Summer Fun....

We've been busy with friends, family and lots of water.....enjoy these fun pics.

Playing with Rachel in her new back yard.

Talking to the goats with Megan at Fairytale Town (yes, we love FTT).

Swimming at Gramma & Paka's house.

Watching the Colusa Fair Parade with Paka and Gramma.

The best seat in the house...

Daddy's 'seat.'

Father's Day...and a Weekend of Nursery Rhymes

Three Boys in A Tub

Kainoa and his cousins enjoying the hot tub.

Kainoa Be Nimble

Today we celebrated Father's Day with my dad, my brothers and of course, Timi. Thank goodness for the wonderful men our families that take the roll of "Father" seriously and relish being called "Dad." There is no question how dedicated Timi, Andy, Robert, Scott, Geoff, Andrew and Rick are to their families. Timi and I are grateful to the men we call Dad for being such strong role models and guiding us as we learn to parent our children.

As many of you know, Kainoa is full of energy (far more than his dad and I have....combined!) When he's up, he's up and when he's sleeping, he's down for the count. This weekend was no exception. We spent Saturday morning with a great group of friends from our playgroup exploring Fairy Tale Town. He always enjoys talking with the animals, climbing on the benches...climbing on everything, actually, and the very highlight of our visit is watering the vegetable garden. He goes straight for the watering cans, picks one and waits for me to fill it with water. Then, he proceeds to dump the water on the nearest plant and his feet. Same routine, same huge smile. But, moments after he's safely strapped in his car seat, blanket in his lap and paci tucked between his lips...he's OUT. Ahhh....the life! Play hard, sleep well. We should all be so lucky.

It's June...therefore it's time for a picnic!!

Last Saturday we had a fantastic time meeting up with other families that have adopted children from Taiwan. So many of the children were at St Lucy's along with Kainoa...what a joy to be able to connect in this fun way. I sincerely hope (and will do my part) that we continue to meet up at least once a year to continue to foster these relationships and nurture this common heritage our children share.

Race, heritage and multicultural families have been a common theme in many of my conversations this week. Maybe stemming from the picnic, maybe from reading this post about finding a school that embraces cultural differences, whatever the impetus, I'm glad. My job (my life, actually) affords me the opportunity to explore these issues every day.... how cool is that?!?! I love that I can talk with friends, colleagues and clients about race & culture, our experiences, our expectations, and our challenges and truly let these be as they are...learn from them, not judge them. How blessed am I? Very.