The Joys of Summer

We're so happy that summer is here! Now some might say, you live in Southern California, so what difference does it make? Isn't it always summer there? The answer is yes and no. Certainly the climate here is very temperate, but summer is still different than any other time of year. We love the longer days that summer brings. It's so much nicer to get things done and have fun while the sun is still shining. Summer brings lighter clothes, foods, drinks, and a more casual attitude, all of which we quite like.

Having a great time at an outdoor birthday party for our young cousin.

And of course, summer brings many fun activities. While summer officially starts in late June, it always seems that the 4th of July really marks its arrival. We always enjoy the 4th, especially the fireworks. Unfortunately this year we won't be able to see them together (Mitch has to work). However, there's many other fun things happening in the next couple of months that we will share together.

The Orange County Fair happens here over the summer every year and its always filled with possibilities for enjoyment. Of course there are the rides and foods from the delicious to the extraordinary. (We usually go for the funnel cakes and roasted corn, but shy away from the bacon wrapped and deep fried items.) There are animals to see in the livestock area and we love checking out the arts and crafts displayed at the fair. There are always amazing pieces made by county residents, especially in the woodworking area.

Mitch making friends with a bunny at the fair.

Susan checking out a Vermeer inspired piece in the fair's art exhibit.

For the last couple of years, the OC Fair has included an Ice Museum and while it's the coldest place at the fair, it's also a lot of fun to check out the many creative things that can be done with ice. Two years ago the Ice Museum included replicas of great works of art, such as an ice Mona Lisa, King Tut, The Thinker, etc. Last year's display was undersea themed with an ice jellyfish, shark, Poseidon, and much more. It was even more elaborate than the previous year with color ice elements. This year the fair is July 13th through August 12th and we plan to go a couple times, if not more. 

Look, it's King Tut in ice! Appreciating the ice art despite the cold.

The giant ice shark at last year's fair. Everything around the shark is ice too!

There's lots of other good stuff happening here too. We always enjoy local museums, but their gardens and outdoor artworks are even more pleasant in the warmer weather. Every summer includes the Sawdust Art Festival in nearby Laguna Beach. It's another great place to check out the handiwork of a variety of artists including ceramicists, glassblowers, painters, jewelry makers, and many more.

Taking a little break in one of the Getty Villa's gorgeous gardens.

We also love summer's outdoor activities including the many outdoor concerts and more. Among our favorites are the concerts in Huntington Beach's Central Park, which is a lovely setting fairly close to the ocean. It's a fun place to meet up with friends, sometimes with a picnic dinner and even a little glass of Vinho Verde. Places we love such as the San Diego Zoo have extended hours in the evenings through Labor Day. And, what would summer be without a bit of reading? The local libraries have special programming including the summer reading program Susan and her mom signed up for tonight. (Prizes for reading, yay!)

We saw these flowers at one of the concerts and didn't know what they were.
 Luckily a friend solved the mystery and told us they are passion flowers. Thanks NN! 

Checking out the first Huntington Beach concert of the season this year.

Can you tell we love that it's summer? Happy 4th of July! We wish you the best summer ever!

10 Random (and Fun) Facts About Mitch

The first of an occasional series. Today we've got 10 things you might not know about Mitch. 

1-Mitch's favorite bad movie is Manos: The Hands of Fate.

LOL, the worst movie ever makes the best present ever!

2-Mitch has read every one of the original Sherlock Holmes stories. 

3-Mitch learned to ride a bike in Luxor, Egypt when he was 20. 

Taking a break while biking in Luxor, Egypt near the Valley of the Kings.

4-Mitch has held a sea cucumber.

5-Mitch has never won a game of Monopoly or Risk.

6-Except for a brief period in 1999, Mitch has had a beard or goatee his entire adult life.

A very young Mitch watching his Grandpa shave and deciding it wasn't for him.

7-Despite Susan's efforts to teach him, Mitch cannot drive a manual transmission.

8-Mitch loves tomatoes in salads but hates them on sandwiches.

9-Mitch's favorite burger topping is bleu cheese. 

Enjoying a burger at our favorite new burger place, The Counter.

10-Mitch has all his wisdom teeth.

Stay tuned for more random facts and other lists of 10.

Our Story Part 3

We ended the last post in this series with our engagement in May 2007. The months between that day and our wedding flew by, filled with all of the tasks that go into making the big day special. Beyond the cake tasting and dress fittings, there was finding the church, deciding on a place to live after the wedding (we'd kept separate residences before we got married), making and sending the invitations, and planning our honeymoon.

What would our wedding cake have been without butterflies?

In late October 2007, a wave of immense fires scorched Southern California, filling the air with ash and smoke. However, on our wedding day in early November, the air was filled instead with butterflies, released as we left the church and entered our life as a married couple. A friend read a beautiful poem as the butterflies were released and her words encouraged everyone to send us and the butterflies out into the world with good wishes. Our wedding was a simple, elegant ceremony and a small, but joyous reception. Friends and relatives from near and far attended, and we will always treasure the love we felt that day.

