Fall is Here!

I haven't blogged in a really long time. What a quick, yet fun summer it was. Fall is already well on it's way too. I'm going to attempt to blog at least once a week from now on so hopefully I won't always be three months behind!

Here are some pics from summer and the start of fall, unfortunately not in any sensical order.

Here are the kiddos all dressed up for Halloween. Lane was a scary ghoul, Meron was a flower, Shelby was Hannah Montana (of course!), and Ty was a werewolf. The boys had to hide their masks off to the side because everytime Meron would see them she would shriek in fear. I wasn't sure she was going to be too thrilled about her first Halloween, because at first it seemed like it was over-whelming and scary to her, until we got to the trick-or-treating part. It didn't take her long to catch on and like going up to the houses for a treat! After about five houses her litttle legs were worn out and she was happy to sit in the stroller and look at all of the other trick-or-treaters. Thank goodness she didn't see any scary ones. The boys went with some friends and of course came back with the old pillow case full of candy. They have enough sweets to last them for two years! And lucky for Shelby, Meron doesn't eat candy yet so she got all of hers, so she too has enough junk food to last for entirely too long! Anybody want any candy?

This summer we went to Utah to visit some of Brandt's family. It is so beautiful there. We had a great time seeing everyone.


We stayed with Brandt's cousin Annalyse and her family. We had such a great time with them. Their children are the same age as ours, and the kids had such a blast together. This is Shelby and Josie. Their second day together they siad, "Yesterday, we didn't really know each other and now we're like sisters!" Too cute!

This is Ty and Lane hanging out with Taylor and Brenden. I wish we all lived closer together. We always have such a good time getting together.

This is the whole gang together for a pool party.

Brandt's uncle and aunt took us on a hike up in the mountains to this beautiful waterfall.

In September, Tsegay and his wife Almaz visited the U.S. Tsegay was our representative in Ethiopia. He represented us in court for Meron's adoption and took care of the Ethiopoian side of the process. He and his wife Almaz also run the House of Hope transition home in Ethiopia where Meron was before we were able to bring her home. They are a couple of amazing people. All that they do for the orphans in Ethiopia is just awesome. It was great to see them again and to get to visit with them. As you can see, Meron wasn't so sure about all of this.

The get together was at an Ethiopian restuarant in Chicago. It was great to be able to take the other kids to meet Tsegay and Almaz since they weren't able to go to Ethiopia with us.

This is what Ethiopian cuisine looks like. Everything is served family style and you don't use silverware. The food is served on a type of bread called injera, along with extra injera on the side. To eat it, you break of a piece of injera and pinch up a biteful of what you want. Everyone eats from the same common plate. It's hard to tell from the picture but the plate is about the size of an extra-large pizza, so it's enough to feed an entire family.

We had the opportunity to try out the new sky windows at the Sear's tower. They were pretty wild!

Fall is also fair time. It has been tradition for the past fourteen years that one of the grandkids has rode the merry-go-round with grandpa Darrell, and this year Meron got her first ride. She loved it!

Ty put his wood-working skills to use and made his little sister a chair for art class project. He did a great job, and as you can tell, Meron loves it.

On Labor Day weekend, we went up to Black Pine animal park. It's a great place to get a close up look at wild animals. They have several rescued tigers, chimpanzees and other exotic animals that they care for.

At the car auction, Ty found his dream car, or one of many. :)

We also had the great opportunity to meet some new friends and celebrate the Ethiopian New Year, which is September 12th. My mother-in-law met a great couple from Ethiopia, that live in the area and she told them about Meron. They have several friends in the area that have also moved here from Ethiopia and on Ethiopian holidays they get together and have traditional celebrations. We were blessed that they invited us to come and celebrate with them. What a great gift! We plan on teaching Meron about her culture as much as we can. But being told about your culture and being able to experience it are completely different. In the above picture Shelby and Meron are joining in the traditional dancing. They did great, and loved it. I tried too, but have a feeling I wasn't that great at it!

This is a traditional coffee ceremony, she roasted the raw beans over fire. It smelled so good! Then she brewed it and served it with popcorn. When we were in Ethiopia, they served pocorn with your coffee everyday. It is kind of like desert. The coffee is sooo good. It is the only coffee I like black. If you like coffee, you should give Ethiopian coffee a try.