And We're Off!

Twelve hours from now we will be walking out the front door of our house -- heading to the airport and the first leg of the journey that will bring our precious RubyJane home from China! At times it seemed like this day would never arrive. But it is finally here and I'm sure I will not sleep a wink tonight. My next post should be from Guangzhou!!

Travel Approval!

Finally, almost six months after seeing Ruby's precious little face for the very first time, we have received that coveted golden ticket -- our official Travel Approval from the CCAA. Our plane tickets have been purchased, our US Consulate immigration visa appointment has been confirmed, and we are almost finished packing.

Abby and I will be leaving Seattle on May 1st. We will receive Ruby at the Civil Affairs office of Guangdong Province some time on May 4th. Our Consulate appointment is May 12th and we will be returning home on May 14th. China here we come!!!

Sweet Baby Ruby

We can hardly wait to finally hold you in our arms!

Eggs-cellent Day

Sorry, I just couldn't pass up the play on words.

On Saturday we did our annual Easter egg coloring extravaganza. The girls are all such pros at this now. And this year they are all old enough to have a bit of patience, letting the eggs sit in the dye for more than 10 seconds. The colors turned out very vivid and some of the combinations were truly beautiful.

We colored FIVE Dozen Eggs!! We will be eating egg-salad sandwiches for weeks to come.

OK, let's get this party started!

Annie's first egg ready to drop in the dye

Abby carefully positioning her egg just right

Ellie and Abby comparing their creations

The finished product

A Visit to the Zoo

Today was our last day of Spring Break and we finally saw the sun for the first time. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed to our local Zoo. We have been visiting this zoo with our kids for over 30 years. It continues to improve every year and the girls always have so much fun. According to the girls, today their favorite exhibits were the beluga whales, the sharks, the tigers, and the penguins.

Three little "spiders" on their web

Ellie the "snail"

Abby's favorite animal -- she was born in the year of the snake

A couple of "monkeys" testing their climbing skills

Abby

Maddie

Can you spot the hiding "lemur"?

My favorite of the day