Welcome to the Happy Haus: A Newfoundland Therapy Dog and China Adoption Blog

Happy Birthday to the Babies of the Family

2012-01-27T11:46:00.004-06:00

2 years ago today, a woman somewhere in the Jiangxi Province of China gave birth to a healthy and beautiful little girl. For some reason unknown to us a decision was made by this woman, her husband and/or her in-laws, to abandon the little girl. Although it is against the law to abandon a child in China the person that left the child took the risk of choosing a safe public place where the baby would be found quickly. The infant entered the Shangrao Social Welfare Institute and was named Ling Wan Han. We all know this beautiful, precious girl as Natalie Wanhan.

Today on her birthday I am sending loving thoughts to a mother and father in China who will never know this amazing child. It is a bittersweet feeling...I feel sad for their loss and for Natalie's loss but so grateful that they gave Natalie life. They must wonder what became of the newborn baby they abandoned. I wish that they could know how loved Natalie is by her Mama, Baba, grandparents, Auntie, teachers, classmates, family, friends and of course her sidekick Louie.

One of Natalie's birthday presents is the shirt she is wearing to school today which reads "Anyone who thinks diamonds are a girl's best friend hasn't met my Newfoundland"

Louie just turned 4 years old a few days ago.

Another of my January Birthday sweeties joins in the love fest

Natalie is all bundled up and ready for school. She will probably be running around all day pointing to her shirt and saying "Doggie! WOOF!"

Happy Birthday My Dear Gary, Natalie and Louie!
I love you all so much and I'm grateful for every day that I spend with you!

Celebrating The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T20:57:00.000-06:00

After celebrating Chinese New Year five times without our daughter, the celebration this year was a revelation to Gary and I. Seeing the festivities through Natalie's eyes made it so much more fun for us. The Year of the Dragon is considered to be the luckiest in the cycle of 12 zodiac years. Considering that it is our first full year home with Natalie it definitely feels very lucky to us.

Natalie was too excited to be still for photos.

The celebration we attended this year was an international one - not just Chinese. We got to sample many different cuisines. Natalie's favorite thing was the noodles - surprise! Her second favorite was a Korean rice cake which you will see her holding in the video at the end of the post.

The event took place on 1/20/12...exactly two months after the date we arrived home from China. It is amazing how much all 3 of us have changed during that time. Gary and I are both wrapped around Natalie's little finger and delighting in all of her smiles and laughter. We, like most parents, think she is the most amazing child in the world.

Natalie has come so far out of the shell that she was hiding deep inside when we first met her. She still wants Mama and Baba close by (which is a sign of good attachment), but she is becoming a little more adventurous and more friendly to new people.

Natalie's very favorite part of the evening was the entertainment section that featured Irish Dancers. The edited video below is more about Natalie's reaction to the dancers than the dancing itself. I'll have to make another video of the full dances. They were so fun to watch. Natalie definitely thought so - she was clapping, cheering and at times doing her own little jig. At the very end of the video you can hear Natalie shouting "Yay!"

First Play Date

2012-01-18T20:40:00.000-06:00

Natalie has had one "First" after another in the last two months. A few days ago she went on her first play date with one of our little neighbor friends who showed her the ropes at a local playground.

A Girl and Her Newf

2012-01-12T00:01:00.004-06:00

Over the years Gary and I have raved about what a sweet, gentle giant Louie is. Since Natalie has come home she has put both Newfs to the test with her often overly exuberant behavior.

Katie has made it clear that she does not care for Natalie's toddler antics, so we are making sure that the girls are only together when Natalie is calm and with one of us right beside her to monitor their interaction. I think that after Natalie has a lot of coaching about how to be respectful to dogs she and Katie will one day be good friends.

Louie, on the other paw, is very accepting of anything Natalie can dish out. We are working on teaching her to pet softly, not pull hair and to play nice... skills that will also help her in daycare. While those skills are being practiced Louie makes the perfect Guinea pig. He is so laid back and really is like a 130 pound teddy bear. I think Louie likes having his very own little girl.

Natalie loves both of the dogs. The first words out of her mouth most days are "doggie" and "woof". She wants to know where Katie and Louie are and to give them a good morning pat.

Love From Paris (aka the front porch)

2012-01-09T00:02:00.004-06:00

Until a couple of weeks ago Natalie never paid attention to her clothes. As long as they were comfortable and kept her body at the right temperature she was content. Now she is starting to have opinions about her attire and sometimes will pick out her own shirt to wear - usually something with an animal on it. At bedtime she loves to wear her owl or her monkey pjs. Everytime she see them she squeals and dances around with excitement.

During a recent visit to Target I pulled this little dress off the clearance rack (I'm going to have to teach her to love a good deal as much as I do). When Natalie saw it she said "Oooh, Oooh, Oooh" and reached out her hands to touch it. She loved it so much I thought we should have a little photo shoot to mark the occasion.

Natalie & Her Great!Grandmother

2012-01-05T21:13:00.001-06:00

Right after Christmas, Natalie, her Auntie Leah and I drove to Mulberry, Arkansas for a visit with our Aunt and Uncle, their children, grandchildren and our grandmother.

During all of these years of waiting for Natalie introducing her to her Greatgrandmother is one of the moments I was most looking forward to sharing with her.

Natalie's visit with her Greatgrandmother was so special. They took to each other very quickly.

Natalie enjoyed catching a ride on her Greatgrandmother's walker.

Natalie's GreatAunt gave her some ribbon toys to pay with. When she started playing with them I asked her if she wanted to me to hold her dolly. She shook her head no and held Dolly out for her Greatgrandmother to hold. If Natalie gives someone her special Dolly that means she really likes them :)

Grandmother made Leah and I beautiful aprons. Natalie didn't seem to be paying attention when we were trying them on, but the next day she grabbed a cloth shopping bag and put the handles around her neck and started smoothing out her "apron". Our extremely observant girl doesn't miss anything.

What a wonderful visit with a big group of our amazing family! We enjoyed seeing everyone. Natalie made herself right at home. She seemed to know we were with family.

2012: The Year of Natalie and the Newfs

2012-01-01T15:07:00.000-06:00

Today begins our first full year with our sweet Natalie. She brings so much joy and laughter into our lives every day. Of course since she is a toddler so there are also some frustrating times for all five of us. However, the wonderful moments far exceed the difficult ones. We adore and love her so much (as you have probably already figured out by reading this blog :)

When Auntie visited recently I was able to walk both Katie and Louie while she pushed Natalie in the stroller. It was great fun... I wish she lived closer so we could walk together every day.

Natalie watches everything we do and tries to imitate us. This is her attempt at putting Louie's harness on. She also tries to tell the dogs to sit and points her finger at them in an attempt to get them to lay down. In a few years they might actually listen to her. She certainly has the authoritative tone down pat.

We wish you all the Happiest New Year Ever!

Love, Charity, Gary, Katie, Louie and Natalie

Our First Christmas with Natalie

2011-12-29T20:56:00.003-06:00

We chose the name Natalie because we think it is beautiful, but its meaning of Christmas Day is particularly fitting for this time of year. Our first Christmas with Natalie was our best one ever. Our long awaited daughter is the best gift we could ever receive. Natalie astonishes us every day with her sweetness, intelligence and sense of humor. The way she fits into our family so perfectly is phenomenal.

For a not quite 2 year old, Natalie was much more engaged in unwrapping and looking at presents than we thought she would be.

The Asian-American Girl baby doll she received from our friend Carolyn was one of her favorite presents of all time.

"Hurry Auntie!! I'm ready to hold my baby."

Natalie is a natural nurturer.

Two proud Mamas!!

Showing Baba her new baby

Auntie brought Natalie a bunch of finger puppets from Boliva

Raggedy Ann came from our dear cousin Marilyn

When I was a child I was never very excited about gifts of clothes, but Natalie sure was. She was so enthusiastic about her new slippers from her Grandmother that she had to try them on right away.

They are now her very favorite thing to wear.

She also got an adorable mermaid raincoat. It's a little big, but Natalie will grow into it soon.

Playing with Mama and Auntie.

Natalie's report from the orphanage said she likes musical toys best and it still seems to be true. Here she is playing with her piano from another of her other Grandmothers. It wasn't really a Christmas present, but we made her wait until Christmas to open it. She is really having fun with it.

Natalie and Louie, her faithful sidekick

Cousin A came to visit again. We feel so lucky to have seen her 3 times in a week! By the way, Natalie wasn't mad in this picture. She was just very focused on her toy when Gary asked her to look up.

Natalie asked her cousin to hold her new baby for awhile.

Katie and our sweet cousin

Me and My Newfs

2011-12-21T00:24:00.025-06:00

A very short story by Natalie Wanhan...

My Newfs are the greatest friends ever.

I love to take them for walks every day. No one is going to bug me when big Louie and Katie are around.

I like to feed them because I enjoy sharing and the poor little things always look so hungry.

They are also bigger by far than my largest teddy bear.

When they have wrestling matches it cracks me up and when they bark I like to say "Woof!"

Natalie Meets Some of Her Cousins

2011-12-19T15:02:00.001-06:00

During the last couple of days some of our cousins have come to visit. We had a great time with them and are happy that Natalie is getting to meet some of her new extended family.

My cousin Carrie holding her daughter and Natalie

Cousin A helped Natalie get her babies covered up with their blankets. Natalie has a hard time getting the covers straight and needed some assistance.

Cousin A and Louie

Cousin A came back again today with her Aunt Rebekah and Cousin J

Three beautiful cousins!

From Noodles to Pasta

2011-12-16T00:04:00.010-06:00

While we were in China one of our nicknames for Natalie was Noodle Girl because noodles were one of the few things we could get her to eat. Now that we are home she eats almost everything we do. I thought that whole wheat pasta would be too different from ramen noodles, but as you can see she loves it. She also loves oatmeal, chili, all green veggies and even wild rice & mushroom soup!

She is learning to use a spoon and fork, but it is a messy process.

Yummy in my tummy!

Holiday Card From the Happy Haus

2011-12-15T13:43:00.000-06:00

My Favorite Things: Food, Friends & Fun

2011-12-12T21:39:00.001-06:00

Let's phone some friends to meet us at ZaZa's for pizza

Oh look...they're already here. Mitch and Donna came to play with me during dinner.

