Adoption Reunion

This year's PNW trip dovetailed beautifully with a reunion of our first Chinese adoption trip of February 2004. There were 12 girls, 1 boy in the original group (Michael is second from right; White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou):

9 made it for the weekend at Ballard.

Michael was popular among the girls - a natural babe magnet among the adoption community of females.

w/Tessa

w/Joy

Good, abundant, cheap Chinese in a hot, crowded take-out joint was the kick-off event, followed by cooling off at a nearby park.

Freeze tag:

I was surprisingly moved by the whole scene; the goodwill of the folks who worked so hard to pull it off, seeing people who traveled from far-off New York and China. Without trying, we fell into the same, positive group vibe and I managed to get to know a few of them a lot better. Seeing Michael reunited with all these children felt right somehow, perhaps accentuated by the fact that he (& Jack) have no other cousins in our rather tiny family network. A sense of belonging is something we work hard at, which, in our case, means travel, since, for us, belonging registers in a few discrete and scattered spots.

Some travel is self-imposed, some not (as in M & J's orphan history).

An early reunion: Michael's Siping orphanage gang, whom we visited before leaving for Guangzhou to file US paperwork. He was only there a few months - a waiting period after leaving his foster family upon learning he was to be adopted, but the walls of Siping Orphanage helps me understand why Michael's favorite color is pink. By our firsthand account, it was a very happy atmosphere.

The first meeting

Group shot of all the siblings

Back to Ballard. After lunch we walked down to the locks to watch the boats

and the salmon travel their respective journeys

Afterwards, we hightailed to Mukilteo where we caught the ferry to our beloved spot on Whidbey Island!

Cute parting shot. The boys got to bathe in our B&B's elderly tub,

which reminded me of a Japanese OFURO. Seattle's Uwajimaya used to sell these.