On Monday of that week was Marina's adoption day. We chose to ride the train into Chicago and visit the Shedd Aquarium. It was a great day and the kids all enjoyed the train ride. It's so hard to believe my little princess has been with us for 5 years already!
Also during our week at the beach we had pictures taken by a photographer. It was fun doing pictures at the beach and in the water! Here are a few of our favorites:
The second week of our trip we spent at Mike's parents house. We (Mike and his siblings) hosted a 40th anniversary party for his parents on Saturday and had a great time. It was so fun honoring them and their 40 years of wedded bliss! Then we drove to my parents house on Wednesday to get together with our dinner club friends from Marshall. On Thursday morning we went to court to finalize Xavier's adoption which was a very special day for us. The court "hearing" went really well and was very quick but left a big impact! Although his adoption has felt final since holding him that very first time in Chicago in November, he is now officially a part of our family forever! Praise God! We also had the opportunity to see some of our dear church family from Michigan on Thursday.
We left Michigan at 11:00am on Friday and had hopes of making it all the way home, but it was just going to depend on how well the kids were doing. We were nearly 5 1/2 hours into the trip before we had to make our first bathroom stop and all 3 kids were perfectly happy and content! We called our friends near Nashville, TN to see if they would be available for an impromptu visit while on our way through and we were thrilled that they met us at a playground right off the highway for a quick dinner and some time on the playground for the kids to run. We met them in Krasnoyarsk when we went to pick up Marina 5 years ago. It was so fun to see them again, and to marvel at how much our kids and their Thomas are growing! We made it home right at 1:30am and quickly got everyone into bed.
Saturday was filled with unloading, unpacking, etc. Last night we went to Athens to see the local fireworks display which was a lot of fun. The kids all enjoyed it and it was a nice ending to a busy day. Today we are still getting things back in order at the house. Mike and the kids are on their way home from church, and I stayed home with Xavier who seems to be coming down with a yucky cold. Tomorrow it's back to work for Mike and back to reality for me and the kids. Bring on the grocery shopping and laundry! :O)
I've added some pictures of our fun, but quite honestly, we have traded pictures with so many people while on vacation I'm not quite sure where all of them ended up. So these are a few of our favorites. If I can find the pictures from Xavier's court, I will post them soon!
Hope you all enjoyed the July 4th holiday!
Much love,
Mike, Kristen, Marina, Alexander and Xavier
1 comment:
Thank you for alllowing us to share the wek with all of you. We had a blast and thanks everybody for our wonderful party day. Will have to try and top it next year. Love to you all and congrats on the final adoption. Xavier is a wonderful addition to our family.
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