Vladivostok Reunion at the Marco Island Marriott in Florida

This summer has been very busy for us but our main highlight was our "Vladivostok family reunion" at the beautiful Marco Island Marriott in Florida.

When we left Vladivostok, Russia almost 2 years ago, we had no idea that one day we will meet again with all the wonderful families we encounter while staying at the Vlad Motor Inn.

When we decided to organized a reunion somewhere in the United States, we received mix feelings about the locations. One being Florida!! Why would you go to Florida in the summer? It is too hot!!!

But again summer isn't it hot every where? I do know the Northeast states at times can get even hotter than Florida. So we than all decided Florida it is!!!

As a vacation planner at the Marco Island Marriott Resort and a long time resident of Southwest Florida it was only normal for me to get all the event organized and of course I loved it as this time I was able to schedule "Paradise" for us!

With the help of my co-workers from Front Desk and Reservation departments, I was able to get all the families rooms located on the same floor as the goal was "fun for the children".

Now it was time for me to schedule all the rest as I do it everyday for all our upcoming guests, from Spa, activities, airport transfer and more...

As I enjoy my job everyday, this time, I felt even happier as I was doing it for families who like us adopted their children from the Far East of Russia.

My only worry!! Is everybody going to have a good time and enjoy Marco Island Marriott resort?

As we all started to arrive at the resort and for some reason Steve and I happened to be the last one, we hoped everybody was having fun. we find out they were :-) .. some hanging out by the Tiki Pool and some enjoying the beach.

Not one families seems unhappy. As our weekend started, we all gather at the pool and then would have dinner at Quinn's on the Beach.

As I well know the layout of the resort, the ins and outs, for the first time, I felt like I was simply a "guest" and who is "Stella the Vacation Planner"?

I had totally forgotten I actually work at this beautiful property.

Everybody we encounter throughout the resort, recreation, restaurants, our housekeeper we could not had a better service.

Quinn's on the Beach restaurant worked out very nice for us as we were a large party of 17 people. Even if we can't make advance reservations, we never had to wait more than 5 minutes to have a table.

The restaurant features casual food and of course beautiful view of the beach. Perfect location to have the children running around while we enjoy our meal.

Since the resort has to offer Spa, golf, and recreation activities, we were able to have all the mothers pampering themselves at our beautiful Spa. It was so relaxing!

The children enjoy the entire property, from Tiki pool with the slide, the water hammock and simply playing in the sand.

it was clear they were having a great time!!!!!! Our goal was achieved!!!

The resort has it all and there was no need for our party to go anywhere during our entire stay.

Marco Island Marriott is truly an island in an island! It has it all!!

I have to say I was never so proud to work for such a beautiful property!!!

As our children came in our life thru adoption instead of biological, this reunion was very important for all us.

We share a very unique experience!

Thank you Marco Island Marriott for making this event very special to our beautiful children! It was a great success with great memories!!!

Also a special Thank you to Jada Director of Reservation, Andrea Manager of Room Revenues and Eren at the Front Desk!

Paradise truly excite!!!

Update on our little boy

Well I can believe it has been months since I did an entry. I have to say we have been very busy. Between our little guy therapies session, potty training , music class, school and who knows what else, we were not bored.

Our little man has done so much progress and now that it is Spring, he is like a flower, "blossoming"

We finally got discharge of PT, OT and behavior.

He only qualifies for Speech therapy. Being bilingual we were expected the delay to be longer than normal.

It is so nice to hear him using his French and English words. Has he is starting to do 2 to 3 words sentences, he also mix both languages which is totally normal. So Dad is learning French with him. Too cute! Now we also have words that are totally made up. I guess his own language. Like "E-ADE" which stand for Chicken Nugget. Why not I guess. "Le Poum" which is "fire" so really who is now learning a new language? LOL.

But he can says very well in French "Pennsylvanie".

Also we were 90 % potty trained. Unfortunately we had a set back due to some medical reasons (the #2 subject) so until we get that under control, we had to stop the training.

Now I know some kids can count up to 20. On our end we do up to 5 without help (in French of course) and up to 10 with help. The alphabet he can do ABCD. But again that is okay I know some do better but for his defense it must be so so hard to learn 2 languages at once and wondering why Mom say this way and the rest of his family say that way?? LOL.

Another accomplishment, to my sadness on the eve of his 3rd Birthday he finally dare climbing out of his crib. .. so we shall see what that will bring us LOL.

