We started out the morning with a trip to the Consulate to have a swearing in ceremony. It is at this time that Marin's visa is put through. We get it tomorrow, and then immediately leave for Hong Kong.
After the consulate appointment, the kids were all begging to do nothing. So, we let them hang out in the room for a couple of hours. We then spent about 2 - 3 hours walking the streets around the hotel. Since we are in the center of a busy city, the stores directly across from our hotel are very expensive and carry upper end items. But, walk one street over and you hit the vendors and markets. This is the area I love. Anyone who can speak English, even just a tad, will start a conversation with us. Makes for some very interesting conversations :)
Today, we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. There was a little plastic sign thingy (yes, that is the technical term.....haha) sitting on the side of the table. It had a few buttons on it that said, check, cancel order, need help, and something else. Well, I pushed 3 of the buttons, and instantly, 3 different people came rushing from all over the place! I guess thinking we needed to leave and were canceling our order. We were told not to play with the little sign thingy anymore :)
We them went on a Pearl River Dinner Cruise. We brought our guide along as a friend. We like him very much and wanted to spend some more time with him before we leave tomorrow. On board were some other families we have gotten to know rather well, and are all leaving tomorrow. It was a nice way to end our time here. The city is so beautiful, and there are lights everywhere. Even their new bridge has what appears to be Christmas strands up and down it. It is remarkable. The food was really good and afterwards, there was a show. The kids loved it all. I was talking to another mom the whole time, but from what I saw, it was great :)
Marin has been quite the pistol today! She has been just slap happy. I don't know how else to explain it. Just silly and wild, non-stop. She fits in very well with the other kids and I think everyone at home will just adore her. And to think, we thought she would be a neat freak not comfortable with chaos. Haha!!!! How wrong we were! She is just as good at leaving trash out, disobeying, and rolling her eyes as any other kid her age :) She is a perfect fit :)
This will probably be the last blog post since we will be in Disney tomorrow. I am pretty certain we will not have wifi. I may or may not update once we get home. It depends on how many people still want me to. Lots of people have asked lots of questions, and I do hope to answer them all. At this point, I cannot respond to any facebook comments (I don't know why!), or comments left here. Sorry about that!
Love you all! Have a great Tuesday!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Corinne's Awesome Picture :)
Corinne loves wolves, and snapped this great picture on the safari. Aren't they beautiful??
Monday, Day 8
We are ending our 8th full day here in Guangzhou. Only 2 more days here before we head to Hong Kong. I do love it here, and honestly, I am not ready to leave the city. There is just something so comforting here. But, I have a few people at home who are very anxious for us to get back, and considering how much I love them, I guess I will head home when I am suppose to :)
After breakfast this morning, we headed over to the medical clinic to have Marin's TB test read. It was negative. We were in and out quickly, and then took a bus over to an area called the Pedestrian Street. We had squid on a stick, covered in some spicy pepper sauce. It was very good! A funny thing happened while in this area. A woman was standing in the center of the square with a baby bunny on a leash. Of course, my kids ran over and started loving on this bunny. The woman was holding a bowl like maybe she was a begger ands using the bunny to get people to give her money. So, Jef gave her a few yuan, and as Kyle was snuggling the bunny, she walked away! I was like, no, come back!!!! I kept telling our guide we are not taking this bunny! He didn't seem very concerned, and I was getting very worried about this bunny. Corinne thought maybe we could take it home. Not happening, sweetheart :) Our guide got her back and we handed the bunny to her and took off. Disaster averted.
We stayed in this area for the better part of the day, and then headed back to the hotel. And you guessed it, fed the fish and played with the raquets and balls. The tennis courts were locked today, so we had to get creative :)
Tomorrow is our consulate appointment and our paperwork is officially done. A huge and final step in this adoption process. It really has all gone so smoothly. This child is phenomenal. Wait until you meet her. I am incredibly lucky to be her momma. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to raise her.
