Bowling Videos - Take 1

Hope's Dance Moves - We were waiting for dinner in the bar. Such a WI thing to do. :)


Hope picks up her first 10 pin!!! She's available for lessons.


Hope's First Spare - We were a little more excited than she was. You should see her face when she watches the video now though. All smiles!

Fall Escape - Saturday

Ron surprised us with a long weekend away. We've had a great time and will head home later today. I thought I'd take a quick moment to post some photos while we're in the "wireless" lobby for breakfast this morning.

First geocache of the afternoon. Can you spot the tiny hiding place?


There was another cache here though it isn't in this photo. I just thought this was pretty cute.


There were a couple more down this path, but it was raining so we just quickly grabbed one of them.
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Hope tried bowling for the first time!!! What a great family activity!!! (Hope bowled a 77)




Day two pics and a video update to come. For now though, we're headed out for day three excitement.

Big Strides in Bike Riding

Hope has really been practicing riding her bike. It is a Strider bike which is used to learn balance with out the use of pedals. Just recently she has become comfortable enough to put both feet up and coast. Lately she has also taken it to the trails in the woods. Here are a couple of short video clips.

July Weekend

The summer of 2009 was the summer of parades and local community fun. Here is a snapshot of one of our July weekends...

St. Croix County Fair - July 25, 2009
Walking to the fair with Great-Grandma Hoot!


The pony ride she HAD to go on. She didn't like it much after about twice around.

The cows were a hit this year, especially since she had her friend from church to take her over for a pet. :)

Signing HORSE



Stillwater Parade - July 26, 2009
We had a blast with Amy and Olivia! The girls were adorable with a couple of cute hugs, dancing for attention, and collecting all their candy together.
Sucker Tongues


The Girls In Action



The Loot




Two of the Sweetest Girls In Town

After the parade we went down to the riverfront for a 'nutritious' dinner and some run around play time.





End of the Day

Invitations Sent

OK everyone - Blogger invitations should have been sent to the addresses you provided. Please leave a comment here to let me know that you are IN. :) This whole process is a little foreign to me, but I'm hoping it all works smoothly. Can't wait to get a couple posts going now...as soon as I know the whole invitation process has been successful.

Thanks! Hope you're having a good week.

Going Private

Well, after much contemplation, I think it is the right time to make our blog private. We LOVE that our friends and family like to keep track of us, but as Hope gets older it is time to take steps to keep her and her story more secure. I'm going to try to use this form to gather the addresses over the next week or so and then I'll send out the invitations.

I was sharing with a friend earlier, that I feel like I'll be closing a very important "door." During our wait for Hope's arrival, I depended on the blogs of the BTDT (been there, done that) families more than I can say. I want to be there for other families. I want to answer questions, share our story, and encourage others going through the adoption process. Hopefully there will be other ways to network, but for now, this is the right decision for us. Please enter the information below and I'll be in touch soon.

HH Originals

We had so much fun on the patio after naptime last week.

Preparations



Works in Progress - Notice a few "H's?"





These are the smiles we live for!