Date Night!

Last evening Jenn and I went on an early-Anniversary date, and it was our first night out since mid-May in Hong Kong. The report out of Grandma & Grandpa was that the kids did great, even for Henry's bedtime routine.We went to the Blue Point Grille for dinner, had a fantastic dinner of calamari, tuna (for Jenn) & grouper (for me), and a killer 'smores-style dessert. Then it was off to see Chris Tucker at the State Theater. To say that we were in the minority in the audience would be a tremendous understatement. Who says we're not doing our part for diversity? Most of the show was really, really funny, and overall it was a very pleasant evening out for us to be adults for awhile instead of glorified baby-sitters.It's hard to believe what all has happened over the past 9+ years. Over dinner we were recalling some of the shows and concerts we've been to, and we were half blown away to think that we saw Huey Lewis & the News 10 years ago. Holy cow! And to think three kids, one of them adopted, have popped up since our mid-vet school days is a bit crazy. I'm not sure our 2003 selves would believe seeing our 2012 selves.Earlier in the day on Saturday we went to a music class that good friends of ours have attended with their daughter for over a year. The teacher has a bachelors in music and a masters in child psychology, so he knows his stuff and how to reach these little kids. They bang on drums and all sorts of percussion instruments, they sing songs in 4/4 time and 3/3 time (I think that's how to say it... lousy musician here), and the room is set up so they can pretty much do whatever they want the whole time and not really ruin anything. Lincoln really got into it, Henry was pretty interactive, and it was Lydia that was the shy and reserved one. Kind of surprised me.

Also, at the end of the class, a mother approached me and commented about Henry's hand and drew my attention to her own hands. She'd had surgery to correct her amniotic banding and her fingers were of variable length & function. (One of the boys in our adoption group was born with the consequences of amniotic banding, so it was especially neat that this mother was so up front about it.) I hadn't noticed her situation at all during the class, and it's just evidence that folks with disabilities like that just figure out ways to do life and do it in such a way that doesn't draw an ounce of attention. Pretty cool.I want to take a moment and say something specifically to the adoptive parents reading this blog, the ones with whom we traveled around China. When we read your blogs and read between the lines and see that there are struggles with bringing your sons and daughters along, it... and I mean this with all sincerity, respect and in the purest form... it makes us feel better about our situation. To know that we're not the only ones with tough times makes the tough times so much easier to deal with, and in turn, makes things much easier for the kids, adopted & biological. If you're not an adoptive parent, this last paragraph didn't make much sense, and in fact you're probably wondering why I sound so crazy. But for you adoptive parents, you know what I'm talking about. Know that we're all going to make it!

Left on tap today is power washing the house. Jenn is going to set up the water table in the front yard, and because tonight is a bath night, we're going to get all sunscreened and sweaty this afternoon in a big family memory-building time. I can sense your envy as you read this.