Signing off from China

Well, we are almost on our way back. Sorry, already have the camera packed up and ready to go, so no pictures this time. The Consulate appointment went very smooth this afternoon and we (barely) managed to get all of our stuff packed. We bought a pretty large suitcase to pack the rest of our stuff for 110 yuan, which is about $14, so you know it is high quality! It is almost 11:00 here and we are getting up at 4:00. We leave for the airport about 5:30 and our flight to Tokyo leaves around 8:30 in morning. After Tokyo it is on to Detroit where Natalee will officially become a US citizen when she clears customs. Then it is off to Kansas City and finally Topeka. It has been a great trip and we are really going to miss our travel group. It was nice having such a small group of families to travel with - especially since we all got along so well. Looking forward to seeing everyone when we get home!!!!

So close I can taste it . . .

or maybe that is just some of the chicken from supper stuck between my teeth. Either way, it is great!

We only have one full day left in China and although it has been a great trip, we are really, really ready to be home and see Maks. Apparently Maks is climbing the walls himself, but that was another post.

Today Todd Larson and I had to go down to the U.S. Consulate with our guide Cordeliato fill out a form. Tonya and I managed to leave the notarized copy of ours at home and bring the blank one, while Todd made a mistake on his and had to redo it. Normally just the guides go down and turn in the paperwork, while the families stay at the hotel so the Consulate can call if they need any information. In addition to the Cordelia, there were a couple other adoption guides for other agencies down there at the same time turning in their families' paperwork - and we counted at least 15 other packets being turned in, in addition to the 3 that Cordelia had to turn in. Todd and I were the only ones down there to redo any paperwork. Cordelia must have been proud - 2/3 of her families screwed stuff up while every other agencies were batting a thousand. It was very simple process and the lady at the Consulate acted like we were not the only ones to have to redo that form. It is so nice when other people try to make you not look so stupid. (No offense Todd.)

Other than that, we just walked around and did some (more) shopping today. I think we are about done now. There is one shop where we have bought most of our stuff, and man are they going to be sad to see us go. They had a new Lexis parked out in front of their shop today with a big sign that said "Thank you Kevin and Tonya" but we weren't sure if it was talking about us or not.

Natalee is still doing great. I have never met a child (or adult for that matter) that likes to sneeze as much as Natalee. No matter what mood she is in, when she sneezes she is nothing but smiles.

This afternoon we did our tradition photos at the White Swan. Our travel group dressed all the newly adopted children up in Chinese outfits and took a picture on the red couch at the White Swan Hotel. As you can see in the photos, Natalee was not too pleased about us having to wake her up after a 5 minute nap. Maybe we should have taken some pepper with us for the picture to make her sneeze a few times? We had a group dinner tonight at a great Chinese restaurant. Tomorrow we have to go to the US Consulate and get Natalee's entry visa and then we are done except for the packing!

Getting ready for the big picture at the White Swan in my pretty new dress.

Nothing but smiles, can't wait for that picture.

Wow, what a difference a few minutes can make.

Ok, back to happy.

Staredown at the White Swan Corral! (Natalee and Alanna Larson having their first organized play time - or not so organized given who their parents are.) (Again, no offense Todd.) (Or Wendi)

Natalee trying to climb inside the camera.

3 Days to Go

Today we had a free day for the most part. We had to meet with Cordelia at 2:00 pm to give her our paperwork for our Consulate appointment. We spent part of our morning just lounging around in our room and then we went shopping. I guess you could say it was pretty relaxing.

Miss Natalee found the nightlight and was fasinated by it.

Then she found the prettest girl ever and was playing with her.

Our exchange student, Arystan, left today to go back home to Kazakhstan, but he left a gift for Natalee. I can't believe how wonderful the mural turned out. It is more than I could have hoped for.

Here are our Kazakh boys, Arystan (aka- A from K) and Maks (aka- Spiderman).

I didn't believe it when my sister, Dawn, told me Maks, I mean Spiderman, had been climbing the walls since we left. We can't wait to get home and give him lots of hugs and kisses.

It's a Small World, Part II

Ok, yesterday we talked about meeting a woman who grew up just a few miles from where Tonya and I grew up in SE Colorado. Well today we met the Other Larson Family who is working with our same adoption agency but is on a little different schedule than us and arrived in Guangzhou two days ago. Actually we met them on the elevator the first day they got into town, but did not realize they were the Other Larson Family. They ended up with a room right next to ours and they also have a 5 year old son, whose name is Max. Kind of cool, huh. Oh yeah, they also live at 69th and Wanamaker in Topeka, or just a few miles from where we live now. We had no idea someone else from the midwest was going to be part of our travel group, and really did not expect someone who lives in Topeka was going be staying next door to us.

