Farewell China!

Today was our last day in China.  Early tomorrow morning we start on the long journey home.  Three plane rides and about 24 hours will pass before we will post here for the final time.  The only item on the agenda today was picking up Ben's immigration visa.  The rest of the day was "free time".   The one thing I love most about China is their public parks.  This morning we ventured down a few blocks from the hotel to walk down a street full of "local" color and to spend the rest of the morning at the park on the lake.  This afternoon Ben and I hung out in the room while Dave and Leah went swimming.  It's hard to believe that we have been here 15 days already.  I guess time really does fly when you are having fun.

Family Photo Day

Today we made our final trek to finish Ben's paperwork at the US Consulate.  We are definitely on the home stretch and ready to get back to normal (that is if normal is possible with two toddlers in the house :).  This afternoon was group photo day.  All the kids were dressed in tradition Chinese attire.  On a side bar..  CCAI (our adoption agency) celebrated it's 11,000th adoption with our group this week - thus the reason for the "1 in 11,000" signs.  God has truly blessed us with two special little ones.

I'm not sure who Dave was looking at, but in all our photos he's staring at the ceiling.

Travel Group 2100!

The precious little ones.

Zoo-nami....

Today we agreed to disagree and boarded the bus to the city zoo, Cary always wins these discussions and I just go along to keep peace.  Turns out there were several families with split votes, but they got on the bus like me and prepared for the best.  Unfortunately the best was short lived after the rain came as soon as we entered the zoo.  We made it to the chimpanzee house and the rain started to pour out of a bucket, I should have known when our guides handed out umbrellas it wasn’t going to end well.  We stayed under the little shelter in front of the monkeys for 1-1/2 hours waiting for the rain to stop, but the rain never let up.  The chimps started looking like the smart ones all dry and comfortable in their cages.  While waiting Leah bolted from the crowd and began running in the rain, quickly becoming soaked from head to toe in a few minutes.  The shame was hard to bare for Cary and me at first, but once our group collectively decided to end the trip and make a break for the main gate everyone was soaked like our little Leah.  After we made it to the front gate our guide told us the bus was stuck in traffic because the roads were flooded, so our only option was to walk back through the zoo and take the subway back to the hotel.  All the way through the zoo the animals were staring at us and had to be laughing, the roles were definitely reversed.  We made it to the subway and someone mentioned heading underground when the streets were flooded didn’t seem to logical, but we made on the subway and back to our hotel by 1pm.  Our guides then collected money to pay for the worse experiences I had been a part of in sometime, so I handed Cary the cash to pay as my last bit of protest before heading to the room.  After we all showered and changed clothes Leah and I took a long nap while Ben kept Cary busy and awake.  Ben actually slept through the zoo death march and subway ride, so he was ready to party once he ate and got dry.  Ben continues show his personality as he gets more comfortable with us, I think the quiet shy boy never really existed.  Cary and Ben are thick as thieves and his laugh makes us all know he is one of us now.  Besides the laugh his constant eating, belching, and bottom noise also fits in well with his new tribe.

Tomorrow we go to the US consulate and apply for his visa which should be ready Friday afternoon. Then we're ready to come home.

 Leah at the first monkey cage before the rain.

 Ben and I doing our share of monkey business before the flood.

Leah is the child to the right of the other children under the umbrella.  She is independent minded.

A fun day around town

Today was a busy day of sight seeing in the Guangzhou.  We visited the Pearl Market, Shamian Island, and this evening went on a cruise on the Pearl River.   Best part of the cruise... Papa John's Pizza.  The little man continues to change every day.  Our quiet fellow has turned into a wild 2 year old.  He loves his new "squeeky shoes"  and is becoming harder to keep up with.  It was a bit hot today but we all had fun.

A mall dedicated to jewelry.  Amazing.

Leah posing on Shamian Island.

My three faves strolling along the Pearl River.

My Hungry Caterpillar loves sweet buns.

The view from our perch on the boat.

Ben has the absolute best giggle.  He cracks us all up.  However, Leah has mentioned several times that she is ready for him to go back to his home. 

Check out the Guangzhou Tower in the back ground.  The tallest building in all of China. 

Medical Exam Day

Today was the dreaded medical exam and the kids made it through with minor tears.  Leah and I stayed out of Cary's way, but took a few pictures to pass the time.  Poor Ben can be in a raging fit after being stabbed in the arm for a blood sample, but a simple roll lights up his mood.  Young Ben weighted in at 20.2 pounds and measured 28 inches, so we've got major eating to do when we get home.  Ben has all the signs of malnutrition bloated belly and will need a high protein diet for the next 4-6 months to reverse the symptoms he’s now showing.  Hard to understand how young babes can reverse their bloated belly with more food and middle aged guys like me can’t even starve our gut off.  Even harder to understand how these children get into this condition in the first place.

The families we’re with are very special people and fun to be around, some are adopting their second special needs child this trip and are an inspiration for us all.  We have another five days before flying home and we’re ready now, we’re trying to pace our exit with clean underwear and hope to meet Saturday’s departure fresh.  Keep us and the other families in your prayers and thoughts.

Leah entertaining the boys

Adoptive parent waiting room.

All smiles before the exam!

Dr. Leah at work.

All done!

Guangzhou City Tour

This morning we ventured out with our group to take a city tour of Guangzhou.  In this wee town of only 19 million people we visited a few of the city highlights including the oldest Buddhist temple in the south of China, a museum and a folk art store.  This afternoon it was back to work filling out paperwork and hanging out at the hotel.

The Leaning Tower of Guangzhou.

It was hot today, can you tell?

Leah's leaf collection from the Buddhist temple.

The building that housed the culture museum was as fascinating as the art.

The playground at the hotel.

Our Hungry Caterpillar is happiest at meal time.  He just cracks me up!

Does this kid have a great smile or what?!?!

Travel Day

No matter which province you meet your child all families end up at the US Consulate office in Guangzhou.  With that said today we left Zhengzhou via plane and headed to the south of China.  Luckily Leah slept through the flight and Ben did fabulous.

Our wonderful CCAI representatives.

Ben already loves the Duck Duck Moose apps on the iPad.