Busy time in old town!

Friday morning we met with the adoption lawyer to get our paperwork squared away.

I was close in what I did, but it was not quite right :(

So since I adopted as a married individual we need to actually do 2 cases. The first is a readoption for me, which is basically the state of FL recognizing the foreign adoption. The second is a stepparent adoption for hubby. Since the state of FL will recognize my adoption and I am consenting to the stepparent adoption it should be very cut and dry for the judge. And since we will have a lawyer with us we should go first! The lawyer was very nice adn had adopted a child from Russia many years ago. Since I had done much of the paperwork he was able to only charge us one flat fee for both cases. We will go in next month to sign the papers, they will file an amended petition and we will go to court in August.

Since we were in St Augustine to see the lawyer we decided to go take the city trolley tour with the kids.

Gerri was just fascinated!

Here is the Old Senator - it is a VERY old oak tree - over 200 years old

This street is "old Magnolia" or something - how beautiful

This is a fake coquina wall - made of razor sharp oyster shells!

The fountain of youth!

The kids were listening very intently to the guide!

This cross is supposed to be the second largest steel monument after the golden gates

The old drugstore!

I almost bought this tea, but hubby said I was smart enough :)

We had lunch at the Irish pub and watched world cup soccer!

Victoria and I were right in front of the AC so this was her solution! Man she is just too smart!

After lunch we put the kids in front of us together

 

The infamous fort!

A replica of the ramparts

The city gates!

Enough!!

On Sunday we got out our wheels!

Gerri rode the jeep all by herself!

She just could NOT get the hang of steering :)

Heading down the street

We have been cleaning and rearranging to get ready for our big summer surprise!!!!!!

Happy Bday Sweetie!

Danny went off to help Dan at the boat so the girls and I had girl time!

Time for the princess' lumch

Then we were off to PT!

Victoria helped Gerri play while she was stretched

Then as soon as her back is turned - she takes the toy:)

Gerri did a bit of walking!!!

We really want her to put some weight on her hip socket to help it form correctly.

We LOVE this PT, Ms Sara!!

She keeps commenting on how well Gerri is doing. She actually re-read the PT eval from a month ago cause she could not believe how much motion and flexibility she has gained from our stretching and exercising at home!!! We are so glad that we were passed off from the original PT lady cause this is working out so much better.

Today is hubby's birthday :)

The kids were SO excited about giving him his cards this morning

Dan had to go to the dr as he is starting on some study so I headed off to a different pool with the kids

Even at play we do our exercises!

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We went into the big pool as well and the kids all swam, I had Gerri swimming to me several feet from the edge and then turning around to swim back to the side! I threw the rings and they swam to get them.

The whole car ride home she kept telling me "mama, I am tired!"

This is what I found while cooking dinner :)

Can you tell what they are all looking at??

Show stopper :)

Each of the kids made more cards and gifts for Dan while dinner was cooking.

Here Victoria is giving Dan a piece of paper wrapped up in 3 sheets of paper

Happy Birthday honey!!

We love you!

The start of PT and swimming!!!

Yesterday was the official start of PT!

The PT was very impressed by how much ROM Gerri has gotten already!

Here she is kneeling!

Check out this face!

We worked on wheelchair control too.

Here she is using the door opener herself!

So proud of herself!

Happy daddy  putting princess sprinkles in the girls hair :)

Today we went swimming again :)

The kids had fun till some bigger kids came crashing through

How amazing is this!!! Swimming!!!!!

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Happy Father's Day Weekend!

This is what you do when you get your fingers closed in the front door!

Saturday was quiet time, pool time and yard time!

The kids had some goodies left over from Auntie,

Danny loved his "noise" putty (yes, it makes a body noise)

We have been going to the pool every day to exercise

sometimes it overlaps with nap time :)

We tried out the toddler pool, nice shade!

Working on her PT always!!

Hanging with the girls in the back yard!

Great exercise!

Gerri tried and tried to get herself on the disc, but could not do it

She came really close :)

I love this photo!! Danny is trying to bounce as high as he can and Maggie was underneath rolling around on her back and they both were in heaven!

The girls were upstairs playing and I ran up to see what they were doing, look at the mess they made!!

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Sunday was our relaxing day.

We made a run to Costco, which the kids love. Danny makes it his mission to try all the food stations :)

We decided not to do the pool today and hung around in the house and outside!

All for one!

Danny and his entourage!

Daddy gave a helping hand so Gerri could get to the top!

If you listen they are supposed to be jumping and singing their ABC's and you can hear Gerri laughing hysterically while bouncing!

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We all sat around and watched "Avat*r" which was amazing!

Dan made his signature spaghetti sauce and we all stuffed ourselves silly!

Love you honey!! Happy Father's Day!

Oh man!

Here we are all dressed up for court for the readoption.

Unfortunately there was some paperwork issues and we will go back in 2 months :(

After tubs the girls got their hands and toes painted :)

Pink for Victoria and Purple for Gerri

We went back to the pool for a couple of hours. The girls play so well together!

Danny was so excited to see his kindergarten teacher there!

She was watching a kid that Danny used to go to school with.

He was SO excited to see him and wanted to play with him.

BUT, the other child wanted nothing to do with Danny :(

He had a friend he was playing with and told Danny he was busy.

Danny tried a couple of times to swim with both of them and the kid told him to go away and stop following them around! OMG! Our hearts just broke for him, he was SO sad.

He could not understand why his old friend would treat him that way.

His whole demeanor changed and he wanted to go right home.

Both Dan & I  talked to him but it was a no go.

We were so sad.

Then the skies opened up and we headed on home anyway.

I made my chicken fried rice and the kids ate it all down, with popsicles for dessert!

Gerri had a purple one :)

Yes, we are back home :)

Monday was another LONG day!! We did not get home till 5:30 pm.

Victoria kept asking to go back to the hotel so they could swim

Dan went into the house first to see the dogs and let them out.

The kids then went inside and then outside to see the dogs.

I got to unload the car :)

It was SO good to be home!!

Victoria ran around the house touching and playing with all her toys.

The kids bounced on the trampoline while I unpacked and got organized.

I started the laundry - first of many loads.

We had a very light dinner and the kids were sound asleep at 8:00.

This morning was spent getting more laundry done, more unpacking and organized.

Dan had to cut the very long grass and I had lots of mail to go through.

The kids played with toys and made a mess :)

Danny had his 8 yr ped appt so Dan took him and I took the girls to the big pool to relax and play.

The girls had SO much fun!

Dan and Danny finally showed up 2 hours later!  Danny ran right up and started playing with a bunch of kids. He is 8 yrs old, 58 pounds and 52 inches tall! 75th% for height and 50th% for weight.

We talked to the ped about some of his issues and we are going to go ahead and get him retested, it has been 2 1/2 yrs since his last testing. We just want to make sure we are doing all we can for him!

The water felt so warm after being up north for 3 weeks!

All in all the kids swimmed for several hours.

We had pizza for dinner and all were asleep by 8.