I Know I'm Getting Old When...

...I take a bunch of girls to the pool...

...and I sit at the table, under the umbrella, doing school work, wearing shorts and a t-shirt (not a swimsuit). 

I remember as a kid thinking, "There will never, ever be a time that I will sit on the side of the pool like those old adults."  I'm eating my words....

We've not been doing a whole lot this summer.  Mike has been very busy with work.  Seth came for a visit during the 4th of July...we had rain, rain, and more rain..

...Seth likes to cause me anxiety.

We visited our friends and family in Illinois.  Sadly, I only took pictures of our yummy treats at the Dairy.  But, it was fun watching the kiddos enjoy themselves.  I was quite tamed with a small sundae.

This one belonged to my husband.  He deserved it.

Weekend Away

I left last weekend.  Yep.  I left my husband and 3 daughters at home to visit my son.  Jack was dragged along by his mother, along with a family friend, Tia.

The weather slowly cooperated with us.

Mr. Serious with his mom.

The weather started out very cloudy with some drizzle.  So, we just loafed around town a bit.

Seth looked a little puffy from having his wisdom teeth pulled last week.

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We've known Tia and her family since she was 3 years old.  I've been enjoying her visit.

Later, we ventured down to the beach.  We sat in the car for about 20 minutes waiting on the rain to pass.

You can barely see Tia as Seth dragged her out in the surf.

After a while, the sun came out to make us happy.  It was a nice afternoon.  And, no.  I did not get in that freezing water.  At least not past my ankles.

Blog Friends

It is funny how when you "meet" someone online, you feel like you've been friends with them for a while.  That was the case with Anne.  But, we actually met in person while we were both adopting in 2010.  Our paths crossed in Guangzhou at the Victory Hotel every morning at breakfast.  Many in the adoption community probably know her daughter, Courtney, if they've ever visited RQ.  Over the last 3 years we've kept in touch through our blogs and emails.  It seems we have a whole lot of things in common.

We both had 3 biological children before adopting 3 more children.  I had 1 daughter and 2 sons; she had 2 daughters and 1 son.  She went on to adopt 3 boys, while I adopted 3 girls.  She has a cool husband; and I have a cool husband.  You get the picture.

She and her sweet family happened to be in the area to see her son graduate from boot camp; a familiar theme in our family.  So, I "encouraged" her to swing by our house on her way out of town.  She said she only could stay an hour to stretch their legs.  Well, they ended up spending about 3 hours stretching their legs, and it was a great visit.  I felt like I was meeting famous movie stars after reading about the family for so many years!

I think the little ones hit it off fairly well.  Ivy served as "big sister" to all of them.  The boys were very sweet and just as adorable in person as in the pictures.

Even our big boys managed a few words and played some basketball.  Yes, that is a blow torch in my son's hand.  They were burning brush.  Nothing that a couple of young men can't handle.

No pictures of our husbands.  They managed to stay in the air-conditioned house for most of the visit.  Maybe, just maybe one day, we can head to the Southwest to visit in their neck of the woods.  What a contrast to our mountains in Virginia.

More Asian Food

In keeping with the theme of Asian food from my previous post, I thought I'd share a Saucy Asian Meatball recipe from The Recipe Critic that seemed to go over well with my whole clan this evening.  Rarely is everyone at the dinner table satisfied with a meal.

And since I was fixing Asian food, I thought it would be appropriate to have Asian helpers in the kitchen with me.

Yes, they enjoyed squishing all the ingredients together that made about 3 dozen garlicky meatballs.

Joy preferred watching from the sidelines.  But, she did some stirring and took about a dozen pictures of me and raw meat.  Not a great combination since my "meatless for a month" experiment.  My meat consumption generally consists of tasting the meals I cook and making sure they taste just right. 

 One of Joy's 27 shots of me in the kitchen.  It was the only one without my eyes closed.

Yes, I generally have helpers or an audience in the kitchen.

And since we were having an Asian night, Ivy made some green tea in a green pitcher.

And, yes, I let my girls use real kitchen knives.  It is the only way to learn.

And since coming home from China many years ago, this is the only white rice that we buy.  I absolutely love it with a little soy sauce and sesame oil.  It makes me happy.

I warmed up all the ingredients for the sauce, and we sat down for dinner...after Jack removed the remaining cricket legs off the table cloth from yesterday's snack.  Yuck.

Apparently, the meatballs were so good that Joy (surprise) and Ivy had seconds.  The sauce was quite tangy, but I'm sure you could tone it down with less rice vinegar.  I was supposed to garnish the meal with sesame seeds and/or green onions.  But, that would have thrown Jack for a loop and he would have picked everything off.  One step at a time.

And I Thought You Could Only Get These In China

Mike travels a bit for work.  Mostly he is in Virginia or the Northeastern United States.  Today, he came home a whole day early with some snacks especially for Jack.

Yes, you are seeing that correctly.  Sour Cream and Onion crickets and Cheddar Cheese Worm snacks; Larvets to be exact.  It made my skin crawl.  I just could not even look at them.  Jack likes to try weird things, and this is quite bizarre.

Larvae just doesn't seem too appealing to me even if it is cheese flavored.

And, of course, the girls had to get in on the action.  They were quite fascinated with it all.  The treats actually sat on the table for a few hours while the girls contemplated their next move.

And to think...just 3 years ago, Ivy cried and her hands shook when she picked up a dead stink bug with a stick, and she once refused to touch an earthworm.  Now, she is eating crickets!

::CRUNCH::CRUNCH::

When I Ate...

...as much as she eats and stayed that skinny,

my dad told me I had worms in my tummy.  She just has a love for food.  Her perfect job would be a food tester/critic and travel all around the world sampling anything and everything.  She would be a very happy gal for sure.  Instead, she has to settle for my food or pizza take-out.

Lots of things happening in my spirit and in my thoughts.  But, not a whole lot to share with you, unfortunately.  Life sure takes us to strange places with its twists and turns.  It is amazing how our thoughts, plans, prayers, and ideas can change in just a year.  If God brings our family to your mind, prayers would be appreciated.