Cat in the Hat day!

I wanted to note something that happened to us at one of the Downtown Disney stores on Wednesday. I was at the cashier, and one of the employees was a beautiful girl with a name tag that said her name was Vivian, and that she was from Shanghai. Tia noticed it, and we started talking with her, and she was enthralled with Kerri. She kept saying Kerri was a very lucky girl. And Tia and I (at the same time) said we were the lucky ones, we are blessed to have Kerri in our lives. (It has become such an automatic response!). Kerri even spoke a little Chinese with Vivian, and she was in no hurry to see us leave. It was almost as if everyone around us were frozen in time, and there was just us talking. No one in line complained, everyone seemed fascinated with what was happening.

I rarely find anyone that shares my name, but the connection was solely between Kerri and Vivian. It was amazing, because we don't even see an "adopted Chinese orphan" when we look at Kerri. Her Daddy and I only see our beautiful, funny and amazing daughter, and it's easy to forget that we attract attention because of our differences. Most of the time, I conclude people are just taken with Kerri because of her outgoing personality. It was a wake up call to me that Kerri is reminded constantly that she is different and adopted.

Yesterday we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. Tia got us preferred parking, and we had the "best day eber!", as Kerri likes to say. As we entered CityWalk, Kerri found dancing water fountains that squirt up. She immediately spent a joyous ten minutes getting drenched. Then we entered Dr. Seuss-land, and we never got any farther. Kerri was in Cat in the Hat heaven! She loved all the themed rides, shops, and restaurants. But she did not like the characters at all, and told Cat in the Hat to "go away!". And yes, Mommy got her shop on too. So did Kerri!

After half a day, I had blisters on my feet. It was so hot we all started to get cranky and tired, so we headed to the hotel with the intention to cool off in the pool and return later to visit the other theme park (the original Universal Studios). We stopped to pick up some sneakers for my achy feet, and Tia bought Kerri a beach ball and pool ring. Kerri made new friends at the pool, and did not want to get out. She stayed in the pool all afternoon playing until 6:18 pm (and the park closes at 7, so we never made it back). No worries, we might return on our way back up North.

So instead, we did the next best thing and went to a cool Japanese restaurant. Our server Mai told us that her sister in Italy was adopting from China and complained about the 6 year wait. Mai and the other employees were fascinated with Kerri's love for Ubon noodle soup, and amazed that she finished the entire bowl by herself (no surprise there for me!). We had a delicious dinner, and I even tried Gator tail for the very first time (yum!). Made me wonder if there are a lot of Florida gators walking around with part of their tails missing. And then we took lots of pictures on the beautiful property, especially of the enormous fish pond.

Back at the hotel, Tia's doberman Sadie visited, and we chatted until late. Kerri crashed in bed out of sheer happy exhaustion. This morning we are going to lounge at the pool and relax until check out time, and then we are headed to Coral Springs, South Florida!

Life with Kerri is a reminder of how very blessed we are.