June 2011

I don’t know what is going on with posting videos to the blog but I have had a lot of trouble with that. I never could get the videos I wanted to post for last month to upload. I will try those again and see what I have for this month.

Well, another month has passed so quickly! We were busy again in June. We met with our social worker for the last time regarding our adoption. We had to do a 6 month post placement report and another one a 1 year. She will write up our report and send it to me to send off with some pictures. I can’t believe that July will mark us as having Emma Kate as part of our family for a year! WOW! The year has gone by fast! We will talk more about that in the July 2011 post. Let’s get back to June.

 We went to a cousin’s wedding in Gainesville, Florida. We try to do family reunions every couple of years on my dad’s side of the family but that probably won’t happen until next year so we really wanted to go to the wedding and enjoy all the festivities! It was a great way to see everyone and introduce them to Emma Kate. Emma Kate really enjoyed being around everyone! She also danced a little bit at the wedding. She likes to dance and will usually start “dancing” by putting her arms up in the air and twisting her body and she will shake her butt or sway her body to the music. So cute to see!

While we were in Gainesville for the wedding, Calvin’s mom became ill and was put in ICU in Pensacola. She had a stroke and brain bleed. She was not doing well. He went to be with his family while Emma Kate and I stayed in Gainesville. Calvin’s mom seemed fairly stable so he came back home and by that time we were home too. Calvin got a call a few days later that his mother had passed away. We headed back to Alabama to tend to everything and have the funeral. Wow, as much as we prepare ourselves for those phone calls, they always catch us off guard and leave us feeling raw with emotion. We are so sad she is no longer here with us but we are also thankful that she is not suffering. A fear of hers was to be put in the nursing home. She will never have to worry about that! Nell was a wonderful, sweet, loving woman that loved her children and family! She will be truly missed! Here is a picture of her with Emma Kate.

November 11, 1933 - June 17, 2011

Nell, you are missed by us all!



 We had a family vacation planned this month and had a great time. We flew into Buffalo, New York. After we ate some lunch (local favorite- Beef on Weck) we drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. It was so pretty there. We spent one night there but really enjoyed the time there. The next day after touring around Niagara Falls, we drove to Toronto. We spent 2 nights there. We stayed in the hotel that is attached to the Toronto Blue Jays stadium. We opted to stay in one of the rooms that overlooked the baseball field (the Blue Jays were on the road at this time). It was really neat to have that view. They had a big event there the night before so they spent the time while we were there; tearing down the stage, etc and then putting the baseball field back together for the next game. It was fascinating to see all of that happen over 3 days. We did lots of walking around Toronto and we also went to the Toronto Zoo. From Toronto, we drove to Montreal. We spent 2 nights in Montreal. Most of you probably know that French is the preferred language in Montreal and we don’t know any French. We went to breakfast at Tim Horton’s (a favorite place of ours that is in Canada) our first full day. We had some difficulty ordering our food and asking for extra items like sweetner and cream for my coffee. We thought that we would have a difficult time there but the rest of the time we did fine not speaking the language. Most people also know English.  We mostly just got out, walked around the city and really enjoyed it. From Montreal, we drove to Syracuse, New York. We spent one night there. We went to see Syracuse University the next day and then headed back to Buffalo. On the way to Buffalo, we stopped in Rochester for lunch. We ate lunch at this place called Dinosaur BBQ. It was really good. The place was kind of a biker bar but family friendly plus the BBQ was wonderful! Once in Buffalo, we just had a nice dinner and got ready for our flight out the next day. Emma Kate is turning out to be a great little traveler! She did well taking her naps and going to bed at night. We just had to be aware of our timing and make sure that she had a nap each day….or else! The days where there were at least several hours of driving, we would set up our portable DVD player and she would watch Kai-Lan, a cartoon about a Chinese girl and her animal friends. Our flight to Buffalo went really well. Emma Kate was very well behaved and there were lots of other children near us. We did our best to keep her busy. The flight home was a bit more stressful. They kept the “fasten seatbelt” sign on for the majority of the flight which meant I was supposed to keep Emma Kate in my lap….yeah, right! She was a bit fussy and very wiggly and there were no other children near us. At one point, I took her to the bathroom with me just to get up and move around. When I looked at myself in the mirror, my face and neck was all red….I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something but then figured out I was just stressed out!  

Here are some pictures from our trip!

Niagara Falls- view from the Canadian side

Emma Kate and Calvin

In front of the falls

Around Niagara Falls- we rode in the skywheel

View from our hotel- Emma Kate hamming it up!

Another view from our hotel- the border- NY and Canada

Up in the skywheel

Toronto Blue Jays Stadium

View from our room- overlooking the baseball field

The field is almost put back together

Emma Kate wanting to take her nap in the big bed

Church in Montreal

Syracuse University

Dinosaur BBQ in Rochester, NY

Well, that is it for June! Sorry it took me so long. Hopefully I will be better about our July post. Hope everyone is doing great and staying cool this summer! It is incredibly hot here in Atlanta.

Signing off until next month!

Kathy