Hello all! We have just returned from a fantastic trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee where we had a reunion with 4 other families that traveled with us to China. If you can believe it, we are approaching the one year anniversary of when we received our babies?!?!?! We have been talking back and forth for awhile about getting together for a reunion, and finally, were able to work out the details.
We all arrived on either Wednesday or Thursday and stayed until Sunday. We were fortunate enough to find a nice condo complex (thanks Tonya!) that had enough rooms for all of us. The condos all had 1 or 2 bedrooms and the same number of baths as the bedrooms, small kitchens and family rooms and best of all-views of the Smokey Mountains that were probably some of the best I have ever seen, seriously!!! Our particular condo looked out right over the valley into Gatlinburg and the tram that takes you up the mountain floated by many times a day right outside our patio. We saw 2 weddings while we were there right on the lawn outside our condo. And we heard both ministers say to the couples-this is the view everyone wants!
Each nite we had a potluck dinner in a meeting room on the property and each family brought a dish for the nite. The kids got to run around and play, the grownups finally got a chance to really talk. We didn't get to do too much of that in China because we were all overwhelmed with new babies at that time!!! Then each day we wandered into Gatlinburg, drove around the area, and then as a big group we all went to the aquarium on Saturday. We really had a great time and feel like we packed alot into 4 days. We are ready to do it again, and seriously hope we can make this an annual event. We missed the 2 families that were not able to be with us this year, but I sure hope they know they were spoken of fondly, and they were really, really missed.
Here are the pics, which I know is the only thing anyone really cares about! Ha! Stay tuned for the next post here on the blog as it will be about our 1 year anniversary for Gotcha Day!!! Can you believe it, one whole year with our beautiful baby girl, where does the time go?!?!
Until next time..................
Can you see the view of the mountains behind us?? Gorgeous!!!!
Lia and Elizabeth-does anyone else think these 2 girls look alike???
Kelly enjoying some time outside on the lawn
Beautiful Bella-looking like she is getting a little tired of all the picture taking!!!!
Amanda and her mom, Jamie-do you think these 2 look a little happy????
Molly, the greatest big sister ever!!!! She is really Kelly's big sister, but let me tell you-she can be Elizabeth's big sister-ANYTIME!!! This kid rocks!
Ok, so don't tell Elizabeth's daddy, but Elizabeth has a SERIOUS crush on Lia's little brother-Jackson!!
A re-creation of the famous red couch photo taken in China almost one year ago!!! We think we even have them lined up in the order they were on the original photo. Please reference the post on this blog dated around July 29th or 30th for the original pic and see how much these girls have changed!!! Here is their names in the order they are seated from left to right: Kelly, Elizabeth, Bella, Amanda, Lia
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