We have not gotten out and about yet today (Natalee slept until about 9:00 after waking up a few times during the night - once to eat some formula and a couple times to spit it back up). Here are some pictures of Natalee from this morning though.

We are medically cleared for arrival

Today we went down for Natalee's medical exam (type thing) and got her visa pictures taken. The medical exam was probably a little more detailed than the one Maks got in Moscow, but not by much. The first room we went into was to weigh and measure her. According to the clinic today, she weighed 16.2 pounds and was 28.75 inches long. That is quite a bit smaller than the medical clinic that checked her four months ago, so either she is shrinking (and anyone who has seen her eat will tell you that is NOT the case) or someone's scales are a little off. Next was the Ear, Nose and Throat room where they checked to make sure she could hear (she can) to make sure she could see (she can) and to make sure she had a throat (she does). Finally we went into the body exam room and, sure enough, she has a body. Natalee does have a little bit of a heat rash, which is really no big deal at all, but we are getting more advice and medicine given to us to clear it up than you can imagine.

That was pretty much it for today. While we were sitting around waiting for our group for lunch we were visiting with a family that was picking up their baby today. We got to talking about where we were from and found out that the mom grew up in Cheyene Wells (for those of you not familiar with Southeastern Colorado, that is the tiny little dot on the map about 30 miles from the tiny little dot on the map where Tonya grew up and about 60 miles from the much larger tiny little dot on the map where Kevin grew up). Turns out one of her best friends growing up ended up being Tonya's older sister's best friend after she moved Lamar. We ate lunch at a little deli shop near one of the hotels and came back to the room for a good nap (which the girls desperately needed). We ate supper at the Cow and Bridge Thai restaurant again with our travel group and it was great again. After supper we walked down by the Pearl River and some of the pictures from the river walk area are below. We have a free day tomorrow, so we are not sure what we are going to do.

Natalee is doing great. She is starting to pull herself up on her feet quite a bit today which is good to see. She is definitely a night owl as she really comes alive after 8:00.

Chinese Calamine lotion for the heat rash. We just wanted to see how funny she looked with it smeared all over her face. Man, I hope she forgets this picture before she gets to the point of picking our nursing home.

Nothing kills a little time with daddy like some Baby Einstein videos.

Relaxing day today

Today was a really nice day as we toured the beautiful Yuntai Garden in Guangzhou. It was the first time I remember going anywhere on this trip and not feeling like I was in the middle of Disney World with the elbow to elbow people everywhere you looked. The garden was full of flowers, trees, bushes and sculptures. Tonya told me to take lots of pictures, but I'm not sure she meant to take over 150 like I did. It was a very relaxing day. Natalee continues to blossom for us. Everyday she seems to come more and more alive as she gets more used to us. We can't wait to get home and see everyone again, especially Maks. Here are some of the pictures I took at the garden today. Natalee is looking up Tonya's nose, I'd probaby be giggling too.

It was a struggle to get Natalee to put her hat on, but we finally convinced her it looked good so she decided to give it a try. Pretty in pink.

We had goose for lunch, but I don't think it was either of these two. Our guide in Beijing told us that they have a saying about the Cantonese people (the area around Guangzhou) - the eat everything with wings except airplanes, and everything with legs except the table. After looking at some of the items on the menu for lunch, I believe it! First time I've ever seen a seahorse and a chicken's head on the same plate at one time - and that was one of the specials.

I think this was a ram in the garden, but was not real sure. (And no, our guide did not tell us what it was while I was not paying attention.)

This was one of two pheasants when we first walked in. The entire park was decorated in sunflowers right now - must have known we were coming.

I was going to be really upset if we went all the way to China and did not get to see any pandas. Mission accomplished.

A mother penguin sending her baby off to Sunflower School.

Here is our travel group. On our right is Todd and Wendi Larson and their new daughter Alanna. Todd is an orthopedist so he was giving Tonya some information over lunch about her knee troubles. I offered him any bankruptcy advice he wanted while on the trip. Man, I hope these people get my sense of humor. On our left is James Tjoa and Jeanne Ryan, along with their 5 year old son Ryan, their new baby Lilia and Jeanne's brother David.

Some of the local giants' children playing in the park near a huge pagoda. Not sure what province they are from, but they sure grow them big there.

Here is a view overlooking the park. In the back is a huge working clock made up to look like a sunflower.

