A September Update...

Greetings from the Keys! We spent a nice long weekend with the kids and our parents at a resort in the Keys a few weekends ago. We had a fantastic weekend relaxing. Well, at least Chris and I relaxed. We managed to get the chance do go on some solo runs together (ie. not pushing the double jogger). We even got out to do some SCUBA diving. It was so wonderful spending some quality time with our families together.

We had Jordan somewhat convinced there was a mermaid in the isolated pond the resort owned and she was certain that it was Ariel. She spent the weekend pretending that she was prince Eric and "Coach" and "Pop Pop" were gracious enough to play the role of Ariel when needed.

We have been preparing for the Halloween holiday. This is one of Jordan's favorite days. She has been trying on her costume daily. She is going to be Batman and Garrett is to be Robin. Decorations are going up all around the neighborhood and this lengthens our evening bike rides considerably. Jordan and Garrett have made friends with several creepy characters hanging in doorways and such. We have even gone as far as naming a few. "Rupert" lives across the street. It is so fun watching their faces... They believe everything is so real... Even when you remove the batteries.

Jordan is starting to play soccer this season. She is elated. She asks to play as soon as she gets home from school. She is turning 4 this December and it will be interesting watching her out on the fields. We have been working on not stopping the ball with our hands when playing. A hard concept for her. It was helpful buying her a pair of "magic" cleats and shin guards for the big season starter in a few weeks. It is amazing how much better things become to kids when you put "magic" or "special" in front of it. It still hasn't worked yet with vegetables.

We are heading north to meet Shamu. It will be nice to see their faces when they see the show and Shamu's size. Garrett is doing fantastic. He has no fear with water and is able to swim across the width of the pool. As mentioned before, he is our dare devil. He isn't afraid to jump from any height into the pool and loves the novelty of going swimming in the buff.

We made the decision to head back to Russia for a third (and last). We should be in over our heads by next summer or late next year. We are very excited to return to Russia and spend some time hopefully in a region that we have not yet visited. As you may know, Russia is a very special place to our family. We enjoy spending time in getting to experience the culture where our children came from.

On September 18th, we celebrated Jordan's third Gotcha day. I wish I could say that we celebrated the holiday with some Russian cuisine... But the fog has yet to lift for me in the kitchen and we stuck with some take out Chinese. Close enough.

Love to you all...