Search results for "the domes"

Everyone was a little grumpy and out of sorts after nap time (or maybe that was just me). We decided on a family outing and then an early dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant. We surprised the boys with a trip to the Domes. Their winter train show is definitely one of their favorite activities and the parents enjoy it too. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot Alex figured it out. The first three pictures capture his excitement pretty well.

In other news, Wade ended up winning a raffle for some rare bourbon (the Pappy 15 year) and the Tosa Bourbon club had another meeting tonight.

Alex has had an awesome last few days. He has had Granny and Pop all to himself! They have been to McDonald’s (twice), the Domes to see the trains, a St. Patrick’s Day Parade, and made Granny’s special sugar cookies. That’s not to count the hours spent playing with toys, at the park, and reading books. I hear he didn’t even ask about Mom and Dad once.

My Mom loves antiques. When I was hunting for Wade’s card catalogs I tried to visit every antique store in Milwaukee. I didn’t quite make it to all of them (nor did I find the card catalogs), but I did find an awesome store – Blackhawk Antiques. We tried to go yesterday but it turns out they are by appointment only on Tuesday. We went today and had a great time walking around. I found a fantastic 1800s wardrobe, but sadly I have no room for it in my house.
The next stop on our list was The Domes. Ever since my last trip, I have wanted to take Mom. I knew she would love all of the blooming flowers. It turns out I was right – not to mention we got some great pictures too:

Alex and I were on the go all day. We went to work out, to look at a jogging stroller, and grab lunch for me. He seemed to enjoy his car seat (thank goodness):

The we met up with Maren and Elise for a visit to The Domes. That has been on my list since we moved here, but I’ve never quite gotten around to it. I loved the “Floral Show Dome” and can’t wait to take Wade.

Alex slept through most of the outing, but maybe that was for the best…

Happy Birthday Cori!!

Teague hasn’t seen his market yet. It still needs a bit of clear coat, but I couldn’t help sharing. Wade did a fantastic job. I showed him this market I had seen on a blog.

He created his own version and even added a place for the shopping cart! I can’t wait to see Teague’s reaction.

I’m going to try to explain why the wait to bring Teague home is so long (10-12 months). When we started the adoption process we were told the wait between referral and travel would be 4-6 months. After a year of waiting, they revised those numbers to 4-9 months. Then we started hearing all kinds of rumors/complaints/etc. The current wait ties into the Korean overall adoption plan to reduce international adoptions.
As a whole, the country would prefer to keep their children in Korea and promotes domestic adoption. Their overall plan is to slowly phase out international adoption. The way they do this is to reduce the number of exit permits (EP) granted each year (basically how many children are allowed to leave the country). When statistics are printed it shows that fewer children are being adopted internationally each year, but this number is not directly related to the number of children available for adoption (which has stayed fairly steady). As this number has decreased, a bottleneck has occurred of children matched with families and waiting for an EP. There are a set number of EPs granted for each adoption agency. When they have reached their quota then everyone else has to wait for the next year. Last year the issue came to a head. The number of EPs for our agency ran out in the early summer. This meant anyone matched with a child after March 2011 had to wait till the 2012 year. Those families are just now (in April) getting approved EPs.
The situation is not likely to change anytime soon. Earlier travel might be possible in some special circumstances – a special needs child (Teague qualifies because of ptosis), an older child (Teague qualifies because he is already 13 months), a foster family situation, or Korean heritage. Even knowing Teague has two of the above there is absolutely no guarantee that we won’t have to wait, but of course we are hoping!
This article is a pretty good explanation.

Alex and I were both excited to wake up and find our house looking like this:

We had plans with one of Wade’s coworkers so snow play had to wait till after nap. Instead we went to see trains at the Domes!! I am pretty sure we could have safely left Alex unsupervised for a couple of hours. He was enamored. It also happened to be “Germany under Glass” so there were lots of activities, costumes, food, etc throughout the exhibit.

Alex debated about eating lunch or going straight down for a nap. He was that excited to wake up and build a snowman.

Note in the last picture that my crazy dog is eating the ice off the tree branch.