As his Daddy is also off for the summer, both of them are sure enjoying each other full speed. One thing they both enjoying doing is playing with Dadd's tools. So we had to get him a set that looks real but are more kids friendly :-)

If you ask our little boy what he wants to do he will tell you "Travail, aide Dadda" which stand for "Work, need to help Dadda" . So let's hope he will still enjoy work in his adult years.

Now let's forget about work and talk about fun! We went to a circus for the first time and it was a huge success. He was a little bit scare of the Elephants but loved them from far away. However the highlight of his evening was the acrobats!

Well wish you all readers a great summer as again we will be busy for our next adventures...

The life of a toddler

Well nothing much new in our end as our little guy still love his school and making some much progress. However it is official we have entered the terrible two's!!!!

I thought today's action deserved a blog entry. As we are going once in a while in tantrum, well pretty normal so pretty boring I guess to discuss.. as all says it shall pass! I hope you are all right! LOL.

Anyway today I was preparing our lunch and when I came in the dinning room with our plates, I surprisingly find our little man had climbed on the table. The chandelier above it was swinging pretty hard and I could see a hand reach for it like suddenly the chandelier had become a trapeze.... I think you can imagine what was going to be his next move.....

I will stay calm ..I will stay calm LOL...That too shall pass :-)

Changes

We started the New Year with a New School. Unfortunately the first one he was going did not work out for him. It was too strict and he was regressing instead of progressing. So we placed him in a simple nursery school run by a church.
Well what a difference!!! He loves that school and is making rapid progress. What a relieve.
He is now making 3 words phrases. Of course a mix of French and English too cute!!

We also had his pediatrician follow up and it was 6 months she had not seen him. She was very happy about all his progress and mainly his attention span.
Since the holidays we had noticed a major mile stone. He could only play at the most 4-5 minutes on a toy. Now he can play for more than 1/2 hour on just one toy if not longer at time.

Now the main concern is food! Yes our little one who used to love food .. now give us grief .. he does not want to eat... His growth is only doing good on the height. He is now pass the 3 feet. But his weight.. that is another story.. However one interesting fact, all his therapists and today his doctor thinks it is a sensory problem. Well I thought of it all day and since it got cold up north, we barely go outside anymore and for sure we have not done the swing since late October..which is since early November he won't eat properly..Hum?? so I think it is time to go back to the swing and see if we see some improvement !!

A New Year! 2011

Christmas day around 7 pm, we decided we needed to leave now for Florida otherwise we will be stuck in Pennsylvania for few more days due to the weather. So in hour hour not only we made the decision to take the road but also we had to be ready in one hour. So we packed the car along with "Mamie" and drove South without any hesitation.

More we drove and more snow will come down.

We finally stopped in a hotel in North Carolina around 4 am. of course we stopped at the same hotel we did last time. Seems like our little boy knew where we were. Went right for the elevator, and straight in the hallway.. no big deal. While we slept, the worst had past us to go up north. Very hard to believe the southern we will drive and the coldest it was.

Anyway we made it and stayed at Pops and Nana for the first week.

So of course we celebrated again Christmas! Our little guy must thought Santa had forgotten some gifts so he had to deliver them in Florida LOL. The bicycle was quite his highlight!

After we also went to visit "Tonton Herve and Tata Sylvie" (uncle and aunt) so again Santa left gift there..



And the last week of our trip, we stayed at the hotel where I work. That was also very nice. Unfortunately as I had to work the entire time in Florida I was not able to see anybody except our family. That is the sad part of the trip.

After a great time in Southwest Florida it was time to drive back home to this time again another snow storm! One coming from the South and one from the North. Crazy!!! But we made it.

Wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!

Christmas 2010

I know we are now in 2011 and not even had a chance to update this blog with our Christmas celebration.

This holiday was great!

It felt like everyday it was Christmas.

It started that "Mamie" from France arrived on November 15th. From that day not only our boy's language blossomed (of course in French) but also we started preparing for the big day! The arrival of Santa!

Our tree unfortunately got naked day after day from the bottom to up. Our little man loved to grabbed the decorations and once they were too high, he will simply grab his chair and climb.

Of course we baked cookies for Santa.
That was a lot of fun.

Last year, Christmas was just a blur as we had just landed from Russia, with a new infant and had to drive to Florida.

This year we stayed home for Christmas as I wanted our boy to have his tree in his house.

So now he can say "Santa and Sapin (french for the Christmas tree)" .

After celebrating Christmas at home, we drove on Christmas day direction Florida... right thru the snow storm. More we drove South and more snow we encounter...Seriously?? For a second I asked my husband "Are you sure we are driving South?" LOL.

Anyway we made it no problem and celebrated again Christmas with our family down in Florida.

That will have to be another blog entry of his own.