San Diego Zoo

It may take me a few days to get all our vacation photos posted that I'm going to post. But, I'll get to them when I can. Here's some pictures from the San Diego Zoo.

More Vacation Pics

Today we went to Los Angeles to see Chinatown. We ate lunch there and did lots of shopping. Here's a few pictures in China town.







Then we went to Hollywood to check out the Walk of Fame.

San Diego Vacation Pictures

Here's a picture shot from the top of the cliff between the ocean and the Solana Beach and Tennis Club. We stayed in a rental in this complex during our vacation.



Here's a picture of Alyssa playing in the ocean.



This is the Point Loma Lighthouse:



Here's downtown San Diego, shot from across the harbor.



Here's some pictures from our visit with Dan, Shannon, & Landree:

A Few More Pictures

In my previous post, I forgot to mention her most often used word that she speaks, uh-oh. She doesn't realize this is only for accidents because she'll use it after throwing something on the ground, on purpose. There's also another word she uses, that were not too crazy about, especially when she's playing with her cousins. MINE

Here's a few more pictures I wanted to post, but didn't have at the time of my last post.



The next 3 pictures were taken around Easter. The first of these 3 is with Natalie, who is also from China. Her parents live in Owasso and travelled right after we did. You can find there blog here.













The last picture is of Alyssa feeding the ducks.

Long Overdue Update

Since I started my A Photo A Day blog, I've neglected to update this blog. Alyssa has done a lot of growing up since then. So, I'll try to update everyone in one big posting.

Alyssa is sleeping through the night. She's been doing this for quite a long time now and we're greatful to be getting our sleep too. She always seems to wake up in a good mood, and sometimes she'll play quietly by herself in bed before we notice that she's awake.

We had a new social worker for our 6 month post placement report and that went smoothly. Our previous social worker was VERY difficult to get in touch with and tended to drag her feet with everything she did. The new social worker was pretty easy to reach and the whole thing went quickly. When she visited, Alyssa went right to her and sat in her lap for quite some time. She was impressed with how well Alyssa was doing and didn't feel that she was delayed at all.

We've taught Alyssa a few bits of sign language for things like "all done", "eat", and "more". It's been nice for her to be able to tell us these things until she learns to speak them. Here's a picture of Alyssa giving the "more" sign.



She loves music and often will break into a dance when she hears something she likes. We'll be watching TV and a commercial will come on or a show's theme music and Alyssa will start boppin' up and down and leaning to one side. It cracks us up sometimes.

She's also saying a few words now. She can say mama and daddy. She calls Shawn's dad "papa", and she usually whispers this for some reason. Since Shawn's mom keeps her while we're at work, she's sees her papa a lot. We're quite certain that her papa is going to spoil her rotten. She says a few other words that we recognize and there's some words that we don't quite understand too.

I'll end this post with some more pictures of Alyssa, starting with her Easter picture with a live bunny.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is the Chinese New Year. This is the year of the rat, and I hope it brings good fortune to all our family and friends. We already feel like we've won the lottery having Alyssa. She's been doing great and is the best baby ever.


Here's a couple of pictures we took while out to dinner one night.








I've started a new blog, where I plan on posting a new picture every day for a full year. I've had a few friends who did this and thought it would be good motivation to get out the camera more often. Also, Alyssa makes a great subject for these photos and I should probably take more pictures of her. This next picture is one I took as the first picture in this effort.





My last new picture is one we took at a Chinese New Year celebration hosted by the Chinese American Association of Tulsa. Alyssa is wearing one of the dresses we bought her in china.

Big Weekend

On Saturday we went to see Donkey Basketball in Wagoner, OK. How often do you get a chance to see Donkey Basketball??? We arrived early, since Shawn was helping them raise money by selling T-shirts. Alyssa got to walk all over the basketball court in her squeeky shoes before the crowd arrived. Here's a few pics of the Donkey Basketball.








Before the night was over, Alyssa went to sleep on us.








On Sunday, we decided to take Alyssa to the zoo because the weather was unseasonably nice for January. The Tulsa Zoo was voted "America's Favorite Zoo", and we have a zoo membership for free admission. Here's a picture of Alyssa and me just monkeying around.





We also stopped for a few minutes in the playground to let Alyssa out of the stroller and see how she liked some of the playground equipment. Here she is, standing up, on the giant teeter totter.





Here's a couple of pictures I snapped of the animals.








Before we got through the rain forrest exhibit, Alyssa went to sleep on us. We're not sure if it was the warm, humid climate inside, or that it was naptime.