Calgary part 3

We got home late this aft. Laundry is underway, the car has been emptied of all stuff, car seat cover is washed and drying, Dan vaccuumed out the remaining french fries and pretzels. As all 5 of us were going, the Highlander was roomier, but I couldn't bear to replace that new car smell (to be more exact, nasty chemical off-gassing) with the wet dog smell, the french fry smell and whatever else we could come up with collectively after living in the car for ten days. So we all packed into the RAV4, with all that we could carry and traveled about 2,000 miles, through 2 countries, 2 states, and 2 provinces. The car was not pretty upon arrival (here or there). I thought burning it might be the best bet, but Dan insisted that we could make it better. All the while (probably) gloating that it wasn't his car!

The boys LOVE snow and they love Calgary- all rules are off at Wendy & Bryan's place. I don't know why I brought 20lbs of dog food, they didn't eat much of it at all. Dan didn't want to bring them, but conceded that they LOVE vacationing at B&Ws place after seeing them there.

Ginger- ready to snap at an idiot should it be necessary.

Kat's pictures in her USA dress.

Kat and daddy.

Kat and Ginger, sharing Ginger's bed.

Our big dinner group at Spaghetti Factory on Friday night. Kat sat across from the 14 month old and they had a great time imitating one another.

The other end of the table.

Mare and Kat.

Our wildlife sighting in the Rockies. We saw elk too- but aside from them, this was it- no bears, moose, or other charismatic megafauna. Despite my best efforts.

Kat and the boys in Banff, waiting for Daddy to hunt down an unsatisfying meal at McDonalds before we headed out to Sandpoint, ID.

Kat, Bryan & Wendy, our most excellent hosts and wonderful friends in Calgary.

The Rockies. I just love driving through them.

How Kat spent the last 2 days.....most of her toys were...well, we didn't know where anything was anymore (our only space for clothes, toys, cooler, computers, etc was the seat next to Kat), except for the twizzlers. I had those handy.

Calgary Part 2: SNOW

We know from living here that it can snow at any time. So we weren't surprised nor unprepared when it was 65 on Tuesday and 30 on Wednesday, with 4" of fresh white powdery snow. The boys LOVED it. They are northerners thru and thru. Kat...well, I think the jury is still out.

Here she is with Erin's iPhone. She loved it and now demands one for the return journey, as she would be able to entertain herself for hours with it. Erin put the Beatles on for her and she kept holding it to her ear. She liked it.

Not yet sure about the snow. But she didn't want the mitten back on and she didn't want to go inside. And when we did, she may have eaten the melting snow off of her boots.

Dan chasing Kat (Hollywood Kat) in DT Calgary.

At Wally & Kathy's. Dan with a pair of toddlers on his lap.

Kat finally got Matthew to chase her. And then she broke his toys.....

Aren't they too cute?

High-fiving one another.

The Brateks: Matthew, Kathy, & Wally.

All of us.

Calgary- Part One

We are in Calgary. We made it in two nearly-painless days (the night was painful- she does NOT like the peapod- or maybe it was Bonner's Ferry, ID). We are staying with fabulous and gracious hosts, Bryan, Wendy & Ginger. They have a beautiful house in the SW and we and Kat have our own rooms and bathrooms. I highly recommend this place! Ben has liberated only a few non-dog food items. We have been at the dogpark every day so far. And will have to go to a good ground squirrel location so that Boo can play whack-a-mole. That's what it looks like- one comes up and then disappears and another comes up somewhere else. He LOVES to chase them.

Kat on our 600+ mile journey to Calgary. She didn't eat Twizzlers the whole way. But they did come in mighty handy twice.

Tonite at Mark & Ann's. All you need to entertain a 2 year old (almost), is a border collie and a ball. For HOURS.

Bianca was also great entertainment tonite.