Mitch and I made up a fun game of passing pieces of cereal back and forth.

After I ate a bunch of yummy pizza I got to try my first gelato. It was ok, but a little too cold for my taste.

Then I made up a cool game where I went from Mama's lap...
to Baba's lap. I must have gone back and forth twenty times in just a couple of minutes. I like to help my parents sleep well at night by making sure they are all tired out by bedtime.

Donna played peekaboo under the table with me.

We had lots of laughs together.

Mitch and Donna, I hope we get to play together again soon. Love, Natalie

The Future's So Bright, I've Gotta Wear Shades

2011-12-09T13:40:00.000-06:00

Remember that song from the '80s? That's what came into my head when I introduced Natalie to the concept of sunglasses a few days ago. She took to wearing them immediately. In fact, when we were inside where it was a bit dark she screamed when I first took them off of her. Now she seems to understand that we just wear them when we are outside.

This week I began walking the dogs in the afternoons with Natalie riding in the baby carrier facing out. She loves being able to see everything that's happening around her as we walk through the neighborhood or through the park. During our walks she giggles and babbles a lot. When she hears a dog bark she says "Woof", her new favorite word.

Since the Newfs are so powerful I am walking them one at a time when I have Natalie with me, so our walks last for over an hour. Yesterday during the Katie part of our walk I tried to take a picture of all three of us with my iPhone.

Thankfully a neighbor appeared on the trail and took a better one for us.

One Month Ago Today...

2011-12-07T00:01:00.028-06:00

...we met our beautiful daughter Natalie on the third floor of the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nanchang, China which is in Jiangxi Province. Ling Wan Han was the last child to arrive that evening, so every time the elevator dinged I would hold my breath for a moment wondering if she was about to appear. When Wan Han finally stepped off the elevator she was walking while holding on to the hand of a woman who was assisting the orphanage director. This woman was not her nanny or caretaker previously, but Wan Han desperately clung to her hand as someone she was familiar with for at least the last few hours. As Wan Han approached us we knelt down to make ourselves less intimidating, but she was beyond overwhelmed by the whole situation. The combination of leaving her home, being in a new place with a bunch of strange people all focused on her, it being past her bedtime; and the fact that she was hungry was just too much for little Wan Han. When she started to cry I just scooped her up. She didn't want to let go of the assistant's finger; she was terrified. It was truly heart wrenching. I abruptly went around the corner with Wan Han to get the assistant out of her sight for a few minutes. As I was walking Natalie was actually pushing me away from her as hard as she could. She was so upset and angry. I started speaking to her in both English and Mandarin and rubbing her back. In less than one minute she completely calmed down and Gary and I began our journey to earn Natalie Wanhan's trust and love.

It has not always been easy. We are Natalie's fourth set of parents. She was abandoned by her birth parents at one day old. She lived with her first set of foster parents until mid August of this year. At that point for some reason she was switched to another set of foster parents. I am thinking this change was likely the most painful one of all. Since she had been with the original foster parents since her second day of life she thought of them as her Mama and Baba. Then less than three months before Gary and I met her she was taken from them and placed with a new set of foster parents. In the photos that I have from this period of her life she looks very unhappy. I think she was really missing her "Mama and Baba". When Gary and I came along she was extremely quiet for the first week. I think she was resigned to the fact that she had been switched to yet another set of foster parents. Her attitude was one of neutrality and survival.

Now that she is starting to trust us her "Spicy" Jiangxi personality is coming out in full force. Natalie Wanhan is not at all the quiet little obliging wallflower that she at first appeared to be. She is a very clever child with opinions about everything and will not hesitate to let you know exactly what those opinions are. She can be quite a little clown; she loves to make people laugh and smile. She is a caretaker... she discovered some dolls in her room a few days ago and one of her favorite things to do is put them to bed by covering them up with a blanket and patting their backs. She is nearing the terrible twos and has fiery little tantrums when she doesn't get her way about something. She loves to chatter, dance, sing, run, pet the dogs and to be rocked to sleep. Sometimes she will grab our faces with both of her hands and lay a big kiss on us or run to us from across the room and grab our legs and giggle while she holds on tight.

It's a little hard for me to watch the beginning of this video because Natalie's emotional pain is so intense, but knowing that the story has a happy ending helps. The happy ending certainly didn't come that first night or for the next several days, but gradually Natalie let Gary and I into her heart. Our time together in China was a wonderful start to the beginning of building our relationships as a family, but being home for the past few weeks has bonded us all (including Katie and Louie the Newfs) so much more. Natalie knows what home is now. She knows who her family is. I know we still have a long way to go, but the progress that we have made together is miraculous. Really, has it just been one month? That seems impossible. Natalie fits into our family so perfectly...like she has always been here with us.

A Generous Spirit

2011-12-02T21:41:00.002-06:00

Every meal at the Happy Haus is all-you-can-eat for little Natalie. She is so happy to finally have a consistently full belly that she often smiles and giggles in between bites. For a girl who previously had few toys and likely never enough to eat, it is amazing to see the joy that it brings her to give to others. Natalie loves to share her toys with us, feeds her bear and dolls pretend food, and feeds the Newfs her leftover dinner.

Mommy's Little Helper

2011-11-29T17:33:00.000-06:00

Natalie likes to imitate everything that Mommy does. Today I decided to see if she wanted to help with the laundry.

Putting her special owl P.J.s into the washer

Time to move the clothes to the dryer

Inspector Natalie makes sure this piece of clothing meets current regulations before she puts it into the dryer.

It passed inspection, so in it goes.

Here are my special owl jammies again.

That was fun...got any more Mama?

Guardian Angels

2011-11-28T10:31:00.003-06:00

When Natalie is awake she can drive the Newfs a little crazy at times by trying to love on them a bit too much. We are working on teaching her that the dogs need their space. I think over time Natalie will learn how to behave properly around Katie & Louie and they will get used to her often jerky movements and high pitched squeals. In the meantime though Katie & Louie fully appreciate Natalie while she is sleeping. They often come check on her to make sure she is ok. They give her sleeping body a little sniff and wag their tails approvingly. Sometimes they lie down near her and guard her while she is asleep.

Natalie's First Visitors

2011-11-26T21:35:00.000-06:00

This afternoon some friends came over to welcome Natalie home to Arkansas.

Natalie loves her new musical picnic basket that her friends brought to her.

Thanks so much girls for the lovely visit and sweet gift.

Welcome Home to the Happy Haus Natalie!

2011-11-24T20:10:00.003-06:00

We arrived home Sunday evening after a grueling flight during which Natalie was dealing with a cold and Gary & I got food poisoning. We are all doing much better now and are slowly getting over the jet lag.

It is wonderful to be home! Natalie is getting used to the routine here and is surprising me by how much she likes the food. So far her new foods include green peas, scrambled free range eggs, carrots, provolone cheese (the first time she had it she giggled after every bite), long grain rice, broccoli, my homemade cinnamon raisin bread, various organic toddler veggie/fruit combos and lots of new flavors of whole milk organic yogurt. I was afraid she would miss her noodle diet from China, but she is eating almost as much as I do. I think our quest to fatten up our unnourished little girl is going to be successful. I'm looking forward to feeling a little bit of meat on her tiny prominent bones. She is 21 months old and just weighed in at the doctor a few days ago at 8.5kg which is under 19 lbs and is 30 1/2 inches tall.

She is still having bad nightmares at night, but during the day she is doing great. We think that as she feels more secure the nightmares will subside.

Between unpacking and lots of sleeping, there hasn't been much time for picture taking. I did manage to snap a picture of the first time Natalie sat down near Katie. She was a little bit afraid of the Newfs the first few days, but quickly figured out that they mean her no harm. I think now we are going to have to teach Natalie to give Katie and Louie some space instead of the other way around. She has been wanting to pet them all night.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! We had our most simplistic meal ever of Amy's Organic Pasta Shells with a side of Broccoli, but were filled with gratitude to be sharing this Thanksgiving with our sweet daughter.

Catch You On the Flip Side

2011-11-19T05:31:00.000-06:00

We are in our hotel room in Hong Kong and leave tomorrow morning for Home Sweet Home!

Natalie is ready to meet the rest of her new family and friends.

It may be a while before I can post again due to jet lag and a big Newfie reunion at home, but as soon as things settle down a bit I will post a Natalie and the Newfs update. Thanks so much everyone for your support during this incredible journey to our daughter.

A Taste of Japan While in China

2011-11-19T05:23:00.001-06:00

While we were in Nanchang we ate twice at the Japanese Restaurant that was located in our hotel. The genuine kindness of the people working there made the experience as wonderful as the delicious food that we ate. When we first arrived we were surrounded by three of the wait staff. I think they were mainly just curious about the strange Americans with the cute Chinese baby. They would not give us even a moment to look at the menu and make our choices. They wanted to discuss each possibility with us in depth. It was so hilarious. Only one of the three spoke a little bit of English so she would have to translate for the other two plus for the two of us. This went on for 15 minutes. Finally the chef came over and thankfully spoke very good English. We were able to explain that we eat seafood but no other meat.

Our hostess was so pretty and sweet. When we asked to take a picture of her in her kimono she grabbed her friend by the arm and made her pose along side her for moral support.

This is the fruit salad that they serve with every meal. It cracked me up that they only give you one grape. We didn't eat it though because we will only eat fruit in China that we can peel and vegetables that are cooked. So far that rule of thumb has served us well.

This kind woman took pity on our less than perfect chopstick skills and offered to feel Natalie. Since we are in our bonding phase we normally wouldn't allow other people to feed her, but with the language barrier that was just too difficult to explain. We decided to make an exception.

She was so sweet and tender with Natalie.

Our chef was very friendly and spent quite a bit of time talking to us. Everyone there wanted us to enjoy ourselves. They were so sweet and patient with us.

Buddhism & Chinese Folk Art

2011-11-18T02:36:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention that yesterday we had our appointment at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou. It was THE big appointment that our whole trip was scheduled around. I spent quite a bit of time the day before preparing paperwork to meet the stringent requirements of our government so that Natalie will be allowed to enter the U.S. It will also allow her to automatically become a U.S. citizen upon our arrival in Chicago. Thankfully, our CCAI guides did a very thorough job of walking us through the paperwork and double checked to make sure everything was correct. We made it through our appointment with no problems. This afternoon we will receive Natalie's Visa from the Consulate. Tomorrow we leave Guangzhou and will take a train to Hong Kong where we will spend one night before flying home.

