Thursday, July 29, 2010

Out and About

The garden of French Laundry is just around the corner and one of our favorite spots in Yountville...so far.  We walk there everyday...







And then on to the "Chef with stinky feet".  This is something Sofie and Brandon came up with when we were here in May and the first thing she said when she saw him again upon our return.

Silly chef...




http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4841594897/

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Getting Settled

The weather here has been unbelievably gorgeous, which makes it hard to stay in and unpack.  Here's what we've been up too...

Lots of walks through the vineyards just a few blocks from our house





http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4828248807/

I woke up to an oddly familiar sound yesterday morning...





This is what Stella has been up to...



Sofie and I spent time in Napa this afternoon...where she had her first cupcake



We've been practicing on our bike and enjoying our porch...



Life is good.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Our New Home

After a whirlwind week, we finally made it to California...Brandon in a big Uhaul full of our "life" and me in the car with Sofie, Stella the cat and the four snakes.  Sofie was such a little trooper!  She was so excited when we finally arrived at our new house and all of our stuff was unloaded.  And, is really happy in this cozy little house.

We have a fantastic front porch...



We do miss the pool but what a great backyard to play in...this gorgeous oak tree is 350 years old



We are having fun enjoying the lovely weather and exploring our new yard.  The owner is having the landscaping updated in a woodlands theme.



This kiddo seriously loves it here.  It has been a tough journey but I think she finally gets what it was all about.  Our little rental house is small...really small.  But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in comfort, energy and you can't beat the location.  It is going to allow us to spend more quality time as a family and that is what really matters most.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

No Floaties!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4782574027/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4783185782/

Friday, July 9, 2010

Memory Lane

Sofie loves to look at the blogs of other China adoptive families we have connected with.  The one in particular she asks to look at everyday is that of the beautiful Emilia - or Millie as Sofie refers to her.  Millie's Mama recently posted photos of her playing in her "China clothes" and Sofie wanted to know if she, too, has China clothes.  So we looked through all the photos of us in China and went to find Sofie's China clothes and naturally, she wanted to put them on and play in them.  Just like Millie





It was hard to get her to take them off!  I am not sure if she really remembers...but nice that she has something that was hers.



Sofie came to us in the dead of winter...with just this outfit, some rubber bands for her hair and some Chinese medicine.  It's hard to believe this pretty pink get up...her China clothes...barely fit her now just four months later.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Big Changes Ahead

We have decided to move back to California...for many reasons.  We took a trip out in May and we all agreed that was where we want to be.  It will be a great place for Sofie to grow up.

Our life over the past month has consisted of packing up, staging, listing, showing the house...so there have not been many photo taking and video making opportunities.  The good news is we got four offers and went under contract after being on the market for only 9 days!  The not rosy part is  the buyers wanted a quick closing so we have to move July 15th.  It all happened so fast we did not have a place to move in to in California yet.  I just returned from a quick scouting trip and this is where we will call home until we are ready to buy a house.  It is in a quaint little wine town where we can walk to everything...on a quiet street that dead ends to a beautiful park with a playground:



I found a few photos and videos I had not yet posted.  It will be a busy few weeks but I will try to post updates along the way.



Sofie still loves to help Brandon exercise...she also works on her numbers:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4759959073/

And she loves to exercise herself!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sofieyan/4759965359/