Home » Articles posted by girljournalist (Page 2)
Author Archives: girljournalist
San Francisco has the best parks!
Alta Vista Park, located in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, is probably the most amazing park we’ve ever seen. It features a kids’ playground with three different play structures, a sand lot, benches, slides and seven swings.
Jay and niece Ellerie spin on the merry-go-round.
Our nieces frequently play at the park after school and on the weekends. It even has a zip line that we big kids can play on, after we’ve stopped taking photos of the amazing views.
We love taking the nieces here so we can give their parents a break. The hard part is trying not to get in line with the other kids for your turn on the slide! We really look forward to spending more time at this park with our child.
Nieces Mia and Ellerie take advantage of the steep stairs and slide down the bannisters.
Couples use social media to find ‘open adoption’ opportunities
Post by Staci
Ohhh how I love Twitter.
Long story short, a woman who follows me on my professional Twitter account saw me Tweet about our adoption and asked if we would be interested in sharing the story about how we’re using social media to try to connect with potential birthmothers. The story was part of a series of adoption stories that KPCC’s radio’s Take Two show was doing for National Adoption Month. KPCC is a Southern California Public Radio station and an NPR affiliate. Of course we were thrilled about the opportunity to visit our local NPR station to tape the interview. We’re such big NPR nerds!
Listen and/or read the story on KPCC’s website. Couples use social media to find ‘open adoption’ opportunities
Thanksgiving isn’t just about turkey and pie
It’s a beautiful, sunny day in San Francisco and I got up early to make pumpkin pies and Oreo turkeys (more on that later, with pictures!).
This year Jay and I will miss celebrating Thanksgiving with our families in Kansas. But we’re together, in our city, in our home. Later today we’ll be stuffing our faces and enjoying the company of our best friends, making some new friends and reuniting with old ones.
This morning, I’m feeling thankful; which makes sense, it is Thanksgiving after all. I feel thankful, and lucky to have Jay in my life. My husband is one of my favourite people. I truly enjoy being with him. He makes me feel loved, and he makes me laugh. He’s a warm, caring man who secretly loves to cuddle on the couch with the Cody Monster. I know he’s going to be a great father – loving and supporting – helping our child experience all that makes life amazing and wonderful.
I’m also thankful for all our friends and family and their support during our adoption journey. It’s been a rough couple years for us, trying, unsuccessfully to start our family. But today, I’m also feeling hopeful. Hopeful that someday soon we will be a family of three.
Happy ThanksgiveHen!
We started a new tradition with our nieces. The Saturday before Thanksgiving and instead of eating turkey, we eat chicken. The day is called “ThanksgiveHen.”
This year, we made a fruit turkey for dessert! I got the idea for the fruit turkey from Spoonful. It was super simple to make and our nieces, Mia and Ellerie had a great time making it AND eating it!
9 Famous People Who Were Adopted
There are quite a few well-known celebrities that were adopted. Here’s nine of them…
1. Dave Thomas
2. Deborah Harry
3. Steve Jobs
4. Scott Hamilton
5. Faith Hill
6. Jamie Foxx
7. Nelson Mandela
8. Sarah McLachlan
9. Liz Phair
Sources: http://www.womansday.com/life/15-celebs-who-were-adopted-106776, http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/13-famous-people-who-were-adopted.htm
Did you know November is National Adoption Month?
Each year, the President of the United States makes a proclamation to announce that November is National Adoption Month.
The celebration includes National Adoption Day with courthouses throughout the U.S. finalizing hundreds of adoptions simultaneously. November 17, 2012 will mark the 13th National Adoption Day.
National Adoption Month is a time to celebrate family and to educate people about adoption.
We’re not an adoptive family yet, but Jay and his sister are both adopted and so are Staci’s two cousins, Allison and Lauren! We’re going to take time this month to share some of our personal stories about adoption here on our site.
- We’d love to hear how adoption has touched your life. Share your story with us on our Facebook Page: Jay and Staci’s Open Adoption.
- We’d also like to take this opportunity to answer your questions about adoption. If we don’t know the answer, we’ll try to find it for you. Ask us ANYTHING about adoption using this handy dandy online form.
Happy Halloween from the Cody Monster!
We’re not sure that the Cody Monster really enjoys having stuff on his head. But he looks so darn cute!
You can only imagine the things that are going through his head…
Let’s Go Giants!
Jay’s sister took this AWESOME pic of us last spring at AT&T Park – Home of the San Francisco Giants. We thought it was rather fitting to post it today. Let’s go Giants! #WorldSeries2012
Staci and Jay at AT&T Park – Home of the San Francisco Giants
A quick trip to Kansas and some DQ, Oh my!
Nieces Ellerie and Mia enjoy a special ice cream treat from Dairy Queen with Uncle Jay!
Dairy Queens are few and far between in the Bay Area so stopping to get a chocolate-covered ice cream cone during a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Baird’s in Kansas is a real treat!
We’re great big science nerds
We’re great big science nerds and we aren’t afraid to admit it! We’re members of the Cal Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and love to visit often.
Doing science stuff at the Cal Academy of Sciences.
We believe in learning through exploration and experience. The Cal Academy is a wonderful place to explore whether you’re a kid or an adult. Our nieces love going with us to check out all the hands-on exhibits.
Last night was an event called “NightLife” where the academy stays open late, has live DJs, delicious food and drinks.
We checked out the new earthquake exhibit which included LIVE baby ostriches. Isn’t he (she?) cute?
A baby ostrich, only eight days old came over to say, “Hi!”
We also made sure to visit some of our favorites including the albino alligator, the jelly fish, the starfish (you can actually touch them), and the penguins. We can’t wait to share this awesome stuff with our child!
