June 6 2010

33 hours travel Beijing to Shanhai to NYC to WPB. As tired as we were it was so emotional to see our friends at the airport with their signs and "Welcome Home" wishes. Gigi gave Alex a panda bear gift and he hugged and kissed her! Too cute. Thanks to Ana, Ron, Gigi, Ed, Kristen and David for being there to be the first to welcome us home!
We also came home to gifts and lots of food! Totally overwhelming!

June 5 2010-Our 18th Wedding Anniversary!

Words cannot express how blessed we feel to be spending our 18th Wedding Anninversay in Beijing with our Son Alex and seeing such magnificent sights. Tianamen Square, the Forbidden city and the Great Wall. Simply amazing!

June 4 2010 travle to Beijing

Travel day to Beijing! We know what to expect on the airplane ride so we're ready.
We arrived in Beijing and our guide won't get there until tomorrow. We checked in to the Poly Plaza and went walking to the mall thinking we would eat at the food court. Needless to say too much we could not identify and the english translations were-um-questionable. We went back and had dinner at the hotel. We would have loved to have more time here but we are anxious to come home.

June 3 2010 last Day in Guangzhou and the White Swan

Our last day. Alex will miss the boats. another little milestone-he got "near" the pool. He wouldn't get out of the stroller but he didn't cry. It was almost blue skies today, one of only a couple days the entire time so far in China. We'll miss our new friends we made while here. We'll miss the resonding "Hi Alex" when ever we entered a room or Lucy's and they all heard his little whine!

June 2 red couch picture day and Oath Taking at the American Consulate

This was a good as it gets. No cameras allowed at the American Consulate. The Oath Taking ceremony was very emotional but we didn't cry.

park with not very tall trees

The park was descibed to us as the park with not very tall trees. Kelly could not take us there so Shannon took us. Alot of Tai Chi going on and a concert in the park too!

June 1 2010 Park at Shamian Island

Alot of the island is under construction but the city playground along the pedestrian walkway was great. This was his second trip and decided he wanted to play on everything.

may 31 trip to Jade and Pearl Market

Alex is an impatient shopper and Mama and Baba wanted to shop! Castor got his photo taken with the finger painting artist at the Jade market.
All is good in the van though.

May 30 2010 Chen Family Temple and Museum

We visited the Chen Family Temple and then the museum. Alex loves the bus trips and is not overwhelmed on the tours. Our guide Kelly was great.

May 29 2010 Playroom at White Swan

We arrived at the White swan and had lunch at Lucy's before heading to the playroom. The hotel and area is more western friendly than Shijiazhoung. Alex met Summer and Winter and other friends Lily, Ella, Naomi, Issac and more from our travel group as well as other agencies. It was wonderful to watch them all play together.

May 28 2010 Shijiazhoung to Guongzhou

We are leaving Shijiazhoung and onto Guangzhou and the White Swan Hotel, Shamian Island. We said good bye to Ms. Ana the Century Hotel asst. mgr. who was so nice to us and Michael our guide and Mr. Wong our Driver.

Alex was not happy about being buckled in during the flight. Once we were airborn all was good. He had a little friend who shared her cookies and told him "bakoola, bakoola, hollar hollar".

May 25-27 2010

No appointments and no trips. Alex decided he didn't want to walk anymore so we got a stroller from the mall. When we walked the streets we were quite the oddity. Castor decided to say 'ni hao" to everyone with a big smile. They must have thought "what crazy foreigners"! But it stopped the stares. We met families with their kids, and even though we couldn't communicate we had conversations. Alex met alot of "gou" and we know he will be great with Bebo and Blossom when we get home. We ate alot at KFC and found a Mc Donalds and Pizza Hut at the end of the trip. Their menus are quite different but you can find something from "home" on them.

May 24 2010 Diyin Temple

Diyin Temple is home to the famous Smiling Happy Buddah or the Good Luck Buddah.
Outside of the city we saw blue skies. Alex did not want to go into the buildings but overall he enjoyed that trip. Mr. Wong our drive gave Alex a new "gou". We named it Bebo like his "gou" at home.

May 23 2010 childrens science Museum

This was the one thing Alex liked at the Science Museum. Too many kids, too loud.

May 22 trip to Zoo

Quick trip to the Zoo with Alex. We heard

"bakoola Bakoola" "hollar hollar" alot.

(Don't cry, it's ok). He loves the van trips though.

May 21 2010 Botanical Gardens and Amusement park

Sensory overload for poor Alex. Our daily trips were short each day. The first was to a Botanical Garden and way too much stimulation for Alex. he decided he didn't want to walk so we took a 4 person bike. Our guide Michael drove the bike. Note* he can't drive a car and we let Michael drive the bike. Apparently children in foster care do not get out much, Maybe only 1 time a month to the orphanage visit.

city walks Shijiazhoung

We spent alot of our days walking around the immediate vicinity of the hotel. Shijiazhoung is the capital of Hebei. Since it is not as westernized as some cities-like Beijing-we had a hard time so we stayed close to the hotel when we were not with our guide.

May 20 outing to the mall, grocery store

So we knew we were going to spend a lot of time for the next 10 days in the hotel so we figured we'd go to the store. How hard would it be to find a few things we needed. We could recognize packages even if we could not read and there are some translations. Anyway decided to wait for Michael our guide since alot of translations were-um-interesting.

May 19 2010 Gotcha day

We finally met Shi Fuxing at the Civil Affairs office in Shiajiazhoung, Hebei, China.
He went right to Baba and as you can tell from the picture had Chicken Pox. Poor kid gets a new family and he's not feeling well. His foster mom had his good luck bracelet on him, sent his favorite stuffed monkey, a pciture of the two of them, and cookies-Chinese version of oreo's! The day was a whirlwind with appointments but everyone was very helpful and nice.