Finale'

Wow as I sit here and type out  a few thoughts the night before we head home, just taking a moment to soak it all in.   It's crazy, 2 came from far and away and 3 are going home! 

Also thoughts of how in the world are we going to entertain a very active 3 year old for 15 hours on a plane??? Sigh! 

Leaving is bitter sweet!  We have met so many families on this adventure and are now good friends that we have to say goodbye to.  God has been so good, he went before us and smoothed out the path.  He has made everything possible.

One cool thing is that there was a catagorie 8 typhoon headed toward HongKong last night, matter fact our guide Rebecca told us not to check out of our hotel just in case we couldn't travel today.  God turned that catagorie 8 to a 1 by early this morning and by the time we arrived here this afternoon it wasn't even raining anymore!

The sweet part is knowing that I will be sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night!!  :) that makes me smile

So Hong Kong tonight and we get up tomorrow morning to fly to Chicago then on to the HAM!!!

It has gone by so fast, what an adventure!

It's all been about grace and it is grace that will get us home...

Home away from home...

This is the beautiful garden at the hotel!  We took a few strolls from time to time!

There's just something about seeing a little one get so excited!!  This little fella has done more in these 2 weeks than he has in his whole little life! We are so blessed and so excited for him and we can't wait to see what God has in store for him.

We even fed the fish!

I believe this is the largest spiral staircase I have ever seen!  Can you see Kevin and Graham??

They definitely do everything big and beautiful!

Our last shopping day...

Today we are shopping at a place called Shamian Island.  It is a really clean and pretty place and kind of reminds me of Williamsburg with the cobblestone and shops.

There were some models there having a photo shoot.

Look what we found in Lucky's restaurant!

We were is this shop with no air condition I might add!  Graham was sitting in the floor playing with a couple of toys while waiting for the owners to package what we had bought.  He was just about to fall asleep in that position.  This is one of the owners bending down to see if he was asleep.  (another 2 minutes in that hot store mama would have been past out too)

Bless it!

Our Consulate Apt.

Well today is our Consulate Apt. at 8:30am! This is where we take an oath and promise that all of our paperwork that we have turned in is true and correct.  We also get Graham's chinese passport so that he can come with us to the USA!  He will becaome a citizen the minute we land on good ole American soil!

We can't take any camera's or electronic devices in the building so no pictures of this part of the day.

Laundry Service!

One of the best things out here is the laundry service.  Rebecca and Miko hooked us up with a great laundry service. They come to our hotel and pick up our clothes and then deliver them the next day all wrapped up in a cute little package and they smell great!! I don't know what they use but I like it!

Cruis'n together!!

After a fun day of swimming, we had a fun evening of a dinner boat cruise down the Pearl River.

A couple of fruit peddlers as we wait to board our boat.

Here is where we will eat dinner tonight!

Beautiful city scenes as we head out.

 Above is the famous Canton Tower.  It is one of the tallest towers with an observation deck in the world.

Graham loved seeing all the pretty lights!

We had a buffet dinner on the boat with random things like fried rice, and fried noodles, sweet and sour chicken a few chicken feet, and weird neck bones. Sorry I was not brave, I just stuck to the rice and noodles.

Fun Day

Wednesday June 27th


We have some free time to spend together as a family. So we go to the pool for a while.  (it actually is not raining today but it is really hot!)


Trying to get sunscreen on a 3 year old that doesn't understand what it is was a little hard.  So we just opted the easy way and just left his shirt on. 

 The first time we went swimming Graham just tolerated it.  As you can see now he loves the water and has learned 123Jump! 

Now getting him to keep is mouth shut is a trick.  I asked our guide how to tell him to keep his mouth shut.  She said that it is disrespectful and that it means "Shut-up" 

So there you go; they don't have and interpretation for everything.

So we used alot of sign language and he looked at us like we were crazy!

 Afternoon snack at the pool, I think he had more crumbs on him than what was left in the bag!

A Blessing!

After such a busy day we were all exausted so we just decided to order room service.  Nothing like a little comfort food, so a couple of grilled cheese and some chicken fingers are for dinner! Our hotel has a great restaurant that cooks many differant ethinic dishes, so we are thankful for some American dishes!

When the waitor came in to bring us our dinner Graham wanted to help him set up the table.  Of course out of concern for his saftey he asked him to backup while he setting everything up.  Then just as he was leaving our room he looked as us and said, "God save you;  You have this beautiful chinese baby and take back to America.  Hope you have a beautiful life!"

Wow! when he left Kevin and looked at each other in awe,  I think he just blessed us! Of course I got a little choked up, that was probably the sweetest think that has happened to us.

Everyone usually speaks so loud and they get close in your personal space here, is was nice to see a gentle side.

