Field Trip

Before school was out for the summer, I had the awesome privilege of accompanying my girls on their final first grade field trip.. this time to a beautiful Japanese garden! 

{pictured above: the first grade class of '11.. they are the cutest!!}

They had been studying Asia in school, specifically Japan, and learned quite a few things before our trip.

They spent days learning about Japanese culture, language, and even spent a day learning to eat with chopsticks! Of course, rumor is that Sarah and Chayah taught everyone how to eat with chopsticks and were the chopstick-experts of the class :)

After learning about Japanese culture during the month of May, they were rewarded with a Japanese garden tour.

The gardens were beautiful and breathtaking in many areas. And our little group had a blast and loved getting to spend the morning at the gardens instead of in the classroom!

We had a tour guide and she walked us through the tour and asked the kids questions about Japanese culture that they had studied over the past few weeks.

One of the kids favorites parts?  Getting to stop and feed the fish :)

Chayah stopping for a smile :)

One of my favorite parts of the trip? The cutest quote from the sweetest girls :)  When we were walking through the tour, we met with some other workers at the gardens. They asked the kids, "Where are you guys from?" (meaning which school, etc) Well, Sarah and Chayah quickly piped up with their answer, "CHINA!" :)  Love my girls! The smiles were priceless, everyone laughed and thought they were the cutest things ever (which they pretty much are) and it was just an all around great moment!

Our tour guide gave the kids magnifying glasses to look at some of the plants up-close.. and they loved getting to explore everything that way!

We found a duck sitting on one of the decks and he was a big hit with the kids, especially Sarah who kept inching closer and closer to him the whole time we were in there :)

 Sweet friends posing for some pictures :)

 Feeding the fish was such a big hit at the pond, that we stopped to feed them again at the waterfall.. and of course, they all loved it!

It was a beautiful morning; we all had a very fun time! I'm so glad I got the opportunity to go with (how many big sisters get to go with their little sisters on their first grade field trip?!) and I loved getting to document the time with pictures too, of course!

Parade Fun!

 Parades are always lots of fun! This year at the Mem*orial Day Par*ade, it was very hot out but it was a fun morning! They girls, of course, loved catching and running after the candy. We met a friend of Sarah and Chayah's from school and the girls got to stay together and have a fun time together! At one point, they passed out American flags to the kids. Sarah and Chayah both were handed one, but the person handing them out didn't notice their friend. She started to cry because she didn't get one. Sarah noticed that she was sad and ran over to her to give her her own flag! And then immediately Chayah told Sarah, "we can share mine!"... I'm so proud of my girls!!!

*also- if you haven't noticed, I added new "pages" (under the header along the top of the blog).. I'm still working on a few of them, but I did finish Sarah and Chayah's pages which are complete with their adoption videos.. so be sure to swing by on their pages if you want to watch! 

Our New Drivers!

 Watch out everyone, there are two new drivers around.. Sarah and Chayah are loving getting to drive around their new Bar*bie Jeep! The first time they drove it, they almost ran us all over and you still have to stay a little ways away from the Jeep if you don't want to be hit ;)  Thank you Rachael, David, and Maegan!! Sarah and Chayah love the Jeep and have been our driving it every chance they get!

A Miracle Meeting

On Saturday, we had the most amazing meeting! For those of you who may not know, Sarah and Chayah were both adopted from the same small-ish orphanage. They knew each other and were friends in China. In fact, it was because of Sarah's determination that her friend's needed families too that we looked for and were able to find Chayah's file and bring her home! Chayah wasn't the only friend that Sarah advocated for though.. She also advocated for two little boys that were her friends. One was adopted a few years ago. The other continued to wait. Some dear friends of ours fell in love with this little boy and wanted to bring him home. After years, a lot of hoops to jump through, and some miracles with his paperwork, he finally came home to his family this February. And this Saturday, we were able to meet up.. and get Sarah, Chayah, and Aiden together again at last!!

Chayah and Aiden in China.. only a few years old! 

They were best friends and pretty much inseparable for the six years before Chayah came home.

Aiden is the adorable little one in the overalls!  And the little one in the walker? None other than baby Sarah!!

Aiden and Chayah, 4 years old. 

Aiden and Chayah on Chayah's Gotcha Day... January 11, 2009.. the last day they saw each other!

First meeting again!!  So amazing to see them all together again!

With Aiden's dog, Justin :) So fun to meet him too!

Almost all our group

I love our little lunch buddies all together!

After lunch it was downstairs to get candy :)

A ride on the roller coaster.. they loved it and screamed about the whole time :)

Carousel rides.. first on the second level..

..then for the second ride, they went on the twirly circle and got pretty dizzy spinning around the whole time!

In a photo booth to take a picture together :)

The screen outside the photo booth showed them inside.. cutest kids ever!!

After the mall, we went out for pizza at this place with all these games.. it was a very fun time!!

Car racing!

Basketball

Deal or No Deal

Go-Karts... Chayah with Daddy, Aiden and his Daddy, and Sarah drove herself!

Picking out prizes after lots of games :)

Leigh, Ray, and Aiden... we love you guys!!

Waiting to go into laser tag (which was very fun!).. once we went in, Aiden found me and started "shooting" me, he got me quite a few times!! Each time he shot me, he said "good shot!" and laughed :) SO cute!!

They loved holding the door open for everyone.. they would say, "you go, you go you go".. to have each of us go through the door :)

Me with all three :)  Such a miracle to have these three all together! I'm so blessed to have them in my life!!

Me and Leigh :)

Before it was time to go.. a few last photos of our three buddies together!

It was amazing to see the three of them together again! After so many years of waiting and praying, it was an amazing reunion of these three friends! Leigh, Ray, and Aiden, we had a great time and can't wait to meet up again!!