And Ann. This kid the energizer bunny. She just keep going as long as there is fun to be had. No meltdowns, no overtired munchkin, she just doesn't stop. After 4 hours of playing with dogs, kids, adults and staircases, and 1.5 hours past her bedtime, she didn't sleep on the way home, instead she mostly sang! Then when put in bed, passed out instantly. Here's hoping she sleeps until 11!

The entire crowd: Bianca, Ann, Mark & Dan up top, Kat, Boo, Ben, Eric and Mia down below.

Kat was so excited- she had no idea that dogs would chase a thrown ball. Hers won't, cause they're old, lazy, and mostly, not border collies!

Kat and Sherry the night before. We've been scoring free meals all week, with no end in sight! Bryan and Wendy (cause they haven't done enough) and Wally and Kathy are next up.

Shannon and Kat- so sad the pic is blurry, but he LOVED having a little girl on his lap (they have 3 boys). There was discussion (threats?) of a trade, but in the end we left with the one we brought and no extras.

Here's the crowd in Shan & Sherry's backyard. This was on the beautiful day. It is supposed to be cold and snowy the next 3 days. DOUGH!

The big boys playing with the little kids' toys.

At the dogpark yesterday. She loved all of the dried grass- it was just like the easter egg hunts.

Testing the wind?

You can get an idea how windy it was from Ben's coat.

That is a rock in the foreground- I can prove it.

Kat's Really, Really, Really Big Day!

The perfect dress at the Goodwill ......................................$1.99
The perfect shoes (also at the Goodwill)..............................$.99
The perfect Yankee Doodle Hat at Michael's.....................$3.99
Little Red Bolivian Sweater................................................$15.00
Mommy acting as the lawyer..............................................FREE
American Citizenship.................................................PRICELESS



The Judge is standing, BTW. No, Really. Kat is not.

Letting success go straight to her head!

We knew our hearing was today, but we weren' t sure that the adoption would be finalized, as we heard from the court last week that we were missing a County background check and our fingerprint letter from Homeland Security. Mostly because I had no idea they were supposed to be submitted. With the help of our social worker, we got the County thing done this week, but our fingerprints had expired back on her first birthday and it would take months to get them again. So I submitted the old letter and the new background check, today, which I think helped, as it didn't get kicked out in the review earlier in the week for being expired. Or she really didn't care about our stupid fingerprints...... Whatever the case. we have a certified adoption decree, which will be followed by a US birth certificate. Which will be followed in short order by a US passport! She's one of us now. A great day for the kid, though she doesn't seem to appreciate it in the slightest.

I had planned to take a bunch pics of her in her chair with all of her patriotic attire on, but we learned a valuable lesson. Never put a kid in for a long overdue nap with just a dress and a diaper on. Turns out, they may unfasten the diaper, and then proceed to soil the bed, themselves, and everything that they roll in while screaming bloody murder. oops. Who knew? Those pics will follow this week, when we're in Calgary (we leave tomorrow AM).

Chasing the Easter Bunny

Well, we went to see the easter bunny and hunted some eggs. Not sure about the bunny dude.


You may assume the little one wandering through a sea of eggs may not quite be getting the big picture......


Making hay angels is clearly WAY more fun than looking for stupid eggs!

You can see that we had a great time, despite the accomplishment of finding one egg unaided.

Long after the place had cleared out, someone tossed a few more eggs in and Kat hunted some down. I think she got 4 eggs at this hunt.


And then she threw it......


The second egg hunt.....this one was at a ummmmm cemetery. Hey, it was different. How often does one go to an egg hunt at a funeral home/cemetery? They had great cookies. And tons of eggs and a scary looking bunny.

Look, she found an egg.....but she doesn't care. And that's the mausoleum behind her.

I meant to get a pic of her and her basket in front of (on?) a grave. Will she get this one? It looks like she might......

Instead, she went for the straw!

Her basket is full because I was picking up the opened/discarded eggs in the straw as she was playing. She is sitting on a really nice granite memorial bench, closest we got to a grave picture.