Choy.....(Happy New Year...!!)

Chinese New Year is celebrating the Year of the Rat........!

As we keep in touch with a lot of the families we traveled to China with (had a summer reunion.....contstantly email.....call...try and get together when we can), we decided to have a Play date with the children to celebrate Chinese New Year...(Gung Hay Fat Choy....).....

On Feb 9th, we met at a play place in the Northboro area for the group known as China 137 (we are the 137th group through Wide Horizon to travel to China).......The kids had a blast, and we all went to a buffett lunch in Shrewsbury...It really is a close 'family' for China 137......Even though there were close to 30 families that traveled to China with us, it is always great to see everyone...catch up....see how the kids are changing and growing......

Bella was from the Guangxi province of China........When we went to get her from that province and the city of Nanning, we traveled with 3 other families......The Trainers (who adopted Roma)......The Pagano's (Carmen traveled all by herself, which was incredible.......they adopted Jianna) and the Benoit's (who adopted Laina), as well as Miss Sandra (who traveled with the Trainers and become a dear friend to all of us, especially Zach)........In any event, we are all getting together the weekend of March 29th here in Mansfield...! We are looking forward to seeing the Guangxi Girls......and how they have changed....!!! The families will come down Saturday and spend the night at local hotels, with everyone coming over to our house to just relax and play......It should be a lot of fun, and will have some great stories and reminincising........

Above is a picture of Zach and Bella from the Chinese New Year play date....

BRUUUUUSCHI

In spite of Zachary and Bella wearing 'lucky' Patriots jersey (Bella in Zach's hand me down Bruschi jersey) and a magical season for the Patriots, we all know they came up short.......A couple of weekends after the Super Bowl, we visited our good friends, the Pagano's, at their home on Long Island.....and, yes, they are Giants fans.....and yes, the Walnista men talked a little trash before the Super Bowl.......sooooooooo, with the Giants taking the Championship, yours truly had to wear a New York Giants Super Bowl Championship tee shirt when we visited our friends in New York.....Luckily, we were IN New York, so I was safe from rabid Patriots fans.......We all know that the Giants out played the Patriots.......least we got the defending World Series Champion Red Sox starting up soon...........!

18 and 1....!!!

well, Zach and Bella dressed in their Patriots outfits did NOT help the Pats win the Super Bowl...they had a great run, but came up a little bit short (much to the delight of our friends, the Paganos, in New York...!!)

Holidays.....

yes, it is March....and Yes, we haven't updated the blog in quite some time now....but, going forward, will TRY and do more updates for family and friends.....

here are some pictures from the holiday season of the kids...