Adopting Rock

The Little Guy’s big day was finally here.  We had dotted all the I’s and crossed the T’s so that hopefully everything would go smoothly for our official court date.  As always with something this big, you are still nervous about what you might have forgotten or what could go wrong.

March 6, 2015 it was looking to be one of the last days for Old man winter.  We got dressed up for our big day in court.  Jame and Hope we’re very excited and loved just getting dressed up in church clothes.  Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Jim came over to head to the courthouse with us.  Unlike when we adopted Hope we had to head to a different courthouse to adopt Rock.  The reason was because someone decided that’s where they were to be done.

Even though we were told by our lawyer not to get there early I just couldn’t help myself.  Going to a new courthouse and only street parking was sending my nerves overboard.  Naturally we arrived early to the court and found close parking.  We entered the court house and there was no real waiting area and security would not let us up to the courtroom until they heard from the Judge.  As we crowded into the little vestibule area Joanne from Catholic Charities had noticed I was looking at my phone and told me that it was not allowed in the courtroom.   I told her that I assumed it would be like when we adopted Hope that I would surrender my cameras and they would bring them to me when the Judge said it was okay.  Joanne asked the bailiff’s if it was okay and they said no they would rather

I take the cameras back to the car.  Out into the cold I ran to the car when I returned Jame had told me he was hungry and since we were all excited and didn’t eat breakfast, I believed him.  He pointed out a vending machine in the corner.  Almost as soon as I bought him some cookies the Bailiff told me that he would not be able to eat the cookies in the courtroom.  I told him that he would finish it before we headed up to the courtroom,  he responded by telling me that the Judge was back and that we could head up right then.   Mom, Hope and Grandma Rosie were still in the washroom so we had to wait anyway by the time they came back the Bailiff told me that I could bring my cameras in the courtroom, so back into the cold I ran again.

When we finally made it into the courtroom there were three families adopting that day.  The court reporter told us we would be second on the docket.  The first family had a lot of people with them and they thought it would be good to get them done first.  We waited for a bit and Jame was very curious about whom everyone was and where the Judge would sit.  The court reporter came by again and asked that everyone except the first family to kindly step out of the courtroom and that they would call us in when they were ready for our case. 

We waited in the hallway and some of the people from the first case started to come out.  Mom started to congratulate them and they thanked her and told us it wasn’t done yet.  A bit strange but we did not think much of it, that was until they came out followed by our lawyer who informed us that the Judge as it only be us two and the baby in the courtroom.  I knelt down to tell Jame to listen and behave while we were in the courtroom.  That did not go well with him he wanted to in the worse way come in with us, Hope seeing her big brother was upset soon followed and now we had two upset. 

Joanne went in to tell the Judge what was going on and ask again if they could come in with us.  Whatever silly reason the Judge had he denied the request.  We did our best to calm and reassure them that it was okay and headed into the courtroom.

In the courtroom at first everything seemed a bit cold and tense.  We tried earlier to feed Rock earlier so he would be calm during the case but he is on his own schedule.  I began to feed Rock when they asked us to stand and raise our right hand, I did my best to balance the bottle and raising my hand but eventually had to give up and hold the bottle for him. 

I was a bit nervous how the Judge would react but he actually cracked a bit of a smile.  When we got into the case I looked over and Mom’s eyes quickly filled with tears and she even laughed saying she didn’t think she was going to cry again.  Our lawyer Tara proved once again to be flawless and Joanne gave testimony on how they supported the adoption.  Before too long the gavel came down and Rock James Steele was officially ours.

The Judge said we could go and get the others in our party and take pictures inside the courtroom.  We went outside and got them and walked back into the courtroom to take pictures. 

We found it strange that the Judge had left the bench and was standing in the corner like someone had given him a time out.  We thought it was a bit strange but we headed over to the corner to get our picture taken when the Judge asked what we were doing we told him we wanted a picture with him, he told us that he was just standing over there to get out of our way.  He headed over in front of the bench to take pictures but it was sure strange.

We had decided before we left that we would stop off at Texas Roadhouse to celebrate afterwards but it was closed.  So with a bit of quick thinking of where to go and celebrate such an occasion we headed over to Gino’s Steakhouse, a bit pricey but good.  What a better way to introduce Rock into our family than a nice steak dinner I’m sure he enjoyed his bottle as we ate steak.  I did sneak him some chocolate dessert.

