Short and Sweet

 Short and sweet today.

Tiz is here for her last day before she leaves for Ethiopia and I am taking full advantage of my time with her.

We started with a bike ride to St. Vinney's.

I told her we could only buy what would fit in my backpack, so we bought

 Sally.

No, she did not fit in my backpack so we had to put her on hold and go back and pick her up.

 After getting Sally home, we took off for the pool.

 Tiz met his new friend, Gideon.

 And she shared fun dip with Ava.

A little time with Ava and Audrey in the sand and we were done for the day.

It was an awesome day.

I will think of it often when she is gone, I hope she will, too.



First Dip of the Season

 Today was a hot day.

We took a dip in Kev's pool.

The water was still really cold though.

We opted for floating around on the tube and the raft for a little bit.

Making some precious memories before Tiz leaves for Ethiopia on Tuesday.

The Annual Zoo Trip

I like traditions. John and I started one three years ago when we took Tizita to the Milwaukee Zoo for the first time. 2009


2010



2011



On Saturday, Sept. 10, we took our third trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. We headed up to Oshkosh early on Saturday morning and took off for the zoo from there.

We always start our zoo adventure out with a ride on the train.

This year, Tizita chose the car right behind the engine. We were able to hear the whistle very loudly from this car!

We talked about the fact that next year we will have Nathnael with us on our trip to the zoo.
Tizita decided he would sit by Grandpa on the "man's" side of the train car and we would sit on the "lady's" side.

Now we don't have to concern ourselves with that, done, done, and done!

From the train, we head to the merry-go-round. Tiz chose to ride a bear this year while I rode a beautiful white horse.

Tizita's mode of transportation was the best place ever, up on Grandpa's shoulders.

This year Tizita discovered the plastic molding machines and let me tell you, there are a lot of them throughout the zoo. At $2.oo a crack, it is not cheap, but still the four animals she made were a better value than stopping in the gift shop. We did have one slight accident when the alligator got stuck in the machine. He arrived with a small hole in his back, but a band aid fixed him up.

We fed some goats and had our lunch.

It is now noon and we have not seen one animal (besides the goats and the ones on the carousal) and this is a Zoo!

Okay, on to the animals.

We did have to take time to ride Apache.

Here we go, we saw many, many animals.

It was a near perfect zoo day, weather wise and all the animals were active.

Grandpa's favorite, the Polar bear.

We did wonder what happened to the poor Preschooler who was sitting on that purple chair.

We decided that God created some odd looking animals, but they are all beautiful in their own way.

It is a well known fact among my family and friends that I do not like snakes. In fact, I am very scared of them. It is a phobia.

So, each year we take a picture by the snake sign.

2009

2010

and 2011.

What a fun, great zoo trip.

Building memories together.

John and I were discussing how much Tizita has changed each time we have taken her to the zoo.

This year she really enjoyed learning about all the animals and her vocabulary is astounding for a four year old.

It is so nice for us to share this day with her and we look forward to it for many years to come.

Note to Nathnael: We cannot wait to take you to the zoo with us next year. It will be so much fun to watch you see the zoo for the first time and to have your sister help you do all the things that she enjoys there.

Luckily, we have your spot all picked out on the train!

Hurry home and be happy and healthy until we see you!

Happy Third Tiziversary to our sweet little Tizita Desta

Three years ago today, on September 12, 2008, this is the face that greeted us as she stepped off an airplane in the Appleton airport. This little lady had just completed the longest trip of her life, all the way from Ethiopia to Wisconsin, USA. She had been on different airplanes for many, many hours and yet she was bright eyed and busy tailed that first time we saw her. We had been in love with her from the first time we saw her picture and knew her name, but now we had a real smile, real eyes, real hands to hold, real arms to hug us. It was a magical moment, one which I will never forget. On September 12, 2009, I decided we needed to celebrate the Van Auken Family's Tiziversary commemorating the day they brought our first grandchild home.

This is the beautful dress that Courtney and Paul had brought home from Ethiopia for Tizita and she wore it for the first time on her first Tizitversary. She looked just like a little Ethiopian Princess.

Since she liked Curious George so much, I used him as the theme for our first Tiziversary.

On September 12, 2010, we celebrated our second Tiziversary with a dinner at the Ethiopian Cottage in Milwaukee. This outfit was another one that Courtney and Paul had brought back from Ethiopia and this was the first time Tiz wore it.

This year she was in love with pandas ever since seeing the pandas at the zoo in Washington D.C. so pandas became the theme of our second Tiziversary.

This brings us to the celebration of our third Tiziversary. John and I began the day with a fun trip to the zoo. I will cover that trip in my next post. Taking Tiz to the zoo has become a yearly tradition for John and I. This year it just happened to fall on her Tiziversary weekend.

After the zoo, Courtney, Paul, and Gigi met us and we again ate dinner at the Ethiopian Cottage. It was a yummy wonderful meal.

In true Ethiopian tradition we shared a common plate with many Ethiopian dishes and injera.

Tiz and I share a moment. Unfortunately John was not able to join us due to a flat tire after the zoo. We felt it best that he head home and tend to that tire. We missed him, but we did have a great day with the three of us at the zoo.

Gigi and Tiz share some coffee after we were able to experience a traditional coffee ceremony at the restaurant. She is wearing another dress brought back from Ethiopia.

On Sunday, we continued our celebration with church and a Princess party

This was the year of the Princesses, so the cupcakes and decorations were all about Princesses.

And there in the midst of it all, was our very own little Ethiopian Princess! Happy Tiziversary Sweet Tizita! We love you more than you will ever know.

Note to Little Nathnael: Remembering the happy, happy day that your sister walked off of that plane and into our lives makes us so much more anxious to meet you. We are already in love with you, but cannot wait to see your real eyes, real smile, real hands, and to give you a big hug!