Gotcha Day (belated)

June 25th 2007 was the day that we were able to bring Madeline home with us. "Home" at that time just happened to be a hotel in Astrakhan, Russia. Each year we celebrate the anniversary of this date, Madeline's "Gotcha Day". This year, June 25th fell during the time that David and I were away on our romantic get-away celebrating my 40th birthday. Although we could have celebrated this a day late, while we were still in Maryland, David & I decided that we preferred to wait until we were back at home.

Our "Gotcha Day" celebrations are never elaborate, just a quiet evening together as a family and a small Gotcha Day gift for Madeline. Tonight we went out for dinner.....nothing special, just TGIFridays because we had a ($20 off!) coupon. We ended up at Fridays in downtown Buffalo because we wanted to sit on a patio and eat outside. That idea fell through, however, because the temperature downtown was MUCH cooler than by our house since downtown is so close to Lake Erie. Madeline was still thrilled because the restaurant is on the rail line. She begged us to ride the train and so, after dinner we hopped on the Metro rail up and back on the free portion of the rail downtown. On our way home, we stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream cones. Finally, we ended the day by giving Madeline her Gotcha Day gift, a huge stuffed Hello Kitty. Madeline's bedtime story was her "Gotcha Day" story and now, Madeline and Hello Kitty are snuggled up together, sleeping soundly. Happy Gotcha Day, honey! We love you soooo much!