The Shaw Family Adoption Journal: Chanukah, Oh Chanukah

So we have been on our whirlwind tour for the holidays... We left last Saturday around noon (at least 3 hours later than we intended, of course).

First stop was somewhere in South Carolina around 3am. We finally had enough of the road. Rachel was wonderful the whole way... until we stopped the car. She decided 3am was the perfect time to wake up and be playful. So, Tommy and I had roughly 3 hours of sleep, and then we hit the road again.
Sunday afternoon, our first REAL stop... a visit with my cousins Billy & Macy in Maryland. That was great. We got to visit with them and their kids for a while.
Next stop on our journey was PA... we arrived at my friend Jodi's house sometime around 9pm or so... Jodi's family was absolutely wonderful. I'm crazy about her kids!
We stayed with Jodi & her family until Tuesday morning. Then we were off to NJ to visit my friend Beth. We actually got an earlier start for a change, and we got up into Beth's neck of the woods sooner than we thought we would so we stopped for a little snack... WHITE CASTLE!!! Yippee!!!
Our friend Zulema came to Beth's Tuesday night and we all had dinner together. It was great. Wednesday was Xmas Eve... so we left Beth's house late in the afternoon and headed to NY to my cousins Bill & Barbara. What a great time... Rachel got to meet Santa Claus! My cousin Renny dressed the part and was great. Rachel also got LOTS of wonderful presents! I think her favorite was Elmo Live from my cousin Gina (ok, so maybe it's MY favorite!!) Elmo is just too cool for words... most of all, it was SO great to see the family. I miss the big family Xmas Eve celebrations we always used to have.
So we went back to Beth's house to sleep Wednesday night, and woke up xmas morning to start packing for our next adventure.
We stopped in Manalapan NJ to visit our friends Jack & Cherry... it's been about 4 years since we saw them. The biggest shock was seeing their granddaughter Ashley, who has grown into a beautiful young lady. What a nice (but very short) visit.
We left Manalapan and headed to Keyport, NJ to spend xmas day with Tommy's family. What a terrific time we had with them! Everyone was taken with Rachel. She was the star of the show for sure... Even Tommy's Uncle Chuck asked if she was ALWAYS so well behaved or was she just being special for family! LOL... it was so nice to see them all. And great the Tommy's mom was finally able to meet her granddaughter! Rachel's Uncle Danny was also thrilled to play with his new niece. Oh... and we got to play with Mary's Wii !!! That was so much fun even Tommy wants it!
We left NJ Friday afternoon & headed to Cape Cod. Got to Marla's a little later than we wanted to, but we finally got here. I'm especially glad since I am FINALLY able to get online!!! This is the first time I was able to take some time and also the first time I was able to get a WiFi hook up...
Tonite we went to our favorite restaurant up here. Shanghai Tokyo in Natick. Oh man, I am stuffed to the gills... and Rachel had a great time! She had Miso soup, Dumplings, a little seaweed salad, some Pad Thai, and Mango ice cream! and she had all the waitresses playing with her (thank goodness, because I was dying to eat my yummy sushi!!!!)
We are staying here a few more days... then its back to NJ! I guess I will update more then. We can usually get a connection at our friends house, so I will do my best to keep updates coming. Especially pictures. Speaking of which...