The pictures are not loading, so I may have to wait until I get home to put them up. I will try again later, but for now, the blog shuts down whenever I try. Have a great Monday everyone! xoxoxoxo
Abbey - Thank you for the note you left me. I miss you and I have been thinking about you. I got you a couple of things while we were out. I can't wait to see you! Love, Corinne
Hannah - I miss you. I want you to come over when we get back. I love China! I love to look in all the stores here. I ate squid on a stick today. Marin is so much fun. You will really like her. I miss you. Love, Kyle
After breakfast this morning, we headed over to the medical clinic to have Marin's TB test read. It was negative. We were in and out quickly, and then took a bus over to an area called the Pedestrian Street. We had squid on a stick, covered in some spicy pepper sauce. It was very good! A funny thing happened while in this area. A woman was standing in the center of the square with a baby bunny on a leash. Of course, my kids ran over and started loving on this bunny. The woman was holding a bowl like maybe she was a begger ands using the bunny to get people to give her money. So, Jef gave her a few yuan, and as Kyle was snuggling the bunny, she walked away! I was like, no, come back!!!! I kept telling our guide we are not taking this bunny! He didn't seem very concerned, and I was getting very worried about this bunny. Corinne thought maybe we could take it home. Not happening, sweetheart :) Our guide got her back and we handed the bunny to her and took off. Disaster averted.
We stayed in this area for the better part of the day, and then headed back to the hotel. And you guessed it, fed the fish and played with the raquets and balls. The tennis courts were locked today, so we had to get creative :)
Tomorrow is our consulate appointment and our paperwork is officially done. A huge and final step in this adoption process. It really has all gone so smoothly. This child is phenomenal. Wait until you meet her. I am incredibly lucky to be her momma. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to raise her.
The pictures are not loading, so I may have to wait until I get home to put them up. I will try again later, but for now, the blog shuts down whenever I try. Have a great Monday everyone! xoxoxoxo
Abbey - Thank you for the note you left me. I miss you and I have been thinking about you. I got you a couple of things while we were out. I can't wait to see you! Love, Corinne
Hannah - I miss you. I want you to come over when we get back. I love China! I love to look in all the stores here. I ate squid on a stick today. Marin is so much fun. You will really like her. I miss you. Love, Kyle
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Guangzhou Safari
I forgot to mention yesterday that we were joined by 2 other families with BAAS. They both adopted their children in another province, and are in Guangzhou for the last leg of their trip. One family is adding their 5th child, a 2 year old girl, and the other is adding their 8th child, an 8 year old girl! I love big families!!! The one family has their two oldest children with them, who are 9 and 13. Great kids! There is definitely a connection between other adoptive families, and we have loved our time with them!
Today, we went on a safari. It was awesome. The first half of the day, we were riding an open air tram (think Disney), and the other half we were on foot. It was a long day, but really, it was quite incredible. While on the tram, we saw tons of different animals, none of which were confined. They had beautiful habitats and were obviously well cared for. Giraffes, elephants, wolves, lions, tigers, cheetahs, zebras, camels. They had a fair number of white tigers (we saw about 7), and this safari park has half of the white tigers remaining in the entire world. Very sad fact. They are beautiful creatures.
One really cool fact - this park has the only set of koala twins in the world! Apparently, they bought a koala from another country and shortly after, the koala got pregnant and gave birth to twins! How cool :)
There was one small habitat that was home to chickens, roosters, guinea pigs, and bunnies. All together, just walking around. It was really cute! Marin loved all of this and we had our guide explain to her that we have many of the animals she was seeing (hamsters, squirrels (yes, they had squirrels here!), guinea pigs, iguanas). She seemed very happy. The girl loves animals! And taking pictures. She took over 1000 pictures today on her touch....haha.
