Portland vacation

We spent ten relatively fun days in Portland, Oregon, to close out the summer. I say relatively because during this time about half of CJ's teeth came in. That part was the only not-so-much-fun part. But we had a great time hanging out with our friends Stefee and Mike, and their parents.

In fact, Bob, Stefee's Dad, took us camping -- CJ's first camping trip. And this was no casual jaunt. Bob knows how to camp in style.



Mom and CJ quickly adapted to this new way of roughing it. Here they are lining up for breakfast:



The site, a secret location in the Mt. Hood National Forest, was beautiful. Here's CJ trying to adjust one of her new teeth:



And here I am with CJ, hiking along an old logging road:



CJ had a lot of fun with Stefee and Mike's pets. They have a big German Shepherd that CJ liked but had a hard time getting up the nerve to pet. She mastered the cats in no time, though. Here she is showing Tigger the door:



We also checked out the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Here's Meg and CJ test driving a replica of the Gemini spacecraft that launched the day Meg was born:



And here's CJ holding court in the museum's sandbox:



No, we don't know why the museum had a sandbox.

On our last day, we went for a great hike to a cliff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge:



There's a few more photos and some videos from our trip that need to be pulled off of Meg's camera, and I'll try to post them at some point this weekend.

It's too bad the summer ended. With CJ, the season just sped past us!

Frisbees, cookies, and the beach

CJ watched her first ultimate frisbee games this past weekend. She didn't quite get the whole spectator sport scene, to be honest, but she did seem amenable to frisbees in general:



She also liked jumping into the huddle:



But when it came time to actually watching, well, let's just say she spent most of the time searching unsuccessfully for me. And it's not like I was moving that fast either.

- - -

Monday night, she had her first chocolate chip cookie--straight out of the oven!

At first the cookie was too hot:



But unbelievably, she just didn't like it!



- - -

Last week, Meg and CJ went to the beach house in Massachusetts that Uncle Frank and Aunt Susan share with her family. Here's Uncle Frank and CJ with pinwheels:



Overall, the beach scene worked for her.



And she enjoyed playing the piano with cousin Grace.



- - -

After the beach house we all met up at our friends Chuck and Liz's summer pad in Newport, RI. We didn't really stray too far from the pool. The poolside scene was pretty chipper, all things considered:

More with that coffee table

We got home kind of late last night, stuck in traffic after a weekend in Newport, Rhode Island. Meg was pretty beat, and I worked from home. At about 2:45pm, I sent Meg back to bed to get some rest. At about 2:47, CJ went berserk, cleared off the magazines from the coffee table, grabbed a noisemaker, and started dancing.



If I didn't grab my camera no one would have ever believed...

Tupperware party, and one more mountain stream

Making dinner this evening was a bit labor intensive and distracting; while I knew CJ was buzzing around and staying out of trouble I wasn't quite sure what she was up to. Meg, however, was able to catch CJ in action:




We also made it back up to the Catskills, and had fun splashing around and staying cool:





Enjoy!

Another Catskills trip, more photos..

We went up to visit Aunt Lisa, Uncle Mark, Sara and Alyssa last weekend, and had a fun little hike up in the Catskills.

Here's Aunt Lisa helping CJ on the trail:



Here's CJ and Alyssa hanging out on a neat rock:



And here's the group shot. I managed to get everyone looking at the camera except Bogart (my parents' yellow lab).



One last pic, from earlier in the month -- CJ still has that shoe fetish:

Cooling off

This past Sunday we went up to the Catskills to visit my sister and her daughter, and also swim in a cool mountain stream. It was a completely successful outing.



I'll post the group shot tonight, hopefully.

Reunion get-together

A week and a half ago, we got together with four of the five families with whom we travelled. The other family had cold/flu issues; the odds of six girls being healthy enough to get together at one point are pretty slim. Factor in the complexities of family schedules and it's a miracle that we had such a great turnout!







We put the five girls on the couch for a group photo. This was the best one from my biased opinion (i.e., CJ was looking at my camera):



Keeping the five of them on that couch, of course, wasn't exactly an easy task...



Hopefully, I'll have some more photos to post at some point soon. I'm only one and a half weeks behind now...

Another photo tour

A fun time was had this past weekend, with CJ's cousins having a joint half-birthday party and then a reunion of the group we traveled with in China.

But first I need to catch up on a few older photos. Here's CJ on Memorial Day Weekend, trying to keep cool. I'm too busy with the camera to point out she needs ice in that cooler for it to work:



Here's CJ back in Aunt Susan and Uncle Frank's pool, test-driving a hot new water toy:



For Father's Day we had Nai Nai (Grandma) and Ye Ye (Grandpa) over for brunch. CJ decided to have a conference call:



And lastly, here's CJ at the half-birthday, all sippy-cupped and ready to party:



I'll have the travel group photos up shortly. Please enjoy these in the interim.

