More details coming soon!!! Promise!!!

Hi friends!  We are wrapping up the details for hotels and whatnot!  We hope to have all this information to you soon!  Be on the lookout! 

Hi Friends,
I just wanted to see if anyone had questions about TAFRU?!

The committee is working to solidify information and once we have that--rest assured that you will have it as well!!!

We can't wait to see everyone June 22-24!  It's going to be a blast!!!

We Now Have Dates for TAFRU 2012

TAFRU 2012 - D.C. will be held June 22nd - 24th

Mark your calendars and begin making plans for a trip to D.C. next summer!!! 

TAFRU 2012 - D.C.

A poll was posted on our Toukoul Adoptive Families Facebook group.  We had a total of 70 votes and with only 1 vote separating the top two, D.C. was the winner.

Now it's time to choose a date for TAFRU 2012.  Because Facebook polls only allow one choice and because families typically have more than one date that will work for them, I have created a poll here on the blog which will allow everyone to choose multiple dates.  The poll is located on the right hand side of the blog page.  Choose the date(s) that are best for your family and cast your vote(s). 

The poll will close on August 17th, so let the voting begin.

Registration Time

Plans for TAFRU 2011 - Chicago are mostly made and here is what we have planned.

 - Friday night Meet-n-Greet at Gino's East
 - Saturday morning - Music, dance, writing in Amharic and games with the Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago (ECAC)
 - Saturday lunch @ Ethiopian Diamond
 - Saturday dinner - still working on the details
 - Sunday - Gathering at Millennium Park (weather permitting)

Because the plans are mostly made and there are only 9 weeks left to TAFRU, it's time to get registration started. 

The registration fees include dinner Friday night, lunch and dinner Saturday, and money to ECAC for their services to our group Saturday morning. 

Unfortunately, I'm having a little trouble getting the registration form link to work so I'm asking those who plan to attend TAFRU to please send me an email asking for the registration form and I'll email the form to you.  My email address is debweeks@mchsi.com.

Also, I want to let everyone know that we have a few hotel rooms left.  Reservations must be made by June 23rd to get the reduced room rate of $89 per night and the reduced parking rate of $12 per night.  Please see the February 15th post here for more detail.

As always, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. 

Hope to see many of you at TAFRU!

An Exciting Opportunity

The Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago (ECAC) has offered to provide assistance in planning some fun events for our children during TAFRU this year.

Before we can move forward in making more definite arrangements with ECAC, the planning comittee needs to get a more accurate count of how many children will be participating in TAFRU and their ages.

If you are part of the Toukoul Adoptive Families Facebook page, a note was already sent out requesting this information and if you responded via FB, please do not respond here as well.  However, for those who are not part of the Facebook group, could you please leave a comment here letting us know if you plan to attend TAFRU and the ages of your children.  ECAC has requested this information to help us plan activities for the kids and what a great opportunity for our kids.

Thank you so much for your assistance.

Hotel Reservations and More TAFRU Information

Families have started making their hotel reservations for TAFRU and I'm excited to see how things are coming together.

Every two weeks I receive a reservations list from the Marriott.  It was discovered this week that one family who made their reservations were not included on the list and I wouldn't have known of the discrepancy if the family had not informed me that their reservations had been made.  This leaves me a bit concerned that other families have reserved rooms that are not showing up on our group list which means they are probably not getting the group rate either.  Therefore, I'm asking families to either leave a post on the Facebook TAFRU events page or email me - debweeks@mchsi.com when hotel reservations have been made.  I don't need a lot of detail, just a quick note telling me you made reservations and how many rooms you reserved.  Also, if any family reserves a suite at the Marriott Suites, please let me know that as well.

As I'm sure all of you know, putting together an event like this costs money.  The planning committee is trying to keep costs as low as possible.  After all, we don't want our own families to have to spend more than is absolutely necessary.  Once we have finalized all the plans for the reunion, we will make registration forms available.  We do know that the fees will include the cost for the Meet-n-Greet Friday night, which will include dinner; dinner Saturday night; lunch Sunday; and any group outing on Saturday.  We hope to have all the plans finalized, fees tallied and registration forms available within the next 6 weeks and will post the information here when available.

If anyone has any questions, please do not hesitate to leave a comment here, post something on the Toukoul Families FB page or email me.