Thoughts from Syd

I like the zoo because there was a panda and big cats and there was a elephant and there was a giraffe. At the super market there was a tub of snakes and snakes skin and we saw star fish and sea horse in bags and we saw scorpion in a boll and we saw a turtle in a boll and we saw a lot of mushrooms on the road sand the cars were driving on the road. I did not like the scorpions in the boll it scared me. To pick the scorpions you have to pick them with chopsticks. I got a tiger at the zoo his name is saber he is a nice tiger. Saber sleeps with me. I like saber because he has stripes and he is nice and he sleeps with me.I am having a good time I am seeing cool places in China. The driving is very scary in China. This is our last day for the trip. We are just hanging around the island today and we will be packing and we will be shopping. See you soon from syd.

2 More Days

We're leaving for home in 2 days and I think we're all ready. But we have a bit more to do before we fly out. Today we went exploring on and off the island. We went to the food market off the island and that is an interesting experience. Lots and lots of different kinds of mushrooms, herbs, dried starfish, dried lizards, snake skins, live turtles and live scorpions. One of our group members got a scorpion and he's going to find out from our representative how to eat it. So it's in their room, alive in a baggie!

Today was our Red Couch Photos. For those of you who don't know, it is a tradition for adoptive families to get pictures on a red couch at the White Swan Hotel. I got pics of our group so I hope I get the order right with the pictures since I can't label them myself.

First is our family, next is Jerry, Chris and Liam, next is Bob, Susanne and Ty, and last is the Beall family. Of course Alex was the one who kept crying, poor kid kept tipping over :-)

Tomorrow we're off to the zoo and we have our consulate appointment in the afternoon. Too bad the consulate isn't right next to the hotel anymore.

Sick kids

No new pics today. Alex has bronchitis and saw the hotel dr for his mystery medicine. Well, only the brown minty smelling one is a mystery. We know what the other 2 are. Syd is coughing and feels yucky, James has a cough and I've had a sore throat start tonight. So we've pretty much stayed in our room today, Syd and I ventured out for diapers and wipes, found hers and Alex's outfits for our "Red Couch Picture" tomorrow. We're going to venture over the river tomorrow to go to the market, depending on how everyone feels and the weather. A lot of our group has come down with one thing or another. All the babies are on antibiotics and half the adults are sick. The joys of being stuck in hotel rooms for most of our trip.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Alex!

Today is Alex's first birthday! Our CCAI rep had a cake sent to our room and most of our travel group came to our room for a party. The cake was very tasty and Alex has definitely has a sweet tooth, he ate an entire piece of cake!

We didn't have any touring or paperwork today so we just hung out. We went for a walk around the island in the drizzle, but it was nice to get out of the room. The pollution isn't noticeable here like in the other cities which is a great change. During our walk, James and Bob played the Chinese version of hacky sack with some locals. They were a big hit! Tonight we're going to another group dinner to an Italian restaurant, wonder what that will taste like. Tomorrow is the zoo. We're going to take Gracie and Madelyn with us so their parents can hang out with the grandparents before they leave for home tomorrow. That will be fun for Syd to have kids her own age to hang with. Tomorrow night is the Pearl River Cruise which we will be skipping as we don't like chicken feet :-)

Syd wants her friends to know that she is having a lot of fun in China but she misses everyone!

Guangzhou on Sunday

After the hot, sweaty weather yesterday it's now cool and as fresh feeling as a city of 13 million can feel. The Colorado families are loving it, the Georgia family, not so much :-)

Today we went to the Six Banyan's Temple where we got the kids blessed, of course Alex was asleep. As soon as he gets into the Ergo, he's out for the count. I added a picture of Syd in front of the temple where she was blessed by a Buddhist monk 6 years ago. It was so weird being there again, it was all exactly the same. Then we toured the Guangzhou Folk Museum and that changed a lot, but it is still beautiful. And of course we did some more shopping. Syd and Alex got a jade circle necklace and I got a jade Buddha to add to my "good fortune" necklace I got on our last trip to China. Syd finally got to spend her last 15 yuan from the tooth fairy on a small silk mirror.

So last time we were here I lost 7 or 8 pounds so I was excited to do that again. Not! All the food we've eaten has been good, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I never ate another noodle. We've had Pizza Hut, Subway, and Papa Johns and of course lots of Chinese food. They have Dominoes Pizza, McDonalds, 7-11, WalMart, Holiday Inn and lots of other places you wouldn't expect to see in China.

Tomorrow we're going to hang out around the hotel, explore the shops and try to find the playground. Most importantly it's Alex's birthday! He's doing really well with crawling and does it more and more. Especially when there's food involved! Syd is still liking being a big sister, except when Alex sleeps, cries or poops. But she and Alex love doing "This Little Piggy" with his toes. He just giggles up a storm! James and Syd are playing on her Nintendo DS, Alex is sleeping and I get to go do paperwork. Does it ever end????

Made it to GuangZhou-Finally

We had snow in Zhengzhou yesterday so it shut down the airport for a few hours but we only left an hour and half late. Got to Guangzhou around 10:00 and got checked into the White Swan around 11:30. Of course Alex slept a ton yesterday so he was up until 1:45, but we all slept until 8:00. The beds are still like sleeping on concrete but at least they have big cushioned pads to put on them. Our room has 2 twin beds so we going to try to put the pads on the floor for Syd because it's really hard to fit 2 people in a twin!

Alex had his physical exam this morning and he never cried once! He was a little trooper! Syd stayed at the hotel and played with the other kids in the Swan Room (a huge playroom hosted by Mattel) and she had fun while we were gone. Shamain Island is very different than 6 years ago. The Asian Games are going to be here in November so there's a lot of construction going on, all the pretty paths are torn up with construction equipment every where. We can hear the jack hammers up on the 10th floor because there is so much going on. There's not near as many shops as there used to be so they really try to get you into their stores by telling you they have the best deals and the most beautiful baby. We did a tiny bit of shopping, mostly because we needed somewhere to get our laundry done. It's so hot here and I didn't bring any short sleeve shirts so we had to go shirt shopping.

Alex is crawling now! He's not getting very far yet, but we've been working on getting his knees under him to move instead of pulling himself along with his arms. He gets so excited when he crawls that he gets to going so fast he scares himself and plows into the ground face first! But he's doing really well. He has trouble getting to sleep and it takes him forever to stop talking and rolling around, but once he's out, he's out. We've also been working on him standing up and he's doing that a lot now! He laughs every time he stands! He loves learning new things and just giggles and smiles!

Here's a picture of the snow, Tyler and some other shots.

Day 6 - part 2

Here is a picture of Bob, Susanne and Tyler on Gotcha day (4650 & 4651).