Reunions and Stuff

We've just returned from a trip to Tennessee where we linked up with six other families who traveled to China with us in 2005.  Our sweet girls have proven to be really great travelers - again.  I take each trip at a time and hope that they can continue the trend.  They, thankfully, are really shaping up to be really solid travelers who can be amused for hours on end in the car.  We did stop from time to time to let the inner beasts run free and let their daddy nap at the rest area...he was so good - he did ALL the driving.  Our little Songbird thwarted our plans to get up extra early and put her and Ballerina in the car to fall back asleep until we were on the road for a few hours.  Instead of getting them up early, Songbird decided she was going to wake up at 2:00 a.m.- it took an hour to get her back to sleep and we opted to sleep in a little bit so that we were better prepared.....oh well!  Anyway, we made the trip in two days with a stopover at a hotel in Virginia.  Ballerina is a big fan of hotels - she loves the indoor pool most of all!  Since we traveled the bulk of the trip in the first day, Ballerina and her daddy were able to have a swim before checkout.  It was MUCH colder than we had thought it would be, and while in Tennessee, it was much more wet and forced us indoors for most of the activities.  It turned out that was just fine.  Since the four year reunion had many fewer families than the 2 year reunion we found ourselves really getting into some good conversations and connecting with the other families.  It was just so nice to revisit our China memories with these wonderful families.
Ballerina was intrigued, fascinated and "just so interested in the boys, mama!"  I had to have a little chat with her after the second day of the reunion.  I loved that she was finding kids to connect with, but was a little surprised that it was the two older brothers of some of her young friends.  They were about 8 and 11 years old and I think Ballerina felt she was closer in age to them than the other kids.  Though she is 5, Ballerina is quite tall and towered over the other girls - some she was only a month older than.  She did find herself running with the girls towards the second half of the weekend though, and connected with one of her China friends.  It was the other East Coast girl and she also was the first child in her family too.  The two of them were big hams when it came time to take photos of the girls before departure!
Our little Songbird met the group for the first time and charmed her way into many hearts!  Being the youngest one, she didn't really play as much with the kids, but instead, I would find her sitting on laps and giving hugs to the grown ups.  Each time she would head downstairs, or upstairs to follow the kids, she'd end up chilling with one of the moms/dads.  She is such a little love and she really was sweet with everyone.  Her favorite thing to say, this week: "what's your favorite color?"  She would really listen to the response and even turn the answer around and around as if she was really thinking about it.  She had a ready answer if anyone asked her what her favorite color was: PINK!
Anyway, it was a very nice trip - the ride home was long, but we all survived!
Coming home we found ourselves taking a little bit of time to readjust to a normal schedule and I couldn't bring Songbird to school as she napped VERY late her first day back.  Ballerina on the other hand had her first Kindgergarten field trip - Apple Picking.  The highlight for her was that her daddy was accompanying her class.  Dave told me that she turned to him a number of times and told him how happy she was that he was there.  I could just imagine her enthusiasm and grin, just like I could see the grin on his face when he told me!  She is such a sweetie!  On the way to our reunion she thanked us for bringing her on a trip.  I was floored - she seemed to grasp what a special occasion this was, and was truly happy about it.
Well, now that we're back into the swing of things, I need to get myself back to the gym and back on track to lose the lbs I gained by stopping at Sonic one to many times!
Heather