Adios, Amigos!!

Create Your Own!

We will be Cancun-bound on a 5:50 am flight Fri ... and Thurs night is going to be a zoo ... so I'm going to sign off now to be sure it gets done!

Ahhh, the Moon Palace. We have been here 2x before, and it is paradise for the way we like to vacation. You won't likely find us running around theme parks or museums, we are beach lovers and use our vacation weeks as total family relaxation time. Not much better place to do that than the Moon Palace ... all inclusive so we put our wallets in the safe when we arrive and don't take them out until we leave, it has the largest swimming pool in Mexico, swim up bars, 10 restaurants, some free watersports for the kids, lounge chairs that sit IN the water in the pool ... and it is supposed to be about 88 degrees there so that sounds great too!

School is out Fri, and then Drew and TJ will miss next week. Our district allows 5 days each year for vacations, and we appreciate that because there is no better way our kids can spend this week than with their family.

I'm not planning to even try and find internet access on vacation, just planning to relax ... so you probably won't see any pics til we return! Enjoy the slide show!

TJ and the traveling team

TJ was so excited to find out yesterday that he will be part of the "Future Turks" 3rd grade boys traveling basketball team! They will play 25-30 games in the next 3 mos or so ... so it looks like we'll be on the go. Most Saturday games are away (Pekin, Morton, Washington, Illini Bluffs, Canton, Danvers) and most Sunday games are at Tremont High School. They have 3 tournaments I think ... Canton, Pekin and Knoxville. He'll miss a couple practices while we are gone, and the first game is Nov 11. Go TJ!

Busy around here, so just a fun post!

Seems we are all burning the candle at both ends around here ... not much time to post or take new pics to share ... so I thought I'd post this just for fun!

Found this on youtube.com totally by accident, it's a one minute street scene from a busy intersection in the city where Abby spent the first 11 months of her life, Zhuzhou City, Hunan ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11EavVXIvms

Brings a smile to my face recalling the crazy driving and relentless traffic in China. Hard to explain how crossing the street is life threatening! :-)

The kids are busy with activities and homework ... especilly Drew as he finishes up his English III term paper (2000 words). TJ is going to try out for the 3rd grade traveling basketball team this Sat, so hopefully we'll have some pics and good news about that soon! They will play 25-30 games all over it sounds like, so more running for the Scott family.

Abby is enjoying her new activity at school ... the Boogie Bus. Once a week she has a half hour dance lesson on an old school bus converted into a dance studio, and it drives up to her preschool for the kids to enjoy. The first few weeks they learned pom pon routines, and now they just switched to tap dancing. They provide all the props and shoes, so it's pretty easy for mom to get her some extra activity during her school day.

Not long before Cancun now ... we are READY!!

Happy Birthday Drew & THS Homecoming

A whirlwind few days here as Drew celebrated his 17th birthday (seventeen!) on Friday ... and then it was also THS Homecoming time! Drew spent many hours over the week helping with the Junior Class homecoming float and getting Student Council activities together, which included getting the gym ready for the dance. Thursday night was a community pep rally and he sang with Madrigals and played with Band ... and then on Fri was the parade. Our band is very casual, so the director let them march in their band t-shirts and hold off wearing uniforms until the game that night. Sat night was the dance, and he is now crashed from his long week! Enjoy the photo show, below, which has some shots of the band in the parade, the float he spent hours on, marching at the game, and Drew and Sarah heading off to the dance!

Pekin Times Article 9-23-06

Fun! Today on the front page of the "Lifestyles" section of the Pekin Times ... a giant pic of Abby and her buddy Jenna, and a wonderful story about how China adoption brings strangers together with similarities we never knew we had ...

http://www.pekintimes.com/articles/2006/09/23/lifestyles/lifestyles1.txt

There is no photo with the article, so my little model, Abby, is holding the paper up for you to see! :-)


| View | Add Favorite

Basketball Buddies

TJ and Abby are 5.5 years apart ... they know how to push each other's buttons sometimes for sure, but they do enjoy a good game together!


| View | Add Favorite

An Incredible Sunset

(click picture for a larger view)

Two posts in one day here, but I had to share this picture. Last night we were at the boat and heading to dinner ... and I looked up and saw the most incredible sunset I think I have ever seen. We see lots of beautiful orange and pink and purple skies out there ... but this sunset was a clear blue sky with orange "rays" of light beaming up. The rays went over our heads in a light yellow color, and then curved back down toward earth in the East and they were white. I didn't have my camera with me, but took this pic on my camera phone, so it's a little blurry. Quite a sight!

Great Day for a Picnic!

Abby and I went to the family picnic for "Our Children from China" in Pekin on Sat, and it was a fun day! She got to hang out with her buddy Jenna, who is also from Hunan and is in her daycare class. We were interviewed by a reporter from the Pekin Times and he took lots of pics of Abby and Jenna playing and eating lunch together, so we'll see if they make the paper tomorrow!

Here's a slide show from the picnic ...


| View | Add Favorite

A Gorgeous Day!

Abby and I got home from work and school tonight and it was SO beautiful outside! We soaked a little bit of it up before daddy came home ... and I took advantage of the beautiful day to take some pics of Abby near the flowers and fish pond. Hate to think in a month the frost will take away our pretty summer flowers, but I guess that is part of the deal with the changing seasons!

Enjoy the slide show ...


| View | Add Favorite

Butterfly Girl

(click picture for bigger view) I went outside on Sat and found Abby playing with this monarch butterfly that must have been caught up in the grill of my car. She was studying it carefully and ran to show it to me. Made me laugh ... is this the same little girl who used to totally freak out over anything with wings or legs that moved within 10 feet of her? ;-)

A beautiful weekend here. There is a touch of Fall in the air, for sure.