Road Trip!

Every two years, I take my sweet babies back to Ohio to visit my family.  We've always flown, but this time I'm on a tight budget.  We are taking a road trip instead!  My hubby is staying home (because someone has to work) and I am heading into the wild blue yonder with the kids.  I'm pretty sure the hardest part will be getting through the never ending state of Montana, but we have some great pit stops planned.  And the best part....we're camping at KOAs!  Because who doesn't love a KOA?  Pray for us and pray my kids don't kill each other on the way.  I will blog more as I get the chance.

They're spelling O-H-I-O for those of you who are confused.....lol.....

Fun in the Sun

Holy smokes!  It's been a month since I blogged.  I have to get better at this.  We have been super busy just having fun.  Spending our days at the pool and our weekends camping.  This past weekend, we camped at a mountain reservoir.  Our campsite was right next to a small inlet of water off the main river.  This spot had really shallow and slow moving water so it was safe to let the kids have fun and for me to relax. 

This may be the first year where the kids have all been old enough for me to enjoy camping.  I'm the over-cautious mom who always has to have one eye on her kids.  Molly has always been a wanderer, which could be horrifying if you're in the wilderness.  But my husband grew up camping and is great at it.  It's in his blood.  He takes off on hiking and rafting trips a few times a year and his goal is to one day retire and be a forest ranger.  I think he's crazy.  I can usually only camp one day before my allergies get so bad that we have to leave.  Campfire smoke makes me absolutely miserable.  So does grass, dust, wheat, corn, or anything else nature related....  So we compromise and go on short camping trips.  This is easy since we live in Montana and there are several great spots within an hour or so from our house. 

My birthday was a few days ago and my family got me a sewing machine.  It's been years since I've sewed but I'm excited to learn again.  I have been eyeing some valances out of my Country Sampler magazine for about 2 years now, but I refuse to pay the extravagant prices.  That might just be my first project (because how hard can valances be to sew???)  And if they come out well, I'll make some special ones for Halloween and Christmas.  Because that would just be cool....

Mr. Bean, our big baby, had knee surgery this past week as well.  He's been confined to his kennel with next to no movement for the next few weeks.  He started licking his stitches and was condemned to the cone of shame....

Remember when I mentioned that once you decide to adopt, expenses come out of the woodwork?  Beans knees have been one of them.  But he is family and he's only 2 years old and he is a big baby.  I love him.  He is the most gentle of giants and is sweeter than pie.  What can you do but give the pup his surgery. 

On the adoption side, we're just waiting on our home study update to be finalized.  Our dossier paperwork is ready to go otherwise.  Once we get our home study, we can mail it off to get pre-approval from the US to adopt (I-800a).  Once that's back, we can mail off our dossier to China.  That's when the REAL waiting begins.  But one thing I've learned from our last year is that you can't let the waiting get to you.  That's always the hardest part so instead of thinking about it, just live life and don't waste time on the worrying.  And that's my advice for the day.  Or the month since I can't seem to remember to blog...