Maine

After we left Hilton Head, we flew up to Maine and had a great time there with my parents. We always have certain things that we like to do while we are there (ie. we always go to Camden and climb Mount Battie, Bailey Island, eat lobster etc. Camden loves to fish and shoot also (yes - sounds quite manly :-) It was such a wonderful visit!!!

My Mom and Dad (and Abbey :-)) in Cape Elizabeth. We have decided that Abbey is the only dog that seems to look younger with age :-) She is 11 years old!!! My Mom and Dad look pretty good too ;-)

Beautiful South Portland!!

Family Photo

Mia feeding the Lama (before)

Mia feeding the Lama (after :-))

Our small town has a little free Library - so cute!!!

Bailey got lots of good driving practice on the hilly back roads of Maine :-)

Camden loved the freedom to shoot the BB gun :-)

Abbey has definitely taken over as the favored child :-), She is loved for sure!!!

Camden loves "the land"

My Mom had special treats for the kids when they arrived and throughout our stay :-)

Climbing Mout Battie - one of our favorite traditions!

The view from the top is amazing!

The "feet in cold water" challenge - my Mom always seems to win!!

This Bumper Sticker that we saw made me smile!

My parents' friends always invite us over for a a fun evening and delicious dinner!

And the view at their house is amazing! 

My Mom took us for the first time to Port Clyde

Such an adorable and timeless little village on the coast

We had a picnic lunch there at the lighthouse and had fun exploring on the rocks

Camden enjoyed driving the tractor

And Mia enjoyed cooking with my Mom

Abbey enjoyed the "Dog Days of Summer" at LL Bean.

We roasted Marshmellows in the fireplace

"Giant Stairs" at  Bailey Island

We had a great story made up about a ship wreck, but later found out that they just brought the boat up to the shore to clean the bottom...

Peppermint ice cream - one of my favorites - this is the kiddie cone!!! A favorite stop for the kids for sure !!!

And delicious lobster dinners too!!! Such a wonderful visit!!!!!

Hilton Head, SC

After visiting colleges with Bailey, we made it back to Hilton Head and had a great time with Bryan's parents relaxing and playing at the beach. Bryan's friends' came down for a few days also and we had a really nice time with them too. We went shark fishing one night, and Mia was proud to say that she definitely caught the biggest one (an enormous stingray, that was so big that it took a 1/2 hour to reel in and then in the end it was just too big to even pull out - thank goodnees Bailey and then Bryan's Dad took the reel or Mia would have definitely been pulled in). A good fish story for sure :-). It was a great time!!!

Beautiful!!!!

Taking a pause from the lowtide :-)

Shark fishing

So peaceful!!!

Mia loved the beach!!!

Family Photo :-)

They had so much fun the last night - the waves were really big!

Love these 3!!!

One of the sharks caught ... A little unnerving to know that this is swimming around!

Bailey Time...

After we left our "China Sisters" in Florida, we brought Mia back up to visit with Bryan's Parents (Camden was already there) and spent some quality time with Bailey looking at colleges and (yikes!) getting her learners permit!  I have said it a thousand times and I am sure I will say it a thousand more - there is something that doesn't feel quite right about putting a 15 1/2 year old (that is the age in S. Carolina to actually drive by themselves) on the road without drivers ed and without a driving test that is actually taken on the road (opposed to an empty parking lot with a few cones). Just to clarify what that means to me...if we lived in the U.S., my middle child would be free to drive on his own in February - No offense Camden, but I'm not sure if the world is quite ready for that :-) A little scary for sure!!! Anyway, Bailey was super excited and got lots of practice driving on the curvy and hilly Maine Roads. It is still against the law here in Germany though (until 18 years old) for her to drive, so she will have to wait -but it was fun for a while :-). Anyway, back to our "College Road Trip". We actually only went on a couple of formal tours - one at UGA and one at Clemson. She enjoyed both of them tremendously. It was sad in a way, but also so much fun thinking about everything that she has to look forward to. She loves the idea of a big school. I think her "perfect" would be UGA, but of course there is the question of getting in :-). We also got to meet with friends along the way - we met up with; our great friends the Hatcher family, my college roommate and her daughter (who just happened to be up at Clemson while we were there - such perfect timing), and Bryan's boss and his wife who just retired back to the U.S. after living in Germany 10 plus years. We had such a nice trip and it was so great spending some quality time with Bailey (especially after her being away for a month). Cherishing the time now for sure, but also so excited for her future at the same time!!!

