A Day Trip-Thai Instrument-Wax Museum-Baby Shower

We're going to attempt our first day trip since our last trip to the mountains. These one hour trips seem like an eternity to our daughter who never ventured far from her orphanage before. She slept almost the entire way up to Rocky Mountain National Park and then whined the whole time we were up there about how she wanted to go home. But, now she says the mountains are beautiful and she wants to go again in the summer time. At least on this trip we're going to visit some friends who Penny has met twice. The wife is Thai and was the kind woman who is letting Penny borrow her Thai hammered dulcimer for as long as she would like.

Speaking of the instrument... Penny is doing well to remember how to play the "kim". We just found out yesterday that she was chosen to play her instrument for the talent show. She got so excited that she was jumping up and down and hooting and hollering. So, she will be performing the morning of May 14th at her school.

Another project that she has been working hard on at school is her "Wax Museum Project". The kids have to study a certain character in history. They have to write a paper and make a display board along with artifacts to display on a table. And next Thursday afternoon they have to dress like their character and stand still by their display until someone walks in front of them. Then they must come to life and say their speech about their character. Penny is supposed to try to memorize 15 sentences that the teachers helped her write. Her character is Rosa Parks. She's been very excited to learn about her. And she was pleased that Mom helped her all last Sunday afternoon design the picture display board. In fact, she was the first kid to complete hers and that was fine with Penny. That way she had more time to play with boys (I mean the kids) at school.

Yes, I'm afraid our daughter has hit puberty and has this great interest in hanging out with the boys. She was in tears the other day when another girl told her that the boy she liked didn't like her. And then it was all fine the very next day. This is all quite a strange mystery to me as I was never boy crazy. I was just a very shy teen who threw herself into her studies. So, this is very odd and strange behavior to me that I only read about in books or observed in other kids that I didn't hang out with. So, I'm learning as I go and just listening a lot to tales about what this girl said about that boy, etc., etc.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we'll also be attending a baby shower on our day trip to Denver. Penny is not too thrilled with this idea, even though she loves kids. I wonder if it doesn't have to do with grieving her loss of never having had something like this to celebrate her birth. I know it might be difficult for her. But, I don't want to shield her from life. I want her to be able to face difficult situations and to work through her grief. I think it will make her a more mentally stable adult in the future. But, I won't push things either, as I've already been invited to another baby shower next month. I won't ask her to necessarily to come to every one that I'm invited to. But, we're going today as a family and hopefully it will be a positive experience. We also hope to have time to stop by a Thai or Lao market, as they have larger selections and better prices than our small Asian markets here in Ft. Collins.