Honestly, I'm not even sure what to write. Crazy. The last 2 weeks have gone so fast. I guess that happens when you have 2 appointments a day! Rachel has been to the pediatrician, dentist, eye doctor, and pediatric cardiologist in the last 2 weeks. Then Megan had an appointment with the pediatrician, the dentist and the play therapist. I went to the dentist. Rachel, Keith & I all got haircuts. Then Megan's birthday party last weekend (why in the WORLD did I think it would be a good idea to have it the week after we got back? Stupid. But at least it was not at our house, I did have some sense at the time). Oh, and we had our first post-placement home visit. See why I've gotten no blogging done? Yeah. Crazy.
Rachel is healthy, the cardiologist was just to ensure everything is well (and it is). She & Megan are having so much fun together. It seems like they've kind of gotten into a "groove" with each other. They really do get along well and are getting to know each other. Rachel is so social. She does spend some time in her room, but she's spending more and more time with all of us in the living room. DH mentioned yesterday he thought her English had improved and it has. In one week. She is saying things more clearly. She is also attempting more words. It seems like she is doing better at understanding as well (as long as we don't talk TOO fast). She seems to enjoy most of the "normal" foods we prepare, although we are making a lot of rice (we went through 5lbs in one week!). I finally got the congee recipe the way she likes it. Congee is basically over cooked rice (Megan would never eat it). She does not like it with just water, she likes it with very salty chicken broth. I tried it 3 different ways before I finally got it right. And she happily stated "I very, very, very, very like" after the first bite. I didn't think I would EVER get it right (she probably didn't either)! There a few chinese type dishes that we have always made that are very popular with her as well. But, overall, she eats most everything (wait, she did not like my fried rice!). And she's asked for pizza at least 3 times this weekend! I guess she likes pizza (she fits in well!).
DH goes back to work tomorrow. Its Megan's last week of school. I thought she was done last week, so I scheduled yet another appointment for tomorrow afternoon. So, that could be very fun (not!). I guess I should update on sleep. Megan continues to fall asleep by herself at night and sleep all night by herself. (YAY!) Naptime is a little more tricky, though. If we think she can make it until bedtime without a nap, we let her "rest". However, more times than not since I've been home, she's really needed a nap. So, we tell her that we are going to rock her to sleep (takes about 10 minutes), then she can "rest". (She has slept anywhere from 2 to 3 hrs and us waking her up.) Resting really means that she stays on the bed, but has a whole list of rules (that are repeated at bedtime). The rules are: no making a tower, nest or fort with the pillows & blankets on the bed; no getting off the bed; no taking things off the dresser; no taking off your shirt (that typically happens within the first 5 minutes no matter what); and no taking off your socks (we actually have stopped putting them on her b/c they are usually starting to come off before we leave the room!). The rules have continued to evolve as she attempts different things. For example, it used to only be "no tower" on the bed, but then one day she made a "nest" so that was added. Then a few days later she said she made a "fort", so that one needed to be added as well. She is so funny. She can recite the rules, but always wants us to repeat them again before we put her in bed.
That's the best I can do tonight...I'm sure there's tons more that I should be mentioning, but its completely escaping me right now.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Megan's Birthday
Megan turned 4 yrs old this week. How in the world can that be correct? I have no earthly idea! We had a "Flower" party last Saturday at a park close to our house in celebration. (Yes, I made the same cupcakes as last year...but they are SO CUTE!)
We started the party with everyone making their own pinwheel
Busily perfecting their creation
The birthday girlHer hair is getting so long (again)!
The cute cupcakesThey are so easy to make, albeit time consuming!
Several of her friends from school came and other friends of ours. We played pin the pedal on the flower (aren't I creative? lol) One of the other mom's got a soccer ball from their car so there was an adhoc soccer "game" going as well. Everyone had a good time. Megan crashed at bedtime very quickly. In fact, she was zoned out for most of supper. Good thing she took a nearly 3 hr nap beforehand!
Megan's Spring Program
My favorite part is at about :20 where she looks at "H" next to her and says "Ms. Britni, he's singing SO LOUD." Then promptly covers her ears. Too cute.
Girls
My girls snuggling & giggling on the couch.
Snuggling in the chair.The girls have had so much fun together the last few days! They are doing so well together.