The Dumpling House!

Another tradition is that we all eat at the Dumpling House.  Time for some authentic Chinese food...

This is the street where the Dumpling House is.

We are sort of excited and scared at the same time; we have heard about some pretty gross stuff like chicken claws or something with fishheads.

Thankfully Rebecca and Miko order for us and everything was fantastic!! Here are some pictures of some
of the dishes.

Kevin and Graham are loving it.  Yes this is a soup spoon Kevin and Graham are using.  (they don't have forks here in this restaurant only chop sticks)

This is a potato dish - they are slightly cooked in probably peanut oil.

This is beef slices - it is fully cooked then refrigerated and served cold with soy sauce. It was good, I personally think it would be better warm. (but they like it that way)

This is sweet potatoes - they are cut up and flash fried then dipped in honey (or syrup or some sort)

Then served immediately - you are supposed to take a sweet potato then dip it in the bowl of cold water.  this crisps it up then you eat!  It is heavenly!!

Chicken and Pork Dumplins with soy/ginger sauce!

Sweet n Sour Pork -Delicious! (or at least we think it was pork) hahaha! We were surprised it was really good, until now we had only had chicken.

Everything was delicious!  Although we have already eaten alot of noodles and rice so far on this trip.  We both cannot wait to get back home and eat some good ol BBQ!!



Lions, Tigers and Bears OH MY!

Monday June 25th
Another fun day!  We are all going to the Guangzhou zoo but first we have to stop by the Medical Building on the way to have our TB results checked.  (Thank the Lord - everyone was negative!)
We have been looking forward to the zoo because not only the seeing the pandas but we can't wait to see Graham's reactions to the animals.  I doubt he has ever been to a zoo. 

Rebecca (one of our guides) she called ahead and had a few large golf carts reserved for us so we got to ride all around the zoo.  Awesomeness!!

White tigers and elephants!

Yeah one of the panda bears came out to see us! If you look closely in between our heads one panda is really into to his bamboo! 

Lions!

Chimps!

We had a good time at the zoo! Graham learned a few words today, tiger I think was his favorite!

Group picture!

It is tradition that all the families get together for a big group picture.

We are standing in the lobby of our hotel.

Shopping Mall Day

Sunday June 24th

We all are going to the Liwan Plaza! It is where the local people shop and is less expensive than some of the places around our hotel that have everything priced for tourists. However the big hurdle for us today will be getting Graham to ride in his stroller??? It hasn't been going to well in that department.

Here are a couple of shots of the inside of the mall, it has 5 levels and the stores are small and full of merchandise. 

And yes we finally got Graham in the stroller, we may have had to bribe him with a sucker...

Medical Exam :/

Saturday June 23rd

Another big day...  First we meet in one of the rooms in our hotel to have Graham's passport picture made, then we are off to the Medical Building for his exam and TB test.  He has to have this to be able to come to the states and everything to be negative!!!

So we arrive and walk in to the Medical Building and wow all the people!! If any of you have ever been to the Health Dept. in the States you know what I'm talking about except multiplied by alot! 
Did I tell you that our guides are incredible? They made appointments for us so we were able to skip the line!! Woot woot!

The Medical Office

One of the medical rooms
 

We had to visit 4 different stations, an ear, nose and throat, a vision and weight/height, a strip down and let the Dr. look over you station and then finally the dreaded TB test station.  When I was a kid the TB test was a little small round thing with small needles they pressed into one of your arms. (I don't remember it ever hurting) Now they do this needle under you skin thing so I was really wondering how this little fella was gonna take it?? 

Exam Rooms and waiting areas
 

We made it through the first couple of stations and we got to the (strip down station) the Dr was looking through his file and of course it states that Graham is special needs with a speech delay.  The Dr. looks at us and asked if he talks, we had to tell him that when we are at our hotel he never shut's up.  He is a little chatter box, we have no idea what he is saying but it sure is fun talking to him!

Then we got to the big TB test room! I gotta say he did alot better than I thought he would.  Kevin was holding him and had to help hold his arm out for the nurse.  When Graham saw the needle he sort of wimpered and cried for about 10 seconds and it was over.  Yeah proud mama and daddy (were really glad we made it out of there with out making a scene).



The last half of the day consists of paperwork for mama while daddy babysits back in our suite.  As tired as we are I don't know which one is worse? One you got to have brains the other you got to have energy.

When I got back to the room, Graham had only been asleep for about 10 minutes but Kevin said he was bouncing off the walls!!!  Living out of a hotel room is hard on a little fella.  We weren't able to go swimming after the TB test so it's hard to find places for a little fella to exert all his energy. 

Luckily they do have a small indoor play room and an out door playground that we can use! It helps when your in a pinch!