What A Great Lunch.

A couple of months ago I received an email from Doris of the 3D's asking if we lived near close to Orlando. I said that we lived about 3 1/2 hours away by car but with the girls it was closer to a 5 hour drive and why pray tell was she asking? Turns out the 3D's were heading from Canada to Fl for a week and she wanted to get together. No need to twist my arm we would make it...somehow. On Saturday morning I strapped the girls into their car seats, stocked the car with lots of road trip junk food, slapped a T.V. screen in front of both of their faces and hit the gas.

We were about to drive 200+ miles to have lunch with people that we had never met before. Sound crazy to you? Well yes it sounds crazy to anyone outside of the adoption community but to us this is normal and acceptable behaviour. I have followed Doris' blog for nearly 4 years and vice versa. I know the kind of lovely person she is and the wonderful man to whom she is married. We were finally about to meet and the bonus in this, Daphne is finally home and if you have not followed this blog you need to take a little peek at it and see the cuteness that is Daphne.

Rosie has been toting Daphne's photo around with her ever since it came in the mail. She calls her Daphme and is very fond of her. Lily thinks she is adorable and I could barely wait to feast my eyes on the whole family. We drove up to Orlando in record time, for us, and checked into our hotel. We exchanged a couple of messages and arranged to meet at Downtown Disney for ice cream. The girls and I headed out and had dinner and we finally received the call. We bounded over to Ghiradelli and I immediately spotted Dan. Within seconds Doris appeared and I saw Daphne. Dear gawd, that little girl's cuteness exceeds words. She is thoroughly and absolutely divine. All smiles and she immediately went to Lily and touched her and pulled at her, Lily was in heaven. Seeing 3 people that you have never met but who are so familiar to you is like seeing family. We bought our ice cream, thank you Doris and we sat outside and chatted. Oh it was so lovely. So, so incredibly lovely. I had to keep reminding myself that we hadn't met before. We ended up taking the girls on a carousel ride and walking around but it was getting late so we parted ways with a promise to meet the next day for lunch where we would meet up with Dannye and hopefully also Catherine and Hannah.

After breakfast the girls went swimming for an hour and then off we went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. As luck would have it we had to wait for ages for a table so Dannye, Ellen, The 3D's and ourselves walked the mall and talked, we talked a lot but yet, not enough. How can you talk for years worth of talk in a few hours??? I finally got to meet Mikkel for the first time, Dannye and Ray's little boy. He is the sweetest and tiniest little man ever. So very cute with the biggest blue eyes that just steal your heart. He was a little shy around all the girls and stayed very close to his mama and grandma. Just as we finished lunch he conked out.

Anyway with further ado I will show you some photos of the good times we had.

Meeting Doris, Dan, and Daphne for the first time.

Riding the carousel

Yummy, ice cream

I call this my paranoia photo. Whenever we take the girls to a crowded place we always dress the alike as it makes it easier to keep an eye on them. This time I didn't do it so the second we arrived at Downtown Disney on Saturday night I took their photo in case we got separated. That way I would know exactly what they were wearing as I am sure in a panic I would have forgotten.
Rosie insisted on standing next to these Lego dogs. She didn't however wait her turn she just barged to the front hence the sideways picture.




All of us girls


Daddy Dan and Daphne. (Dan is one of the sweetest, nicest guys you will ever meet in your life and one AMAZING father. When I told hubby about him he was bummed that he didn't get to meet him, I knew this from the blog but meeting him in person just solidified it all )


Is this not the sweetest photo of Dannye and her little man, Mikkel?


Needs no introduction really does it!


Time to say bye bye.

We didn't get to meet Catherine and Hannah as they arrived later on Sunday and we had to head out. Dannye and I have been friends now for a few years and sadly she is still waiting for Chynna. Her patience will pay off but my heart goes out to her as this wait is now just plain cruel.

To Doris, Dan and Daphne, thank you so much for saying you were coming. I would have driven further it was so wonderful to meet you. You are the most kind and wonderful people and have the most gorgeous baby girl, but you probably know that already. The girls keep talking about Daphne as do I. How great it is to drive so far to meet people you have never met!
Hugs and kisses from all of us.