Family Pic
My friend, Elissa, came to visit and took our picture.Elissa is adopting Rachel's very good friend. She is taking a bunch of letters, pictures and gifts back for Rachel's friends still in China. It was so awesome to see her! I pray she gets to bring Hope home VERY, VERY, VERY soon...praying for June 15th.
Maybe tonight I can work on a blog post that can bring everyone up to speed...the girls are needing an activity before the house turns into complete chaos! We're sleeping on the same time zone and have recovered from traveling. We're still working on our routine, but DH goes back to work on Monday (boo hoo hoo!) so it will come soon, I'm sure!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Thursday travels
Well, I can't believe it's already Tuesday. Man. Time flies fast when you sleep so much! Rachel has been taking a 3-6 hr nap every afternoon. I've been napping about 2-3 hours every day. Yesterday, neither of us napped. Rachel fell asleep at 4:30pm and I couldn't wake her to skype with her friend, L, at 7pm. She ended up sleeping all night. I fell asleep on the floor about 6:15pm, I just could not keep my eyes open! I did get up and skyped L to say Rachel was not waking up, even though I tried multiple times. L was very disappointed (as was Rachel this morning!), but I think her parents helped her understand that we are still recovering from traveling.
Okay, to let me start with getting up Thursday about 6am (China time...5pm Wed home time). I had worked on most of the packing the night before, so I was in pretty good shape to meet our guide at 10am. In fact, we got out of the room a little early as I was hoping she would be there early (but she wasn't). We loaded up and headed to the airport. I again asked the guide to explain to Rachel what was going to happen...that it was going to be a VERY LONG day of traveling. She was very excited to meet DH and Megan. We left Guangzhou a little late, so it was close to 1pm. Of course Rachel kept telling me that she was hungry. I could do absolutely nothing about it as she did not want a clif bar. They finally were able to serve lunch around 2pm or so. By then Rachel was famished. We got to Seoul about 5pm local time. Our flight didn't leave until 8pm, so I figured we needed to get Rachel something to eat besides she said she was hungry. We got some KFC (which was an interesting experience as well as it was upstairs several gates down from ours), but she didn't hardly to eat anything. I was not hungry at all, and we ended up throwing most of it out (unfortunately). We got to the terminal for our departing flight and Rachel was so nervous we were going to have a seat as the flight was full and she kept seeing all these people lined up to get on the plane yet we were not lined up yet. I don't know how many times I had to say "its fine. We will have a seat." I had gotten some water for the flight (you can never have too much water!), only to find out after we went to get on the plane that we had additional security to go through and we could take no water on board. Man, a never opened bottle of water went into the trash. What could be more frustrating???
I should back up and tell you that when we checked in at GZ, we found out that Rachel & I were not seated together. The attendant suggested I check at the gate to see if they can move one of us and get us together. Well, they could not. There was not one seat open on the flight. As we were getting ready to board, I started praying that someone would be kind enough to switch with one of us so we could sit together. In fact, the attendant who I had talked to was the one who scanned our boarding pass to get on the plane. He said "I sure hope you can switch seats" as he scanned us in. I just said "yes. me, too". Okay, so we get on the plane. There was a lady sitting by herself in row 38 (one was us was 38, the other 36). I explained to her the situation and asked if she would move. She didn't entirely understand what I was asking, but eventually she agreed to move. Whew. She even moved her luggage in the overhead space (yes, just 2 rows up...but same seat "B"). So, I was thanking God for answering our prayer. The man sitting by the window came, so we got up so he could get into his seat and suddenly the lady is back, saying she is supposed to sit in that seat. She squeezes past both of us and sits down. At this point, Rachel is very confused. I'm ticked. I asked an attendant to help me as she had agreed to move. The attendant attempts to ask her to move again, and she just got rude. The attendant--trying to get the plane off the ground on time--asks me if we can just sit in our assigned seats and she would help us change when we got off the ground. I absolutely insisted that she tell Rachel in Chinese. Well, she didn't know Chinese and she wanted us to just sit down. My mama bear came out and I said, you need to get someone over here to explain to her in Chinese that we are not going to be separated the entire flight. Everyone around us was watching the interchange as I was NOT going to do it until Rachel understood it was not the entire flight. Finally, a young lady sitting the row 37 said she would explain it. While at the same time, I asked the attendant if she would ask the man sitting in 36C if he would be willing to move to 38C (my seat). He was an older gentleman and he said that was fine. So, we got to sit down together. And I prayed blessings over that man many times on that flight! After we got off the ground, the attendant came and asked if I was satisfied with where we were sitting. I said, yes, we're sitting together and that's what I needed. By the way, Korean Air ROCKS!
