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I survived my first trip solo with Fiori!

The Hope Adoption Agency reunion in Dallas was a blast. We stayed in a perfect hotel and had a great time visiting the Dallas Zoo as well as a local waterpark. The organizers outdid themselves in terms of putting together events and group dinners. And it was great to see all the folks who were in Ethiopia when we went to pick Fiori up as well as many who I've only met virtually.

Of course Fiori had a blast. And yep, it was hot as Hades.

In typical fashion, I didn't take too many photos but here are a few:

Off to Dallas.

Fiori and I leave in the morning for Dallas. We are attending a reunion for the agency we used for the adoption. I'm super excited to see the folks I traveled with to Ethiopia but also to meet many I've only communicated with via email throughout the crazy process.

Not so excited by the heat. As a Northern Californian, we are pretty spoiled by temperate weather. Dallas is supposed to be in the 100s all weekend. Yikes.

This will be my first solo trip with Fiori.

I'm kind of scared.

For your viewing pleasure...

Some photos grandma Julianne took while kindly babysitting for us so we could go see a movie.

Kicked out!

Fiori was kicked out of day care.

For what you say? Biting? Fighting? Crying?

Nope, she was making too much noise. Apparently she's been doing some occasional high pitched screeching and being generally noisy in her play.

Seems pretty silly to me as it is basically kid noise. However, the woman lives in an apartment and the landlord doesn't like that she runs a day care. He's been trying to kick her out for years unsuccessfully. I figure it is because she is in a rent controlled apartment and they would like to up the rent. Problem is, the daughter lives in the apartment next door and complains for any little thing.

I was fairly pissed as this happened 10 weeks before she is starting preschool and we didn't want to have to find a new interim situation. However, a teacher at her soon-to-be preschool gave us a recommendation for a daycare that is basically half the price of what we are paying now. So we can afford to have her in full days instead of half. Suweet. And the woman is really nice, has a clean house with a large yard, and works occasional weekends and evenings if we want a night out. Wish we had found her earlier.

Word for the day: Garbage

Fiori is now fascinated by garbage and goes around picking up little scraps, saying "garbage" and walking over to the can. Putting in the item is followed up by "Yeah for garbage!".

Oh, to have this be a long term trend.