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Thanksgiving is coming up, and I can't wait. My brother and his family are coming in from Ohio for the long weekend and staying with us. Ken and I are going out tonight to get gifts for Hilary and Evan - we're so excited to see them. We have the same tradition each year - my brother and his family come to visit, we spend Thanksgiving together with my mom, then the next day we all go into New York City to see the Christmas windows for the large department stores. It's usually cold and crowded and so much fun!

We can't wait to introduce our little one to this tradition - it's such a fun weekend.

Ken and I talked a lot about our plans to adopt, and we're so excited about that possibility. We can't wait to meet our baby and his/her parents...I'm sure it's just a matter of time before we connect with them.

This past weekend we took another of our great bike rides. We rode 10 1/2 miles through country roads and passed farms with horses - it was beautiful. It was windy, though, so the ride was challenging - between the wind and the hills, we got a good workout!

We had another great weekend. Ken and I like to challenge ourselves, and on Saturday we did a 12.5 mile bike ride through hilly areas. It was tough but fun! Sunday was too cold to ride, unfortunately.

Although we usually go out for dinner on Saturday, often with friends, the past couple of weekends we've stayed in and made dinner. It's a great time to make more complicated recipes that I don't have time to make during the week. This time I made shrimp fra diavolo over whole wheat spaghetti, and I made the sauce - which was really spicy! - from scratch. It was delicious! Ken said it was as good as he'd get at his favorite Italian restaurant. It was so much fun to do that - I love to cook and look forward to doing it each night when I get home from work. I can't wait to cook for our child as he or she gets older - maybe they'll get interested in helping me make things.

This morning we got up early to vote. It's nice to know our opinion can be counted for us and our future child/children.

It's a gray, cold, rainy day here in New Jersey. Some areas in the western part of the state even have snow!

This past weekend Ken and I went on a long 10+ mile bike ride. We went to our favorite local park which was filled with families and then biked back on local roads that are like country lanes. I had always wanted to ride on those roads but I was scared of the hills. It ended up being so much fun - and not so hard! The trees were in full fall bloom and were so pretty. I can't wait to take our little boy or girl to our park. There are duck ponds, windy trails, small bridges and brooks, and even horse trails - there's a stable right near the park where you can ride horses. I love the fact that we live in a suburban, country-like area that is only 40 miles from New York City. We have the best of both worlds!

I feel like we're getting really close to meeting our birth parents...and our baby. I can't wait to hear from them.

This past weekend was a great fall weekend. While Ken worked on Saturday morning, I went to a charitable/social event called the Hunt. There are horse races and lots of tailgating parties, and all proceeds go to a large local hospital. It's held outside in the beautiful hills of Somerset County, NJ and all the trees were in full fall colors. Someone I work with threw a party there and it was so much fun. More than 40,000 people come to the Hunt, and it's filled with families who have been bringing their children for many years. I stayed for a while to socialize with my colleagues and their families. It was great fun.

Ken's brother Mike and his family were visiting for the weekend, so Ken called me as he left work and we all met at our house. It was great to see Mike, Alane, Ben and Sam, and after hanging out for a while we went to buy the boys some books and then went to Ken's parents house for dinner. We're close to Mike and his family and we always miss them even though we had visited them in Rhode Island a few weeks ago. I know the boys will be great cousins to our future child!

It was a beautiful summer-like weekend here in New Jersey. Ken and I took a great bike ride to a local park that is just 2 miles away. There were lots of people, kids, and dogs there - it was such a great day to be outside. The leaves are turning various shades of yellow, orange, and red and it was so beautiful. We rode a total of 10 miles and it was so much fun. The bike path wanders through the park and as we were riding past a brook Ken spotted a huge turtle. We watched it walk through the shallow water and showed people as they passed by - it was really cool to see and we attracted a crowd! We're planning on going again this weekend, since it's so close to home and we can bike there. There's a lot to explore in the park and on the bike path - there's even horse trails.

Fall has definitely arrived - the trees are starting to turn beautiful shades of yellow, orange and red and the air has turned crisp. We have farms nearby where we pick up delicious, locally grown apples - this is such a great time of year! Our neighbors' kids are outside playing all the time now, and we always stop and talk to them. They're often in our driveway - with curves and a slight hill, it's the most popular driveway in the neighborhood.

Over the past few weeks, I've really been thinking about when we become parents and I can't wait for that time. I often wonder what our baby will look like, and what his birth parent/parents will be like. I can't wait to introduce our baby to our families and friends, who are so eager for us to become parents. We're so lucky to have such a strong support system.

This weekend we went to Rhode Island to visit Ken's brother Mike and his family. We always have fun with them. On Saturday morning the kids were busy with Alane so Ken and I went for a walk with Mike and Oscar (their dog) to a beach. It was a beautiful end-of-summer day so we walked for about two hours. Then we met Alane and the boys back at the house and went for a 12-mile bike ride on a bike path near their house. We biked to a harbor and had ice cream - it was great. I kept thinking about how much fun it will be for Ben and Sam to have a little cousin...

