Aidan became a U.S. citizen today!

Aidan is not quite 3, and he already had to have a trip to juvy.

The day started out at the Snohomish County courthouse, but when our lawyer arrived, he discovered that there was a slight mix-up. The judge scheduled to handle our case was not present. He was about a mile or two away at the Juvenile Justice Center. So we had to jet over to the other facility to complete Aidan's readoption. When both parents travel to adopt in China, the child becomes a US citizen at the US consulate before returning to the states. But when one parent travels, as in our case, the child must be readopted here in order for the child's citizenship to be completed.

Here we are with the judge after swearing that all the information we provided was true. It was a very brief, but joyful ceremony. I'm sure that this is one of the more pleasant moments for judges and other court staff. Aidan had a great big grin throughout the process and had our attorney and the judge chuckling.

Albert Lirhus was the same attorney who handled Lily's readoption.

Both Julie's parents and my mom were present for the occasion.

Proudly waving the flag.

Afterwards, we headed to the Everett waterfront and had lunch at our favorite Japanese restaurant. We probably should have had a typical American hamburger, but we were in the mood for tempura and yakisoba.

Aidan was so glad his Papa was there to have fun with him.

And here's just a cute shot of my girls that I had to include. Behind them is the view from the restaurant where we ate.

Aidan's 3rd Birthday Party

Aidan doesn't turn 3 until tomorrow, but we celebrated his birthday yesterday afternoon. We had a number of friends and family over for snacks, cake and ice cream, games, and tearing into gifts. We decided to go with a "car" theme, since Aidan likes little toy cars. Had to use the Disney paraphenalia from the movie "Cars" since that was readily available, although our family has not seen the movie.


Here's Aidan digging into his cake.

And here he is digging into his presents. His favorite ended up being the musical card he got that plays Rascal Flatt's "Life is a Highway." He carried that around all afternoon opening and closing it to get the music to play.

We played a few games, including the classic "Drop the Clothespins into the Milk Bottle" (our bottle was an empty Paul Masson wine carafe. Shhh! Don't tell anyone).

Lily tied for the best score.

Grammie O (Kurt's mom) flew up from California to celebrate with us.

And we were all pooped by the end of the day.

Today we have a court date in Everett to finalize Aidan's readoption and to celebrate his becoming a U.S. citizen. Stay tuned for more pictures!

More Summer Fun

The rain and cooler weather has returned. We had a stretch of unusually hot and dry weather here in the Puget Sound. During the hottest week, Julie and the kids went down to stay with her mom and dad who live a little over an hour south of us. They have a daylight basement which stays much cooler than the oven which our house becomes on hot days.

Not only did the kids stay cool, but they got to stay with Grandma and "Papa." Aidan especially just plain loves his "Papa." It's as if I don't even exist when Julie's dad is around. In addition to the fun around the grandparent's house, they also had the chance to ride the carousel at the Auburn Super Mall.

We also have news regarding Aidan's surgeries. His first one is scheduled for October 13 at Children's Hospital in Seattle. We'll certainly be posting more information as that day approaches.