Saturday night our friends, Karen and Huibert, were in town with their children, Linus and Milana. Why is this an international affair? Aside from the fact that Karen is originally from England (with a great accent) and Huibert is originally from Holland, David and I met Karen and Huibert while we were in Russia for our adoptions. Karen and Huibert were in the process of adopting Milana from the same baby home as Madeline.
Since we used the same agency and were going to the same baby house we traveled together twice a day to visit our daughters (Linus was also adopted from the same baby home 2 years earlier). In the evenings we would hang out, go to dinner, cruise the Volga River, gripe about the bitchiness of our coordinator, drink Balticas in the hotel lobby and wait, wait, wait for our Gotcha Days.
I must say Karen and Huibert helped save my sanity during the stressful process living in Russia for a month, along with everything else that goes along with international adoption. Since our time in Russia, we have kept in touch and actually had the opportunity to stop by their place in Michigan while en route to visit David's parents in Indiana. This weekend Karen, Huibert and the kids were in town to visit Niagara Falls and we had the opportunity to visit with each other.
Saturday afternoon, after their visit to the Falls, Karen & Huibert's family came over. The three kids had an absolute blast together. They played so hard! I made the kids a kid-friendly dinner of tomato soup, grilled cheese, fries, carrot sticks & grape tomatoes. The kids ate while the adults snacked on appetizers. We planned for a babysitter and after more hard play and a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", we put the kids to bed and the sitter stayed with them as the grown-ups headed out for a late dinner.
This morning, I made a gut-bustin' "Hungry Man" breakfast (thanks Paul and Penney for the recipe). Knowing that Karen, Huibert and the kids had to hit the road to head home we wanted to find an activity to do that was close to home. We ended up heading to the pumpkin patch that Madeline went to the other day for her school field trip. Madeline totally didn't mind as she was having an absolute blast with her friends. After the pumpkin
patch we made a stop at a local park to walk their dogs....and more play time for the kids as they headed for the playground equipment. Finally, the seven of us headed to Wendy's for lunch before our friends had to head home. It was such a nice visit and it was so nice to see the kids have such a nice time together.
Huibert recently accepted an offer for a new job in L.A. Huibert has to head west at the beginning of November but Karen and the kids are staying in Michigan until after the first of the year. We vowed to try to find time to get together with the kids before they leave. Hopefully we will be able to meet in Sandusky, Ohio at one of the indoor water parks for a girls (+ kids) overnight retreat. Let's plan on it!!! As for this weekend, we had a blast....thanks for making the trip!
Saturday night our friends, Karen and Huibert, were in town with their children, Linus and Milana. Why is this an international affair? Aside from the fact that Karen is originally from England (with a great accent) and Huibert is originally from Holland, David and I met Karen and Huibert while we were in Russia for our adoptions. Karen and Huibert were in the process of adopting Milana from the same baby home as Madeline. 
Since we used the same agency and were going to the same baby house we traveled together twice a day to visit our daughters (Linus was also adopted from the same baby home 2 years earlier). In the evenings we would hang out, go to dinner, cruise the Volga River, gripe about the bitchiness of our coordinator, drink Balticas in the hotel lobby and wait, wait, wait for our Gotcha Days. 
I must say Karen and Huibert helped save my sanity during the stressful process living in Russia for a month, along with everything else that goes along with international adoption. Since our time in Russia, we have kept in touch and actually had the opportunity to stop by their place in Michigan while en route to visit David's parents in Indiana. This weekend Karen, Huibert and the kids were in town to visit Niagara Falls and we had the opportunity to visit with each other.
Saturday afternoon, after their visit to the Falls, Karen & Huibert's family came over. The three kids had an absolute blast together. They played so hard! I made the kids a kid-friendly dinner of tomato soup, grilled cheese, fries, carrot sticks & grape tomatoes. The kids ate while the adults snacked on appetizers. We planned for a babysitter and after more hard play and a viewing of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown", we put the kids to bed and the sitter stayed with them as the grown-ups headed out for a late dinner.
This morning, I made a gut-bustin' "Hungry Man" breakfast (thanks Paul and Penney for the recipe). Knowing that Karen, Huibert and the kids had to hit the road to head home we wanted to find an activity to do that was close to home. We ended up heading to the pumpkin patch that Madeline went to the other day for her school field trip. Madeline totally didn't mind as she was having an absolute blast with her friends. After the pumpkin 
patch we made a stop at a local park to walk their dogs....and more play time for the kids as they headed for the playground equipment. Finally, the seven of us headed to Wendy's for lunch before our friends had to head home. It was such a nice visit and it was so nice to see the kids have such a nice time together.
Huibert recently accepted an offer for a new job in L.A. Huibert has to head west at the beginning of November but Karen and the kids are staying in Michigan until after the first of the year. We vowed to try to find time to get together with the kids before they leave. Hopefully we will be able to meet in Sandusky, Ohio at one of the indoor water parks for a girls (+ kids) overnight retreat. Let's plan on it!!! As for this weekend, we had a blast....thanks for making the trip!
1 comment:
Sounds like an amazing weekend!
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