It's FALL, what's new....

{Passaic River from Horseneck Bridge - ever remember it so beautiful and peaceful}
{Fairfield NJ)



So obviously the big news around the family camp has been the addition of young Bradley, but there have been other firsts, additions, etc. that have come and gone over the past few weeks so let me see if I can catch you all up.....

So, as most of you already know, Susan and I can't seem to 'not' have something to do... double negative?!? Anyway, you know what I mean.. we always have to be up to something or have some kind of purpose. The thing is... we had freqently talked about possibly opening our home to a foreign exchange student in order to expand the knowledge of different cultures for ourselves and the children. Originally the idea would be to look for Korean students who might help Cooper during this time of identity realization. But we also did not want to exclude the option of other cultures. With that being said, we entered into a whirlwind decision to bring a Chinese exchange student to come live with us. I can honestly say that it went from a side discussion on a Friday morning at the beach to a trip to Philadelphia Airport at 4AM the following Saturday.

And we are having a wonderful time as we welcome Xie YaXiang to our home - known to us as Kelly. She is a lovely 16 y/o girl from Zigong, Sichuan Province China (home of delicious twice-cooked pork and really cool, mouth-numbing peppercorns). The last few days of summer brought fun in the sun before school started. She has now been here for a little over a month and is acclimating to her new school. In addition to the classwork, this includes working a football game, attending the homecoming dance, and being the best female member of the Ping Pong club. The kids love her, and without putting words in her mouth, I think she is enjoying the time with them... gotta love a new big sister!!! Speaking of homecoming... just got the new pictures in...... I would say she probably made a big splash at the dance. Certainly cute and ready to dance the night away...

And of course it has been time to return to school and the girls are both heading off to school this year. Olivia {gasp} has entered 2nd grade while Kira is heading into an official pre-K program. Kira was unable to return to the school where both she and Olivia had gone for nursery school because their enrollment had declined to a point where they were not going to open this year. In the end, it works out better because she is now over at the school where she will head to Kindergarten next year. And Cooper is now Big Man on Campus over at Miss Barbara's house. I must say, it is too damned cute when I get him out of the truck, he grabs his lunch bag and marches his way up the driveway with a purpose like some little schoolboy. However, he is still a little boy... and doesn't this just prove it?

So with that little rundown, it seems like every weekend is now laced with adventure. Each weekend in September included a birthday party and a birth itself. We headed up to cousin Luke's pirate birthday party, followed up with Kira's birthday party, and Cooper's dinner and birthday. Intermingle Ron and Nancy's introduction of Bradley, and a gymnastic party for one of Kira's friends (even Cooper enjoyed this one), and it was a full month. But hey, the good thing is that at least Susan was on this contintent for our anniversay this year. And to celebrate, we had 15 minutes to get the kids dressed in the morning and a good 2-3 hours flipping burgers for the homecoming football game.... so thinks are looking up. At this rate, I'm thinking that next year we might actually go out to dinner and a movie!!!

Let's welcome October with pumpkin and apple picking, a trip to Great Adventure, a work trip to Baltimore, some odds and ends of activities, and finish it with our trip to Disney (to include trick-or-treating on Halloween itself at the special Disney Halloween party). Now that ROCKS!!!!

So, I will leave this post up for a little bit, but please check back because I will give a little special air time to Kira and Cooper for their respective birthdays.

For now, peace out....

S