#1444 Reunion - Part 3 and hopefully the end.

This was our red couch photo of our travel group in December of 2008. Thought you might have fun comparing these kids now to the photo below. Leah is on the front row far right - in the picture below she is on the far left. Alex is seated in the front on the cushions in the handsome green outfit - below he is making a mad dash for his mom. Mya is seated on the couch, far left, with the pretty black bow in her hair - below she is seated on the couch with the pretty pink bow in her hair. And Michelle is 2 down from Mya, sucking on her fingers - below she is on the right end of the couch in the pink dress.

Ellen tried the entire trip to get a picture of Michelle with Alex. This was about the best we could do. He was not into the whole picture scene.

I know I included this in my first #1444 post, but I just love this picture and all these beautiful kiddos.

While we were doing the red couch photo's, Teresa asked me to take a couple of pic's of her family for Molly's upcoming year update to China. I liked this picture so much I wanted to include it on our blog.

After the photo session, we headed out to eat at Mike's Feed Store for some yummy barbeque. They had a great area set up for us upstairs, away from most of their customers. All the kids had crayons and papers - I had warned the manager when I made the reservation that we had a LOT of young kiddo's, so they were prepared!

Here is most of our crew.

Sweet Mya! I loved seeing that pretty smile on her face. I didn't see it much last time we were together. She was a very sad, scared little girl when she joined her parents in China. It was great to see how happy and well adjusted she is now with her beautiful family. I thought she was a lot older than Michelle, but Sara reminded me they are just 8 months apart. That must have been part of the reason why they played so nicely together. It was great to see all these girls hanging out and having fun together. Makes me anxious for our next reunion.

Josh has a way with little kids, and Molly and Carson were no exceptions. Molly really liked Josh!

Boys being boys!

This is not a great picture of me, but it's such a sweet picture to me anyway I wanted to post it. I have waited a long time to see Teresa and Molly in person.

Carson insisted on posing riding this pig outside the b-b-que place. Looks like a great "Wacky-Wednesday" photo to me!

Michelle and Molly with Molly's Daddy.

All the LuoHe families went out for ice cream after dinner. It wasn't that we were even slightly hungry, we just wanted to continue the time together. We thought we might catch up with the rest of our group, but we had some GPS problems and ended up going a very strange route to the ice cream store. (Picture 3 cars caravaning through lots of neighborhoods. Josh kept asking me if we were going to someone's house for ice cream.) So we ended up being just the LuoHe families.

Here Alex has just realized I am taking pictures and he is getting ready to bolt.

Finally, as our trip came to a close, Molly & Michelle bonded. It took them a little while to get used to one another. I thought at first they didn't really remember one another - Michelle was so little when she was adopted, I'm not sure what she remembers. And Molly probably didn't recognize Michelle because she has grown so much and her hair is much longer. But as they were playing later that evening, I noticed Molly being very "motherly" towards Michelle. Brushing her hair, putting jewelry on her, etc. It made me wonder if there is something in those memory banks that they could almost remember.
Michelle loved her Wa-Wa from day one! It was a great transitional doll and gave her a lot of comfort in those first few days with her new family. It is still probably her favorite toy. She sleeps with her, take her on trips, etc. When Molly's family was getting ready to go get her last year, we mailed them a Wa-Wa from her mei-mei. It was sweet to see those pictures of Molly on their blog holding her Wa-Wa. So, it was very sweet to get these girls together with their Wa-Wa's. I was afraid we might get them confused, but there was no danger there. Michelle's Wa-Wa looked like she had been through a bit more "life" than Molly's Wa-Wa. (;
We had fun hanging out in the Berter's hotel room and letting the kids play. Josh & Carson are 2 of a kind - crazy, very sweet boys. Here they are doing their Mr. T impressions. I have never seen so much pink in a hotel room in all my life. Michelle thought she had gone to girl toy heaven! She and Molly had a lot of fun playing dress up too. Molly is more of a "less-is-more" kind of gal, while Michelle grabbed all the bling she could find.
O.K. #1444 people - those who came, those we missed this time around, and those who are honorary members. Mark your calendars - July 2012! Virginia Beach? Great Wolf Lodge? I don't care, as long as you are all there! Can't wait!!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for our BIG ANNOUCEMENT... (and no, we are NOT adopting again!)