Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the great Father's in our lives! Baba, Papa, Poppy and those who've passed - Bampa and Grandaddy - we love and miss you!

Amelie has been very excited about Father's Day all week. She does love getting presents, of course, but she also loves it when others do. On Wed. Ging and Poppy sent presents home with Amelie for Baba. I told Amelie that Baba had to wait until Sun. to open them. She said "I want to give Baba his presents now". I told her that he had to wait until Sun. to open them and that they should be a surprise. She said, "I just want to show him the presents" - she was pretty proud of the wrapping. She brought the presents in to Allen and said "here Baba, this one's a gardening book and this one's a rock shaped like a potato for you to put on the papers on your desk". Oh well, I guess we'll keep working on that message about surprises. This morning, she was beside herself because all week she had been asking - "Is it Father's Day yet? When is it going to be Father's day?" She runs off to grab his presents and brings them into his bed. She then tells him "Here Baba, here's your gardening book and here's your rock".

A lot has happened since my last post. The biggest, perhaps, is that Micah and Katie got married! We had a great time in D.C. for the week getting to celebrate the wedding and Micah's subsequent graduation from medical school. Amelie and Emerson were flower girls and looked beautiful. Amelie, who does not like the spotlight, had to be coaxed down the aisle as she crouched and glared at all those who dared watch her walk down the aisle. The wedding was beautiful and Katie and her family are wonderful. We had a great time with everyone.

We had a great time touring D.C. and Amelie was excited to see Barack Obama's house. We did travel over to Chinatown and had lunch at Wok n' Roll which used to be Mary Seurrat's house where John Wilkes Booth spent a lot of time plotting Lincoln's assassination.

Travels

We've gotten to do a few camping trips - one with the adoption families group over at Trimble Park in Mt. Dora and one with our good friends the Sangers down in Sanibel. We recently got to spend time with Amanda's family down at the beach at their timeshare in Stuart where Amelie has a fabulous time with Emerson and Amanda's sister Sam and her friends.

Welcome Home

We recently got to meet our friends Dawn and Emma who just recently came home from China with Ethan who is a remarkable and sweet little boy.

Amelie

Amelie continues to amaze and impress us with her enthusiasm for all things. She still gets genuinely excited to see everyone and is in a phase where she wants to buy something for everyone. The other day, we were in Wal-mart and Amelie pointed at something and said, "I would like to buy this for Qiao". Usually, she wants to buy something for Emerson whom she talks of constantly.

She still seems wise beyond her years and most of the time, I feel like I'm having conversations with a girl much older than 3. Others too, seem to be amazed at how young she is when they hear her talk.

Amelie is still very much attached to Mama and Baba and would like to be carried everywhere most of the time.

She is getting very good with letters and sounding things out and I think she'll learn to read very quickly when she sets down to it.

She is very interested in mazes right now and is getting quite good at them.