Friday, August 18, 2006 We have been enjoying the summer as a family of five. We have taken many little weekend trips over the summer and traveling with two children has been quite adventurous.. We made it to Rhode Island and saw my college friend Basia and her seven children. We spent the day at the beach and at the state park where Basia and kids were camping. We also spent Papa June’s birthday in Mystic, Connecticut. The kids loved the aquarium and the seaport and Papa June loved the casinos. We had a reunion for Brooke and her orphanage sisters Lindsay and Olivia over the summer. It was wonderful to see how the three children have grown and how much they have all changed in six months. Most noticeable was of course the beautiful silky hair they all have and the fact that they are all completely mobile now. We had all the babies playing in our yard and within a few seconds Brooke was nowhere to be found.(Our yard is completely fenced in – it was Matthew proofed six years ago) A quick search party of seven adults found Brooke up the tree house of our swing set. She climbed the entire staircase by herself in a matter of seconds and was enjoying her freedom up there. The girls had a nice reunion but so did the moms and dads. It was also great that each of the girls has a big brother. The three boys got along so well too. Not only do they have sisters from China in common, they also have a love of Game boy, Game cube, TV and the computer. While we were outdoors in the beautiful sunshine, the three boys only surfaced outside when food was on. Matthew and Brooke are truly siblings now. Of course they love each other and want to be with each other but Brooke is becoming quite attached to her toys and to Matthew’s toys as well. She will push him away if he goes near any of them, his included. I have to give him credit when credit it due. He restrains himself and will not push back but he will let out a great big “BBBRRROOOOKKKKEEE! UGH.” We are thinking about changing Brooke’s middle name to Active rather than Alana. She continues to amaze us with her ability and her mobility. I brought home a beautiful wooden kitchen set for Brooke. It has a pretend fridge, microwave, stove, oven, cabinets and sink. The first three minutes Brooke played like any little girl would play -stirring the pots, stacking the plates, opening the oven – typical pretend play. Well that lasted only three minutes. After that, my little girl found a way to climb into the cabinet and stick her head through the sink. There she sat with her body in the cabinet and her head in the sink figuring a way to get out of that predicament. Once she mastered her escape she tried scaling the kitchen set like Spiderman to get up on top of it. We are planning a few more trips before the summer is over. Next weekend we will visit with friends on Fire Island. Howard and I have gone there every summer since we have been married and Matthew loves it. This will be Brooke’s first summer on the Island but I am sure she will love it. She loved the beach in the Bahamas and in Rhode Island and although the surf is rougher on Fire Island we always make a small pool of water on the beach for the babies to wade in. We are also hoping to find time to go to Hershey Park before the weather changes. We have never gone there before and have heard that it is a lot of fun. UPDATE: As I am writing this post to the web site Brooke is napping – no correction – she was napping. She is now climbing out of the crib. I am actually watching this with my own eyes. I have to go and grab her before she accomplishes the escape. OK I am back. I have just stripped Brooke’s crib of any toy that she can pile on top of each other to make the escape. It seems that if you stack dolly on top of teddy you get about a six inch advantage in the escape plan. Mom just diverted the tactic and she will have to figure out another plan of action. For now the maneuver left her exhausted. She is back to sleep. We will continue the update on the adventure of Brooke, Matthew and friends next month. Stay tuned. Peace and Love, Mandee, Howard, Brooke and Matthew.

July 4th at the beach with Daddy Pretty on the playground On a tall ship with Mommy in Mystic, Ct. Matthew ringing the bell in Mystic Caught in the act I'll play my way or the high way!

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