Our first stop during our tour today was the Liurong Buddhist Temple, home of the Six Banyan Pagoda.

A modern monk texting on his cell phone

The three Buddha statues each have their hands arranged differently. From left to right they represent the Past, the Present, and the Future.

Mama and Baby under the Bodhi Tree

Stone carving on the temple wall

Next stop was the Guangdong Folk Arts Museum which is housed in the Chen's Ancestral Hall. The Chen's Hall is the most elaborately decorated building that I have ever seen.

Notice the hold Natalie has on Gary's finger :)

The embroidery is exquisitely detailed and looks like it was painted

When you examine it up close you can see the individual threads which comprise these amazing works of art.

Guangdong Province is the second most famous province for porcelain. The most famous is Natalie's Province of Jiangxi.

Bonsai tree

The Metamorphosis of Natalie

2011-11-17T18:38:00.001-06:00

Our little caterpillar is emerging from her cocoon as a full fledged butterfly. These shots are all from last night. Some are a little blurry since she was moving around so much, but I still like the way they capture her beautiful spirit.

Our Version of the Red Couch Photo

2011-11-17T18:27:00.000-06:00

Since the White Swan Hotel on Shamain Island is currently closed for renovations we are all staying at the China Hotel off the Island, but still in Guangzhou. Traditionally families take a picture of all of the babies in their group on the red couch at the White Swan, but we made do with a different couch. I was expecting Natalie to cry when I put her on the couch since she is such a clingy girl, but she seemed very relaxed during the photo shoot. I think it helped that she was sitting between two babies. She loves to be around little babies and always wants to hold their hands as you will see in some of our other group photos below.

Natalie loves Lucy!

Natalie finds another baby's hand to hold

Shamian Island

2011-11-17T02:26:00.000-06:00

On Wednesday we went to Shamian Island to have a mandatory medical exam done on all the babies. All of the babies passed the 3 exam stations and were cleared for travel.

After the exam we wandered around the Island for a while. I bought Natalie a few more pairs of squeaky shoes. When she wears them every step she takes makes a squeak. Some people find them annoying, but I could listen to them for hours after seeing how much Natalie enjoys wearing them. She is walking more everyday. She will now walk unassisted around our hotel room. It is amazing how much stronger her legs have gotten in the last week. The first few days her legs were so weak that they would tremble when she walked.

Shamian Island is THE place for bridal photos. We saw at least 30 brides posing while we were walking around.

British influence can be seen in most of the colonial style buildings on the island.

It is a mostly pedestrian island with a garden feel.

There are also lots of lovely bronze statues all over the island. Including this one showing the evolution of the Chinese woman.

Natalie laughing at my silly antics

Goodbye Nanchang

2011-11-16T16:53:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday, November 15th, we left Nanchang and flew to Guangzhou. I really loved our time in Nanchang and will miss our guides, Sissy & Evelyn as well as the lovely people of China who we encountered during our stay. Their warm smiles and well wishes meant so much during this part of our journey.

Natalie is coming out of her shell more and more everyday. We are seeing more smiles and laughter. Also, she is feeling safe enough with us now to start her grieving process for all that she has lost. She has had a few heart wrenching meltdowns during which she was completely unconsolable. It's so hard to watch, but I know it's healthy for her to let out all of these dark emotions that she has been hiding behind her stoic face. After her meltdowns she is usually all smiles and giggles, so I know they are making her feel better.

The Village People

2011-11-15T17:24:00.000-06:00

On Monday, November 14, our guides said they were taking us to the countryside. I was picturing open spaces where our children could play in the meadows. Instead it turns out that the country to them meant an agricultural village a half hour outside of Nanchang. It was an interesting tour - we learned a lot about how rural Chinese people live. The people there were so warm and welcoming and seemed to truly enjoy our visit as much as we did. Natalie's birthparents may live in a village like this...very thought provoking.

Gateway to the village

Daddy & Natalie sitting in front of harvested rice that has been spread out in front of this home to dry.

Women washing clothes in the river

Vegetable gardens behind the village

Mount Lushan

2011-11-14T06:49:00.001-06:00

On Sunday, 6 families from our group traveled to Mount Lushan which is part of a National Park in Jiangxi Province. It is also Global Geopark and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a 2-3 hour drive (one way) and was honestly a grueling day for the 3 of us. I'm glad we went since it was likely a once in a life time opportunity. We loved seeing the natural beauty of the park, but could have done without the harrowing bus ride over bumpy roads. We were sitting in the back of the bus and every time we hit a bump - which happened maybe a hundred times - we would fly up into the air. I was holding Nat with a death grip the whole time.

Also, I carried Natalie up and down several hills. She weighs just under 20 pounds, but after holding her from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. it felt like she weighed 100. Yesterday was I-want-my-Mama-Day and she would cry unless I was holding her. Today thankfully she is back to being a Daddy and Mama's girl.

Nat and I at the Moon Gate

Gary on the zig zag bridge

Produce for sale

The village outside Mt. Lushan

Jiangxi Province is known for its porcelain

The People's Park

2011-11-14T00:21:00.001-06:00

Saturday, November 12th, we went to The People's Park in Nanchang

We had a wonderful time there visiting with lots of Chinese people including these National Guard troops.

Natalie met a few other children close to her age

Although she was a bit wary she seemed to enjoy herself

This gentleman was writing Chinese characters with water on the pavement

He wrote a special message for our group

Natalie and I rode on the swing with two little Chinese boys

Nat standing on a playing piece of a giant Chinese Checker board

Our family sitting under a weeping willow

We won't risk eating food from the street vendors, but we enjoy seeing what they are making

In the afternoon we decided to try out the hotel's indoor heated swimming pool, but this is as far as we got. Gary and I stuck our toes in and decided that the water was not warm enough for Natalie. By the way, the pool required swim caps. I didn't have one for Natalie so I put her little crocheted hat on her head which they thought was good enough.

Playing with her stacking cups before bed.

Daddy taught her to put them on her feet and she loves to do it herself now.

First Smiles and Laughter

2011-11-13T06:34:00.001-06:00

I was beginning to think Natalie would forever be a solemn little girl, but slowly she is letting us see tiny glimpses of her true self. Yesterday we had a few breakthrough moments which were so wonderful to see...her first smiles and laughter. She is even more beautiful when she smiles :)

The Pavilion of Prince Teng

2011-11-11T06:35:00.001-06:00

A glimpse of the street vendors of Nanchang

On Friday we visited the Pavilion of Prince Teng, a famous landmark in Nanchang since 653 AD. The current structure is only ten years old, but is a replica of the original building which has been built, destroyed and rebuilt at least 25 times over the centuries. The building is gorgeous and when we reached the top we were able to see a show featuring traditional Chinese music.

In the garden outside the Pavilion

My Chinese Zodiac animal is the dog

Natalie's is the ox (Gary's is the rooster, but we couldn't find it in the garden.

The Pavilion visit was followed by another incredible multi course Chinese meal. The variety of the food is amazing and all three of us are leaving the table with very full stomachs. Hopefully Natalie will start to put on a little weight soon.

Whenever we take the Newfs for a walk in public we are bombarded by people wanting to pet them and take their photos. We never dreamed that we would have a similar experience in China with a Chinese baby, but people are drawn to Natalie and want to admire her and touch her cheek. Many people have given us thumbs up when they realize we have adopted Natalie. In the elevator tonight one woman started thanking us profusely for adopting a Chinese baby. We have heard "Lucky Baby" several times; we think we are the lucky parents!

These pretty ladies were part of Natalie's fan club today.

I believe I mentioned before that Natalie loves to play sharing games. She will pass items back and forth with us and is so generous with her toys. Today though she added a twist to the game. At one point today she did not have any toys readily available, but wanted to share with Gary. She pinched her fingers together like she was holding something and then opened her fingers above his open palm like she was dropping something into his hand. He got right into the game and the two of them passed the imaginary object back and forth several times. Now it is their new favorite game and they have played it several times...so sweet.

To Market, To Market to Buy Little Shoes

2011-11-11T02:20:00.001-06:00

Thursday our group went to a Chinese flea market which was a very fun experience. The quality of the items sold there is very high and the price very low. Our main mission was to find some shoes for Natalie as the few pair we brought were too big for her. We found three pair along with a couple of toys for her to play with. Her favorite toy is a little cell phone that plays different music and animal sounds when the keys are pressed.

We had a delicious lunch and great conversation at the "Luminous Restaurant".

Natalie LOVES noodles...

She slurps them up like a pro

Some of our friends and fellow adoptive parents:

This baby gives the meal a big thumbs up!

Back at the hotel wearing her new shoes

A Day of Much Needed Rest

2011-11-10T05:56:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the only appointment we had was with a doctor who gave Natalie a checkup. He came to the hotel, so we ended up staying here all day yesterday. All three of us had a very relaxing day and some time to get used to being a family.

The doctor said that Natalie has an upper respiratory infection so we are treating her with two different types of medication. I think it's already starting to help. He also said that she is underweight, so we are focusing on feeding her calorie dense food and plenty of protein. We were told by the orphanage director that she still drinks formula and were given some of the exact same kind they use at the orphanage. However, Natalie has let us know that she wants nothing to do with the formula or with a bottle at all which is fine with us. At 21 months she can eat solid food just fine. She loves steamed eggs, noodles of all kinds, rice, bread, tofu, cereal and yogurt. Her very favorite thing in the world to eat is the organic yogurt drops that I brought with us from the states. We only have 1 bag left so we are saving them as a special reward for her after she takes her yucky medicine. It seems to be working because she cried pitifully last night when we gave her the meds, but today knowing she would get the yogurt drops immediately after she took the medicine like a champ.

