July 28th 2011

trippomg to oregon!!!
Zak and i were to fly to Portalnd this afternoon to meet dad and laurel after gym camp and to visit with his foster sister from China at their home in Salem,Oregon. Well due to unreliable airlines,over booking and very expensive tickets Zak and i have decided that we will not depend on anyone but ourselves so we will be leaving very in early Thursday am and driving....yes the two of us will drive to Salem Oregon to see Lila Ann and her family. Zak told me he was going to cry when he got to Lila Ann's house. I asked "why"? he said "happy tears of course". he just cant wait to see LA. Wish us luck and we will post pics of our trip when we get home.

July 27 2011

What a lucky family we are:
Today was our annual visit to the oakland kaiser Cranio Facial clinic where EVERYBODY looks at Zak and goes over his progress,needs,etc etc. Zak is doing sooooooooooo well,he will need orthodontics(as we have known all along) but not yet for a couple to three years prob. His speech is very good except for some "nasal turbulance" thaat may or may not be something that can be fixed or improved,it may just be the way he is built(his deformity may be causing it and thats not repairable) its not a big deal and its not all the time so we will work on it for 6-7 weeks and if it doesnt much improve,we will know its the way he is and move on. It doesnt keep him from doing anything,juwt now and again there is a little  nasally sound with certain sentences. Other than that,we were in and out with a clean bill of health and progress and we couldnt be happier.

July 23 2011 pm

Well after many hours of travel,and finally having no choice but to actually purchase a one way ticket for them both(no thanks to the airlines,who were just total A.Holes the entire day). Stan and laurel have landed in Idaho and though laurel missed the official testing this eve,starting at 6 pm,they didn't arrive till about 8 pm,she will be allowed to test during camp so she is fine. She is hungry and tired,Stan exhausted and FRUSTRATED to say the least. Dad decided to treat himself to a Mustang for his rental car while they are there. Testing has just ended for the evening and they will be heading to dinner of Pizza and then to the hotel pool to swim before bed. camp starts at noon tomorrow so she will get the chance to sleep in a bit in the am and not miss anything more. i will keep you posted as they progress. Stan said laurel was an incredible traveling trooper.
So Zak and I are settling in for the eve,he is watching Harry Potter and eating some Pot Stickers and we will be headed to bed here before too long. We have plans to cuddle up close tonight and watch TV before bed.  He is looking forward to his week with mom,although he does have to spend two days in day care while i work. Will update more as we progress thru the week here.

Saturday July 23 2011 Off to Idaho...We hope

Keep your fingers crossed for laurel and Stan. They are having a hard time getting on a flight to idaho. They will get there,just not sure it will be by 6pm this eve. This travelling non rev is getting to be just too stressful and too much unknown. the first flight that i left them there to get stateed there were 8 seats left,no prob but had not been updated and they arrived and there are none. So Dad is juggling and keeping fingers crossed that he can get from there to Seattle and then to Spoakane. Too much travel for me. Will keeo you all posted as they progress.

Just to bring you all back up to speed july 2011

Just to get us all back on the same page.

Laurel and zakary are both 6yrs old now. Grandson isaiah is 8yrs old and his little sister "baby Kate" is no longer a baby but is 2 yrs old now and a real pistol. Here are some pictures again just to get you all back on the same page. enjoy

Cousin Janeen Has spoken!!! July 21 2011

So Cousin Janeen emailed me today wanting to know where the heck our blog had gone to. Ummm well,i have gotton lazy,these kids take all my spare time and i have not done a thing with it lately,like in about a year. Well,she was wanting to know how she was to follow the kids without it. Good point. i had just told myself a week or so ago the same thing,and i was actually missing blogging some myself so i decided to start a whole new blog.
So....Introducing the Raymond family...again...part 2.
laurel and zakary are now both 6 yrs old,laurel starts 2nd grade next month and zakary will be a 1st grader. Zak still takes Tae kwon Do and laurel has become quite the gymnast.

Zak is a Purplr belt and will be testig for his third striope next week. laurel and Stan will be going to Idaho this weekend for a week at gymnastics camp. Enjoy the pics,just sorta a catch up review and i will take it away from here and try to keep much better tabs on this awesome means of communication. Glad to be back and hope you will all follow along again.