-- Dan

Photo Tour

I'm finally getting around to posting some photos in my "new" office (my company while I was on leave in April) and I thought I should post some of the photos that I will be hanging on my walls. There's no self-copyright infringement as far as I can tell.

This first photo is of Shangrao, the city where CJ was born. This is the Rao River, which flows through Shangrao. And yes, the air pollution is that bad (in fact it's worse--I photoshopped this image).



Next we have a nice reflection of new leaves on Van Cortlandt Lake, in the Bronx. Much prettier. CJ was with me when I took this photo in April (and how dare I not include her in the shot somehow!).



When we were in Utah, we caught the sunrise at Bryce National park. Highly recommended. The morning light hitting the hoodoos is not to be missed.



We visited a few slot canyons in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Here, Meg and CJ are playing peekaboo in Spooky Gulch (we checked out Peekaboo Gulch as well).



Also in the Grand Staircase, we saw a neat rainbow-halo surrounding the sun, through Grosvenor Arch. The picture says it all.



On the way home from Utah, we stopped in Milwaukee for a great visit with Aunt Sara and her parents. CJ always gets so inspired to walk around her...



-- Dan

More photos from vacation

Here's a few shots of us in Bryce National Park, and one of CJ after a day of hiking and playing in Zion National Park.





I'll post a few more soon--I'm halfway done sorting through our photos!

-- Dan

CJ's first time in the pool!

Memorial Day, CJ took her first swim in Aunt Susan and Uncle Frank's swimming pool. She had a pretty good time, and apparently doesn't mind when the water is, um, refreshing...





(the videos might take a little extra time to load; please be patient)

Two more photos from vacation

It's a little difficult finding time to catch up. The photos that I post this week may not exactly be current or in chronological order, but they will feature Miss CJ.

The two photos above were taken at Bryce National Park; the one in the previous post was taken in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

-- Dan

Communing with sandstone

We're out and about in Southern Utah this week, taking in a little bit of R&R along with the many different shades of sandstone.

CJ is enjoying herself, and although you can't tell from this shot, she seems to like the forests much better than the desert.

-- Dan

Going for a hike; getting back to normal

CJ took me for a hike last Sunday on what was supposed to be a sunny day. She provided more than enough sunshine, however.

It's nice to have such a beautiful daughter.

-- Dan

Thank you

Without a doubt, I am so grateful for all the thoughts and prayers from the past week--so grateful, in fact, that I posed my daughter for another photo. Yes, it's a posed shot. Hard to believe, I know.

Seriously though, without everyone calling, emailing, writing, et. al., I don't know where I would be. I am blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to show me there's more to life than crappy diapers.

Thank you.

-- Dan

Saddest News from Wisconsin

My brother Mike passed away last night, after an incredibly arduous journey through kidney failure, two failed transplants, and subsequent internal infections and complications. His drive and determination through so many physical and emotional insults inspire us all.

Through it all, his wife Sara has been loving, steadfast, and devoted. The bright spot of the day yesterday had to have been when CJ took her first unsupported steps towards Aunt Sara while we were trying to comfort her. But that's CJ for you. I think CJ has a keen emotional intelligence that senses when it's her responsibility to entertain a bunch of completely dejected family members.

Arrangements will be determined later today, probably taking the form of something in Milwaukee and New York City. I will post them here when finalized.

-- Dan

CJ on the phone, and at play

Yesterday, CJ was "evaluated." We took her to our adoption agency, where the conference room was decked out with toys galore. She met up with her buddy Gabriella, and the girls had a fun time with all the toys while occupational therapists assessed where they were developmentally.



The girls managed to have a good time I think.

On Friday, Meg bought CJ her first kitchen set: pots, pans, a colander, even a potato masher. CJ loves the set. Only catch is, right now she thinks everything--even the mixing spoon--is a phone:



I think the specialists would call this behavior "early-onset teenager."

-- Dan

A message for Uncle Mike

We're sending him a hard copy of the photo via snail mail as well, to make sure he gets the picture.

We're also sending a copy to our friend and former therapist Rob, whose health has been far too rocky as of late.

Please get better, both of you -- and anyone else who feels like being sick.

-- Dan

CJ in Milwaukee

As I mentioned in the previous post, my brother Mike's health has taken a serious turn for the worse. We spent the last six days in Milwaukee, visiting him in the hospital.

CJ worked extra hard to keep everyone's spirits up. Here she is with her cousin Sara after dinner Saturday night, playing Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on one violin:



And here she is, brazenly flaunting her belly button while strutting about the Milwaukee airport:



-- Dan