That reminds me... I have to say a few words about what an amazing baby Natalie Wanhan is. She is so cooperative with everything that we do. When it's time to get dressed for the day she lifts her arms to get her pjs off. She pushes her feet into her shoes and her arms through her sleeves. She is the most patient child I have ever met. She waits for us to feed her each bite of food without getting upset or fussy. She loves to play with her stacking cups and will offer them to you freely to get you involved in play with her. She also loves to trade items back and forth with us. When she awakens in the middle of the night she may start to cry - probably in confusion wondering where she is - I reach over and rub her forehead or her tummy. She is immediately reassured and falls right back to sleep. When it's nap time she wants to cuddle and will fall asleep lying on my chest after less than 5 minutes. She loves to be held or to sit in our laps. Also, I have to brag on her and tell you that she is potty trained. We are keeping her in pull-ups for a few more days just to make sure, but so far she has not had a single accident - even at night.

Last night we had a hilarious and wonderful experience at a Japanese restaurant here at the hotel. When we arrived we were swarmed by not one, not two, but Three servers! They would not let us look at the menu for even a few minutes by ourselves and let us make a decision about what to order. Instead they wanted to review many different options with us even though only one of them barely spoke English. We tried to explain that we eat seafood but no other meat. Finally the chef came over to "help" us decide what to eat. He spoke the best English of the four. We were so overwhelmed with all four of them speaking at once in multiple languages that we just agreed to whatever they thought was best. It turned out to be fantastic. When we saw the large number of dishes that kept being put on our table we were nervous about seeing our bill, but in the end the meal was very inexpensive. Everyone was so nice to us and to Natalie. They were truly happy to see how much we all enjoyed our meal. We are having a lot of encounters like this and are enjoying the people that we are meeting in China.

By the way, our chopstick skills are getting quite good.

View from our hotel window

Adoption Day

2011-11-10T01:27:00.000-06:00

Tuesday was the day Natalie officially became a part of our family. It was a hectic day of traveling from the registry to the notary and from there to some kind of police station to get Natalie's picture taken. After sleeping for only about 1 hour the night before the whole day was pretty much an exhausting blur...so hard on all 3 of us. We ended the day at a department/grocery store called Rainbow where Gary and I, in our sleep deprived state, proceeded to unknowingly break several of the store rules. Looking back it was pretty funny that our store trip mostly consisted of us being chastised by groups of Chinese people. I may write more about it later because it was an interesting experience, but as usual I am pressed for time.

The best parts of Tuesday though were Natalie legally becoming our daughter - although she has been our daughter in our hearts since the moment we saw her picture - and getting to spend some more time with her orphanage director.

Natalie in her highchair at the hotel restaurant breakfast buffet which offers at least 50 different Chinese and American choices.n I think she was making her mad face because there was a pause in feeding her the yogurt.

Bread sculpture in the restaurant

Our group getting ready to leave the hotel to go to our appointments...babies everywhere :)

Mama and Wanhan headed for the bus.

A few shots of the beautiful Crowne Plaza which is a 5 star hotel that we would never be able to afford if it was located in the U.S. We have felt quite spoiled here. The staff is so kind and helps us with things we need for Natalie.

Natalie with the Director of Shangrao Orphange in Jiangxi Provence. This lovely lady has known Natalie since she was 1 day old.

She and I spent about an hour together. Sitting together and communicating in a combination of sign language, Mandarin, English and laughter, we had such a nice time. I have a video of her playing with Wanhan that I feel so grateful to have. She told us that Natalie's normal demeanor is very calm. Yay! Although I would love to hear some belly laughs from our sweet girl...someday soon I hope. The director gave us an open ended invitation to stay with her in her home anytime we want to visit Shangrao. She has such a deep, genuine love for the children.

She and I took turns holding Wanhan. When Natalie would reach her little arms out to come back to me it made my heart melt. The director told Natalie to give Gary and I both kisses which she sweetly did. I think it was helpful for Natalie to hear and see the director refer to Gary and I as "Mama and Baba".

Silver and Gold

2011-11-09T03:43:00.001-06:00

This post is for my dear friends who have endured the long five plus year wait to our daughters with me. The few of us who were logged in on 7/22 are the last in our group to receive our daughters. See if there are some faces that you M.M.S. girls recognize :) There are also pictures of some new friends including the parents to the twins in our group. I'll try to get the rest of the group later. It has been such a joy to see these families coming together.

Sorry this is so blurry...

A song we used to sing in childhood: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold."

Meeting Our Daughter: Natalie Wanhan

2011-11-08T18:12:00.000-06:00

The last 36 hours have been a non-stop whirlwind of activity. This is my first moment to post while Natalie is sleeping in the middle of our bigger than king size bed in our hotel room in Nanchang China.

When we arrived at the hotel after our flight from Hong Kong most of the babies were already here, but Natalie had the farthest to travel and had not yet arrived. Gary and I got to witness seven other families being united with their beautiful daughters. One family received twins. It was so amazing to be a part of this extraordinary experience for such a wonderful group of people. All of the girls are healthy and happy.

Finally Wanhan arrived with the director of the orphanage and a staff member. At 21 months old she is the oldest by far of all the babies (the twins are next oldest at not quite 1 year) and is the only one walking. As Wanhan stepped off the elevator holding on to the finger of the orphanage staff member, I knelt down to make myself less intimidating. She was curious at first and took a few steps toward me, but when I reached my arms out to her she began to cry. I picked her up anyway and talking soothingly to her in both English and Mandarin while I rubbed her back and she stopped crying right away. I was and am in total awe of her. She is so perfect and so very sweet. Right now she is fairly deep in her shell, but she likes both Gary and I. She understands that we are her caregivers but it will take a while for her to realize that we are her parents. She did call me Mama on the very first night - the only time she has spoken so far - that was so sweet to hear. When Natalie is tired she clings to me like superglue. When she is fully awake she is happy to be held by either one of us. My arms and legs are so sore from carrying her for hours, but of course I don't mind. Today we hope we can encourage her to walk at least a little of the time, but we will do whatever we need to do to help her feel safe and secure during what is one of the scariest and most confusing times of her life. We are looking forward to the coming days, weeks, and months when we know her true personality will start to shine through. I'll write more later, but I know what everyone really wants are pictures, so here they are.

The director of the orphanage brought us a porcelain tea set to save for Natalie for when she is older. Jiangxi Province is known for their fine porcelain.

A picture from yesterday of me, Natalie and the director of her orphanage who is a very loving woman...more about her in a future post.

From Sampan to Dim Sum

2011-11-06T02:38:00.002-06:00

Today we went on a tour guided by a local Chinese representative from our adoption agency. He took excellent care of everyone in our group. We are having a great time getting to know more people in our travel group. I believe there are ten families total receiving eleven babies (one family is getting twins).

Our first stop was windy Victoria Peak, the highest point on Hong Kong Island

Me pointing out the tram to Gary with Hong Kong in the background.

Next we went on a Sampan boat tour in the Aberdeen Fishing District

We passed a huge floating restaurant that seats over 3,000 people

Our guide said he didn't recommend eating there and it did look a lot less appealing from the back.

Intertesting juxtaposition of old and new

Bauhinia Blakeana, the National flower of Hong Kong

A cool looking wall made out of scrap lumber

Inside a 500 year old temple there is a hole in the roof...

It's purpose is to allow the sun to shine on this bonsai tree

Our tour ended with an enormous meal of dim sum. Now we are relaxing for a few hours and getting ready for our trip to Nanchang tomorrow. We are not arriving in Nanchang until 5:00 p.m. Since we will be meeting Natalie likely tomorrow evening I probably won't be able to blog until at least the next day. I promise to post as soon as we have a moment when Natalie is sleeping and we are not.

Wandering Around Hong Kong

2011-11-05T07:55:00.000-05:00

We arrived at the Central Park Hotel last night about 10:00 p.m. Hong Kong time and managed to sleep for about 9 hours! Our room was tiny, but very comfortable.

The feel of the city of Hong Kong is very busy and upbeat. It reminds me so much of New York City, but the cost reminds me more of London - very expensive. Although it's fun to see Hong Kong I'm glad we are not staying here for long. We leave the day after tomorrow to fly to Nanchang.

This morning we wandered around for a while trying to find a place to exchange money. We got lost for a bit, but eventually found our way back to the hotel.

The father of Chinese medicine...sorry I forgot to write down his name.

The Waterfront view near our new hotel: The Regal Kowloon

Tonight we met up with two of my best friends and their families. We are so lucky to be sharing this adoption experience with such wonderful people.

Tomorrow we meet our guide who has a full day planned for us of sight seeing in Hong Kong. It will be great to explore more of the area and also to stay busy as we have less than 48 hours to go until we meet Natalie.

By the way, for all of Katie and Louie's friends and fans, we got a report from the dog/house sitter and they are doing great. She is taking such good care of the Newfs that they probably don't miss us too much.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

2011-11-03T13:05:00.002-05:00

3:45 a.m. at the Little Rock airport our trip to China begins

From the Chicago Airport, 1:00 p.m...
After all these years of waiting for our daughter it's almost hard to believe that we are on our way to China at last. The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for Gary and I. We both have been so busy getting everything prepared at work, at home and getting our amazing dog/house sitter settled in, that we haven't had much choice but to live completely in the present moment. Now with a 15 hour flight ahead of us there is time to daydream about little Natalie Wanhan and our future together. My immediate hope is that the transition is not too hard for her. We will be at least her fourth set of parents. She was abandoned by her birth parents and has had at least two different sets of foster parents during her 21 months at Shangrao orphanage. It may take quite some time, but eventually Natalie will come to understand that we are her final and forever set of parents.

Our Itenerary:

11/4 Arrive Hong Kong

11/5-11/6 Tour Hong Kong and get on China time

11/7 Natalie Day :) We fly to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Provence to meet our daughter.

11/8 Adoption Day - Natalie will officially become part of our family.

11/14 We get Natalie's passport

11/15 Fly to Guangzhou

11/17 Go to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath on Natalie's behalf that will allow her to become a U.S. citizen

11/18 We receive Natalie's Visa

11/19 Take a train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong

11/20 Fly Home!! I'm sure we will be ready for our own bed and to see Katie and Louie.

Happy Birthday Dear Katie!

2011-10-29T19:34:00.001-05:00

We are too busy packing for China to have a big celebration, but Katie doesn't care. She split a can of tuna fish with Louie in honor of her 5th birthday. That's all it took to make our sweet birthday girl happy.
Happy Birthday Our Dearest Katie! We love you!