We were able to purchase food to feed the giraffes and elephants. For the giraffes, you could buy branches of leaves :), and for the elephants, bunches of bananas. The kids loved this! So did the animals. One thing they wanted to do but couldn't was hold a baby white tiger. We were ready to do it, but the tiger did not want to be held, and was giving even the handlers a hard time. Clearly, it would not have sat on a child's lap for even a few seconds. I managed to get a picture of him though :) Oh well. Maybe next time :)
Lunch was interesting. We decided to order food one of the little restaurants. Quite an experience. The kids wanted hamburgers, which the cashier said they had. But when we opened it up, it was a very odd combination of food :) On the roll was a piece of chicken in some red sauce, lots of mayo, tomoato, lettuce, half cooked bacon, and a fried egg. Oh, and a cucumber half. All on one roll....pretty funny. Kids didn't think so :) Marin asked for french fries and some chicken on a stick. Fortunately for us, she continues to pass on the Chinese delicacy of chicken feet. Yay for us! Our guide says the Chinese LOVE chicken feet and that many are imported from the US, since we don't eat them. He insists we are missing out. I'm thinking not so much :)
The safari was an all day thing, so when we got back, we had just enough time to go feed the fish before it got dark. And what do you know - ice cream for dinner again :) Marin also insited on more french fries. With ketchup. We have created a monster. She loves them!
Back to Shamian Island tomorrow to have Marin's TB test checked. Then our guide will take us to a local street with lots of vendors. Then hopefully meeting up with the other families for a late lunch.
Happy Sunday :)
Today, we went on a safari. It was awesome. The first half of the day, we were riding an open air tram (think Disney), and the other half we were on foot. It was a long day, but really, it was quite incredible. While on the tram, we saw tons of different animals, none of which were confined. They had beautiful habitats and were obviously well cared for. Giraffes, elephants, wolves, lions, tigers, cheetahs, zebras, camels. They had a fair number of white tigers (we saw about 7), and this safari park has half of the white tigers remaining in the entire world. Very sad fact. They are beautiful creatures.
One really cool fact - this park has the only set of koala twins in the world! Apparently, they bought a koala from another country and shortly after, the koala got pregnant and gave birth to twins! How cool :)
There was one small habitat that was home to chickens, roosters, guinea pigs, and bunnies. All together, just walking around. It was really cute! Marin loved all of this and we had our guide explain to her that we have many of the animals she was seeing (hamsters, squirrels (yes, they had squirrels here!), guinea pigs, iguanas). She seemed very happy. The girl loves animals! And taking pictures. She took over 1000 pictures today on her touch....haha.
We were able to purchase food to feed the giraffes and elephants. For the giraffes, you could buy branches of leaves :), and for the elephants, bunches of bananas. The kids loved this! So did the animals. One thing they wanted to do but couldn't was hold a baby white tiger. We were ready to do it, but the tiger did not want to be held, and was giving even the handlers a hard time. Clearly, it would not have sat on a child's lap for even a few seconds. I managed to get a picture of him though :) Oh well. Maybe next time :)
Lunch was interesting. We decided to order food one of the little restaurants. Quite an experience. The kids wanted hamburgers, which the cashier said they had. But when we opened it up, it was a very odd combination of food :) On the roll was a piece of chicken in some red sauce, lots of mayo, tomoato, lettuce, half cooked bacon, and a fried egg. Oh, and a cucumber half. All on one roll....pretty funny. Kids didn't think so :) Marin asked for french fries and some chicken on a stick. Fortunately for us, she continues to pass on the Chinese delicacy of chicken feet. Yay for us! Our guide says the Chinese LOVE chicken feet and that many are imported from the US, since we don't eat them. He insists we are missing out. I'm thinking not so much :)
The safari was an all day thing, so when we got back, we had just enough time to go feed the fish before it got dark. And what do you know - ice cream for dinner again :) Marin also insited on more french fries. With ketchup. We have created a monster. She loves them!
Back to Shamian Island tomorrow to have Marin's TB test checked. Then our guide will take us to a local street with lots of vendors. Then hopefully meeting up with the other families for a late lunch.
Happy Sunday :)
Saturday, February 4, 2012
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