Yay! We tied the knot!!!

Our honeymoon took us back to London where we celebrated with friends, and then to Paris by way of the Channel Tunnel. It rained all that first day in the City of Lights, but we braved the wet and the wind to find a cozy little place for dinner on the Champs Elysees. We got to see many wonderful places in Paris, all mostly on foot since there was a transit strike on when we were there. Luckily Paris is pleasant city to walk in and we did just that, from our arrival at the Gare du Nord down to our hotel near the Eiffel Tower and across the city to Saint Chapelle, Notre Dame, and the Pompidou Centre. We enjoyed a couple of marvelous days in Paris and then soon after, we returned to London, then back to our new home in Tustin. 

Mitch in the Parisian rain.

Susan outside Notre Dame. Luckily the rain went away.

In the years since we got married, we've had a great time enjoying lots of adventures together and many of our experiences have included familiar favorites. We've told you in another post about our shared love of books. After we were married, Mitch started volunteering to help run a panel room at the LA Times Festival of Books. We've also had the opportunity to explore our local libraries and expand our knowledge of independent bookstores in Southern California. We've shared favorite childhood stories and characters, and have built up a list of literature we look forward to sharing with our child someday.

Mitch after a good day volunteering at the Festival of Books. 

During this time, we visited Mitch’s family in Massachusetts, and his mom has traveled to California a few times. We’ve celebrated birthdays and the 4th of July with Mitch’s uncle, aunt, and cousins in the Los Angeles area and with Susan’s family in Laguna Hills. Although we weren’t able to go together, Susan visited our friends in the UK in 2010, and we hope to visit them again soon.

Happy Birthday!

Susan cleaning the snow off the rental car in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

We’ve also visited some new places together and made new friends along the way. Some of the places we've been are near, like the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, and some are not so near, like San Luis Obispo and Montana de Oro State Park. We even took on the 2011 Bead Shop Hop together and traveled through six different counties all over Southern California. This odyssey took us as far north as Lancaster, as far east as Palm Desert, and as far south as San Diego.

 

The life aquatic with Susan and Mitch (at the Aquarium of the Pacific).

Heavy mist at Montana de Oro, but the view was worth it!

 

Wow, the hop covered a lot of Southern California!

These shared experiences have brought us closer and made us even more ready to be parents. As much as we have enjoyed our adventures, we feel that we’re ready to share our interests, values, and love with a new addition to our family. One wish we sent with the butterflies released on our wedding day was our hope to start a family as soon as possible. We began our journey to become parents in early 2008, but were soon reminded that life often unfolds in its own way and at its own pace. As is probably the case with many couples, we had assumed that it would just happen as soon as we were ready. However, our efforts to start a family didn't go as planned and we struggled with infertility.

We have always been open to the possibility of adoption. Towards the end of 2009 we began to seriously explore this as the best option for us to become a family. We started learning more about adoption and meeting new people who either had adopted or were in the process of adopting. In the future we'll write more about our adoption journey and some of the choices we've made along the way.

(Did you see the earlier parts of our story? Here's part 1 and part 2 if you missed them.)

B for Bear, C for Cat, W for Writer's Block?

The good news is that our cross-stitch project is coming along nicely. The "B is for Bear" block is done except for the finishing touches to define the bear and the bubbles. Quite a bit of work is also done on the "C is for Cat" block. The stripes are complete now and you can clearly see where the letter "C" will fit in. There's even a bit of a start to the letter and you can see the spaces where the cat's paws will fit in when positioned in the classic "Hang in there, baby" pose.

More progress. The bottom block is just waiting for the cat and letter "C".

There's only six letters in this pattern and one that's missing is the letter "W". Most of the time we'd say "W is for Waiting" and of course that's still true. We are continuing to wait and we hit a particularly rough patch with the wait over the last month or so. The good news is that we seem to be coming out of it and we're starting to feel the positive energy from the start of summer. The one thing we're finding though, is that it's really tough to keep writing and that's why we've been so quiet recently. We've got a lot to say, but we really seem to be struggling to say it right now. If there was a another block for the letter "W" it seems that block should be "W for Writer's Block". We're not sure how we'd illustrate it, but hopefully this too will pass. In any case, summer starts tomorrow and we're really happy about that. We hope you are too!

"B is for Bear" and is just about done.

Cat coming soon to this space. Hang in there, baby!

A bit more (cross-stitch) progress

2012 is going by so quickly! It's hard to believe that the last day of May is already upon us. We hope May 2012 has been good to everyone.

It's been a few weeks since our last progress photo so we thought a few photos of the cross-stitch project would be a good end to the month. Enjoy and stay tuned for more photos!

