Ok now where was I???? Oh ya.....

Took a while to charge my battery huh????


We have had lots going on around here and Clarissa is becoming a bigger girl each day! The big news...........she is now diaper-free!!!!!! (well except during the night, and even then she wakes up and tells us that she has to go....most of the time) This all happened in one day.....I don't remember the name of it, but there is this book that Carolyn came across somewhere (hey...give me a break...I'm a Dad....I can't remember this stuff.....), anyhow whatever this book says it resulted in no more diapers all in one day. Magic!!!!

Oh the other thing is that our backyard deck is now compete....


and we are loving it. It has made a huge difference back there. The pitcher of sangria that I made us tasted different somehow...



Clarissa is real impressed by it also....



We had a couple of visitors in the backyard the other day...




We took Clarissa to see the Changing of the Guard on Parliament Hill

Father's Day, a couple of stinky visitors, and "Houston we have no diapers!!!"

First things first.....


Soooooo what's been goin' on???? Well, we had our 5th annual charity golf tourmanent a couple of weeks ago which is partly why I haven't posted in a while. The last couple of weeks leading up to the tournament is always pretty crazy for me. The good news is that we had another great tournament with 140 players, and we raised $19,000. Then I headed to Toronto for a conference and to do some work. This all resulted in me spending my second Father's Day sitting in on presentations about planning disaster and business continuity exercises. Then dinner alone and the evening alone watching tv in a hotel room missing my girls.

Huh???? You are not at all interesting in hearing about me??? You want to hear about Clarissa??? You want pictures of Clarissa??? Oh....ok...well she had her first hamburger. Errrr....ok, technically it was a hamburger bun toasted on the bbq with a slice of tomato on it, but that is just details isn't it???


Clarissa has been taking some pictures of her toys with Daddy's camera



She has new favourite Princess pjs.


We had a couple of visitors in the backyard.....darn....my camera battery went dead...can't download anymore...I'll be back.

Big girl's bed......

We talked about it and decided that it was time for the crib to go. Well technically Carolyn decided, and then I approved it when she told me "Clarissa's new bed is waiting at the Sears outlet, go and pick it up!" and I did. Ok it wasn't actually like that at all, but it sounds more entertaining than "We talked about it and decided that it was time for the crib to go." don't you think??? Did I just get myself in trouble with my incredibly beautiful wife???? Did I just save myself???? Huh???? "No it's too late to save yourself Rob. Not even your silver tongued nuggets of sweetness are going save you."

Hmmmm did I have a point before I went off on my nonsensical rambling???? Oh yes, the big bed switch....well we weren't sure how Clarissa would do with the whole thing. She doesn't do well with disruption to her world as she likes and is used to it, and she is somewhat...ok very possesive of her things these days. So my strategy was to enlist her services (and her tool kit) to help Daddy construct the bed. It worked like a charm!!! She was quite proud that she helped to build it,



and she immediately took a huge liking to her "big girl bed".





The thing that we hadn't quite factored into our plan of brilliance was the fact that she can now get up at anytime (read 3:30am) and come into our bed and take over...pretty much putting an end to Daddy's sleeptime, while her and Mommy snooze away joyfully.....

Nanna and Poppa brought her a great bubble blowing lawnmower that Clarissa is loving playing with!!!!



The new deck is built....

now let's have some weather that will allow us to use it....somewhere between the constant downpours and 35000 celcius would be good....

Oh well I guess that is enough of my gold for now......

More than a month?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Yep I know......it has been more than a month since I have posted. So many things have happened that I don't even remember anymore. I will have to work on that. Oh well how about this to smooth things over.....


or this......


or this.......


or this......



I know you don't want pictures.....you want me to share more of my deep thoughts and tidbits of wisdom..........ya well good luck with that these days. I do have lots to say, I just don't have the energy to say it. I will get there though....and you will be blown away by it all. I promise.

One thing that I can think of that went on around here is that Clarissa helped Daddy to make a big pot of meat sauce when we hosted the golf guys (and gals) season opener dinner.







She also got her first bike for Easter and she loves it.



Ok...we should be good for now. I will be back soon.....yes...I will.....

"So when did you get her?"...and more Florida pictures....

Not long ago I was talking to someone and during the discussion they said "So I heard that you adopted a little girl from China." to which I replied "Yes, her name is Clarissa and she is a wonderful little girl." to which the person replied "So when did you get her?".

At the time the wording of the question felt a bit weird, but I didn't really say anything...I just answered it and moved on.

Thinking about it, it actually wasn't the first time I have heard the question asked that way, but for some reason it stuck in my mind this time. I have to admit it bugs me. I am sure that it was not at all meant that way, but it leaves me with the feeling of it being similar to getting a new car. "Hey, what a beauty!!! Those rims are awesome!!! Look at all the lights on the dash!!! That colour of paint is amazing! When did you get her????"

Now, I will be the first to admit that I don't know what the best..or proper..wording is to use, but I usually go with something like "We first met her...." or "She first came home with us....".

Anyhow, I guess that my point is please don't ask me when I "got" her.

In the end though, all that really matters is we are blessed with the most wonderful, smart, beautiful, special little girl.

We went to the sugar bush and Clarissa loved it!





She loooooved her first taste of maple taffy!!!!





Hey, I never got to posting more Florida pictures....and now I am going to bed....oh well take this for now and more later.....

Back from some quality time with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the gang...

We are back from 12 great days in Orlando! We rented a house that was nice a close to the Disney parks....and many golf courses! Some golf, some Mickey, and lots of sunshine made for a great vacation.

Clarissa was very quiet on the plane....


She really enjoyed visiting the parks.....


and especially seeing her friends.....







As most of you in the IA community know any significant change in routine and surroundings for our children can present some problems, but she did very well throughout the whole trip. We have seen some signs since returning home, but it is difficult to tell whether it is attachment related or just that she still isn't feeling great (more on Clarissa and Daddy's visit to the doctor while in Orlando later). Hopefully all will be back to normal soon.

Anyhow, I have more to say and more pictures to share, but I am tired....I will try to write more tomorrow.

Happy Chinese New Year (belated of course)!

Yep...as usual....I'm late!!! But Happy Chinese New Year to you!!!! We had a busy week. Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner on Thursday (well technically today is Thursday...so it was last Thursday...), on Saturday we had the annual Red Team Chinese New Year party at Will's place. He cooked up a huge, excellent feast for the boys. Clarissa had a great time. I brought the camera...errrr....but I forgot to take pictures.

Ok update....it is now Saturday....got sidetracked on Thursday and never finished the post.

So....where was I???? Oh ya, Sunday was the FOI Chinese New Year party!!




Got a great chance to chat with Adrian!!!



I had plans to get a good picture of him and the kids....but...errrr....one thing led to another and the next thing I knew we were back in the van and I realized that I never took one. Next time.

Anyhow we had a great time. Adrian sent us this great picture that he took.


We built a great snowman!


Oh wait that's not the snowman......here is the snowman....


I have some other stuff to say, but I have some things to take care of right now...so I'll have to get to it later.