Welcome to the July06 Fun page.  Firstly, let me say sorry for the delay in getting the July page up and running.  We were on vacation (see more later).

July was a fun month with lots of happy times.

We started the month by attending the Canada Day celebrations at Riverside Park with our friends Melissa, Sam, Lukas and Ben.  As you can see from the pictures Nyah was all decked out in the festive colors and you all must agree that see is most definitely a Canadian Cutie...  Well we were at the park we also ran into Hannah, Dave and Nicole.  Hannah is a friend of Nyah's from Marsha's.

After our fun afternoon at the park, we all heading back to our house for a BBQ.  Once it got dark we headed down to the park again to see the fireworks.  Nyah was a little  anxious about the fireworks but she ended up having a fun time.  The show was great.  Guelph, Riverside Park thanks for a wonderful show.

The next day we had a nice visit from Darlene, Scott, Alyssa and Kaylee.  Kaylee is the newest member of the MacKenzie family.  She was born on June 8, 2006 - 2 days before her big sister Alyssa's 2nd Birthday.  Welcome to the family.

The next day Marc, Nyah and myself went to Waterloo Park to feed the ducks and the other animals.  Nyah was not interested in feeding the ducks so daddy did most of the work.  We also feed the rabbits, ponies, deer and lama.  We also got to see the turtle, who I think is new to the park.  We then had more fun playing on the park equipment.

After our long weekend of family time, I returned to work and was thrilled to get an email from FOI, our file had just come back from the Ontario Ministry with approval dated June 28, 2006.  One more step completed.  YEAH!!!!

We also were happily invited to Marsha's 1st Annual Family BBQ.  It was great to see all the parents and kids in that environment.  It was a nice comfort to all the parents to see how wonderful Marsha is to our children and to see how they truly adore and love her.  THANKS Marsha for the wonderful time.  We got lots of pictures  of Nyah and her friends - Leo, Jackamo, Jack, Amy, Zach, Hannah, Austin, Neve and old friend William.  They had fun playing in the pool, tent and having a cool tasty treat on the spinning octopus.

I also had a birthday this month.  It was my 33rd one.  It was lots of fun and really neat to hear Marc and Nyah getting ready for it.  As I was in the basement, Marc came home and wanted me to wait in down there.  When Marc came home, Nyah started yelling "Mommy happy birthday, Daddy has a cake" and Marc is saying "Nyah shhh, it is a surprise".  Then I could hear them getting the paper out to wrap the gift for me.  Marc is like "Where is the tape?" and Nyah says "I will show you Daddy"  It was great.  Once they are ready, I get called to come up stair while they are singing Happy Birthday.  It was great.  Marc treated me to nice outfit and a tasty lobster.  THANKS.

The following weekend we went on a fun overnight camping trip.  It was Nyah's first time.  And unlike myself, I actually forgot the camera...  :-(  Sorry!!!  I don't know what I was thinking...  Anyhow...  We all had a great time.  It was a beautiful sunny Saturday.  We went to Valens Conservation Park between Cambridge and Hamilton.  Nyah was really excited about it.  We got everything packing and ready to go and she was so interested in all that we need to take.  She also had fun helping with the tent setup.  We went swimming, played ball, went to the park and watched some kids fishing.  It was a memorable fun packed day. 

On July 26, we got an email from FOI giving us another update.  Our dossier is completed and is on it way to China. - DTC (document to China date) July 26th, 2006.  Now we wait for the file to be LID (Log in date, the date once CCAA - China Centre for Adoption Affairs has received the file).  We are thinking that we will get referral in about 14-18 months from now...  YEAH another step closer....  Now the wait really begins.  We will keep you posted on any more news.

Then before we know it month was getting to an end and we were getting packed and ready for our vacation - our trip out to New Brunswick to visit with our families....  YEAH!!!  Nyah was very excited.  I don't think I have seen her this excited ever.  She was talking a mile a minute to our neighbors Tom and Lynn, telling them that she was going to see Mich and Pere and she was going to Mere's wedding...  After Marc went to bed we packing up the car for our long road trip to NB.  Nyah was wonderful in the car.  Once we put the portable DVD player on with our 23 episodes of Dora the Explorer, Nyah was content and set to go!!! 

Once we got to NB and Nyah got lots of hugs and kiss, we had a chance to relax from our long trip and Nyah got to hang with her dear cousins.  Then the next day we took a trip to the historical Acadien Village.  It was lots of fun and it was also the first time that either Marc, Nyah or myself had been there.  We got to see many things like how people lived, their homes, and the one-room school house.  We also got to see people making nails, brooms, barrels and the flour mill.  It was a very neat experience. 

The next day is the last day of July and still the beginning of our vacation.  Today, Nyah got to experience another new adventure.  With her new Dora the Explorer fishing rod in hand, she went fishing.  Me, Marc, Nyah, Mich and Pere all with fishing in a little brook that Pere found for us.  Nyah had a great time but I think Pere was more excited than either of us.  As you can see Nyah did fairly well on her first fishing trip.  She actually did catch 3 trout with the help of Pere.  Then she spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the water with some sticks. 

Well that is the end of our July write up.  Make sure you come back next month to see all the other things we did on in August and the rest of our vacation.