Post-Easter

Another Easter has come and gone. This was particularly meaningful for us this year as our small group worked through a Passover Seder and paid close attention to the four cups of wine. So symbolic and so significant. It was great.The kids ate more candy on Sunday than they had the previous two months combined.

Lydia has been coming out of her shell even more recently. She's sure she's talking, and I can make out a few words, but that's about it. But she's running a full conversation whether you're keeping up or not. She's also making big messes.
Unfortunately, we're not getting much of a response from Henry's orphanage in our attempts to learn how he's been growing. We'd like to know what size clothes to take with us for him, but the communication isn't flowing much right now. I'm sure they're busy with lots to do, and the staff at the orphanage doesn't even know when he's leaving, so they don't know what kind of priority to place on the requests... shoot, if they haven't received the packages we've sent, they don't even know that he's got a family yet. So there's a variety of reasons why we may not be hearing much, but we'd still like to know. All in time, I guess...

Finally, partners in crime...

Cleveland Zoo 2012

Today was our first visit to the Cleveland Zoo of 2012 (and since 2010, for that matter). The Elephant Crossing is first-class, and the Rainforest is really cool, as always. We overlapped the kids' naptimes, and they were really good throughout. We also saw some things today that we hadn't seen before: the sloth actually moved, the chameleon changed colors & Lydia climbed onto some of the exhibits.The kids were completely wiped out when they got home and they each voluntarily went to sleep. So we just need to take them to the zoo for 3 hours every day...

Reading Material

Lincoln has always been into books, seemingly from the womb. Lydia has only recently shown more than a passing interest in books. What fun to watch from our parents' perspective is what books they're each into.

Lincoln found an old book of mine that is a cartoon representation of anatomy and physiology. He's learned about red blood cells, white blood cells, how the voice box works, how the eating machine works, how we feel different temperatures and textures, etc.
Lydia has been requesting on a nightly basis a booklet that we got at the lamb farm a couple of weeks ago. It talks about the importance of farmers and ranchers to our nation and lifestyle, and is more or less a booklet of agricultural statistics. I like it, but it's hard to believe how much Lydia likes it. There's not action, no story line, and no characters, but she's riveted by it. Might we have a budding FFA?

Ducks & Lambs

We've been hanging with the animals lately. Last evening after work we went to a duck pond with some bread crust and fed the geese and ducks.This morning, we met Michael & Annie King and their daughter, Grace, at The Spicy Lamb Farm in Peninsula for a lamb event. There were lambs everywhere, along with a pig, llama, peacock, some horses and a couple of dogs. It was muddy, but the lambs were cute and the rain held off, so it was a nice morning.

Kids @ The Clinic

Yesterday was a first in the Gates Family History. Because of a circle of events, the kids got to spend a day at work with me. That's right. Lincoln and Lydia spent Wednesday morning at the Clinic. Let's just say that it's not my plan to do that again any time soon.I picked up some Bob Evans for breakfast, and took a bunch of toys and books. But in the end, Lydia just wanted to wander around and/or play with the Rimadyl bottles. Lincoln was pretty interactive with my clients, and I had a string of clients that were very understanding and of patients that were very, very friendly. Rachel, my RVT, was also a huge help, and the kids love her.

Hopefully the next time they have to spend that much time with me at the clinic I'll be able to put them to work.

Ella is here!

For those outside the immediate Hopwood Information Circle, Emily had her baby on Monday and Ella Kate & mom are doing well. Jeremy is a proud papa, and Grace & Cole are just a little excited.
Our Visa paperwork is moving along very quickly, we have come to learn. China is on the horizon.

Henry's Room is Taking Shape

For starters, the kids got a haircut this past week, and for Lydia, it was her first. She's just a little darling!As we're in the home-stretch of Henry's adoption, we're looking for things to keep us busy as far as he's concerned, and right now, we're putting the finishing touches on his room.

Test Post

This is a test. As the time quickly approaches for us to go to China to
meet Henry and bring him home, Jenn and I have been giving thought to how
we're going to communicate with Lincoln, Lydia, and the rest of our
family/friends at home while we're there. Researching the blogging
opportunities in China has not been encouraging. Officially blocked by the
Great (fire)Wall of China are: Blogger (which is the platform for The
Gates Experiment), Picasa (which hosts the photos that you see
here), Wordpress (the blog platform to which I'd move if moving would give
better blogging prospects). I understand that Facebook access is spotty,
as well. So when it comes to keeping you all up to date while we're
half-way around the world, I'm hoping that I'll be able to e-mail posts to
Blogger. That's what this is, my first attempt to post here (after >450
posts!) via e-mail. If you're reading this, it worked. The real test will
be which e-mail I'll have access to while we're in China. We'll see...

First Hike of 2012

Today was our first real hike of 2012. The weather was beautiful, and aside from some muddy parts of the trail, it was very pleasant to be out there. We went on the Cross Country Trail, which is 2.5 miles, and Lincoln held up very well. It was his longest hike without being carried for at least some portion, and the fact that he did it on his first hike of the season impressed us.On a completely different subject, Lincoln is starting to gather some steam on the reading front. He's sounding out letters and making out simple words. Our teaching/learning bursts don't last long because he'll either get bored or frustrated, but he's making pretty good progress during the durations where we stay on task.

First Zoo Trip of 2012

I'm really getting behind the curve here.

Lincoln has been helping me with a few painting projects. One of them is for Henry's room, and when we're through with it, we'll post some photos.He's also been back to playing with Legos after a brief hiatus. This has been prompted a bit by his receiving the Lego Club Magazine where he enjoys playing some of the word games as well as looking at the photos of things that "kids have made." I'm convinced that parents are building those things, but what do I know. So Lincoln built a couple of guns of which he wanted me to take photos. I like his iniative spirit!
We've also been battling some coughs... all of us have.
Last Saturday I had a Daddy Day with the kids while Jenn was at work in the morning, so after a few errands, we went for our first Akron Zoo visit of the season. Sure it was cold, but we still had fun.Thankfully, Lydia has been more into books lately. You'll recall that Lincoln was interested in books seemingly from the womb. Lydia, not so much. But over the last few weeks, she's been more interested in picking out books and sitting still for longer periods of time while we read to her.She's also learned to use a step stool very, very effectively.
And word out of middle Tennessee is that the Hopwoods are still waiting...