First Family Roadtrip

This last month has been quite crazy. My husband was in Georgia for 3 weeks of training, came home for a week and then had another week of training in Colorado. We decided it would be best for the family if we went along for the week in Colorado, so we hopped in the car 9 days ago and took our first family road trip! In all, I think it was a success....staying in a hotel for a week with 6 people in one room, including a toddler who still needs naps, finding my way around Denver during the day while my hubby was in training, driving for hours straight with minimal meltdowns (thank you to whoever invented the DVD player).

Here are some photos of our trip in no particular order:

We camped in Custer State Park one night on the way home. My husband said I can't call it camping because it was in a camping cabin. This was the view just up the hill from our little cabin.

One day in Denver, we went to the Museum of Nature and Science. We spent several hours there, and could have stayed longer! The kids really liked the Minerals and Gems exhibit - especially the sparkly purple and pink ones! If you are ever in Denver, I highly recommend going here!

We had a little picnic outside the museum.

There was a giant elephant statue that the kids played on.

The kids had a lot of fun searching for the animals in these big dioramas. 

View of Denver from the roof of the museum.

"Mommy, take a picture of me and the polar bear! I'm going to make this face so I look scared!"

One day, we drove up to Rocky Mountain National Park to do some hiking. Coincidentally, and very beneficially for me, my parents were in Denver at the same time we were, so they took this trip with us. T said several times, "Wow! What a place!" He has such a great appreciation for God's creation!

We spent a good chunk of time sitting on the edge of this stream watching the fish.

Sprague Lake

The kids wanted to swim every day....they didn't get their wish every day, but we did have lots of fun at the pool. 

The Wildlife Loop at Custer State Park was a great drive. Our little man, A, now wants to buy a baby buffalo. Last night when I was putting him to bed, he asked, "Can we buy a baby buffalo?" I asked him what we would do with it. "Put it in the back." Then I asked what we would do once it got big. He said, "Pet it!"

Have I said thank you to the person who invented the car DVD player??? I was always opposed to them before children, and now that I have kids and go on long car rides, I realize that they are a sanity saver. The only down side is that now we are going through a little movie withdrawal.

We came home a little earlier than we had planned because we realized that we were all getting tired and could use a good night's sleep in our own beds (which we got last night). Yesterday morning, when we were leaving, I told the kids to get in the car and A cried, "I don't want to get in the car!" I think he'd had enough! 

Now it's time to unpack and do some laundry.....which is why I am sitting here on my computer!

Adoption Progress

I thought I should do a quick update on the status of our adoption.

One week ago, we heard from the social worker that the judge ruled in favor of A staying with us and terminating his parents' rights. This is a huge step toward adoption, but we are still a few months away from the adoption being official.

The next step is to wait and see if they appeal the decision. If they do decide to appeal, then filing for that takes a few months. There are a whole bunch of deadlines in that process that I don't fully understand, and I'm sure you aren't interested in so I'll spare you the details, but that process takes about 3 months in total before the judges at appellate court make a decision.

If they do not decide to appeal the decision, we move into the adoption paperwork process, which from what I hear is more work for the social worker than it is for us. We just have to sign the paperwork that she prepares.

We are so encouraged by this progress, and are excited to settle in to our "normal."

We are one week shy of reaching 1 year since we met this little guy and welcomed him into our family, and it has been a huge year for all of us. We've grown in ways we never expected, and love him more than we could have imagined.