Monday, July 25, 2011

China Reunion 2011!

This past weekend was out annual reunion with our China family. This year it was in Murfreesboro TN.(Sorry to my Nashville peeps that I did not get to see you, trust me there was no free time)
My family went down a day earlier so I could help the Zotti's with last minute stuff. This allowed Jaden to get reacquainted with all the Zotti girls before everyone else got there. We had a great night at hotel Zotti even though I was not able to sleep due to the Poeppelmeier freight train that was asleep next to me, AKA Rusty!


On Thursday after a quick run to the airport to pick up the Spruill family and a trip to get food it was off to the hotel to get ready for the welcome dinner! Madeline's sister did a great job making the cupcakes, they were so cute and very yummy. It took a few minutes for Jaden to warm up to the other kids but once she did it was on. There were several incidences of head bumping going on which led to a little drama from Jaden but all in all she was ok.








After the party a few families headed to the pool to burn off some of the kids energy!






On Friday we had another fun day. After breakfast the mothers got together to talk. That afternoon the Zotti family was nice(crazy) enough to open their home to the whole group for an evening of food and fun!














The next day we braved the heat and took all the kids to the zoo for about three hours of fun and heat!








After the zoo we headed back to the hotel to cool off in the pool along with about 60 other people!






After a nap it was time for our last group event dinner at a Chinese resteraunt. Before we left of course we had to get all the girls together and relive the red couch photo from China. It all started well enough...


Once it was time to do the pictures Jaden's drama queen side kicked into full gear. She has obviously heard that all red couch pictures were supposed to have at least one screaming baby! This year Jaden decided to be that baby. It started with the picture of Jaden and Sophie. We were trying to relive the moment two years ago when we put the two Fuzhou babies on the red couch. Two years ago it was this...

This year it was this...

At least Sophie looks cute!
After that it was time for the baby group shot. Two years ago it was this...
Jaden was one of the few who did not cry!
This year it went down like this...

Jaden decided to make up for not crying in China! She did put her tears behind her for a few more shots of the group!


I know that it is a sight to see a bunch of White parents taking pictures of a bunch of crying Chinese babies in China but it obviously is a sight you dont see to often in the USA either. While were taking these pictures some people walked up to see what all the fuss was. It seems they thought we were Jon and Kate plus eight with all our little asian kids! We hated to break their hearts but we did!
After this fun we loaded everyone up and had Chinese food. The kids were crazy and I am surprised we didnt get kicked out!




All to soon it was time to say goodbye to our China family! Jaden went around giving hugs to all her friends.





We had a great time and can't wait till we see them all again next year!