Sunday, September 28, 2008

Sheriff Open House

My parents & I took the kids over to the Summit County Sheriff Open House this weekend. The training center is just down the road from us by the airport. What fun we had! We watched K9 & SWAT Team demonstrations, shook hands with the bomb squad robot, and got the kids fingerprinted. Even took a ride in a tank. I give much credit to all our serviceman who spend their days in one of those. Its basically a metal box so not comfortable when your bouncing around inside and we were traveling through fairly level terrain. It's also extremely loud; you could barely hear the person next to you. Despite all that we thoroughly enjoyed our ride and can mark that down as a once in a lifetime experience.



Most of our visit was spent with the mounted patrol. Sydney's love for horses was very apparent to everyone. She went down the row giving special attention to each horse. I want to especially thank Deputy Black. His quarter horse, Brooks was so sweet and sucked up all of Syd's attention. We hope to take him up on his offer to visit the Sheriff Stables very soon.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Got Crabs



Sydney has been begging us for another pet. She would prefer a horse or rabbit but we settled on hermit crabs. I had them as a kid and they are fairly low maintenance; which is perfect since no matter how much she says she will handle their care we all know that most of the work falls on Mom. So five crabbies joined our family about one month ago. Thankfully, they are all still alive and well despite Sydney's constant handling. After some online researching I found a gentleman in the Florida Keys who creates hermit cages just like the one my grandpa built for me. The crabs were happy to leave behind their makeshift house; the top to my Tupperware cake taker and climb the walls of their new breezy Florida style home. To spoil them even more, Grandma Pam shipped several pounds of beach sand up to us. These crabs are living the good life. Well, as good as it can get for a Caribbean Crab in Canton, Ohio.

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

First Day Of Preschool



Andrew was very excited about his first day of school. I don't normally like to make predictions but I have a feeling he is going to be a great student. He is very eager to learn.

For the first day they had a shorten class where both parents and students could attend. Andrew marched right in and up to the teacher, Mrs Mazzaferri. She asked what his name he replied, Andrew. She asked if he knew her name, and he proudly replied, Miss Ferry. She chuckled.

We explored the classroom, bathroom, played in the kitchen, water table and train table before gathering for circle time. The circle quickly revealed that Andrew was one of only two boys in the class plus ten girls. Our little ladies man will have no problem with that!

Monday, September 08, 2008

Please help!

This year I am serving as president of Friends of Adoptive Families. We are a non profit organization made up of adoptive parents who are committed to improving the lives of orphaned children. I am organizing an Evening at the Races event on Saturday, October 4th and need your help! If you are in the Cleveland area and able to attend please please join us. I would love to have a big table cheering on our favorite horses. If you cannot attend you can still support our cause by purchasing a race horse, program ad or making a donation.

I got involved with FAF several years ago shortly after Andrew joined our family. I was looking for a way to give back to his orphanage. Since then I have been grateful of all the opportunities FAF has given me to visit his orphanage and give back to all this children still waiting.

Our wishlist is always long but this year we hope to raise funds to help medically fragile children receive corrective surgeries and reduce their adoption costs in hopes it will reduce their wait time for a forever family. And continue suppling orphanages with basic need items and playgroup equipment.

If you have a moment check out our website http://friendsofadoptivefamilies.com/