I always love the end of August because it's Ken's birthday and I love to celebrate birthdays. The weekend before his birthday his parents, my mom, and Ken and I all went out to a special occasion restaurant that was new to us. It was delicious! I surprised Ken with a great gift. He loves new technology, so I took an afternoon off from work to buy a new Apple laptop for him. I then went home and cooked him one of his favorite dinners and had his favorite chocolate fudge layer cake waiting for him. Since he's nine years older than me, I always joke about him being old - so the birthday cake read, "Happy Birthday old man!" He loved it. Birthdays are so much fun, and I can't wait to celebrate our baby's birthday each year!

This past weekend my brother and his family came in to spend time at the NJ shore. My mom, Ken and I all went to visit. We played Trac Ball on the beach - it's a game where you throw the ball and catch it with a small lacrosse-like scoop. The ball is really light so you can throw it far and you can spin and curve it - it's great. Ken and I have been playing for years and we liked it so much that we bought a set for my brother's family. It was wonderful to see Hilary and Evan - they're getting so big. Hilary was at sleep-away camp for 6 weeks and we had so much fun catching up on all of the things she did there. Evan went to nature camp and got hooked on fishing. The weather was perfect for spending time at the beach - it was warm but breezy and the water was so warm. We had a great time!

Ken and I just returned from our vacation to the Southwest. We went to Santa Fe and Taos, NM and to Las Vegas. We had so much fun! Santa Fe had lots of art galleries and great food. We went to Tent Rock National Monument and climbed on and around 90 foot rocks made of volcanic ash - it was really cool. Bandelier National Monument had ruins of ancient pueblos where Indian tribes used to live, and caves where prehistoric people lived. I got to climb into one of the caves - it was amazing. We even saw petroglyphs on the rock walls.
Taos was beautiful - it's only 90 minutes north of Santa Fe but is more mountainous and green than the desert of Santa Fe. We went white water rafting and had a blast - we got soaked on the rapids.
Las Vegas was wild - it was really hot (106 degrees!) and crowded. The hotels were beautiful - we walked to some of them at night to see their light shows and walked to others during the day. We hiked in Red Rock Canyon and Zion National Park which were both beautiful. We also went to a Cirque du Soliel show which had amazing acrobats - the show was in the water and was really cool. The food was great in Las Vegas, too. What a fun week!

Our holiday weekend was packed with friends and family. We had three other couples at our house for a BBQ on the 4th, and it was so much fun despite the rain that made us run inside in the middle of dinner. Ken and I spent the night before and the day of the BBQ making food and getting everything ready. The next day we got together with friends from Philadelphia and went out for dinner with them. Sunday we went to visit Ken's parents then had dinner with my mom - we had the leftovers from our BBQ, which were still delicious. All of our friends are so excited for us to connect with birth parents - and we are too!

What a wonderful weekend! Ken, my friend Debbie and I went out for dinner and went to see "Little Shop of Horrors" at a local playhouse. We had a great time. I can't wait to share all of these experiences with our child. Debbie, who I've known since high school, can't wait for us to become parents.

We went for a walk tonight after dinner, as we usually do. Our neighborhood is the greatest for walking and riding bikes - it's a big circle with a couple of streets off of it, so there's very little car traffic coming through. As we were walking, we met our next-door neighbors and their two boys who were also out walking. Drake, their 9-year old, had his bat with him so I pitched the ball a few times so he could practice his swing. We also ran into two other sets of neighbors as we were all walking. Ken and I usually walk two miles as quickly as we can, and it was nice this time to slow down and talk with everyone as we walked.

We had a great weekend - it was beautiful weather and Ken and I were outside the entire time. As we were gardening, I was thinking about how great it will be to do things with our child, and how much fun they'll have growing things in the garden.

We went into New York City to see a Broadway show today - we saw "Curtains" with David Hyde Pierce. It was great! They were having so much fun on stage it made it fun to watch. I can't wait to introduce our child to Broadway - Ken and I go about 4x/year to see a show, walk around the city and have dinner. Tonight's dinner was at one of our favorite Thai restaurants in the Theater district and it was sooo spicy and good!

This weekend we took my (Lisa's) mom out for Thai food for her birthday and talked about our future with our baby...I know she's looking forward to being a grandmother, especially since she lives close and will be able to see her grand baby often. Despite the heat, Ken and I spent time in our garden, planting Lantana that grow beautiful colorful flowers.

I can't wait for us to connect with you, our baby's birth mother and/or father. Even though our life is really good, we know that it will be even better when we connect.

What a beautiful morning to have hope...that you will call me or email us....looking out my window, it's sunny, birds are chirping, & the trees and flowers are in full bloom in our yard..wondering what your hopes are....