Wordless Wednesday, AGCI Picnic

I promise I will write again, but until then... enjoy ANOTHER Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

Lovin' Life

There are many things that make the girls smile from ear to ear, but one of the biggest ones is swimming. I can't believe how naturally they have taken to the water. I am 99.9% sure they had never had a bath before coming to America, let alone put on a bathing suit and went to the pool. So, at 2 1/2 they were introduced to the water. They were a little timid when they first got in, but it didn't take them long to start jumping from the side and loving every aspect of the water.

Our neighborhood pool opened this past week and I have already been told multiple times that they are amazing and they can't get over the fact they have only been exposed to the pool for 10 months (with many of those months being winter).

I am excited to see how much their swimming skills improve this summer. Last night they started "diving" for diving stick in the shallow end, so I know they will take off in their abilities! It also helps that they are VERY competitive with each other and each of them wants to make sure they are not out done by their sister! Trust me, I have my hands full with those two! :)

Here are some pictures from their swim last night.

The next few shots are of Chloe doing her signature belly flop. I need to get video of it because it seriously is the funniest thing ever! She has the whole pool cracking up!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!!

AGCI get together!

Our family...

was able to drive three hours south yesterday to get together with...

The Ausbrook's

The Bogard's

and The Lucht's

We all adopted through All God's Children Int. (AGCI) and we have all traveled this year to get our children. Our girls were not at Hannah's Hope when the Ausbrook's traveled, but they were there when the other two families got their boys. They both were able to check in on them for us and I am so grateful! It makes the wait so much more manageable when you know someone is loving on your sweeties.

We had planned on getting together in August, but that was when we had chicken pox so we had to cancel. I am so thankful it worked out this time... for all of us. It has been great getting to know these families over the past year through email and blogs! The Bogard's are only two hours away from us, so we have had the chance to meet them prior to Saturday.

Eating lunch on the ground. You can tell our kids are city slickers, they were not too fond of the bugs all around them.

Mom, please put down the camera and get me a drink.

Silas and Eli getting ready for a ride.

Silas, meet Silas...

Eli, hold on TIGHT!

Serious Cuteness!!!

The girls wanted N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do with sitting with the babies. They only way I was able to get them to sit on the cooler was to bribe them with cookies. Chloe puts her hands in her mouth when she is nervous. I am sure she was wondering why all these white people were making such a big deal of them and taking tons of pictures. :)

John taking his sisters for a stroll.

Troy has already done a post on our visit yesterday. He has some amazing pictures of our girls, so head over there if you haven't gotten enough!

On the way home we stopped at the Dairy Queen in Jasper, Indiana. Monte's Dad lived here 25 years ago and used to take Monte to this same DQ when he spent his summers with him.

Some much needed family time!

This was where we spent our afternoon...

Josiah's one wish as a five year old is to go to the beach. We have no plans to go to the ocean anytime soon, so we thought Lake Michigan would work. As you know from this post, Josiah has not had an easy time since his sister's have gotten home, so we thought it would be great to do this for him.

We got a late start today. Our plan was to get there when it opened and stay till it closed. Well, when we saw the high was only going to be 66, we decided to sleep in a little, but still be out the door by 8am. We left at 8:45am and when we were 45 minutes from home, I realized we forgot our bag that had the towels and bathing suits in it. I couldn't believe it. How in the world did that happen? Oh, right... we have five kids now! We decided it was worth it to go ALL the way back home and get the rest of our things. So, we didn't make it to the beach until 1pm. When we got to the entrance gate, the park ranger (or whatever that person is called that collects our money) told us that because of rip currents there was NO SWIMMING TODAY! Yes, you read that right... no swimming, but the beach was still open. We decided we'd make the most of it and all I can say is, we had a BLAST! I will use pictures to tell the rest of the story...

This was when we first got there. I LOVE these six people!! Chloe has been a Mommy's girl lately, so that is why she was way behind everyone else. She was hanging out with me.

Josiah knew we were going to the beach, but we wanted to get his reaction on camera...

I am so glad we did! His eyes were huge...

They couldn't get enough of the water. Well, everyone except for Chloe...

She was content to sit in the sand and not worry about the big waves!

Josiah loving the beach. It was his most favorite day ever.

My guys getting ready to check out the dunes.

Look at that face! She loved the waves. We really had to keep an eye on her.

Once again, preferred to be on dry ground...

I think I may give up getting a picture of the five of them together. This was the best one. The sun was directly in their eyes, but still.

Now some random pictures...

That is Chicago on the horizon.

The rip currents that kept us from swimming. They got worse at the day wore on. The kids (minus Chloe) all ended up getting soaked. The wash back (under tow) would literally knock them over when they were getting their feet wet. They didn't mind and neither did I.

It is so pretty there. I can't wait to go back!

My babies fast asleep! Chloe is sportin' M&M cookie residue on her face. That's my girl! :)

Even though we got a late start, had to go back to the house, and couldn't swim because of the rip currents, it was a perfect day! I love my family. I am blessed.