Rock is now six months old and getting to be a really big boy.  He had a check up with the doctors from the hospital and they were amazed at how far he has come and how well he is doing. They saw the rough start he had coming into the world.  I’m constantly amazed at him in his exersaucer.  Jame would stand with his fists clenched tightly, Hope loved the jumper and Rock uses his arms and plays with all the toys they have on it.  Rock’s smile can melt your heart.

Jame has stepped up to his big brother role and no one can get Rock to smile like he does.  Hope put her foot down and said no no no when it came to having another sibling but she now reassures him when he cries by saying “It’s Otay Rock It’s Otay.”She absolutely adores both her brothers.  From the moment he was born he was in our hearts but now he is officially and legally part of our family. He is the perfect ending to our family and we love him dearly. God has once again blessed our family and we are very grateful!!!!

Winter 2015

Last year at this time we headed down to Florida and Disney so this year I thought might be a little bit slower.  Boy was I wrong our winter turned out to be not only busy but also a lot of fun.  Even though there was no Warm Tropical breezes and no Mickey, Minnie Donald or Goofy we still had fun and got wet.

Jame finished up his session at indoor soccer and I loved going as often as I could to help coach.  Coach Dave and Coach Matt are both great in allowing me to help coach.  We noticed that Jame was starting to lose some interest in soccer and would talk about not going sometimes when we asked if he still liked it he said yes but wanted a break before outdoor soccer.  I have to admit this hit me pretty hard since I was enjoying it so much.  Coach Matt and Coach Dave were even having me fill in for them on nights they could not make it.  Somehow I found the strength to carry on even with Jame’s decision. 

Our mild winter came to an end on Super Bowl Sunday when we were hit with a blizzard.  I was originally supposed to be out of town during the Super Bowl but my trip was cancelled, when that happened I decided to still not have a Super Bowl Party and was that ever a good decision.  It seemed like it snowed and snowed and snowed some more on that day and we could barely keep up shoveling.  We did take time to play with the kids out in the snow.  As always I had my camera and with all that snow we had to take some pictures.

First on the agenda was to build Frosty or as it now known in any household with a little girl Olaf.  Mom wanted to try and sculpt one to look exactly like Olaf but our sculpting skills are just not that good.  Hopey is obsessed with the movie Frozen or as she calls it Anna, Olaf, Sven.  At its peak we were watching it four to five times a day.  The funny thing is she refuses to say the name Elsa.  I joke that it is like Voldemort in Harry Potter where you are not even allowed to say her name.  We had a lot of fun trying to get her to say the name and every time we tried she usually answered “Anna”.  She has

now started to say Elsa so I think she may have just had a hard time pronouncing the name.

After building a snowman and yes the song “Do you want to build a snowman” is stuck in my head and probably yours as well right now.  We had a snowball fight, made snow angels and the kids played on their swing set.  They slid down the slide clearing all the snow off. 

We brought Rock out for a little snow fun but mostly so I could take pictures. Rock did not really enjoy the snow he was irritated by the snowflakes hitting him in the face, the only part of him that wasn’t covered.

I had been in the process of taking the kids clothes to the resale shop when Rock came along and changed our plans.  As luck would have it the snowman outfit that we had taken pictures of both Jame and Hope in had not made it back to the resale shop.  We got him dressed up in the snowman outfit and now I think we will have to hang on to the snowman outfit.

Rock was only out for a short time but Jame and Hope stayed outside and we had a snowball fight.  Mom decided it was time to clear the drive for the first time.

I believe we cleared the drive three times from that storm and I lost track of how many times I cleared the porch.  When Mom started the tractor Jame, Hope and I built a snow fort on the side of the house close to the driveway.  Mom drove the tractor passed the fort we stood up and threw snowballs at her.  We had a great time but eventually the cold got to us and we headed back inside where Aunt GiGi had hot chocolate waiting for us.  Soon after Mom came in from plowing the drive and decided it was time for the kids to watch her favorite movie Wizard of Oz.  I warned of the possible nightmare from those flying monkeys.  The kids watched it and have continued to watch it with no nightmares from the monkeys or the Witch.  They still kind of scare me.

With us in the grasp of winter it only seemed natural to pack our swimsuits and head north to Wisconsin Dells, the Great Wolf’s howl was calling us again.  This time we were joined by Grandma Ruth, Grandpa Rick, Aunt Wendy and Bailey.  We got a loft suite this time and planned some more time there.  Jame did not remember his visit 2 years ago and this would be Hopey’s first visit.  We decided that Rock was too young for the trip.  I showed Jame and Hope pictures from two years ago and they got very excited to go.

