Wow...where does the time go

Well, the time goes to Samantha. Having turned 2 on August 2nd, she is certainly demanding a lot of attention from us. Which boils down to not a lot of time to update the blog. She continues to grow, both physically and mentally, and never ceases to amaze us with what she understands and can repeat.

She truly brings a great deal of joy to our lives every day. The same can be said for all the other families that joined us in the wonderful adoption journey. It was our pleasure to host our first anniversary reunion, drawing in our fellow travelers from Belle River, London, Iron Bridge, Burlington, and Elmira. A couple of the other families were unavailable, or one of the family members was ill, however we all had a great time and it's amazing to see how quickly the children become reacquainted and play well together.

The summer, although extremely wet this year, was a lot of fun. Especially with us and the "Wong" clan spending a couple of weeks on the west coast, including an Alaskan cruise.

We all had a wonderful time, and Samantha really got to know her cousins. Unfortunately that also meant that she experienced new things, like a "chip" party. Thanks Uncle Terry.

Unfortunately that brings me to the end of this post, and what will be the last posting. We've enjoyed sharing this journey with everyone, and hope that you have enjoyed following our travels and the beginning of Samantha's life in Canada. It has certainly been an incredible journey.

Thanks...Shirley, Ron and Samantha

Christmas '07 and Then Some

Samantha turned 18 months yesterday, and it reminded me how long it has been since I've posted anything to this blog. My apologies to everyone who checks this site to find out how she (and hopefully "we") are doing. I'd like to say I promise to do better in the future, but let's be fair and say I promise to TRY to do better in the future.

Since the last post was Halloween, there's a lot of ground to cover. She continues to have a better social life than either Mommy or Daddy, and no sign of things changing in the near future - playgroups, KinderGym, and the library keep Samantha and Mommy busy every day of the week. Saturday is still Daddy's day, and she absolutely loves the water and her swimming lessons. She completed her "Starfish" at the end of last year and is now in the "Duck" program. This girl is definitely not afraid of the water, or being underneath it. I think her new instructor was a little concerned when we were in the big pool and I had Samantha jump off the side of the pool into my arms, except rather than catching her I let her plunge into the water. Under water she kicks her legs to get back to the surface, and when I pull her up she's all smiles. Mommy hasn't seen this yet either, so this is probably a heads up for her as well.

The other thing that happened between Halloween and Christmas was a reunion of some of the families that we traveled to China with. It was great to see everyone back together again, and amazing at how quickly they became reaquainted. It was almost as if no time had passed at all and they were all playing well together - or as well as 7 kids can play together.

We also took the opportunity to try to get a "couch" picture of all the kids. Needless to say it's not that easy to get them all sitting, smiling, and facing the camera, all at the same time, but I think we did a pretty good job.
Now to get all the names straight. From left to right its: Holly, Haddie, Rachelle, Zack, Kaia, Samantha, Amelia.

We've got another reunion scheduled for late April. Let's see if they'll sit nice then, when we expect to see even more of them reunited.

So now we move on to Christmas. This year was a "Wong" Christmas and we unfortunately were not able to get down to Leamington to see the "Penner's". Although Samantha wasn't sure what to make of this large man in a red suit, the fact that he came with boxes wrapped in bright paper seemed to make him ok. The ones that she was handed directly were pretty cool, but that was nothing compared to what he dropped off for her Christmas Eve. Samantha woke to a huge pile of presents, so many that since that morning she has only seen a fraction of them. Mommy and Daddy are rotating in new gifts as time goes on; one because there is no way she can play with that many toys at any one time, and two because there is no way we could have them all in the family room and still have room for us to move. She certainly doesn't seem to miss them, and it's a joy to watch her play with a new toy as it's brought out.

But Christmas isn't all about toys, and the family aspect was front a center. It's definitely a great time to get that picture of Papa and all his grand kids, as well as the whole Wong family.
The other thing that Christmas is known for is food. Aside from the Christmas Eve standards, egg rolls and chicken balls, If there is one thing Samantha has plenty of it's appetite. She never ceases to amaze us at how much she can put away. She typically eats her entire meal and then eats a similar amount from our plates.

Samantha also surprised cousin Taylor showing her the amount of food she can stuff into her mouth at one time.
Christmas found Samantha exposed to her first real hit of sugar - a candy cane - thanks Aunty Sandra and Aunty Lana.

The other thing we know is that Samantha loves music and absolutely loves to dance.

She managed to lock on to Uncle Roy and Aunt Sandra and show them a thing or two. Hopefully that's as close as she gets to table dancing for a long, long time.

But when you play hard, there's the crash and burn, and Samantha can do that with the best of them - even if it's right in the middle of giving one of her best friends, her Polar Bear, a good hug.

But with the holidays finally over, it's nice to be able to sit back and reflect over the past year as Samantha sits back and explains to Uncle Vic and Aunt Jean who all the people are in the 2007 Wong family calendar. Rumour has it that the 2008 calendars should be here any day now - not that there's been any pressure on Aunty Lana to get them done. After all, it's only February.

So we leave you with Samantha sitting on top of one of our driveway snow piles saying goodbye until we post again.