The B is for Bear block is still in progress, but you can now see the bear :-)

Detail of the Number 1 Bunny block

The Bear in detail with quite a few stitches left to do.

Visions of little bear dancing in our heads?

Some of you may be wondering if we've gone a little nuts. No worries, we don't actually have visions of a little bear dancing in our heads, at least not most days. However, there's not a day that passes without us thinking about our plans for a child once he or she becomes part of our family.

Sometimes we wonder how deeply other parents-to-be envision their child's life before he or she arrives on the scene. We're sure this must vary. After all, every person is different and there's probably as many answers as there are parents to ask. Surely if we asked enough people we'd likely find some parents planning to experience life with their child in the moment as it unfolds, while others think in great detail about the life they will share together.

It seems the longer you wait, the more likely you'll be to fully imagine life with your child. This certainly seems to be the case as we wait to become adoptive parents. Adoption can be a very quick process, even quicker than 9 months of pregnancy. In many cases though, adoption tends to be a longer road to parenthood for many people like us. After all, if we had gotten pregnant when we first began our adoption journey, our child would be well over a year old by now. Our journey has become an extended period to think about many aspects of life with the son or daughter we we hope to adopt. It seems like we've been involved in a very detailed process of imagining our child's life ever since we began drafting our adoption letter back in November 2010.

Some of the many books we've pinned to "Kid's Books We Love" 

This developed vision is largely because when we considered the task of drafting an adoption letter, we decided we most wanted to show the type of life a child would have with us. We opted to talk in our letter about specific places and experiences we planned to share with our future child including a couple particular book titles, "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Velveteen Rabbit". Our vision has become even more detailed as we spread the word about our adoption plans through social media channels like Facebook and Pinterest. We've had a chance to show everyone books that catch our eye, our favorite animals, local places to go with kids, and many activities we think will be fun for us to do as a family.

Sometimes this process isn't easy and makes us sad about what we're missing since we're still not parents yet. For instance it can be hard to reflect on kid's books when we have no idea when we'll be reading them to our own child. However, the process of imagining life with our future child has been beneficial in so many ways.

1. We hope our vision will help a potential birthmother to learn about us and the life we plan for her child if she chooses to place him or her for adoption with us. 
2. Sharing our vision helps us to stay positive and keeps us focused on the future. 
3. It's a great opportunity to recall and rediscover what we loved as kids. (And lots of fun too!) 
4. Developing our vision is also a great learning experience. While the wait to adopt is longer than we hoped, we have learned so much about kids, parenthood, adoption, and much more. 

Susan loved the Little House books as a kid, but will our child? 

"The Wind in the Willows" was one of Mitch's childhood favorites (and still is).

It might seem like our vision is a required list of some sort - to read, to do, to make, or to buy. As we develop our vision, we're the first to recognize it is not set in stone. How could it be? There is one key person missing from the process and that is the child who will ultimately join our family. As we think, dream, post, tweet, and pin, we are keenly aware that we have no idea whether this child will be a boy or girl and no clue as to what his or her interests will be.

We love animals, but Mitch particularly likes the takins...

and Susan likes the red river hogs, but which animals will our child like best?

The real adventure will begin when we become parents and explore the world together. We'll find out which animals, books, toys, etc. are most interesting to our child. Discovering places and sharing new experiences together as a family is when the fun will begin and we understand (and hope) that our vision for the future will shift as we go. This will be the best part and the one we are looking forward to the most. There may be a few things we've pinned on Pinterest that we might miss sharing with our son or daughter, but we know there will be something even more meaningful for us to experience together instead.

April showers bring May flowers

Okay, it's a bit difficult for us to say too much about April showers in Southern California. It seemed like we got several this April, but in general they are pretty rare. April can look very bright and sometimes can be quite warm here. However, even here there's usually still a feeling of preparation and growth. This April was no exception as we updated our adoption home study, ordered more adoption letters, and discussed how to handle our wait now that we've reached the one year mark.

Right now the landscape on the road we are traveling to become parents through open adoption seems very much the same and even monotonous at times. It feels like the wait is getting harder now that we're solidly past the one year mark. Participating in some of the same things that we did last year when we were newly waiting, such as the Festival of Books and the MS Walk, seems to have been harder this year. Please don't get us wrong. We are glad to do the things we've always enjoyed doing. However, the reminder that we are still doing them childless is weighing heavily on both of us right now.

The good news is that we are ready for the next steps of our journey and we're making plans for the road ahead. We're more prepared than ever to bring a child home, even through a last minute placement. There are good wishes, prayers, and help from so many people in our lives. It's probably feeling like a long road to everyone who knows us too, and we appreciate everyone's continued support.

And of course the cross stitch continues too. While also probably not at the pace we hoped, there is some progress.

The bunny block is done and the outline is forming for the letter "B" in the next block.