A Shower for Natalie

2011-10-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

Gary and I are both so fortunate to work with people that we really like and enjoy seeing every workday. A few weeks ago the people at Gary's work place threw us a baby shower and this week my coworkers gave us a shower for Natalie. Quite a few people picked up on the owl theme as you will see in the below pictures. Natalie was given some very nice gifts which we greatly appreciated, but our favorite part was the loving support that we received from our friends. Natalie is loved already and not just by us.

Gary trying out Natalie's new owl themed hoodie towel

Give Me a "T"! Give Me an "A"! What's That Spell?

2011-10-20T19:54:00.002-05:00

We are going to China!!!

For those of you not familiar with the China adoption world, T. A. is the coveted acronym that stands for Travel Approval. Today Gary and I, along with our travel group, received our beautiful T.A. Now we just need our appointment date at the U.S. Consulate in China and we will be able to buy our tickets and rush around finalizing the last minute details. Between two and three weeks from now we will be on a plane headed towards our sweet Natalie.

Two Newfs, Two Humans & Two Rivers

2011-10-17T21:33:00.001-05:00

On October 1st, the day after we saw Natalie's face for the first time, we decided to take the new pedestrian Two Rivers Bridge for a test walk. The bridge crosses the Little Maumelle River and takes bicyclists, runners and walkers directly to Two Rivers Park which is nestled between the Little Maumelle and the Arkansas Rivers.

Twilight over Pinnacle mountain

After crossing the river we took a nice walk on one of many beautiful trails.

"When can we go back?"

What's in a Name?

2011-10-11T17:24:00.000-05:00

Natalie's given Chinese name, which we will keep as her middle name, is Wan Han. Although our adoption agency gave us a translation of it, I was having a hard time putting the meaning into words until I did some research on the characters myself.

Wan, the first character, literally means 10,000, but the figurative meaning is infinity. It is considered to be a very auspicious and lucky number. The Forbidden City is said to have 9999 1/2 rooms - one half room less than the 10,000 rooms that are in heaven according to ancient Chinese culture.

Han, the second character, means contain. When I first heard this I thought it was a very strange meaning for a name. Now I understand that the two characters are meant to always be interpreted as a set.

When Natalie arrived at the orphanage she was given a name which says she contains an infinite amount of luck and good fortune...a beautiful name for a very special little girl.

Caring From the Other Side of the World

2011-10-09T16:13:00.023-05:00

Natalie in August 2011 reaching for someone...wish it was me!

Two days after we got our referral for Natalie I sent her a care package containing a soft cuddly blanket and two of her favorite kinds of toys: a stuffed animal and a musical toy. I also sent a couple of disposable cameras in hopes that her foster parents will take pictures of her and return the cameras to us. The photo album we made several months ago to familiarize her with our faces was also in the box. The chocolate truffles are for her foster parents - I hope the weather is cool enough now to keep them from melting.

Enough Red Threads to Make a Quilt!

2011-10-05T12:50:00.003-05:00

“An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle but never break.” -Ancient Chinese Belief

Since last Friday we have seen so many signs which tell us that Natalie Wanhan, was meant to be our daughter. One of the first things we learned when we got the referral call for Natalie was her birthdate of January 27, 2010 - the same day as Gary's father's birthday!

This picture was taken on August 10, 2011. Natalie was 18 months old at the time.

Another red thread...Gary, Louie and Natalie are all Aquarius and born in late January. (Katie and I are both October girls.)

During this long wait I have made some very dear friends who were also logged into the China adoption system in July of 2006. Three of those women will be traveling with us in China to meet their daughters. All three of them have daughters in the same orphanage, but Natalie is in a different one. I had so wanted her to have that connection with some families from our close knit group, so when I first learned this I was a little sad. But very soon thereafter I learned that several families in our group who are leaving for China this week have daughters from Natalie's orphanage. There are estimated to be 1,000 orphanages in China so it is truly miraculous that Natalie will be able to share this connection with some girls in our little group. There is a chance that one of these families might get to visit our sweet girl and take some pictures for us next week.

Now, the next incredible red thread... I was recently contacted by someone who adopted a daughter from the same orphanage as Natalie's in August of this year. She said she thought she had some pictures of our daughter and she sent them to me. I confirmed that "YES! That is our Natalie!" I was so thrilled to get the most recent pictures I have to date of Nat. The above picture is one that she sent.

Even better than the pictures though was finding out that her daughter is Natalie's foster sister. I didn't even know that Natalie is in foster care. Now we have pictures of her being held by both her foster mother and father, pictures of her with her foster sisters, and a connection to Natalie's past. This is such a wonderful gift for our family. The person that traveled in August had previously discovered another of the five foster sisters, so if we can find the other two in the next several months these girls will be able to have a lifelong connection to their whole group of foster sisters. We are just thrilled about this. I know it is going to mean so much to Natalie as she grows up.

Now for the grand finale of the Red Threads: What does the above picture have in common with the two below?

Natalie's Room

A stunning red thread. Do you see it? It truly blew Gary and I away when we did. There is no doubt in the world that this precious little girl is our daughter. Amazing! Yep, that's our baby :)

All About Natalie

2011-10-01T21:00:00.002-05:00

Seeing our daughter's face for the first time yesterday, magically wiped away our 6 year, 8 month wait since we made the decision to adopt in the beginning of 2005. All those years of waiting - sometimes patiently and sometimes agonizing over the slow process - make complete sense now. If we had gotten our child match earlier we wouldn't have been chosen as the parents for Ling Wan Han. Gary and I both feel a connection to Natalie already. Even though we haven't met her yet we just sense that she was meant to be part of our family. Her Auntie Leah said the same thing.

The following pictures were taken May 30, 2011. Natalie was 16 months old at that time.

Here's what we know so far:

Natalie is in the Province of Jiangxi in the Shangrao City Children's Welfare Center which has a nutritional program sponsored by Love Without Boundaries. I was so happy find out about that. She drinks milk and a rice-based formula. She also eats porridge and noodles.

Her favorite activity is to play outside and her favorite toys are the musical ones.

Natalie is a deep sleeper and she is potty trained (her Daddy was particularly happy to hear this). She can walk if someone holds her hand. She is a talkative, extroverted girl who likes to play with toys and gets along well with others.

I am so happy that I have been crying off and on since 10:30 yesterday. My heart is just so full of joy that my body can not contain it. Natalie Wanhan is a dream come true. I am so ready to love her and do my best to give her the nurturing she needs.

Introducing Our Daughter Natalie

2011-09-30T14:06:00.009-05:00

Natalie's referral photo. I'm guessing she was about 12-14 months old at the time of this picture.
We are SO Happy!!! More details to follow very soon.

Stay Tuned For a Very Joyous Announcement :)

2011-09-28T18:03:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what it is? :) For now I will say that I am floating on a happy cloud and we should have wonderful information to share by tomorrow or Friday.

Coffee with a Canine

2011-09-26T07:59:00.007-05:00

Do you want to find out the answers to intriguing questions such as: "If Hollywood made a movie in which Katie and Louie could talk, who should do their voices?" and "If Katie and Louie could change one thing about you, what would it be?"? If so, check out my interview by Marshal Zeringue at his Coffee with a Canine blog where he sounds out humans while they take their canine friends on coffee dates. It's a very cool blog...lots of fun! It's also a great distraction while we wait for China to match us with our daughter.

New AKC Therapy Dog Titles: THD

2011-09-07T21:29:00.000-05:00

Hooray Katie and Louie just received a new title from the American Kennel Club. It's THD which stands for Therapy Dog. To qualify for the title dogs must be certified by an AKC recognized therapy dog organization (TDI - Therapy Dogs International in our case), they must be AKC registered or listed and they must have completed 50 verified therapy visits. Our Newfoundlands automatically qualified because they already met all of those criteria.

Katie and I went to our favorite nursing home tonight. I always dress her up when we go there because the elderly people get a huge kick out of seeing her with ribbons in her hair. We had not visited in a while because of the heat, so Katie was super excited to see a bunch of her human friends again.

Louie posing with his patch

Now Katie and Louie's official names and titles are...

Wilbon's What a Wonderful World RE THD TDIA CGC

& Wilbon's Katie Scarlett O'Hara RA THD TDIA CGC

Katie giving Mama some therapeutic kisses

Newf Evacuation

2011-08-19T17:50:00.001-05:00

Right around bedtime last Friday night a big thunderstorm swept through the area. As we settled into bed there was an enormous booming noise and in the same moment our power went out.

Gary and I got out of bed and put batteries in Louie's emergency fans. Because Louie is about ten times more heat sensitive than Katie, we usually direct the fan air flow towards him. Katie was peacefully sleeping on the floor on my side of the bed without any fans while Louie was lying in front of his 2 medium sized and 1 small fan panting lightly. Admittedly, these fans are not very powerful but they are much better than no fans at all. However, Louie quickly became dissatisfied with the lack of air flow and started getting restless. Plus I think his body heats up the floor so he moves from place to place trying to find a cooler patch of hardwood to lie on. It was a terrible night for Gary and I because we had to listen to Louie shuffling around from place to place and he makes a lot of noise each time he plunks down on the floor. Everytime we would doze off for a few minutes we would be awakened by a high pitched little whine. Louie was definitely playing up his role as the baby of the family. I think Katie was the only one who managed to get any sleep that night.

The next morning the temperatures stayed down, so our house was reasonably cool. Louie was still dissatisfied, but he certainly wasn't in any danger of overheating. But by noon even Katie was panting a tiny bit. Gary had the great idea to ask Bonnie and Bill, Katie & Louie's breeders, if they would let our Newfs stay in their air-conditioned barn. We called them and they agreed that we could bring K&L over.

The set up at Wilbon's Newfoundlands is so nice. Usually the Newfs are paired up two to a run like Katie and Louie were that day. Inside the barn there is enough room for two Newfs to stretch out and enjoy the cool air conditioning and many fans that are scattered throughout the room. I'm sure Louie enjoyed that because it's cooler in the Newf barn than it normally is in our house. Each kennel has a dog door so the Newfs can go outside when ever they want. The runs are nice and long and when the weather is cool enough the Newfs love to race each other up and down the runs.