The girls are sleeping right now, and later we are going to eat at Lucy's (again) with Carol who works for the adoption agency out of Washington. Carol came along on the trip just to check stuff out and get a firsthand feel for how the process goes in China, which is a great idea. Tomorrow we go for Natalee's medical exam, which I'm sure will be just as thorough as the one Maks got when we adopted him - it took longer to get him undressed than it did for the exam. This exam is required to obtain the US entry visa for Natalee, so it will be nice to have one more step accomplished. Everything is going just great here, but we are really missing being home.

Interesting shopping day

Today we walked from the hotel over through the open market and on to a pretty cool shopping area. The open market was divided into sections, including a dried seafood and insect section, a live scorpion/turtle section, an open pet store section, and some dried herbs and mushroom in one other section. Here are some pictures we took: Big tub of live scorpions anyone? Scorpions are good for something to do with your health (yep, still not paying attention).

This guy stands in the more upscale part of the shopping mall area blowing his little whistle and selling olives to kids that come up. In the US, we would probably freak out if someone was trying to get our kids to come up to him dressed like a big chicken with lipstick on, but our guide says this is a very old Chinese tradition.

A local wine store. Make that a local snake wine store. I kid you not.

I think 2002 was a very good year for Cobra.

Yep, you read it right.

A big bag of dried seahorses, also known as Ancient Chinese Viagra.

If you don't want the big tub of live scorpions, here are the ones that did not make it. They ended up becoming dried scorpion chips.

Mmmmmm. Beetles.

Ok, enough of the market stuff. Natalee was showing off for Tonya.

The market was just a little too much for Natalee today. Or maybe it was the fact she woke up at 5:00 this morning demanding a bottle and then would not go back to sleep.

Just relaxing in the room. Well, we are off to Lucy's to eat. It has a little bit of everything from hamburgers and pizza to Thai food to quesadillas and enchiladas. Haven't tried the Mexican food there yet, just doesn't seem quite right to me.

We are officially blessed

Today (well, yesterday actually, but we did not get our blog posted last night) we had the chance to visit the Six Banyan Temple which is a Buddhist Temple located in Guangzhou. We took part in a baby blessing ceremony to have Natalee blessed by the head monk. It was a neat experience. After the temple we went to the Carefore, which is basically a Super Wal-Mart, but based out of France or somewhere, and then got some carryout from Papa John's for lunch. The pizza was good, but we did not get any of the garlic dipping sauce, so it just wasn't quite like home. Today we are going to walk over to the Qingping Market and the Pearl Market for some shopping. This is the pagoda at the Six Banyan Temple. It is 9 stories hight from the outside, but 17 stories from the inside. A few of us (guys, of course) went up to the top of the pagoda which had some pretty neat views from the top. And it was much easier to climb than the Great Wall (still no elevator though, the ADA must be a foreign concept to the Chinese!).

These are the three Buddah statutes in the main hall. Each one is made of solid bronze, probably 20 feet high and weigh a bunch (sorry, still not paying very close attention to the tour guide when she said what they weigh).

This is a thing that you can throw money in for good luck (pretty sure it had a name too). You have throw the money in through the round hole at the top and judging by the luck most people were having doing it, Yao Ming is the only one who plays much basketball in China.

Back at the room Natalee was all smiles while Tonya was tickling her.

It was just a little bit humid today as we toured the temple. Natalee's head kept popping off, so I had to hold it on for a while until the glue stuck.

Family photo in front of the good luck thingy. I need to start paying more attention to what stuff is called.

Happy Birthday!!!

Guess who turned one today?

Natalee's first birthday party at the Cow and Bridge restaurant, which is a Thai place here in Guangzhou. The food was great. Also in the picture are James, Jeanne, Ryan and Lilia and Jeanne's brother David who is helping them out on the trip. Our guide Cordellia was able to join us for a little while, but she has a sick baby and had to go check on her before picking up another couple at the airport tonight. Wendi and Todd Larson were hoping to join us with their baby Alanna but Alanna was not feeling well so they could not make it. Fortunately it sounds like Alanna and Cordellia's baby are both starting to feel a lot better.

This is the cake and card that our hotel made up and delivered to our room. The card has Natalee's Chinese name on it which was really cool and the box was beautiful. It was a great suprise for us and it was sure nice to have a birthday cake for Natalee on her first birthday.

Today we went to the passport office to get Natalee her Chinese passport, which completes the Chinese paperwork portion of the process. Natalee is completely ours, now we just have to do the US paperwork so we can bring her home (although I have to say the food has me tempted to stay a while). Natalee is still doing great. She is smiling and jabbering a lot more today and is wanting to explore and check things out a little more. She is definitely a mommy's girl and gets upset anytime Tonya leaves the room. That comes in real hand come diaper time.

Well, that's it for today. Tomorrow we get to tour a Buddhist Temple which is supposed to be really cool. I'm sure we will have lots of pictures from that one as well.