We arrived at Great Wolf met Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick and headed for lunch.  The kids were very excited and barely ate.  By the time we were done with lunch our room was ready and Grandpa and I started hauling things up to the room and the kids had a great time playing with Grandma and mommy in the room.  When we got all the stuff up to the room we changed and headed for the water park.

Jame was now tall enough to go on all but one water slide the Tornado.  Two years ago when we stayed both Mom and I wanted to try the Tornado but Jame was too small and you needed two people to ride.  This time we tried to sneak off but Jame caught us and got a bit upset when he couldn’t go with.  Grandpa Rick Mom and I headed up the seemingly never ending stairs to the top of the Tornado or as we called it the toilet bowl.  At the top we placed our tube in the water and with a big series of pushes we were off with me facing backwards.  I had expected a bit of ride before the big drop but before I knew it we were heading almost straight down into the bowl.  I was trying to video our trip but self preservation took over and I grabbed on.  I looked over at Mom who had a look of excitement and fear in her eyes and Grandpa Rick looked like every muscle in his body was clenched and his eyes were big as saucers.  The ride was awesome and we rode it several more times during our stay and probably would have ridden it more if it had an elevator to the top.

Jame was upset by not being able to go with but they had several other slides he and Bailey could go on.  There were two that he could go by himself or take a double tube.  One of my favorite memories is watching him and Bailey climb the stairs with the double tube around both of them.  We soon also discovered a four lane raceway slide where we could race each other down, the fun was not only the race but also knowing that the tube went out of the building and back in again.  Grandma Ruth tried a race but it ended with her getting completely drenched at the end.  We raced and raced and raced some more until we had to take a break I think Jame could still be racing if we let him.  One of Jame’s favorite slides was in the big bucket room, after a climb through the play land you find two similar slides that he would run from getting off back into the play area and back on again.

The big bucket room was just a big play fort area with all kinds of levers and ropes to pull and drop water.  The big bucket sat on top of the fort that would fill with 1,000 gallons of water then a bell would ring and the bucket would tip spilling the water.  Last time we were at Great Wolf Jame would run every time he heard the bell ring, this time he went in it a few times but was still not thrilled with it.  We seem to split a lot of our time between the bucket room and the wave pool room.  Hope loved the wave pool and the little kid’s area next to the wave pool. 

While walking in one day we noticed a few employees sneaking around with a toddler CPR dummy we laughed and thought they were playing a trick on one of their fellow co workers.  We were wrong they actually use it to test the lifeguards by sneaking it into a pool and see how long it takes them to find it.  If they don’t find the dummy soon enough they all lose their privilege to sit down.  We watched as two of them sneaked along a wall with the dummy trying to get it into the toddler pool where Hopey liked to play.  It was great entertainment for us for about five minutes when they saw their opportunity when the lifeguard turned and the one ran out and threw the dummy but he slipped at the same time and sent him crashing to the ground and the dummy hurling end over end and finally making a huge splash in the water.  The lifeguard did her best to blow her whistle and save the dummy without laughing so hard. 

The first night there we decided to head across the parking lot and dine at Buffalo Phil’s where your meal is delivered by train.  Its funny how when you are staying at the hotel the restaurant doesn’t look that far until you start walking in the cold.  Jame did his best but his cold was getting the best of him that night and I thought for a while he may sleep through dinner but once we sat down and the trains came by he lit up again.  It wasn’t long before the staff saw our table of children and started sending the bubble train past our table.  The kids loved it and you couldn’t help but smile when you heard their laughter.  Our dinner arrived on time and without derailing but the best part was we were able to get the kids in and out without them begging to go into the huge arcade attached to the restaurant.

We arrived back in plenty of time for the nightly story time in the lobby.  Before the show the kid’s with their paw passes were able to pick out stuffed animals.  Jame picked a red dragon that will look good with his green dragon he got last time.  Bailey and Hopey both picked the female wolf Violet.  The lobby was packed with kids last time we saw the show Jame had a hard time keeping his eyes open and fell asleep near the end.  This time he was into the show I think all the other kids around helped his interest.  After the show we went back into the store and with the paw passes again got the kids tattoos that were supposed to stay on in the water.  Jame decided on a spider and Hopey got lips they also got to pick out two colors for their tattoos and they did last in the water in fact Hopey’s did not come off until after we were home for a few days.

