Photos from The Outer Banks

Due to photo posting difficulties I created this slide show with the photos I wanted to post. Enjoy!

I think some of my favorites are the Hatteras Light House at night and the ones of EmmaLi and Angela Laughing with every fiber of their beings right down to their toes.

Vacation Part Tres Natural Bridge

We left Gatlinburg and drove to Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky. We had a reunion of the families from our adoption travel group. It was the first time seeing most of the girls since we left Guangzhou more than four years ago. We hiked, rode the skylift, played putt putt, roasted marshmallows, swam in the pool and overall had a great time just hanging out with our friends. EmmaLi wants to know when they can come to our house to play. LOL

Vacation Part Dos

We returned from The Outerbanks on a Sunday and then left again on Thursday for part two of our vacation. This time we packed up the camping gear and headed to the Smokey Mountains.

Last year for the Fourth of July was the first time she sat in a chair with me and watched the fireworks in the neighborhood. We had never gone to a "real fireworks display" because she never liked them much. They were too loud and unpredicatable for her. However, last year that all changed. This year I wanted to go some where for the Fourth of July celebration. We decided to go to Gatlinburg TN. It's close and we had another camping trip already planned for the dates after the 4th.

We camped at a campground called Adventure Bound. It had a lot to offer. It was fairly close to Gatlinburg and had a pool, waterslide, fishing pond, and go carts if you wanted to rent those. The campsite was a great one. It was completely shady which was great with a tent. It backed up to a creek which was natural entertainment for EmmaLi. Whenever I was making dinner or packing everything up, she went to the creek to throw rocks. Here are some pictures of the camp ground.

Emmie on her favorite playground toy. I told her Grandpa will be happy to see her with the earth mover since he has several for his business. LOL She played on this contraption more than any other play structure they had.

We also went into the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. When we were in the Outer Banks EmmaLi got a "Passport to the National Parks" book. You take it with you each time you visit a National Park and they stamp it marking your date of visit. We made sure we went to the visitor center and got her stamp for The Smokey Mountains. We also picked up a Junior Ranger book but she didn't complete that project. We'll save it for another trip. It would have been difficult to complete that project. One of the things she was supposed to do was pick up a grocery store bag full of trash. Honestly, we didn't see any trash except a water bottle top here and there. She also needed to attend a guided activity with a Ranger but we didn't have time to do that. Here are some pictures of us in the Mountains.

Photo posting problems again...wi;l; try again later.

Vacations Galore!

Well, we've had a whirl wind of a summer so far. Vacation #1 was to the Outer Banks of NC. We have friends who drove down from NY and rented a house on the beach. They invited us to spend a few days with them. I have wanted to go to the Outer Banks for a few years now but have never made it up that way. Since it has been about 4 years since we have seen our friends we decided we couldn't pass on the opportunity.

We had a blast! EmmaLi loved playing with their daughter. She wasn't thrilled with their dogs but she loved spending time with our friends. In her mind it was a good trade off. It was nice to have some one to keep her company too. Given they spent three days together and had only one real disagreement, I'd say they got along great.

Here are some of the photos from the trip.

EmmaLi and I at the Cape Hatteras Light House.

The fantastic view from the top of the Hattaras Light House.