When I first arrived all of the Newfoundlands were snoozing away. One by one they slowly woke up and tails started wagging as they asked for some attention. I gave each one some love and then went back to the car to collect Gary, Katie and Louie. Although there were five intact males in the barn (including Louie) there was no growling - I don't imagine there are very many other dog breeds where this would be the case. Newfoundland dogs are generally just easy going. We are still cautious though and never allow Louie direct interaction with other intact male dogs.

Katie and Louie went into a run right across from their mutual father, Loki. We filled a giant bucket full of water for them and headed home.

We returned about 5 hours later and you can see Katie and Louie's reaction in the video below. I think they missed us a little bit; we missed them too. The house felt empty without them.

Near the end of the video when Louie is facing right, the dog he is greeting is a big intact male. Notice that both dogs are wagging their tails very prominently to the right. From the NY Times article "If You Want to Know if Spot Loves You So, It's In His Tail", "When dogs feel fundamentally positive about something or someone, their tails wag more to the right side of their rumps. When they have negative feelings, their tail wagging is biased to the left." The article discusses some interesting research about left brain vs. right brain asymmetry in dogs.

Many thanks to Bill and Bonnie for letting Katie and Louie visit their Newf barn and their wonderful Newfies.

A Lovely New Newf Book

2011-08-17T21:03:00.003-05:00

Meet Bernice. She is a big Newfoundland dog who often gets confused with a bear. Sounds familiar to us :)

I recently bought this book as a gift for Gary and Natalie. I know they will read and re-read this beautiful story together many times over the years. It's a perfect book for Natalie, who like Bernice, the Newfoundland dog in the story, may feel different at times from other children. It sends a positive message that being different is not just ok, but that it can really be quite wonderful! Gary loved the gift. He ooohhhhed and aaahhhed over the stunning watercolor art and was moved by the heartwarming story. A frequent line throughout the book "Oh my gosh, it's a bear" is one we have heard literally hundreds of times over the years when we take Katie and Louie out for walks. If you happen to read a copy I would love to know what you think of it.

The Final Countdown to Natalie

2011-08-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Way back on July 22, 2006, our dossier (a huge packet of information containing just about every detail of our lives) was recorded in China's adoption system. That date of 7/22/6 became our log in date, which is referred to in the China adoption world as LID. Your LID is what determines when you will be matched with your child. At the time we got our LID, China had just issued referrals of LIDs through 7/13/5. That means that there were 364 calendar days that had to be covered by China referrals from the time that we started in 2006 until later this year when we will receive our referral for Natalie.

I made a paperclip chain of 364 clips to represent each of these days that was between us and our daughter. I hung it over one of the doorways in Natalie's room and as you can see in the picture below, it was so long that it draped over the doorway twice!

Here is the chain today. There are just 9 paperclips remaining until the final clip is reached. It has taken over 5 years for us to get to this point.

To give you an idea of the history of the speed of referrals, here are the average number of calendar days covered each year since we started our adoption process.

2006 12 days/month

2007 8 days/month

2008 6 days/month

2009 3 days/month

2010 5 days/month

2011 ytd 6 days/month

For us this most likely means we will get our referral in the batch after next. Hopefully around the end of September we will get to see sweet Natalie's face for the first time, find out how old she is and where she is currently living in China. It has been the longest journey of my life, but I know Natalie will be worth every moment of waiting.

Soon this blog will shift from "All Newfoundlands all the time" to "Natalie and the Newfoundlands' Great Adventures". I'm getting so excited.

To tide you over until then, here is a video of two sweet Newfoundland dogs with an adorable 16 month old little girl. Too sweet...

Enough Fur for Two Dogs!

2011-07-31T20:07:00.001-05:00

Better late than never, I guess. Now that summer is more than half over Louie has finally "decided" to blow his coat. All of this fur came off of him in 20 minutes.

Hopefully Louie will be a little cooler now. You would think after all that he would look naked, but he still has tons of fur left.

If you are curious about how I got so much hair off of him so quickly. Here is a picture of the tool I used:

It's a grooming rake with rotating and retracting pins. It conforms to the dog's body as you use it, so it's pain-free. Katie and Louie seem to enjoy being groomed with it. When Newfoundlands are blowing coat I have found that this tool removes undercoat faster than any other.

Summertime and the Living is [Not] Easy...

2011-07-26T18:32:00.002-05:00

Summertime in Arkansas is usually not very pleasant. Unfortunately, this summer seems worse than normal. Our temperatures for the last several weeks have been in the upper 90's to 100's. One recent afternoon our heat index reached 111. Yikes! We go for a walk every morning at 6:00 a.m. but it's still around 80 degrees at that point so our walks have been short. Due to the lack of exercise we have been trying to find ways to keep the Newfs entertained. Katie and Louie play hide and seek the kibble most nights before dinner time and often have wrestling matches in the living room trying to burn off some of their Newfie exhuberance.

Below are some low key shots of two Newfoundland dogs staying mellow and trying to keep their cool in the blistering heat:

Below is Katie trying out our new retaining wall. Louie used to frequently walk on top of the old one that was made out of railroad ties, but Katie never would. Now that we have the new stone wall Katie is getting on it, but Louie wants nothing to do with it.

When Katie reaches the end of the wall she sits down and then pivots 180 degrees on her behind so that she can get off the wall the same way she got on without having to jump down. These Newfs can come up with some interesting maneuvers sometimes.

While we are at work during the week Katie and Louie spend most of their time in the dog room - sleeping I suspect. The room has a giant dog door so they can go outside whenever they choose, but they prefer to stay in the air-conditioned room with 3 fans blowing the cool air on them.

Besides the heat another thing we don't like about summer is that the dogs occasionally get hot spots. Louie recently developed a small one on his leg. I wrapped it up to keep him from licking it. The vet said we would need to apply bitter apple spray to the bandage to get him to leave it alone, but he underestimated our Louie. While I was treating him, Louie never tried to take the bandage off. What a good boy! Now he's all healed up. I truly don't think I've ever encountered another dog as patient and tolerant as Louie. He will let you do anything to him including putting goofy hats on his head as you saw in the 4th of July post.

Louie loves the cool tile floor.

Louie spends a few minutes outside each afternoon waiting by the gate when he knows it's time for us to come home.

Newfie 4th of July!

2011-07-03T08:38:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th of July Everyone!

Love and Licks from Katie & Louie

Nesting for Natalie

2011-06-12T17:22:00.004-05:00

A robin and her 3 chicks just vacated this nest right outside our back door. This mother's sturdy, sweet nest has been an inspiration to me.

I've spent quite a bit of time this weekend working on child proofing the house. During my breaks I put together a photobook that I will send to Natalie in China as soon as we receive our referral. Usually the nannies at the orphanages or the foster mothers will show pictures of the children's new parents to them. Hopefully when Natalie sees us in person for the first time our faces will be at least a little familiar. I also plan on sending a little stuffed animal with our scents on it. While we are in China with Natalie we will show her pictures of her grandparents, aunts, dogs, etc.

With the Newfs especially, I want to prepare Natalie as much as possible. A good friend of mine had the idea that we show her videos of us playing with Katie and Louie. Natalie will at least be able to see them and hear them a bit before she has the shock of meeting the Giants in person.

Here is Natalie's Family Book in a slideshow format. The music in the background is "This is Home" by Lucy Kaplansky, a wonderful artist and fellow adoptive China mother.

Wow! They Really Are Water Dogs!

2011-05-29T20:23:00.002-05:00

During a recent trip to Lake Bennett in Woolly Hollow State Park we discovered that Katie and Louie are real water dogs. Newfoundland dogs are known for their love of water and have a history of water work including saving drowning victims. Katie and Louie had been in the water a couple of times before and didn't seem to be overly excited about it.

Louie's only time to get to retrieve the dumbbell. Katie got it the other 49 times we threw it.

This time though something just clicked and suddenly Katie, a Newf girl who doesn't even like to fetch, was begging us over and over to throw the dumbbell for her to retrieve. If we didn't throw it quickly enough she would start to whine. If we hesitated further we were treated to some very loud and indignant Newfie barks. I think it was the most enthusiasm I've ever seen from her.

Then, like a true Newfoundland hero dog, Louie came to Gary's rescue three times when he was "drowning". Gary decided to go into the lake by himself and told me he was going to pretend like he was having problems just to see what the dogs would do. As you will see in the following video, Louie's water rescue instincts kicked right in without any prior water training. It was absolutely amazing to see how Louie, without hesitation, got to his Daddy as fast as he could and then allowed Gary to gently hold onto his sides as he pulled him into the shore. Once their feet could touch bottom Louie turned to Gary as if to reassure himself that his Daddy was ok and gave Gary sweet kisses.

These dogs never cease to amaze us with their intelligence, loyalty, bravery and sweetness. We are extremely blessed to have them as friends and part of our family.

Katie was completely enamored of her floating dumbbell toy.

Even out of the water she didn't want to let it out of her sight.

The car ride home was a great time for a nap :)

Big and Little Sights In the Backyard

2011-05-21T20:39:00.004-05:00

Our Newfoundland dog, Louie, wasn't quite tall enough to see over our 6 foot high privacy fence.

So, he figured out that if he stood up on these bags of stones and then propped one foot up on the water hose hanger he could stretch his neck long enough to check out the activity in the neighbor's yard. Clever boy!

After the excitement next door died down, Katie and Louie supervised Gary and I while we did some weeding in the yard. While I was cutting back some ivy, I found this little turtle.

I named him Terrance before we released him into the wilds of our front yard where he will have yummy hibiscus flowers to eat.

We hope you all are having a great weekend. Love, Charity, Gary, Katie and Louie

Natalie's Room Has Received the Newf Stamp of Approval

2011-05-06T21:35:00.004-05:00

Natalie's room is all ready for her...well except for toys to fill her shelves and clothes for her closet.

Katie checked everything out.

She gives the room a big white paw up (since she doesn't have a thumb).

The owls are in honor of Natalie's new Grandmother.

This is where Natalie's toys will be stored.

Louie thinks the new rug is a great snoozing spot.

Katie shows Louie there is room on the new rug for two Newfoundland dogs.

A Very Good Friday/How to Introduce Yourself to a Dog You Don't Know

2011-04-26T20:55:00.001-05:00

Louie and Katie spent Good Friday doing what they love best (besides eating): Working!