That night I thought it was going to be easy to get the kids to bed after getting them up early, playing in the water, eating train delivered food, getting stuffed animals and tattoos the adults were ready for bed but not the kids they were excited to be back in the hotel room.  They moved from bed to bed and even yelled up to Grandma and Grandpa.  When it all settled down I woke up in the morning having slept on the hide a bed.

After breakfast we made our way and did more water slides, bucket drops and of course the wave pool.  Jame did go on a water slide and right at the end he was going so fast he flipped around and entered the water backwards.  He was done with the slides for a while.  We walked down to Magiquest a game inside the hotel where you use your magic wand to go on a quest and fight a dragon.  The real story is the kids run around with magic wands and they wave them at object that open, close turn on, turn off and then there are slides and other areas for them to play.  Mom was the only one really into beating the dragon so much so that she grabbed another kids wand thinking it was Jame until he asked for it back, she also talked about getting up in the middle of the night to finish the quest until she found out they turn off at night.  The dragon was safe this time from her and the rest of us could care less about the dragon.

Aunt Wendy decided it was her turn to spoil the kids a bit and let them pick out some things at the Magiquest gift shop.  Jame of course went right for the sword and Hope decided on a pink care with a hood.  They had a great time that evening playing in the room with their capes on and waving their magic wands around.  Jame of course was happy to be lying in bed eating and playing on the tablet. 

Hopey really got into the whole wolf thing and started howling that night and the next morning when we went to the wolf walk.  They walked around the lobby showing the animals and then sat down to make an origami wolf.  I did my best to keep up with the lady showing us how to make it but it got a bit hard with three wolves to make.  Since our return from Great Wolf Hopey’s vocabulary has really exploded and she is really talking and talking and talking some more and driving daddy crazy some times.   She is funny and really has a personality now.  I now will say uh oh spaghetti-o’s and she will say nub nub spaghetti-o’s. 

Unfortunately Aunt Wendy and Bailey had to head back early for school.  We were all sad to see them go and gave it our best try to get them to stay.  I think it almost worked.  That night we ordered food from the restaurant and ate in the room Jame loved eating in bed and it reminded Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Rick of when I was a little boy and we ordered room service at Disney and I was very disappointed that they did not bring it to me in my bed.  I think I’m still a bit bitter about the whole thing. 

Grandma and Grandpa brought some gifts for the kids including Lego’s for Jame that he decided one morning needed to be put together.  I remember having Lego’s as a kid but we just built whatever came to our imagination now they come in kits with long and confusing instructions.  I have put together my share of the Lego kits only to have them torn apart a few minutes later so without Kragle (From the Lego Movie meaning Krazy Glue) I was more than happy to step aside and let Grandpa Rick attempt the build.  Naturally it didn’t go easy and he had the same frustrations I have had with them and of course he had the peanut gallery throwing in our comments.  He finally got it together and it lasted so long before it was taken apart but it sure was fun to watch him struggle.

We took the kids to the craft area that had moved from the last time we were there.  Jame had made a really cool ceramic paw magnet that fell off our fridge and broke, we were hoping he would be able to make another but they no longer had the ceramics.  The kids instead decided to color pillow cases well, they started them and we had to finish them. We did a pretty good job of sharing markers in our attempt to finish coloring.  Jame did a great job of free hand drawing a paw on his pillow case.  We were all impressed with his drawing skills.  We also had both kids trace their hands on the pillows so we can see how big they were when they made them.  They both still love the pillow cases and use them constantly.

While walking through the swimming area Mom and I looked over at the concession stand and saw the big bucket of ice cream.  Mom commented that Aunt Wendy had talked about it and I wish I had known I had been thinking about it as well.  That was all it took I walked right over and ordered the Big Bucket.  The big bucket was filled with a combination of ice cream, chocolate syrup, and chocolate brownies, whip cream and topped with Mike and Ike’s candy.  To be honest we all could have done without the Mike and Ike’s.   I’m not ashamed to say that none of it went to waste.  They also gave us spoons that changed colors when they got cold.  I was amazed by them but the kids just kept eating. 

Our last day at Great Wolf Lodge we spent the remaining time getting our fill of swimming before heading back into the grip of winter.  I couldn’t help but think about when I was a kid and our parents and Grandparents would meet at a Holi-dome a Holiday Inn that usually had a pool, mini golf and two or three arcade games but we loved it.  We built up some great memories and shared some great laughs.  This wasn’t our first trip there and probably won’t be the last I hear from both Aunt Wendy and Grandma and Grandpa how much fun they had and asking when we can go again.  My hope is that one day the kids will share some time with their kids and remember the great fun they had when they were kids.