Congratulations Bay!!!

UGA

The tour was especially good at UGA - She really enjoyed it!

We walked over to the Stadium and this nice man offered to take our photo. It turns out that he is a Chaplain there and has lived in Athens most of his life. He had nothing but great things to say about the school.

Bryan and Dale (Bryan's former boss). They took us out to Sobey's in Greenville for dinner. It was funny because their colleague in Germany is named Sobey :-)

We were really impressed with Greenville! 

Clemson

Clemson has a beautiful Campus!

We went to a yummy Barbecue place for lunch with my roomate and her daughter. It was so fun for Bailey to hear all about Clemson from a current students' perspective.

Had to throw this in here too - when we were in Maine, we wnt to check out the Bowdoin Campus. Definitely a prestigious feel to it. We saw students having there photo taken with sport coats and pants - Bailey decided right away that she could never see herself there...  We laughed when she said she would be afraid that she might use the wrong fork or something during meal time :-)

China Sisters

Our name for these girls used to be "China Friends", but it has changed now to "China Sisters". These are the 6 other girls who lived with Mia for her first 11 months of life and "walked" in the same paths until we all met up in China to be forever families. It was such a bonus to travel in China the first time with these 6 families. Right before we left to move to Germany back in 2008, we met up with 5 of the girls for a reunion - the girls were only 3 years old then. In fact, I think it was my first blog post way back when! At the beginning of our U.S. trip this month (7 years later) we were able to meet back up with them in Florida and we had such an amazing time. I was frankly a bit nervous about the potential for awkwardness, being that; the girls are 10 years old now, are completely different in many ways, and don't "really" know each other. I had nothing to worry about though - the moment we checked into the hotel and went to the pool - the girls immediately hopped out of the pool and came running up to Mia to give her a big hug. I knew right then that it was going to be a fun weekend! And it really was so much fun! Swimming in pools, mini golf, beach time, yummy dinners etc - the girls got to know each other as "tweens" and I think it was a perfect age because there was no awkwardness at all. Mia came running up to us on the first day and mentioned a conversation that was had amongst the girls... She said, "Mommy - isn't it great - we all have problems! I looked at her a little funny and then she explained how; she (Mia) mumbles when she talks, one of her "sisters" doesn't pronounce her "R's strongly, one has lots of energy etc. I loved that they came to the conclusion that it is ok to have unique differences, but they are "sisters" so it doesn't matter at all! So cute!!! What a gift it is to have this relationship with these families - so grateful!!!

Can't believe these girls are 10!!!

Such a fun group! 

Keira and Mia

A night out on the town!

At the beach

Silly girls!

Can you tell - we had a bit of a photo session :-)

5 of "our" 7 girls - love these kids!!!

The last night, we found this huge empty room at the conference center. The girls ran and played for hours and the parents had a chance to relax and chat - it was such a nice time!

This was the original photo...

And here is where the silliness really started - the girls all reenacted a photo from the "red couch" (above)  A bit like the dominoe effect....

A month away and now back to reality!!! School Begins!!!

We have been away for the month of August visiting the U.S. and had such a great time. I have lots of posts about our visit, but first I have to share a quick back to school post. We got back on Saturday, and the kids started school right away - jet lag and all. Bailey is a Junior, and Camden is a Freshman - so hard to believe! It is so nice that they are back in the same school this year. The excitement of the first day is always fun, but then the reality sets in, that this schedule must continue for a full school year - ugh!!! We have a few more weeks with Mia's vacation still, so that is definitely a plus. Happy Back to School Day - 2015!!!!