I have been asked if there are any experiences that Caleb has had since coming to America that have caused him to become wide-eyed with amazement. He relished his first trip to McDonald's, his first airplane flight seemed to be pretty exciting, and he loved the Great Wall, but those all happened within China.



When we adopted Ben he was excited about pretty much everything. Even buying a banana on the streets of Wuhan was like an out-of-body experience for him. As you can see in the photo, it doesn't take much to get Ben excited.

When asked about Caleb, though, it was much harder. He is much older than Ben was when he came to America and is a bit more reserved. I just couldn't come up with anything that has really impressed him to the point where he stood with his mouth agape until two days ago when we went to...Disneyland? The Grand Canyon? The Statue of Liberty? No, we went to Costco.

We were there on a Wednesday when there are samples in virtually every food aisle and Caleb thought he had found grocery store Nirvana. I thought likewise because by the time we made the rounds of the warehouse I didn't even have to feed my kids lunch. We had samples of hotdogs with avocado, Philly steak sandwiches, chips and salsa, chicken chili, popcorn chicken and cheesecake.

I think my thighs are noticing it today, but it was worth it because I actually got to see what foods Caleb liked and didn't like. He devoured a few samples and tossed a few in the trash after tasting them. I should have known that he wouldn't like cheesecake, but couldn't he have shared his sample with me before he pitched it?

I suppose his American tastebuds haven't quite developed yet because even though he enjoyed many of the foods, he pleaded for a bag of jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) and a package of mao dou (soybeans). I guess there's no taste like home...