Another song

Miriam has an ever expanding song repertoire...sometimes to my chagrin...Come on Barbie, let's go party!

Jesus Loves the Little Children

New Hair Style

I've been itching to try something new with Miriam's hair, so after much reading on the Chocolate Hair Vanilla Care website looking for something EASY to try...this is what I came up with...Two Strand Twists.  Because I am such a novice, it took me FOREVER!  We started early this morning with a hair washing and finished just minutes before Caleb's noon baseball game.  Here's hoping that it lasts for a little while!

Vacation Part 3

Besides going to the beach and taking a trip to the Magic Kingdom, we did a lot of other fun things.  Joey had a conference starting Monday, so Miriam and I were on our own.

Our first hotel was right across the street from Downtown Disney, so we made several trips over to play at the Lego store.

One morning we rode the Disney bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Just riding a bus was fun for Miriam.  The Lodge was a good way for us to spend some time out of the hotel room and away from the pool which was not heated enough for me to get in it.  Miriam was allowed to choose one souvenir from her time at Disney, so we spent a LONG time in the gift shop looking at EVERY toy and knick knack item in the store. Finally, after much deliberation Miriam settled on a Polly Pocket like Minnie Mouse toy.  I also found a fantastic African Mother Goose book.  We met some nice ladies in the gift shop who gave Miriam a Winnie the Pooh pin. After the gift shop, we went to look at the pool and found a playground where we spent some time.  By this time, the animals were coming out of their pens, so we went to take a look at the giraffes.  One of the best things about hanging out at the Lodge was meeting several different workers from all over Africa.  

Joey had a dinner meeting that night, so we headed back over to Downtown Disney and had ice cream for dinner...that is what vacations are for, right?

On Tuesday, we changed hotels to this one that had a fun little "pool playground" as Miriam liked to call it.  The water was heated enough that it was enjoyable.  She loved playing on it and would run up and down the stairs to go down the slide over and over again.  It caused me a slight amount of anxiety because I kept wondering if we had attached enough that she would seek me out if  I was not in her direct sight line.  She did.  I found a chair close to the end of the slide and in the sun and she would run to make sure that I had watched her.

The girl loves to eat, so another treat was having dinner by the pool.

We bought this swim hat before we left to protect her hair from the water.  Stuffing all those braids inside was a two person job.  She would hold them on top of her head, and I would stretch the cap over all of them.  It made her head look really long.  Helen and I called her mega-mind.

Joey got to have some pool fun with us when his conference was over.  While the water was warm, coming out of the water could be a bit cool.

The second hotel we stayed in had a huge atrium area with fish, turtles, and alligators.  I thought this would hold Miriam's attention for some of our time there, but I was wrong.  The girl who could run up and down the water slide stairs over and over again couldn't seem to find the energy to walk across the hotel lobby.  Having her photo taken is one of Miriam's favorite things, so I got her to walk around the hotel by finding a place to take her picture every few feet.  This photo is one of them.  She was worried the fish were going to jump up and bite her.

We had a great time on our trip.  I am glad we decided to go, but we were all so glad to be back home again.  Miriam was ready to be back on her own turf, see her brother and sister, and play with her toys.

Vacation Part 2

So, while in Orlando we couldn't resist the pull of Disney World.  It felt weird to take a child who only 3 months ago was living in an orphanage in a third world country to the Magic Kingdom, but we did it.  Somehow Cinderella has made her way across the ocean to the DRC, and Miriam already knew about her.  We talked up going to Mickey and Minnie's house as we prepared for the trip.  Miriam loves to watch Mickey's Clubhouse.  The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about how her brain was processing everything that she was taking in.  In order to make the day more pleasant for everyone, I put aside my type A planning and scheduling side, and just decided to go with the flow.  We got to the Magic Kingdom in time to see Mickey and Friends arrive by train and open up for the day.  Then we stood in line and were herded through the gate (I am not a crowd person, so Disney is not "the happiest place on earth" for me.  We started out at Dumbo's ride and made our way around the park riding rides and seeing the sights. The longest line we had to stand in was to visit Ariel.  Ugh!  Standing in a dimly lit cave for 45 minutes was a test in patience for all of us.  Miriam liked the rides, but LOVED the parade and meeting the princesses.  She was a little sad because Daisy Duck was no where to be found on the day we visited.  At the end of the day, we finally met Mickey. Even though, we had looked for him all day, when we finally met the mouse face to face, Miriam was a little nervous.  I think he was much bigger than she thought he would be.  All in all, we had a great day.  At the end of the day, we took Helen to the airport so she could go back to school on Monday.  Miriam and I stayed with Joey and flew back with him on Thursday.  Here are some photos from our time at Magic Kingdom.

Vacation

I am terrible at blogging.  There are many posts that form in my head and never make it to the computer.  Miriam's 3 months of being in our family passed with no post (maybe I will make that one up later this week). BUT I am back because we just got home from a Florida vacation.  Joey had a conference in Orlando and with frequent flier miles and free hotel stay, we just couldn't pass up a chance to go with him.  Before we went, I was concerned that this would be too much for Miriam since she has only been here a short amount of time.  We took it easy and went fairly low key, but we did have some great FIRST times while we were there.  This post is dedicated to her first time at the beach.  Joey, Helen, Miriam, and I flew down on Friday night.  Poor Caleb has baseball so he had to stay home and take care of the cats.  On Saturday, we decided to drive over toward Cape Canaveral and introduce Miriam to the beach.  We have read books about the beach, but because she has never seen it, she had no concept of it.  It was a great day!     The weather was warm and the sun was out.  Usually I prefer the Gulf when going to the beach, but this day the Atlantic was blue and beautiful.  We climbed the stairs from the parking lot and as we walked across the boardwalk, Miriam's eyes got bigger and bigger.  We stopped to look, and she asked, "Is this the beach?" We nodded and her smile grew.  For a few moments, she just had to observe all of it...feel the sand with her toes...watch the waves in Papa's arms...and then she took off running and jumping and loving all of it. After a little bit of playing, Miriam decided that she needed to put on her swimming suit...good thing we brought it.  A special treat was that while we were there a group of dolphins swam passed.  What a great day!