The last 20 days in one post!!!

So, I hope you have some time to read this, cause its gonna be a L-O-N-G one!!!!! I have to cover, Vacation, Kubel Meet, Girls night out, School starting, AND Ollie's illness!! Ok.... here, we go!!!

Vacation.... We left for our vacation to Portland OR, to visit Alan's sister, and her God daughter on Aug. 10th. Other than our flight being delayed, and not getting to Portland until midnight, the flight was uneventful. Max slept more than half the flight, and we watched the little TV's that were in the headrest. The next day was spent just relaxing, and catching up on some sleep. We then headed to the coast, and to Dee's very nice beach house. We spent two night there enjoying the beach, and the nice cool temps. It was beautiful. I love the coast in Oregon, there is always a cool breeze, and it smells amazing. Max LOVED the sand, and had a great time just hanging out with his "distant, big sis" Taylor. She did such a great job with him. Alan and I got away one morning and went on a nice hike thru the woods near the beach. It was perfect. See pics below of the beach......









We then spent the rest of the trip in Portland, where it was 100 the rest of the trip!! For those of you who don't know, that is CRAZY! It never gets that hot there. We had a great time, even with the heat. We spent Fri, Sat, and Sun hanging out, and having a great time. Portland has wonderful restaurants, and we ate, and ate, and ate (which I love to do!) My favorite had to be the authintic Chinese Dim Sum restaurant. It was wonderful. There were so much to choose from, and so many ladies running round with there carts, who spoke very little english, it was hard to know what you were even choosing. We also went the museam, and visited with ASIA, the adoption agency we used to adopt Max. The flight home was also uneventful. Max did a wonderful job on the airplane. We couldn't have asked for a better trip! Here are a few more pics from the trip.







OH, I almost forgot. Sat. We went to Salem, OR, and meet up with a family from our travel group! Sinthea, John, and there kiddo's, Kimmie and Cameron! It was amazing to see them again after a year. Kimmie was the spit fire I remembered, but has grown and grown. I just love Sinthea. She is one of the funniest people I know. I wish we lived closer. We went to a merry go round, then walked to get some Thai. I hope we can catch up more often, but living on the other side of the country doesn't make it easy!! Here are some pictures that she took. They are great.







Ok, now on the the Girls Night Out. On the 20th, we had a sort of "Boys Group" girls night out. Teresa (Carson mom), Lou Ellen (Wesely's mom), Maggie (Carson's sister) and I meet at the Ruby Tuesdays for our very first Girls Night Out. We had a great time, and spent about 90% of it talking about adoption and our boys. I am just crazy about these two ladies who are just as sarcastic, quick witted, and ounery as I am! No one brought I camera to document us eating (thank goodness), so no pics. I look forward to us getting together more often!

Time for Kubel Meet. The 22nd and 23rd was our annual Kubel Meet. It is a gathering of WWII German military vehicals. We have a great time getting together with friends, eating some good food, and getting these old vehicals out and about. This year was extra special because it was the first "repeat" thing that we have done with Max! The first weekend we were home from China we took him to this event. Here is a picture...



And here he is this year.....



Notice he is wearing the SAME shirt, I can't believe it still fit him. Max is in heaven at this event. He wanted to ride in everything, and couldn't get enough. Everyone was amazed at how well he is doing. I can't wait to see how he does next year. Here is a pic of the vehicels I am talking about.





Ok... we are getting to the end of this post.... now on to the last two topics. Max's first day of school, and Ollie. First off, Max started school last Friday (I know, on a Friday, how weird!). He did very well his first day, and his teachers seem very nice. The school is brand new, and the class room is really neat. Lots of things to play with and pretend with. The drop off however is not the nicest. I have to park across the street, walk him to the door where the teacher meets him. I don't get to go inside to say goodbye or anything, pick up is worse. they line them up inside the door, and when they see you are there, they say, "ok Max go outside" So you get no real communication from the teacher. I don't like that. I will hopefully get a chance to talk to them long enough to say, that, the system they have is not working for me! Here is a picture (not a very good one) of Max getting ready to leave on his first day.




Now, finally on to Ollie. Poor, poor Ollie. He has a "issue" with his anal glands (lovely I know). Because these glands are swollen, he has been licking his tail so bad that it is now raw and infected. We went to the vet, who gave us antibiotics, and anti-inflamitory medication to give him twice a day, along with a lovely collar for him to wear......




It is the funniest thing. Poor dog keeps bumping in to everything, and he just looks so sad. He only has to wear it for a few days. One great thing about this collar however is he can not get to the food on the counter!! Maybe if we make him wear it all the time, he will loose weight........hey......maybe if I wear it all the time, I could loose some weight as well!!! :-)

Ok. Post finally over. Aunts and Mommie Dearest are you happy with my mile long post??????? Hugs all!

***P.S. This post is WAY to long to spell check, so get use to the fact that I am the worlds worst speller! Also, because there is so many pics I made them small, if you want to view them larger, just click on them and they will get bigger.... :-)