Let's Get Together, Yeah Yeah Yeah

Last Sunday Sydney got to go to the Oregon Zoo for the second week in a row! But this time, we didn't even bother trying to see the elephants because we were there to meet up with most of our travel group. In retrospect, we probably could have just met at a park. We only managed to see a few zoo animals due to all the visiting and catching up with our friends. We did manage to get former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, who was there that day, to take our picture below. Thanks to Tim for being brave enough to ask him.

Here's Group 98 as we are known at our adoption agency. Left to right are us, Paul, Lydia and Maya, Ama, Joanna and Zanna, and Inge, Tim and Natalie. We're sorry that Janet and JoLi couldn't join us as they live in Naperville, IL.

Here are the Fu girls as we sometimes refer to them; they are from Fuzhou, Nanchang. Of course, this is one of the best shots we could get as they are all very active and happy now! (Even though it looks as if Sydney is being nonsocial...) Think how far they've come since the red couch photo in Guangzhou!

Maya just couldn't contain herself.

That's a little better...except for Maya. She refuses to be held up by Sydney again!

Sydney and Zanna are learning to share. Zanna has Sydney's sippy cup and vice versa. Looks like Sydney wants both.

Maya: "Love your shoes. Where did you get them?"

Sydney: "Why are you touching my foot?"

Stroller buddies...

It was great catching up with everyone there. We all have a common bond that will never end.

In other news...

Here's Sydney gathering pinecones on a recent visit to the Round Lake trail in Camas.

Sydney continues to grow and surprise us every day. Recently she is saying "nana" for banana, "umpa" for Grandpa, and I even caught her saying "Sydney" one morning as she pointed to herself. She has rediscovered watermelon and says four syllables (baby babble) to represent one of her favorite foods. We figure it's because they grow watermelon in Nanchang. This morning on our walk with Ellie, she held her pinched fingers to her nose, as I was pooper-scooping and saying "P.U., stinky poo-poo!" She has seen me do this before and loves to copy. She also picks up little bits of trash or crumbs and brings them to us to throw away. Our budding environmentalist?