Thank you for your encouraging words!!
(keep 'em coming!)
It was so nice to wake up to so many wonderful comments!
I tried to answer some of your questions in this post- sorry if I missed a few!
We walked up Mt Baiyun!
With a stroller...
Yes we were the only ones with a stroller ;-)
There is a reason for that- it is not easy to push a stroller up a mountain!
I know... what were we thinking!
Of course, we got lots of looks!
As if to say "what are those americans thinking?"
We were going to ride the electric car but we bought the wrong ticket and then decided it was such a beautiful day- Let's walk!
I did not make her push the stroller the whole way up the mountain!
She just so happens to love pushing strollers!
We alternated pushing and having Abby walk a little.
Abby thought it was so incredibly unfair that Luke got to ride and she had to walk- a little!
This is supposed to be a look of exhaustion BUT she has too much energy to be tired!
Someone asked "How is Sarah doing in China?"
She is incredible!
It has really been a growing experience for her!
Playing with all the families has really helped her grow socially!
She is a little uncomfortable with her chinese. She has forgotten a lot and does bother her. Although she has said she only wants to get good in English and let her chinese go- we are not so sure we will do that?
We really aren't sure what we will do? It would be so wonderful for her to keep it and yet she is learning so much right now AND still has so much to learn. We are just not sure where the chinese language fits in to all of that?
She is really enjoying Abby and Luke and they adore their Jei Jei (big sister)!
It was much farther and harder to walk up the mountain (with a stroller) than we realized!
But great exercise!
It was so nice to take the gondola down!
This mountain and garden area are right in Guangzhou! Only a 20 minute drive from the hotel!
We bought the children each a toy! They were thrilled!
How do we like the China Hotel?
We like it a lot. The rooms are great- larger, the beds are more comfortable and they connect!! It is a big Hotel and the families are not near each other- which is too bad. The BKF is very good!
BUT
we do miss the island, a lot.
We have been back to it everyday!
You can take a taxi to the island for 20 RMB- it's worth it to us!
Here is the garden section of the park! It is beautiful!
The White Swan will open next October BUT it will no longer cater to adoption. The rooms will be larger and the hotel will be more for those who travel for business. We heard prices are going up significantly.
We had a great day!
Of course we would rather have been heading home but since that wasn't an option this worked out well...
I have heard from others in MN that we should just enjoy our time here because of the weather back home - it's COLD!
Do we talk to the children at home very often?
No, we do not.
I know some families skype all the time- we haven't at all.
We send emails back and forth. I know the children are counting down the days until we get home!
It has worked for us to do it this way so when something works we continue to do it! The children are doing so well at home and here- why upset anyone(including me) when they all are happy! Seeing us may make them miss us even more? I know it would make me miss them even more!
Can't wait to give them all a huge hug!!
FOR real- this has been our easiest adoption! Both Abby and Luke are easy kids! They are smart and go with the flow- it's been nice!
Once we get home I can see Luke getting into things- he's only 3yrs old and can be a little dickens sometimes! BUT I will have many watchful eyes!
Our children love tattling, I mean reporting!
The timing of our return flight is a little off. LAst time we flew straight out of GZ to LA and had an 10 hour layover- it was so perfect. Enough time to eat a burger and sleep 5 hours! It was perfect. We left at night and slept! ate in LA and slept some more! Arrived home feeling good.
This time we are flying to Beijing tomorrow night. Sleeping and then heading to Seattle in the morning. have a 4 hour layover and then to Mpls.
We are hoping the flight is not full so we can lay down! And we are praying that between movies and sleep our time will go by quickly...
We were at this park 3 years ago when Katie and I came to China to get Sarah.
The landscaping is beautiful! It is a serene walk around the grounds!
It's almost time to go home...
24 hours left- whew!
We had our CA this morning- it went well!
CA- stands for consulate appointment. We go to the US consulate say an oath for our children and apply for their visa to get into the USA. The Visa's are available about 34 hours later- once we get them in our hot little hand we are FREE to go!! WooHoooo!
I said no- for the first time to Luke today.
Huge crocodile tears welled up in his eyes.
Of coure then I needed to hug him- which was my pleasure!
One more post and we are so outta here!