They took turns teaching a lesson to second graders. The lesson of the day was "How to Introduce Yourself to a Dog You Don't Know."

Louie was such a patient boy and listened intently to my lecture.

I tried to make the lesson very simple in hopes that the kids might remember it the next time they meet a stranger dog. We used one hand to keep track of the five rules.

#1 Be quiet! (I told the students to be quiet and calm around dogs they don't know.)

#2 Do not stare into the dog’s eyes. (I explained a little bit about canine body language and how they perceive this as a threat.)

#3 Ask your parent!
Ask the dog owner!
Ask the dog!

(If the dog is backing away from you and acting reluctant don't try to pet it even if the adults told you it was ok. Let the dog come to you.)

#4 Hold out your fist for the dog to sniff.

#5 Pet the dog under the chin. (Don't reach over the top of their heads and don't come up behind them.)

After we reviewed the rules each child got to come practice on Louie. They had all met him back in November for reading day, so he worked out well for a first practice attempt.

Next Katie, a true stranger dog, came in the room. All the kids practiced again with her and everyone did a fantastic job! We had so much fun with this group of awesome students. It was a great way to spend our Good Friday.

A Touch of China While We Wait

2011-04-06T20:30:00.004-05:00

Even though we have been very quiet at the Happy Haus about our upcoming adoption...

We are still thinking everyday about our precious daughter in China

Over 6 years of waiting haven't diminished our love and longing for a little girl we haven't met yet

The stork has been elusive

But finally we can see an end to our journey

It seems like forever since we have mentioned anything about our adoption, but there really hasn't been much to tell. We still don't have any concrete news, but it seems likely that our daughter will be home by the end of this year. After waiting for over 6 years to bring Natalie home, it's hard to believe that we are finally nearing the end of this journey.

Recently, in order to update our adoption paperwork, we had to get fingerprinted for the third time by the Department of Homeland Security in Memphis. The staff there was very efficient this trip, so we ended up having extra time which we used to visit the Memphis Zoo.

Our main agenda was to see the Pandas which perfectly fit the theme of the day.

This lovely lady had buried herself in bamboo and was enthusiastically chowing down the whole time we were there.

She looked so happy eating her 'nummy bamboo. I didn't realize that Pandas have to eat 40 pounds of bamboo every day and that it takes them almost all day to consume that amount.

Appropriately, our last stop at the zoo was to view examples of the iconic symbol of Natalie's future country.

For now we're going back to our hibernation mode on this subject until we have more news to share. 再见

Marathon Time

2011-03-08T20:22:00.002-06:00

KATIE: Oh my gosh Louie...what's going on out here??

LOUIE: Cool! It's Marathon time again. It's always fun to hear lots of silly humans yell "look at those bears" as they run away as fast as they can.

KATIE: They weren't scared Louie-Lou; they were racing. You know, like we always do during our recall practice.

LOUIE: Oh yeah, you mean those races that I always win. Those are always fun too.

KATIE: Well, even better than the bear comments are the hundreds of "gorgeous dogs" comments. This year people are loving my girly bling. Seeing us seems to give their tired legs a little extra boost. We are therapy dogs so of course we like to help out whenever we can. Lifting spirits is our speciality.

LOUIE: I love it when people stop running the marathon just to pet us. I think all those kisses we give them really cheer them up.

Love and kisses to the thousands of runners who participated in this year's Marathon,

Katie and Louie

"Snow Newfs" the Movie

2011-03-03T20:42:00.001-06:00

In Central Arkansas we are lucky to get an inch of snow once or twice a year. This year we hit the snow jackpot with two decent sized snows and then one big snow which totaled 7"!

Katie, Gary and Louie during the Big Snow of 2011.

This movie may not quite live up to the hype of the trailer we posted a few weeks ago, but you are not likely to find two happier Newfoundland dogs captured on film. Katie and Louie's elation during their playtime in the snow was such a treat for Gary and I to experience. Of course, we've seen them in snow before but their joy seemed greater than usual to match this deeper than normal snowfall. My favorite part is the second half of the movie when they really start playing chase and wrestling.

Our Snowy Hiking Trail

Wild eyed Newf

Handsome Snow Newf

"Stop taking pictures and come pull these sticks off of me!"

Back at the Happy Haus after our walk with the snow still coming down hard.

Newf Films Presents...

2011-02-10T09:46:00.003-06:00

A tantalizing trailer for our upcoming movie: Snow Newfs

Does Your Dog Ever Pull on the Leash?

2011-02-07T17:00:00.002-06:00

Katie and Louie are great dogs, but it's almost impossible to overcome any dog's natural canine instincts 100% of the time. Sometimes the compulsion to chase just takes over when they see a rabbit or a squirrel (not that Katie or Louie have ever caught one). When over 235 pounds of the world's strongest breed of dogs are attached to my wrists I think it's critical to find some way to save myself from being pulled down to the ground or in front of a car. I've struggled at times to find a way to control the Newfs in this type of unpredictable situation. After trying several different collars and harnesses I have finally found one that I love! It's called the Sense-ation No Pull Dog Harness and it really works. The things I like about it:

1) It's easy to get off and on - takes about 5 seconds to do

2) The harness can fit loosely on the dog and still be completely effective

3) Katie and Louie seem very happy when wearing it and actually play more attention to me than ever

4) Since it doesn't go around the dog's neck the dog can't choke itself.

The leash attaches to a ring that sits on a loose strap in the middle of the dog's chest.

When the dog starts to pull, the location of the leash makes them turn slightly to one side instead of going straight forward as they intended. Katie and Louie learned in about five minutes that the only way to keep going straight was to stop pulling on the leash.

Last week I didn't realize that an orange cat was running by our parking area right as I opened the back gate with Katie and Louie beside me. I could see that Katie and Louie's chase instinct kicked in immediately, but they didn't make any progress towards the cat and my arms did not get pulled out of their sockets. Hooray for these awesome harnesses!

In case you are interested, here's a link to the site where I found the best price with free shipping. I'm not affiliated in any way with this company. I just wanted to share this with you all because I thought others might benefit from this great tool as much as we have.

Beware of Bloat

2011-02-04T19:50:00.000-06:00

Bloat is a very scary medical condition that can quickly become fatal for a dog. I'm posting about bloat on our blog because a couple of months ago a dog that attended our dog school died of this terrible disorder. If you are not familiar with bloat the simplest explanation that I can give is that the dog's stomach fills with trapped air. If the air build up continues the stomach can flip over which will cut off the blood supply to the stomach. If the bloat is not quickly treated the dog will very likely die.

The chart in the link below explains how to recognize bloat, how to treat it and what happens during each phase. We have this chart posted near Katie and Louie's dog food to remind ourselves and any of the dogs' caregivers what symptoms to watch for.

http://www.bmdinfo.org/Health/Reference_Guide_Bloat_GDV.pdf

Bloat is most common in deep chested dogs such as Great Danes, Rottweilers, Labs and Newfs, but it can happen to any dog. There is no magic bullet to prevent bloat, but a few things that are believed to be helpful are: feeding two smaller meals a day instead of one large meal, waiting two hours after the dog eats before exercising it and waiting one hour after the dog has exercised before feeding.

Happy Birthday Baby!

2011-01-24T20:34:00.002-06:00

Happy Birthday to our super sweet boy, Louie Lou. We are so grateful that you are part of our family and we cherish everyday with you.

Louie at 4 months old

Louie at almost 3 years old

In honor of Louie's 3rd Birthday, Katie and Louie got to split a can of tuna. They politely waited during the birthday song before digging in.

Our little Louie, all grown up

Therapy Dog Milestone

2011-01-22T21:06:00.003-06:00

Louie just received an award from Therapy Dogs International for completing 50 therapy visits.

Way to go Louie! We are so proud of you!

Friends + Newfs = FUN!

2011-01-16T20:09:00.002-06:00

Three wonderful friends from Memphis came to stay with us this weekend. We all had a blast together going for long walks and playing games. Katie and Louie were charmed by our guests and ran up to their bedroom first thing this morning to give them time-to-wake-up kisses.

"C" was a big help to me by walking Katie while I walked Louie yesterday at the Big Dam Bridge. C and Katie quickly became the best of friends. Today when we went for a walk in the woods I let Katie off her leash. C and Katie stayed close together the whole time. Once when Katie went the wrong way C called her and she ran as fast as she could to his side. Katie responded so well to him and C was extremely attentive and observant of her.

I love this picture of "J" and Louie...two super cuties. Louie got a little rambunctious when he first met J for a few seconds until I firmly told him that even though she likes to bounce around she is not a puppy to wrestle with. After that reminder Louie was a perfect gentleman for the rest of their visit.

Our 3 friends with the Newfs

We were so sad for our friends to leave, but very grateful we got to spend this wonderful time with them.

The Best Newfie Weather

2011-01-12T18:34:00.002-06:00

Two Sweet Newfs in Their Element

My Three Sweeties :)

Our Snowy Walk Through the Woods

Katie Back at the Happy Haus

Louie Before the Walk...

Louie After the Walk

See you all soon. XOXOXO from Katie and Louie

Fun Before the Storm

2011-01-10T12:52:00.002-06:00

Katie, Louie, Gary and I went on a walk in the woods the day before we received several inches of snow. Stay tuned for scenes from our snowy walk this morning.

We have started letting Louie off leash when we are in areas where there are no other dogs around. He is doing a great job of staying close to his pack. It's nice to be able to use all of that obedience training in the real world.

Merry Newfie Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-23T21:15:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends!

We are sending lots of love your way!

Can you find the N - E - W - F on our tree?

I've been such a good girl all year!! I wonder what Santa brought me?

Louie the Newf Goes to School

2010-12-15T20:31:00.002-06:00

A few weeks ago Louie and I participated in our Public School District's Annual Reading Day. We read our favorite book, entitled "Newf" of course, to two different classes of second graders.

Our first class was a bit smaller than usual because several of the students were going on a field trip to meet Bill Cosby. The teacher told me they were very sad to miss out on visiting with Louie and that in their classroom Louie is more of a celebrity than Mr. Cosby. Thankfully the children did get to pet Louie briefly before they left.

Watching Louie do his tricks

Louie demonstrates that he knows the difference between is left and his right foot

I promise these kids were having fun...they just got tired of posing.

