Rhonda & Company: China Travel Group Reunion

We spent a four fabulous days in Estes Park, CO. It's been a little over four years since we came home from China with our dear Lizzie Mei. It's been four years since we have seen the other nine families that made up our travel group. This summer it was decided we were long overdue for a reunion. Since our adoption agency was a national agency our ten families are spread over the entire country. Three of the ten families live in Colorado so we decided that seemed to be a good starting point.

We stayed in the YMCA Estes Park Family Cabins. They were wonderful, perfect for families. They are a bit rustic, but there are so many fun things to do you really aren't spending too much time in your cabin anyway. They are plenty comfortable for eating, sleeping, and sitting on the porch watching a gorgeous Rocky Mountain Sunset with a glass of wine and wonderful friends.

It was very special to see six (including ourselves) of our ten families again. The kids, all 12, ages 5-15 got along extremely well. The girls had so much fun. I think it meant quite a bit to them to reconnect. They are all so beautiful and charming. There was Lizzie, Sophie, Ellie, Aili (pronounced EYE-Lee), Echo and Brynne. There were also siblings; Cooper & Nate, Peter and Kate (Ellie's brother and sister), Brennan & Brailey (Brynne's brother and sister). It was especially great to be able to spend time with the wonderful adults in a beautiful, stress free setting. We enjoyed each other's company and became fast friends during one of the more amazing, but stressful periods of our lives. It was such a pleasure to be able to sit, talk, laugh, reminisce, and catch up.

Here's a ton of pictures. The weekend including; hiking, pony rides, swimming, arts and crafts, mini-golf, picnicking, rock climbing and jumping, lots of coloring and tons of giggles. There was wonderful dinners and beautiful sunsets. It was so much fun.

Sitting-Ellie, Lizzie, Brynne, Katie, Brailey, Echo

Standing-Peter, Nate, Aili, Sophie, Cooper

The Girls Checking Out the Horses After Our Hike

Lizzie's Pony Ride-Day #2

(She was so proud to ride a horse all by herself. She didn't seem to notice that the pony was much smaller than the horse she and Daddy rode Memorial Day weekend.)