Birds and Insects and Snakes, Oh My!

This past weekend, we went to the Georgia Botanical Garden and attended their children's animal "encounter." I didn't know what to expect, but I ended up having a GREAT time. Here is Baba holding me up so I could see everything. They had 18 different stations with lots of fun stuff to enjoy.

We first enjoyed looking at some birds. Here is a little owl that wasn't exactly friendly. But at least we got a picture of him.

And this was a much friendlier, bigger owl. I liked talking to him and saying, "hoo, hoo, hoo." He was so pretty!

Next, I searched for beetles in a pile of leaves. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I just kept ruffling the leaves around.

And then I spotted the beetle! And then the nice lady gave me a toy beetle to take with me as my prize.

Next, Mama and Baba introduced me to a snake. I did not really want to get close to him at first.

But then I decided that if Baba was friends with the snake, that it was OK for me to be. But I still wasn't ready to touch him yet.

I'm going to just look for a a few more minutes. I haven't made my final decision yet about touching him.

OK, I'm ready for a *quick* touch.

Now Mama is holding him. I think I want to try touching him again. He feels so smooth!

Look, he misses me already. He is reaching out and trying to get me to play with him some more!

Ooh - frogs! I love frogs. We have Kermit, our aquatic frog, at home. But these are bright yellow and red and are from the rain forest. I couldn't touch them because they were poisonous!

I'm looking at some butterflies and moths and such in a case. And I'm holding on dearly to my toy beetle. I love him.

Oh wow. What is this I see?

Wow, it's one of those HUGE hissing cockroaches! I am not sure about touching him.

Here is a close-up of Mr. Hissing Cockroach.

OK, we are sitting down for a little break. We get our picture taken in this same spot at least once a year. I have grown SO MUCH since last year!

Oh, and I now have a rubber mini snake to play with. It is pink, and I love it.

Oh wow. There is more to see! Thanks for letting me look around Baba!

More insects under glass to look at - cool! I'm seeing some beautiful butterflies! I love butterflies.

And now we are headed out onto the terrace to hear this guy play some drums.

He's making pretty music.

A giant butterfly is giving me more toy animals to play with. Cool!

Look at this bird. He is taller than me! I'm trying to talk to him.

And now a giant ladybug is giving me more toy animals. It just doesn't get any better than this!

Baba is showing this parrot a picture of some birds. Silly Baba.

Look at him. He is getting friendly and talkative!

OK bird, it's time for me to go. Bye bye!

Those are just a few pictures from our morning at the Botanical Gardens. We had a GREAT time. I love animals and really enjoyed learning about all the ones here - the birds, the frogs, the snakes, the insects. When we left, the nice people gave me a few booklets, two posters and a coloring book to help me learn more about birds that are indigenous to Georgia. I also learned the word "migration" and even saw a puppet show to help me understand what that means.

Well, that's it for now! We look forward to much more fun in the near future when we take our vacation to Siesta Key with Grandma and Pop Pop. Bye!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is Mommy blogging today instead of Mei-Ling, since it's "my" day. I first want to say that I feel so blessed to be celebrating my second Mother's Day with Miss Mei-Ling as my daughter. We've had another wonderful year together. I enjoy so many things about being her mother - from her sweet voice and belly laughs to her boundless energy and joy of living. She is a delightful child with a lot of spirit - sometimes a bit too much - just like her Mommy. She has a devilish sense of humor, the brightest smile, a very inquisitive mind, and a continual thirst for knowledge. She is compassionate and loving. She is, just as her paperwork from China stated - obstinate at times. :) She is everything I could have dreamed of in a child and is many things I would have never thought of asking for. I cannot imagine what my life would be like had I not met Mei-Ling.

We celebrated Mother's Day with a delicious lunch, a little shopping, a beautiful hand-made card to me from Mei-Ling and then another one that Baba helped her pick out and sign. There will be more celebration at the end of the month when we take a vacation with my mother and father and have a three-generation Mother's Day celebration all together. I also want to take time today to honor Mei-Ling's first Mommy in China. I know she probably doesn't even celebrate Mother's Day as we know it in America, but since my own motherhood was contingent upon her sacrifice, I celebrate her today as well. I continue to pray for her every day of my life in the hopes that she and her family are doing well and that somehow she knows Mei-Ling is loved and well taken care of. Maybe one day, we will know that information for sure.

I also wanted to use this post to share the most special moments with Mei-Ling - those from the day her Baba and I met her for the first time. It was October 9, 2006 in Chongqing, China. This is the video of the moment I became her mother. It transcended anything I had imagined or dreamed of. She never shed one tear and by that evening was behaving as if she had known us all along as her parents. So here, again, is one of the most pivotal moments of my life. At 37 years old, I became Mommy to the child I was destined to have in my life:

Happy Mother's Day to my own mother as well. I can't wait to see you at the end of the month on our trip!

Happy Birthday To My Brother Xavier

We recently celebrated my brother Xavier's 11th birthday. This year, he wanted to go bowling. So that's what we did. We let the men bowl while the ladies cheered them on. Here is Xavier getting things set up for the scoring. Oh, and many thanks to Aunt Kim for the beautiful dress she made and monogrammed for me. She actually gave it to me in 2007, but even though it was a 12-month size, it took me another year to grow into it. I love it!

And here are Doe and Grandma doing what they love - playing with me!! They sure do
smile a lot when they are around me.

OK, it's Xavier's turn to bowl. I can't wait to see how he does. That's a BIG ball.

Look at that concentration on his face!

Yaay! Xavier did pretty good!

Wow, and he knocked down a few more with his second ball.

And now it's Baba's turn! Doesn't he look cute standing up there with his big smile.
I love my Baba. :)

Yaay! Baba almost knocked all the pins down!

I love spending a little time in Pop Pop's lap.

Alright. Now it's Pop Pop's turn. He still has some good bowling moves for his age!
(We also won't talk about the fact that a 70-something Pop Pop beat my 30-something
Baba a couple of times).

There it goes Pop Pop! I think you'll knock them all down with this one.

And now I'm enjoying a little tickle-time with my Xavier.

Grandma is having fun watching the guys play!

I'm so happy today Grandma! I love spending time with you.

OK, Xavier just knocked down a bunch of pins! I need to cheer for him.

Yaay! He's doing a great job!

I'm back for another visit to Xavier's lap. I love him!

One thing I really enjoy doing is "honking" people's noses. I'm squeezing
Grandma's right now - "honk honk!"

And now it's Doe's turn for "honk, honk." Here I come!

Pop Pop is flashing us a big smile!

Ooh - Xavier is rolling the ball again!

Woohoo! He did good that time. I hope he knocks all the pins down!

Way to go Xavier!

We did have a wonderful weekend. We went to Xavier's favorite restaurant, Stevie B's Pizza, then bowled, and then went to Chick-Fil-A for their delicious shakes! It just doesn't get any better than that! Happy Birthday Xavier. I hope you had as good of a weekend as I did. And thanks again Aunt Kim for the beautiful dress!