At the second school we went to these older children were our guides. They were so helpful to me and super sweet to Louie. We were very impressed by them.

We asked if the special needs class would like a visit and they said yes. Louie got to visit his buddy "J" from the previous school year. Louie and I arrived to the class first. When J came in he ran right up to Louie and without hesitation threw his arms around him in a big hug.

This child is exploring his first Newfoundland dog.

Louie with Rabbit ears :)

Louie and his gang

One last kiss for J before we left.

By the end of the day we ended up seeing six different classes of students. We were only scheduled to see two, but as Louie walked down the halls we had several teachers begging for him to visit their class too. It was a long day for both of us, but super fun. It's always a great day when you can spread a little Newfie love around.

Happy Thanksgiving From the Happy Haus

2010-11-25T11:30:00.002-06:00

Today we are giving thanks for all of our wonderful friends and family. We send much love to you all and hope you are able to enjoy our favorite thing about Thanksgiving: being together.

Katie and Louie in front of "William" one of our Japanese Red Maples

Rosie the Newfoundland's Memorial Service

2010-11-15T21:26:00.006-06:00

If you haven't already done so please consider signing the petition in the link on the top right side of our blog.

Rosie as a Puppy

Our Hearts are Breaking for Rosie the Newf

2010-11-12T20:40:00.005-06:00

Have you heard about Rosie the Newfoundland Dog who was shot four times by police in Washington? Police officers, who were obviously completely lacking in sound judgment, first tazered Rosie, then cornered her after she ran into a fenced in yard and killed her. They said she bared her teeth...well who wouldn't after being chased down by humans who tazered you. The owner of the yard had closed the fence so the officers could have simply waited for animal control to show up. Poor Rosie was terrified I'm sure...this just makes me sick.

Rosie's owner said that Rosie was her soulmate. I can completely relate to that since I feel the same way about Katie and Louie. My heart goes out to Rosie's family.

Please sign the petition in the link on the right side of our blog. Rosie's death could at least teach a valuable lesson to people that desperately need one if we can make our voices be heard.

I never take Katie and Louie for granted and feel extreme gratitude for them every day. After hearing about this tragedy I just want to hug them and never let go.

Katie wrote an article for "Arkansas Hospice" magazine

2010-11-04T19:24:00.002-05:00

Our Newfoundlands Katie and Louie are featured in the November 2010 issue of "Arkansas Hospice" magazine. I scanned this page from the magazine. Newfoundlands are known for their intelligence, and Katie is no exception. I think her writing skills are getting better all the time ;-)
-Gary

Happy Halloween Birthday Katie!

2010-10-29T21:17:00.005-05:00

Happy Birthday to our favorite Newfie girl. Sweet Katie turned 4 years old today. To celebrate we went for a walk on the Big Dam Bridge. Katie and Louie wore their Halloween garb and had glowing eyes to complete their costumes.

We love this precious girl so much and are looking forward to many more birthday celebrations and fun filled years with her and her brother Louie.

Making Friends at the Festival

2010-10-16T18:29:00.000-05:00

Every year our neighborhood hosts an Autumn festival. This year we took Katie and Louie who were a huge hit with everyone they met.

Louie is lovin' some loving from these kids while Katie seems to be saying "what about me?"

Louie is just so huggable :-)

It Might Not Be a Guinness World Record, but...

2010-10-09T11:00:00.004-05:00

this is the longest drool string I've ever seen.

It has even has a girly curl at the end. Pretty impressive Katie!

And Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

2010-10-01T18:22:00.005-05:00

Did you miss us? Mama wouldn't stop going on and on about that stupid vacation. I think vacations stink because they take Mama and Daddy far from me and Louie. In honor of getting back to Newfieness on this blog I want to share a video with you all that has become very popular on YouTube. So far it's had over 50,000 views. In this video I am just a pup at about a year and a half old. Little Louie is only about 5 months old. I think this video shows how much I love and care about my Daddy. xoxoxo, Katie

Every time Gary goes to the diving board Katie performs a ritual of walking in front of him across the diving board before he jumps. She seems to be trying to persuade him not to do it. After each dive she runs to make sure her Daddy is ok. I wonder if he started drowning if she would jump in? My guess is YES.

Vacation Day 8: Wine Country, The Sonoma Valley

2010-09-30T19:15:00.000-05:00

On our way back to San Francisco we drove through the Sonoma Valley and were treated to beautiful scenery of rolling hills and vineyards.

Along the way we stopped at a couple of vineyards for wine tastings...a delicious end to a wonderful vacation.

Vacation Day 7: A Morning at Crater Lake

2010-09-26T20:11:00.004-05:00

Before heading back to California we got up early to watch the sunrise over Crater Lake.

As the sun rose higher in the sky the blue water of Crater Lake was slowly revealed.

After viewing the sunrise we drove the 33 mile road that circles the lake stopping at several points along the way.

The first stop was Discovery Point where the sign was still coated with a bit of snow. The snow will start falling in ernest within the next couple of weeks. Crater Lake gets over 500" each year.

Wizard Island from Discovery Point

Wizard Island is an old volcanic cinder cone

Wildflowers with Crater Lake in the background

Yes, the water really is THAT blue!! Is has visibility of 140 feet.

Clark's Nutcracker

A Golden-Mantled Ground Squirrel surveys the lake.

Our final glimpses of stunning Crater Lake

Vacation Day 6: Crater Lake National Park

2010-09-24T20:04:00.001-05:00

On the way to Crater Lake we saw this lovely river.

A light snowfall greeted us upon our arrival at Crater Lake National Park. When we got to our room at the lodge and looked out the window we saw a beautiful rainbow, but in this case I guess it should be called a snowbow.

Outside the lodge

Inside the lodge

Here are a few pictures from our first hike at Crater Lake on the Castle Crest Wildflower Trail.

We also stopped at several overlooks. The first few pictures show Phantom Ship.

Crater Lake at Twilight

Part of a Ranger led Discussion about Crater Lake during the Twilight hour

Vacation Day 5: Hidden Beach & Tide Pools

2010-09-20T18:03:00.000-05:00

Not only is this beach hidden from sight until you are standing on it, but the trail to get to it is also very obscure. We were extremely lucky to find it.

After hiking to the end of the trail we found that we had Hidden Beach all to ourselves. What a gem! This was one of our favorite excursions of the trip.

My seaweed photo collection

Next we drove through Jedidiah Smith State Park on a one lane road so narrow that it sometimes felt like the side mirrors of the car were going to scrape the bark off the trees. In places the road had a dark, mysterious feel to it which added to the ambiance.

My sweet husband with a beautiful quote by Shakespeare.

While at J.S. Park we hiked a little trail down to the Smith River where we got a great view of the Redwood trees.

Later that same day we hiked a charming trail in Redwood National Park called the Brown Creek Trail.

Clover-like sorrel and mosses carpet the forest floor...

Along with ferns and skunk cabbages

Our last stop of the day was to visit some tide pools at low tide.

Vacation Day 4: The Tall Trees Trail

2010-09-19T13:51:00.000-05:00

Only 50 permits are issued each day to limit the number of visitors who are allowed to hike the Tall Trees Trail in Redwood National Park. The area that this trail encompasses is home to several of the world's top ten tallest trees.

Being around these giants, which are over 2,000 years old, was a humbling and uplifting experience.

The tallest tree is about 367' high. To give you an idea of how high that is look for me, circled in red, in the below photo for comparison.

I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to see some of the few remaining magnificent Redwoods and I fervently hope that the greed that drives people to cut these beauties down will be replaced with the peace that these trees freely share with us. Currently, less than 4% of the original Redwoods remain.

I've never seen a bee like this. Does anyone know what it's called?

Vacation Day 3: Birds, Beasts, Beaches & Big Trees

2010-09-17T21:03:00.005-05:00

Our first stop in Redwood National Park was the visitors' center.

Right behind the visitors' center was a big flock of birds that put on quite a good show. We also saw a seal fishing in the water, but we weren't fast enough to catch the slippery guy on film.

Gary got some wonderful footage of hundreds of seabirds flying above the beach and ocean.

View from the Redwood Creek overlook

Big Ferns along the Big Tree Trail

It's not "The" Big Tree, but is a quite big one nonetheless

At one point on the Cathedral Trail we laid down on the ground and spent about twenty minutes looking up into the tree tops. It was easy to feel a connection with all living things in this exquisite place.

Here is a glimpse of some of the many beaches in the park.

I thought the below buildings built to disguise radar equipment during WWII were fascinating. I took pictures of the newspaper article along with a close up picture of a dormer that you can see is obviously fake. I wasn't previously aware of the threat to the West Coast during WWII.

From the information sign: "After the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II, the possibility of enemy attack on the U.S. mainland became very real. At one point, Japanese submarines operated in offshore waters and actually shelled some shipping operations and oil installations off the coast of California and Oregon. To guard against potential invasion, the U.S. Army built the "farm" buildings you see below. The cinderblock structures, complete with shingled roofs, and fake windows and dormers, housed an early warning radar station. From the air, the sea, and even the road, these buildings appeared to be part of a working farm. In fact, they housed a diesel generator, electronic equipment, and two 50-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns. As part of a network of observation stations, the soliders and civilians stationed here reported any suspicious boats and planes to a communications center in San Francisco, ready to dispatch fighter planes if the crafts were identified as hostile."

On the way out of the park we got to witness the interactions of a group of elk. Their relationships were complex and reminded me of a tv drama.

This poor yearling is gradually being driven out of the herd by the leader of the pack.

A little film of clips from our day in Redwood National Park

Vacation Day 2: The Drive to Arcata CA

2010-09-16T19:42:00.001-05:00

Before we got into a long line of cars to cross the Golden Gate Bridge we took a break to take some pictures of it and to tour historic Fort Point. It was amazing to see this stunning icon in person.

The lighthouse at historic Fort Point under the GG Bridge.

Next we drove our little red rental Prius to Point Reyes National Seashore.

This video shows some of the beautiful plant life at Point Reyes along with a little pup that I befriended. Everywhere I went I was always asking people if I could pet their dogs because I was missing Katie and Louie.

A little film of the noisy Pacific Ocean at the Point Reyes National Seashore...good for a short meditation.

We also stopped briefly at a few other beaches along the California 1 Coastal Highway.