Update 22 July 2012

We were privileged to spend most of this week in Indiana with the Rytting-Monson Clan. We passed a lot of time together playing games, but the highlight of the week came on Friday when we visited the Indianapolis Speedway Museum. Despite the fact that almost all of us had lived in Indiana for multiple years, none had ever entered inside Indiana's iconic stronghold. We enjoyed a tour around the track as well as the many spectacular vehicles--including the 1909 winner of the first Indy race.

I also got to visit with Rosalie Vermette, my former French teacher at IUPUI. Not only was she an excellent teacher, but she also gave me a mentoring position in 2005 that set me on the path to teaching French. I cannot express how grateful I am for her example and support in helping me to discover my career path.  

On Saturday, we traveled to Santa Claus, Indiana, for a special day at the Holiday World and Splashin' Safari theme parks. Other adoptive families--graduates from our beloved agency, Families Thru International Adoption--converged from all over the Midwest for FTIA's annual reunion. We didn't run into any old friends, but it was fun to celebrate adoption with so many families. The leader of our agency, who helped guide the 2007 Hague decision, reported the sad news that he does not expect Guatemala to ever reopen to adoption. In fact, his friend and lawyer Pedro "disappeared" in Guatemala two years ago after openly advocating adoption. We are so fortunate to have gotten Carlos when we did, and we see God's hand in leading us to him at just the right time; only one year later and the opportunity would have closed to us forever.

The "Wildebeest" water slide--unlike anything you've ever experienced!

Holiday World itself is a unique anomaly in our politically correct world. As you might expect, this Bible Belt theme park has a Christmas Land, but certain other religious holidays are noticeably absent, LOL. Also, its southerly location naturally attracts America's redneck population, which results in a pretty appalling skank factor (read: people that smell and look like the cows they raise). So, along with celebrating our multicultural family, we enjoyed an unusual cultural experience. But we were impressed by three positive aspects of the park: (1) sunscreen was free and plentiful; (2) beverages were free and plentiful; and (3) the water was pleasantly warm--like, in the 80s. 

With all of the new teacher meetings I have in August, this coming week essentially marks my last week of summer. It has been the shortest of my life, and I sincerely hope that time will slow down once the school year starts (or I will have no way of keeping ahead!). Happily, these past few weeks have afforded us lots of great opportunities with relatives and friends--good times and good memories. 

*I don't have my usual access to pictures, so the pics in this blog are all from Wikipedia.

Update 15 July 2012

Happy birthday to our six-year-old Carlos! He milked his birthday privileges on a tyrannical scale but somehow managed to still be cute at the end of the day as we celebrated at Chipotle. Many thanks to the many people who made his day so special!

On Wednesday, the kids went swimming with friends while I trekked to Santa Clarita to sign my teaching contract. Happily, my credential program translated into enough post-baccalaureate work that I am not starting at the bottommost rung of the humble salary scale.

 

I am now manically alternating between waves of excitement and panic as the school year looms ever closer. I will be teaching all four levels of French, including AP Language & Culture. I am grateful to my principal who enrolled me in an AP conference at the beginning of August; I look forward to picking the brains of veteran teachers. I begin work on August 8th, so it feels like summer is about to end as quickly as it began.

 

 

Other highlights of the week included a visit to the Skirball Museum’s exhibit of Noah’s Ark and a couple of very sweaty hours at Sky High Trampoline Park. 

 

much-needed refreshment after so much jumping!

And, of course, though we can’t claim credit for the work, we were thrilled to welcome David and Heidi’s little girl, Elise Bayles on the 12th. She looks so kissable!

 

Saturday was jam-packed full of parties. We kicked off the day by hosting Carlos’s friends to an Angry Birds birthday party. 

   

Next, we drove to Santa Monica for a falafel party with some Palestinian friends. Mmmm! 

Nagat

 

Bader, Carla, Kirk

Finally, we returned to Encino for a Pioneer Day party at our church. Phew!

Arianna & 

 

 

This coming week, we are off to Indiana and Carlos’s adoption reunion. We are excited to meet Dayne, the kids’ new Monson cousin, for the first time and look forward to catching up with Kirk’s siblings.

Update 8 July 2012

Happy Independence Day!

We spent this week in Las Vegas, as July is a big birthday time for my family. Andrew, Carlos, and I have birthdays within the same week—along with various cousins and other relatives. My mom worked hard to recreate my new favorite dessert, a heavenly rendition of Strawberry Shortcake that I discovered at Bea’s Bakery in Tarzana. 

  

While most of the country baked in record-breaking heat and power outages, we (ironically) found ourselves trapped indoors for most of the 4th thanks to a very unusual summer rainstorm that cooled the Las Vegas Valley. The clouds cleared just in time for fireworks, and Kirk transformed into his blowtorch-wielding pyrophillic alter ego. 

 

"expecto patronum!"

On Thursday we saw Disney’s new movie “Brave,” which tells the story of a headstrong Scottish princess. After the movie, my mom (whose family is Scottish) showed our family tartans and broaches to the kids.

 

We spent Friday at Lake Mead, which was surprisingly empty and pleasantly placid despite the holiday week. Maren and Kirk impressed us with their wake boarding skills and then piloted the boat around the lake, humoring Carlos’s and my cries of “faster!”

  

  

Carlos had a fun early birthday party on Saturday and then, per his request, we went bowling. (For some reason, he associates Las Vegas with bowling and only asks to bowl when we are there.) Despite not getting a single strike, Kirk won the game—passing up even the amazing Maren of Bonanza’s Bowling Team!

no bumpers for these pros!

Carlos, Arianna, & Lauren: scores with bumpers

It was nice to spend the week with my parents and siblings, and we look forward to further celebrations this week, as David and Heidi will have their baby one way or another (thus sayeth the doctor). Carlos hopes she arrives tomorrow on his birthday so they will name her Carly or Caroline or Carlotta, LOL. 

Update 1 July 2012

This week, we celebrated our first official day of summer vacation by relaxing at Zuma Beach with my parents. We watched dolphins and a seal playing in the surf while we warmed ourselves on the sand. Later Monday, Grandma and Grandpa returned to Las Vegas.

I dedicated Tuesday to knocking off a number of tasks from my hiring packet—requesting transcripts from all 4 of my universities, turning in paperwork validating my medical fitness to work, and getting fingerprinted. I also showed the kids around my new campus and classroom. They were both really impressed, but Carlos became offended when I banned him from racing around the grounds.

The sudden arrival of unstructured freedom wore on the kids’ self control, and by Wednesday WAR had begun. I tried to break up the battles by reading The Lost Hero to the kids, but you can only read aloud for so long (and then you just gotta let them kill each other). We joined friends for swimming on Thursday, and I thanked them for prolonging my kids’ existence.

We used our Disneyland passes for the last time on Friday and Saturday. The Happiest Place on Earth recently opened a new section of California Adventure Land that is wholly dedicated to “Cars.” They did such an amazing job recreating Radiator Springs that the park was super crowded. The three new rides averaged line wait times of 1-3 hours each—maybe not a worthwhile pastime if you plan on renewing your annual passes, but we waited it out since this was our final hurrah.

This coming week we plan to celebrate our many family birthday parties in Las Vegas. Hopefully, David and Heidi’s little girl (due July 4th) will arrive in time to add another party to our schedule. We wish them the best of luck with their foray into new parenthood! Happy 4th of July!