MONTH 2

Well, once again time has gotten away from from us, and the blog updates are not coming out as regularly as we had hoped. It just goes to show that we're having too much fun to afford time to write about all of the stuff that is going on.

Over the past few weeks, the kids have continued on with their adjustments into our family, settling onto a routine of sorts. But we have also had the opportunity to introduce them to a lot of things they had never done before. The recent arrival of warm weather has enabled us to partake in a lot more outside activities, and we've been trying to take advantage of it. First off, we took the kids on their first (and more to come) boat ride with Jill's family. We had a great time exploring the coves and beaches of our local reservoir, with the kids taking turns at the wheel (with Grandpa Mike's assistance). It was a tiring, sun-soaked day, causing some of the kids to fall asleep on the boat, but it was a great opportunity for them to get the chance to do something new with their extended family.

And then the following weekend we took the kids to their first baseball game...we decided to go on the basis that the stadium was taking time out of the game to honor foster/adoptive parents and kids, so we had an entire section set aside for all of us. We thought that it would be important for us to take part in such a special event, even though the kids were in it for the snacks and baseball. Ricky and Vera were obviously more into the game than Ana, but they all seemed to have a fun time (we even made it to the 9th inning!). And the Rockies won as an added bonus (Score!).

The weekend after that we were off again to Denver, and took them to our local Six Flags amusement park. The park was open exclusively to kids that attend Catholic schools in the area (Jill has her connections), and so it was a bit less chaotic than usual. And it was great experiencing the rides and such through the kids. We didn't really have chance to go on the bigger rides, but it was a fun time nonetheless.

There have also been a lot of get togethers with their "new" cousins (as April/May are busy months for birthdays), and they are all enjoying their time together. Other exciting events included: a brief fishing excursion with their Uncle Chris; their first drive up into the mountains; and going swimming (even though they had a difficult time with the whole "swimming" part).

This week is the last week of school, and I think the kids are looking forward to having a bit of time away from the daily grind. We've got them enrolled in a variety of activities over the summer that should keep them busy...but not busy enough to keep them from having fun.

And that's about it...our last bit of big news happened the other day when Vera decided to chop off over 10 inches of her hair, donating it to Locks For Love. She's still insecurely happy about it, but we think it looks adorable on her.

That is about it for this installment. Stay tuned for more updates in the not too near future.

P.S. Jill and I are doing well and keeping sane in case anyone was curious (even though we do miss our alone time).