Jump

One day we headed out to the small airport in Mass to see uncle Vit jump. We got to see him jump already last year but it was still an enjoying day.
Uncle Vit with Emma before take off.



This goes with Fil's brother very well. (He is the one who ended up with six surgeries few years back after his jump snowbording.)
Nate ready to jump.
Sam ready to jum.

Vit showing the boys how to pack a parachute.

Yes he landed safely on the ground.

NYC

We did make to NYC again. This time it was much warmer and sunnier. We tried to do some different things with the kids this time. Both me and Fil grew up in big cities so we did not fear NY at all. It kind of feels like home in a way. We all took the train in. Emma and me took the subway to 86th street and off to the Czech Consulate on 83rd and Madison. I walked from there back to the Fao Schwarz to meet the boys. They got to go up to the Empire State building and Nate hasn't stopped talking about it since. After they got down his words were:"That was amazing" I as very happy that they had fun and were not stuck with me at the consulate and I got a very nice walk back with Emma who fell asleep in the stroller. Anyway I did get the new passport and everything is in order. Sam and Nate on top of the Empire state building.
The kids at M&M's World in Time square. Emma did not like it.
Nate and Sam up front of M&M's race car. For those who do not know the boys are big NASCAR fans. (By the way none of them likes the M&M's car)

Toys R Us

I did not see it last time but there is Toys R Us store right in Times Square. It has its own Ferris wheel inside. The boys did not want to go on (Sam &Nate) So Fil and his brother took only Emma. And she loved it.

Emma at the Apple store.

The boys in FAO Schwarz on the famous piano.

Emma with dad and uncle Vit on a Ferris wheel inside the Toys R Us store.

Philadelphia PA

Well, here we are on a road again. This time we went to Philadelphia PA. This is part of my new passport. For those who don't know I had to go get a new one in NYC at the Czech Consulate. The first trip was a few months earlier (and it was a little bit colder) and this time the passport was ready and I had to go pick it up personally. We got two trips out of this whole process and we were happy to have an excuse to go. This time Fil's brother came with us and we spent few days in Philly. First of all let me tell you we loved Philadelphia. What a beautiful city. The weather couldn't be better and the kids did great. Fil's brother flew into Manchester NH on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we were on our way. Our family up front of a fountain next to the Ben Franklin institute (Science museum) You can see Town Hall behind us (Which is by the way the largest working Town Hall in US, 700 rooms to be exact).
This was a big hit for our kids, exspecially for Nate. You get to go through the heart and Nate got to go many times. He always kept coming back to it.
Uncle Vit and Emma in an airplane.
Me and Emma at the Science museum.
Again the boys by the fountain. They sure did have a lots of fountains around Philly.

The boys with Rocky (I am sorry I did not grow up in US so I do get a big kick out of these things. I have never seen the movie so Fil had to fill me in on the US history on this one). The boys also got to run up the stairs and do there own Rocky version and they were not the only ones.
Love.

This is one of the

landmarks in Philly.

Liberty Bell

Yes we got to see the Liberty Bell and yes it has a crack. This was one of the highlights for the boys. We ended up doing so much in Philly, much more that we planed to do (I was not so sure how much the boys will be able to handle, Emma was in a stroller most of the time but they did great).

King TUT



This is one of the main reasons we went to Philly. To see the King Tut exhibit at the Ben Franklin museum. Fil saw this exhibit when he was a little boy in LA. It has not been outside Cairo since. This is the first time in 30 years and we wanted to take the opportunity to see it. Last week we got every book on Mummies and Egypt from the library and the boys know everything there is about them (They got to mummify Emma's little doll and little piglet, we all got a big kick out of that one).
On the way back from the Art museum we met a Segway tour group on the road. You bet next time I want to travel that way.




Sam and Nate up front of the sand sculptures

Dossier

For those who don't know we are in process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. Adoption has been on our hearts for a long time so we finally started the process this past January. After a lot of researching and praying we applied with AWAA (http://www.awaa.org/) It is a Christian organization and they been so helpful and supportive in this whole process.

Anyway, after

22 Official documents (all notarized and authenticated with the official seals from Secretary of State) from a total of 5 states (NH, MA, VA, CO, TX)

A total of 79 pages (times 3 since we had to make 3 copies) (Yes that would be 237 pages in total)

3 sets of 20 pictures of our family

4 visa pictures

6 pages of passport copies

3 visits from a social worker

4 trips to the USCIS (fomerly INS)

3 trips to the state Capitol

(Lenka is on first name basis at both of these places and they all know our kids and what they are up to)

Many trips to the Dr. office and I don't remember how many phone calls

I don't even remember how many trip to the post office

and

one trip to the FedEx office

we got the paperwork completed. We still have another 6-10 months of waiting ahead of us.

Sam, Nate and Emma holding the packet a few seconds before we sent it overnight to our adoption agency. (By the way the kids are so excited and they are so encouraging when we feel down. And there are many ups and downs in this process.)
All the papers we worked on in last 5 months.

And here are the official seal from five states.

NH
VA, this one we liked the most. It was also the biggest one in size. When we first saw it we were wondering what size the TX one will be. We were hoping for a really big one since everything is big in Texas but as you can see, we were very disappointed.
MA
CO
TX

May pictures

It seems that the month of May if always filled with lots of activities. Here are some pictures of what has been going on with our lives. But we have even bigger news so check back soon to see what is going on. I love our house in the spring time. (well I love our house all the time) it is just that in the spring with the nice green grass and flowers it feels a little bit different after the long winter.
Fil's mom planted whole bunch of tulips and other flowers around the house last fall. They turned out so beautiful.
Emma with her dolly. She loves all of hers dolls. (As you can see)


This spring the boys are playing soccer. (instead of baseball) for few reasons. One is that we missed the signups and the other that the soccer league is easier to follow in the spring with everything else going on.
AWANA

Also in May the boys are done with Awana. Nate finished his second year in cubbies and will be moving onto the Sparks. It is hard to believe that we just finished a third year in all.

Sam got award for his first book in his first year of Sparks. He (and mom) worked very hard on all those Bible verses.
Emma at the ceremony. What a doll.


Emma with Charlie Taylor. He is such a boy. He is a year younger then her, but weighs much more then her.
Jacob, Jonathan, Emma, Sam and Nate playing together after church.
One of our projects. We built a train out of boxes for their bears.
Our trip to Ikea with Joshua and Sarah Litman.
Spring also brings a lot of work around the house. This year we had three helpers to get the work done.

Also in May we finished our school (Hooray) and the boys already asked when we are starting next year. We all learned so much this year and even thought we are officially done we have been working on some stuff already. I guess with homeschooling school never ends.