And so the golf continues!!!

While we have been in full blown dorm mode around here, we turned our attention to Claire last week for a bunch of golf!  First of all, Claire competed in the 2nd round of the Drive , Chip, and Putt, which was the Tennessee finals!  We traveled to The Grove Golf Course in College Grove, TN Thursday and she competed her heart out.  She did not advance to the next round in Atlanta, but she was playing against the top 12 in Tennessee.  She placed 3rd in Chipping overall and while she was not pleased (notice her face above) we were so pleased.  We would never have thought she'd advance so much in just 2 years of playing golf....her drive improve is insane! We are so proud of you Claire!

As soon as we returned to Memphis we hit Southwind TPC for the Fed Ex St. Jude World Golf Classic.  This was the biggest golf tourney Memphis has seen and all the best were in town.  Claire had an absolute blast getting her hat signed over and over as they came off the 18 hole and loved watching them make amazing shots over and over!  She snagged a pic with friend and fellow golfer Grace, and JORDAN Spieth!  I even squealed a bit!

PHIL!!!

And Brandt Snediker! He is the namesake of the Sneds Tour that all the Memphis junior golfers play on!  He was even happy to see some of his junior golfers cheering him on!

And yes, Lance and Claire snagged a selfie with Penny!  Lance's summer has been made.....

Matt Kucher!  He is so tall in person and so sweet to the junior golfers

The last month or so, we have had Mr. Dick Hackett, a former Memphis Mayor, volunteering with us on Fridays at the soup kitchen.  He is smitten with Claire and her ability to work wherever needed in the soup kitchen, that he gave her a "key" to the city.  I thought that was just precious!

Happy 50th Mom & Dad!!

Well, my amazing parents celebrated 50 years of marriage today and took us to Folk's Folly for a delightful dinner to celebrate!  I am so lucky to have them as role models in my life!  Congrats mom and dad.....quite the feat!!!Claire may some ombre artwork for them.....

The word on the cake is the song they danced to as their 1st dance at their wedding reception 50 years ago.....

All of us!

The kids!

Love you Mom & Dad!!  May you have 25 more happy years!!!

Our China Adventure!

We are back from China!  Because we have Google Phones, China did not like that or our VPINs one bite...so we were not able to post pics or anything for that matter, while we were in China.  But we returned late last night after 12 days, and are exhausted!  But we had the most wonderful time!  We traveled with the Hixon Family, whom we met 12 years ago when we adopted, and have been friends and stayed in touch ever since we met.  So we thought this was the best year to go!  The girls are 13, and Jesse will soon be off to college, so off we went!  We traveled to 5 different provinces...Beijing, Xian, Changsha, Guilin, and Shanghai.  We were treated with the upmost respect the entire time and everyone kept calling the girls "luck girls".  That made us all happy.  We had wonderful guides every step of the way!  The food was something, but we all made do and did the best we could!!

I'm not even sure what the building was, but so pretty and represented the style of so many of the buildings we visited....

The first full day was spent at the Great Wall of China!  We walked from station 14 to station 6 and just loved every second of it! 

John, Lance, and Jesse starting to tire I think!

This is how we recharged our batteries in between stops!

Our guide Kai did a fantastic job in Beijing with us and here were are at Tianamin Square  

All over China are street vendors..and some of these vendors are Michellin starred.  Amazing food at some of them....and of course lots of wierd meats on sticks!  Here is claire with a delicacy called Dragons Breath!

The terracotta warriors in Xian did not disappoint....they are still unearthing warriors today!

 Enjoying a Tang Dynasty Dance and Dumpling Dinner...we discovered we all love Dumplings!!

 We traveled to a new province almost every 2nd or 3rd day...this is how I lived ...out of my bags!

Elephant Trunk Hill in Guilin....We were surrounded by mountains the entire trip!

Jesse learning how to pick tea leaves and make tea at the Guilin Tea Farm....and tea was bought!!!

View from our hotel room in Guilin!

We took a daycruise of the mountains in Guilin and boy was that the most beautiful thing we have seen.......

Shanghai as seen from The Bund!  It puts the NYC skyline to shame.....buildings in all directions as far as the eyes can see!!!

We went to a few temples along the way during our trip and boy do they love their Budda!  But they are beautiful to see and smell of fruit and incense!

The Nighttime Shanghai skyline as seen from our nighttime cruise!

Shanghai has the most beutiful flowers and landscaping I have ever seen.  Flowers and plants are literally everywhere!!! My happy place!!

And yes we went to the top of this......Lance did not like it to say the least....

Yes that is a glass floor 100 floors up!  And no Lance is nowhere near it!

Mary Grace and Claire had a blast all trip long!!!

A typical garden in Shanghai

A gondola ride in Tongli Water Town outside of Shanghai....like  Venice in Chine!

It's popular now for teen girls to dress in their cultural costumes for pictures apparently...so pretty!

OUr view nightly from the restaurant in Shanghai!

And yes I did shop and get the hang of  the bartering thing...just as Lance cut me off!!!

So blessed to have gone on this trip of a lifetime and so glad we arrived to and from each place safely.  So blessed and grateful for Lance for providing this trip for us!  We love you Lance!!!!