SUCH a long time between updates

Wow, I never knew summer could be so busy. I don't remember it being so busy when I was a child. Is it just because there's more out there to do these days, or is it just because we now have a daughter old enough to do them?

Calli has been particularly busy, she has attended a two week day camp, with 45 minute commute each way. We had to get up at 6:30 to do it, but she really had fun. It was a FREE day camp run by the Greater Detroit Ass'n for the Blind and Visually Impaired. They also put on Calli's goalball camp. It was fun and independence/life skills teaching at the same time. She had Judo classes (LOVED them), went to visit a firestation, went to Target and was given money to spend (I was told NOT to send money). they went to a museum, played a little goalball, helped prepare lunch, learned to fold clothes, learned to make a bed (note, Calli already knows those last three things pretty well and helps with them all the time) she made crafts and was voted 'Best Judo Student' and 'Most Enthusiastic New Camper' She has already signed herself up for next year's camp!

We also made a trip to Milwaukee to see both my relatives and to see Calli's Foster sisters from Bethel, Jenna and Rosanna. I was really impressed by how well they both behaved. Acer even gave me enough notice to get off the freeway to find him places to go potty. He didn't fuss to much over the 8 1/2 hour drive either. I'd even brought a new toy for each of them and neither quibbled about the fact that we then had to wait to get batteries at the next truck stop. Acer's needed a screw driver to put the batteries in, but I had the batteries, and Calli's needed AAA batteries but I'd misread it and only brought AA. They were patient and I was thankful.

My Aunt Marlene is a wonderful, sweet woman who has failed alot since I last saw her, maybe 4 years ago. Despite the distance, we've kept in touch by phone so we've always felt loved by the other. She is very wobbly on her feet and her memory is going now, it was sad to see. I was really glad I'd brought the kids out to see her. She was very amused by their musical talent and delighted in hearing them sing and play on their musical toys. We also got to see both my cousins, Kathy and Kim, always enjoy their company and wonder why we don't get together more often.

It was really nice to see Jenna and Rosanna and meet their family. They have 3 sisters, and as their mom had taken them on vacation, it was a family of 6 females we got to meet. They drove in from Eau Clair to meet us, they'd been up from Arkansas to visit relatives in EC. We lucked out and ended up with rooms right next to each other. The hotel had a pool and a hot tub and we spent hours there. It was really great to meet their mom, for me, because our adoption stories are so similar. She adopted a daughter, , at 27 months old in late 2006. We adopted Acer at 29 months in May 2007. She adopted Jenna and Rosanna at eight years old in 2008 and we adopted Calli at 9 in 2009. All the children we've adopted between us are at least severly Vi, with Acer's eyes being the worst at totally blind. Probably the best moment was when we decided to walk the block to Boston Market to pick up food for dinner. Boy did we get the looks - Seven kids, five from China, five with canes, two adult females. We were pretty spread out with everyone's different walking speeds. (Acer's pretty fast when he wants to, but he sure can dawdle when he doesn't want to do something.) so we took up about 150 linear feet on the sidewalk.

The kids travelled home well too, and I was overall very proud of how well they behaved.

Okay, so I'm running out of time now, so I'll just post this and post the rest later (with pictures hopefully)