Hanging out by the Pool in GA

Following the unwritten but oh so understood agreement of ‘Thou shalt post no bathing suit pics without signed in triplicate permission’ I give you a few pool side/fully clothed pics. Note: The adorable little kiddies were excluded from the above clause as they’re just so cute in their little swimmies!

Mali catching some serious air time playing ‘jump’ in the pool! I think we did this about 30 times before we were through!

Admiring one another’s choice of swimming vest.

Sweet, sweet Maisie who was happiest just getting her legs wet.

Friday night poolside grabbing a photo op of the Friday night gang. Oh yah…the par*taying had begun!

Georgia Gifties

It was fun to have a little gift exchange while we were together. Hannah and Mommy both received some really neat things!

- Adorable little pink shoes with black polka dots. Can’t wait until she wears these cuties!
- Coveted ‘Everybody Loves a Brown Eyed Girl’ t-shirt! (Wahoo…we have one now!)
- Beautiful handmade bracelet
- ‘Forever Lily’ book – I’m already 100 pages into it and really enjoying it!
- Cute little ladybug bib that will really come in handy
- Yummy homemade ladybug cookie (who’s a little squished after the flight :o)
- Fun, beautiful ‘Hannah’ nametag that I’ll put on her diaper bag

A fun t-shirt that we each rec’d to remember the infamous ‘Bodacious Blogger Break of 2007!’

Mom’s Survival kit that contained:
- chocolate!


My little gifts ready to be handed out.

Thanks Norma and Rebecca for all your help in helping me make these.

Thanks so much for your great gifts everyone! Each one is special because of who it came from!

Miss you like crazy!!

GA Bloggy Bash Video!

Tracy did a great job of capturing our weekend of fun in video form! If you haven't already watched this on 5 other blogs, please enjoy it here!

And yes....it was confirmed over and over again that 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!!'

Miss ya gals! Can't believe it was just a week ago today that the par*tay got started! SO much fun and this foreigner misses ya tons!!!

Who's Who at the Georgia Bloggy Summit?

I'll give you a rundown of who's who to help make things easier.

Back row (l to r) Connie, Krista, Melissa, Lisa and Maisie, me and Susie.

Middle row (l to r) Stacy, Kathy, Lisa F (who leaves tomorrow for China!), Alison and Tawni (standing in the water)

Front row (l to r) Kris, Heather, Maryellen, Mali - Alison's precious daughter, Angela, Tracy, and sweet Lili (who's mom Deb is behind the camera)

This folks is one amazing group of ladies! It was fun to laugh, eat, talk...repeat, for the entire weekend! We gathered from across 8 states and 2 countries with one common bond....our children from China either home with us now or in our hearts. Looking forward to meeting all of you again and as time goes by, being introduced to your children!!

Georgia Bloggy Summit. First Stop? Timmy's!!!

How does any good ‘foreigner’ begin and end her Georgia Bloggy Bash? With Tim Hortons of course! :o)

Friday morning I was up bright…errr dark and early and set off for the airport. My friend Norma and I had stayed with her sister Shirley in Niagara Falls on Thursday night. Thanks for the bed and warm hospitality Shirley!

Going back to Thursday night, a real treat was that Shirley’s SIL Marie was able to get the 4 of us tickets to see Avaia in Niagara Falls. Wow! What a great show! It’s a Circue du Soleil style show featuring some great tumbling acts, clowns and wonderful horseback riding and tricks. Really neat! Thanks for getting the tickets Marie! It was great to see you and Shirley again and spend some time together. Thanks also for the directions to the airport. They were perfect which was really nice at 4AM in a different country!

Back to Friday morning. My 3 alarms (yes 3 since I’d only gone to bed 2 hours earlier) went off at 3am, 3:10 and 3:15. My 4th alarm – Norma, walked down the hall at 3:20 just to make sure I was up. Thanks Norma! I got ready and hit the road. First stop? Timmy’s of course! 3:55am with 2 hours of sleep = needed a Timmy’s! :o) (Too funny! Not yet 4am and I was the 3rd car in line at the drive through! We Canadians sure do love our Tim Horton’s!)

After crossing the border I headed to the airport, flew to Charlotte, NC then on to Atlanta, GA. I love modern day travel! In the matter of a few hours not only was I in a different country I was 2 days drive into that new country!

Stacy had driven in from Kentucky the day before and met me at the airport. It was SO good to see her again! Although we’d emailed and phoned one another a number of times, it was the first time we’d seen one another in person since last November’s Motor City Mama’s Bloggy Summit. What a sweet reunion it was!

She and I stopped at Tar*jay and also at Bath & Body Works and did a little shoppy, shoppy. We were going to grab some lunch (as it was almost 3 by now) but Krista called to make sure we hadn’t driven into a ditch! We decided to forgo the lunch, checked Stacy into her room, picked up a few groceries (because you know we girls were gonna eat!) and then headed to the par*tay at Melissa’s.

(I’ll post more posts about the bloggy bash in a bit….)



On Sunday, (l to r) Stacy, Melissa, Connie and Krista drove Heather and I to the airport. It was funny as we were getting near the airport and Melissa asked where she should go and I piped up with directions from the back seat with drop off directions. We all laughed as she said ‘Look at me. Trusting ‘the foreigner’ with directions to my airport!’ Guess that’s my new nickname with this group, ‘the foreigner.’ It works! (On a side note – if any of them try to tell you that I have an accent, take it from me…I’m not the one with the accent, eh?!!)

Flights home were good and I was back at the Buffalo airport before 10pm last night and started home. First stop across the border? Tim Hortons! Oh yah…and did I need it! Tons of laughing, chatting and eating over the weekend!! Sleep? Mmm...not so much! That Tim’s helped get this tired girl home safely last night.

Having a Great Time!!

Hi Allison's Mom!

We're having a great time in GA but heard that you're lonely since some of your favourites are too busy to update. Sorry!!

Wanted to tell you how adorable your granddaughter is! She has been totally amazing all weekend and we've all enjoyed getting to know she and Allison.

There are more pictures then we know what to do with so we'll share them with you soon!

PS - Melissa's husband Darren deserves a medal for putting up with all of us this weekend! Thanks Melissa and Darren....you're AMAZING hosts!

Carry On Only (COO)?? I Think Not!!!

Can you believe this is what I have packed for a weekend away? Yes...a weekend! 4 days, 3 nights. That's all folks! My hat is off to my friends Connie and Lisa who have done or are planning to do their entire China trip by going COO! I can't even imagine that! I think I need a packing intervention and since I'll be with these 2 great ladies this weekend maybe they can offer me some help? (To my defense, after last weeks pillow fiasco I do have 2 pillows packed in the big suitcase which is almost everything that is in that one!) Anyway, I'm prepared (I hope) so I'm off!

Where? To the great state of Georgia to meet up with a group of bloggy pals, most of whom I've only met online! It will be wonderful to see Stacy, Connie and Krista again and I'm looking forward to meeting a bunch of new friends too! Looking forward to a fabulous weekend with friends old and new!