Home at Last!

Well, we made it home Saturday morning with no more hitches and our luggage magically arrived ahead of us on the "cancelled" flight . My first impressions of Iowa after being gone 2 weeks (seems much, much longer) - Iowa is really, really green and there's nobody here!

I believe its Sunday night now - don't know where Saturday went! We're all a bit jetlagged to say the least. Still doing laundry, putting stuff away and trying to toddler-proof the house.

Thank you to everyone who made this adoption and travel possible. We're eternally grateful.

Jill

The Long Journey Home

We got up on Friday at 4 a.m. and finished packing when the porter arrived at our door. Actually, we weren't quite finished and it was all pretty hectic from there on out. We just managed to get on the plane in Guangzhou, again something we would never had navigated without the indispensable Nelson. In Beijing we were happily able to upgrade to Economy Plus and since the flight wasn't full, got a free seat for Stefani as well. That made the long flight far more comfortable.

In Chicago, clearing customs and immigration was about a 2 hour process. The girls were starving and it looked like we had just enough time for a happy meal before heading to our gate. As it turned, we had LOTS of time. Our flight was delayed 5 times and then at 10:00 pm. Chicago time, that's 11:00 a.m. Saturday Beijing time and about 31 hours of travel, they canceled our flight. Papa Al and Shannon headed off to customer service and came back with a hotel courtesy of the airline. At least we had a bed to sleep in, but wow! was Air China ever a superior airline! Everything went smooth as silk, their planes have a lot more leg room (go figure) and the flight attendants are far more courteous. Ok, now I'm just complaining.

Anyway, here we are still in Chicago. We'll be heading back to the airport in an hour. Hopefully we'll be home by noon. Don't know when our luggage will arrive though, since it was checked through to DSM. Yep, that's right. I've got one remaining diaper and we all slept in our clothes. It's been a loooooong journey home.

Jill

Last Day in Guangzhou

This morning we visited the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and a nearby park, which I again do not recall the name of.  I personally remember it as the "Park with so many stairs leading to the Five Goats statue."  There's always a lot of stairs at the park, so remember it having a lot of stairs, well, if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about.  :)

This afternoon we got the traditional photos of everyone on the red couch, then set ourselves to last minute shopping and plenty of packing.  I always have a hard time packing, but now I'm really challenged.  What are we going to need with us on the many flights?  And the Chinese rules about carrying on liquids are different - everything has to be checked.   We've bought so many "souvenirs." gifts and lots of Chinese things for the girls.  I think we'll be leaving a lot of nonessentials with the White Swan ...    I sent Shannon back out to buy another suitcase in hopes of actually getting everything in a bag.   See you soon!

A Memorable Day

Today Nelson was turning in our paperwork to the consulate and getting all the visa "stuff" in order. The rest of the group had some other things to do, so we wound up with a free day and decided to retrace our footsteps from our last visit to Guangzhou in 2001 when we adopted Kati Mei. We taxied downtown to Liu Hua Hu park, a mammoth 96 acres complete with a lake, amusement area, playground, model farm ... the whole bit. Kati got to ride on all the rides they wouldn't let her on when she was just 11 months, and both girls enjoyed the playground equipment. We took Kati's picture in all the same places, then walked a couple of blocks from the park to The China Hotel, where we stayed in 2001. This was after about 3 hours at the park, and its HOT here. We had arranged to meet the rest of the group at the Mei Jing restaurant, or "the snake restaurant" as we affectionately call it, but by the time we got to the hotel, we didn't feel like walking anymore at all and I wasn't exactly sure how to the get to the restaurant after 6 years. Happily, the attendant hailed a cab for us and gave instructions as to where we wanted to go, and in just a few minutes we joined the group in picking out our dinner. We came up with a snake, some crocodile (I didn't think I'd like that, but it was good) shrimp, and the standard plate of broccoli and tofu for Mary and Nelson. :) It was delicious! What a fun day to celebrate our girls!

Worms for Dinner

Today was massive amounts of paperwork for the consulate ... will be again tomorrow morning. We had an awesome Cantonese lunch and headed out for some sightseeing to the Flowery Pagoda and the Chen Family Museum.

For dinner we went to another Cantonese restaurant where Kati was delighted to find sandworms on the menu. I've been telling her they eat worms in China and daring her to do it for a couple of months now, so imagine her delight at the opportunity! :) I didn't really think that through, though, because of course she wanted all of us to eat worms. So ... most of us tried one. That was enough. They didn't taste like chicken. They didn't taste like much of anything, so they weren't really bad, but ... they were worms! Kati ate quite a few just to show off. Mary and Nelson were having nothing to do with it. Too bad, it's not every night worms are on the menu!

Jill

Arriving in Guangzhou

This morning we flew to Guangzhou and are now at the White Swan. After a quick lunch at Lucy's we took the babies to the medical clinic for their consulate exam. We had a delicious Cantonese dinner up the street and are now in the room trying to figure out which bag we put what in. The extra traveling this trip is definitely more challenging that way. :)

Tomorrow we have paperwork in the morning, then some afternoon sightseeing. Isaac should be arriving around 9pm tonight. For now, I believe I'll get some rest. Traveling days really wear me out.

Jill

Last Night in Changsha

Tonight is our last night in Changsha. We had a lovely Cantonese dinner and then the girls all enjoyed a freezing cold swim in the hotel pool for one last time. Tomorrow morning we fly to Guangzhou, where Isaac will join us at the White Swan. Kati was totally excited to hear he is coming, but I'll bet Jane is moreso. I cannot imagine doing this without Shannon or Kati. Well, gotta get those bags packed. I also cannot imagine how we're going to get all the stuff in our room back into the suitcases!