what we did on our vacation...part III

The final part of our vacation involved a joyful reunion and a flood of memories. Regardless of whether your child becomes a part of your family through adoption or the birth process, seeing your child for the first time is so amazing. We had the privilege of being with 3 other families when Kate was placed in our arms. You could feel the electricity of anticipation as we all paced about the simple room in the government building on a cold, gray day in December of 2005. A van finally pulled up and the director, nannies and our girls emerged. We stood in a line with hearts pounding as each girl became part of a new family. We will never forget that day, the joy, the wonder of what was to come and the people we shared it with.

We met one of those families in Florida during the final days of our vacation and it was precious.



We dressed the girls in matching outfits and they had the cutest looks on their faces when they saw each other. While Kate was still a bit under the weather, she just lit up when she saw her "sister". They danced, jumped, climbed, held hands, ate ice cream and were so funny to watch.

Both girls had been anticipating the reunion and the time went by so quickly.

Kate's buddy is quite adventurous and jumped up to "pat" the stingrays. (Kate is not in this photo because she was clinging to my neck refusing to even put her hand in the water.) Please note: no children were injured in the making of this photo, the stingrays have all had their stingers removed in what was surely a very humane procedure.

I found that stingrays have a disgusting texture...like slimy, wet velvet. But, they are interesting.

Both girls were pretty taken by the killer whale show. I saw *Shamu* back when I was a kid, so I was excited that she would get to see him,too. (That was several generations of *Shamus* ago.) She thought "Shampoo" was pretty cool and talked about all the splashing for days. Things like, "Shampoo splashed all those people..."

K's Momma brought some really cute and clever things for the girls to play with after our trip to see whales, dolphins, and slimy, wet velvet covered animals.

Both girls morphed into princesses and found a peasant to care for their castle. They did their best to keep their serf in
line, but he's pretty tough to keep under control. Sam was a little alarmed by all the estrogen, but was a pretty good sport.


Our visit was so short, and it made me sad that Kate was not herself yet, but it was so special. Thank you C&K for making the effort to meet with us. Thank you for the memories, the cute toys and fun. It meant so much and Kate was so sad when we left. As we drove away after saying our "goodbyes", Kate started to weep and continued for some time. I asked her why she was so sad and she said, "because I miss K". My heart hurt with her. The only solution, another reunion in the future!