I could not sleep on the flight. I was hot. Rachel was cold, of course. (She had 2 shirts, a sweatshirt and 2 blankets on.) I just could not get comfortable long enough to sleep much. I think I maybe slept 30 minutes. Rachel was able to sleep quite a bit, so that was good. I watched C0untry Str0ng (great movie!), True Grit (also very, very good!), Gulliver's Travels (okay), The Kings Speech (awesome!) and The Black Swan (very, very weird--and I sure wished I could have had that 2 hrs back!). By the time we landed at LAX, I was beyond exhausted. I figured LAX would be bad, but I honestly did not think it would be THAT bad. Let me just say that I will NEVER fly through LAX internationally EVER AGAIN. Ever, ever, ever. I don't care how much more it costs me, I will not do it. We waited well over an hour to get through customs/border security. Once I gave the agent Rachel's "brown packet" (aka her immigration/adoption paperwork to make her a citizen), he told us we needed to go down to the new immigrant section, but he only vaguely pointed in the general direction of where we needed to go. I would guess we were on row 40 or 45 or so. So, I walked down to about row 20 and stood there waiting to ask the agent where the new immigrant line was. Well, the agent who helped me was going on break (or something) and he says something to me about why I was standing there, then directs me to row 1. I get down to row 1, the guy literally squeaked out TWO WORDS: "sign here" to Rachel, then stamped her fingerprint over her name. Then he said, you can go get your bags and come back. Okay, well, considering our bags had been sitting out there for well over hour, I honestly had no idea where I supposed to be looking for my bags. I started looking on one carousel where it said the bags were from Korea. Well, they weren't there. I finally asked an airline staff member "what if we can't find out bags?" He asked what airlines and directed me to the right area. Good. Bags gotten. We went back to the "new immigrant" area. There was another agent there as well this time. He grumps something about "stand in that line" to us. So, we stand there...I could see the first man was working at the computer right in front of where we were standing, but it became evident very quickly that this line was for the signature and fingerprint, which we had already done. When it came to our turn, I just said "we've already done that part. This man is working on our packet." He growls (literally) back, "well, SIT DOWN!" I--being tired--say "well, no one said anything about sitting down. How was I supposed to know?" The guy working our packet then waves us over to him (about 20 seconds after Rachel sits down). He again says nothing, but hands us her passport with a piece of paper shoved in it. I guess we were done and asking them to be helpful or even the least bit friendly was too much to ask. Geez.
Okay, so customs/immigration done. Next we had to wheel our bags out through yet another layer of security. I'm not exaggerating when I say that line we were standing in was at least half way across the terminal. And there were 2 other lines equally as long. Sigh. It took another 15-20 minutes to get out of THAT line and out the "door". Somehow we were supposed to know that this exit was to go both outside and to re-check our domestic bags. Yeah. Right. I asked the agent as she handed me our passports back...she also grumped "yes. to the right." Nothing was marked and I was scared I was going the wrong way...because once you get out, there's no turning back! Well, we hurried up the ramp and around the corner. I did find a nice AA staff who helped us with our boarding passes (they reprinted them...I don't know why), got our bags on the belt and then told to out the door and to the right. Well, there were 2 sets of doors...and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to go outside of what. Eventually we figured it out...to the next terminal--in the next building. We got into the next terminal building to see (literally) the security line upstairs again half way across the building and snaked around on the other side. I couldn't believe it. Oh my gosh. So, another 45 minutes before we got through that line. I'm so tired at this point. Rachel is people watching (who can blame her!) and lagging several steps behind me the entire time. By this time its already after 4pm and our next flight was boarding at 5:35. I was a bit stressed thinking, how are we going to get through this line that fast? As we got closer to the security area, I tried to explain to her that she's going to need to take her shoes and jacket off. She kept saying "no". I kept saying "yes". I was in no mood to try to negotiate with her. When it was finally our turn, the agent was trying to be all smart asking me if she spoke Chinese (what do you think, idiot? She young, has a Chinese passport, and an IR-3 visa at that meaning she becomes a US Citizen when we land in the US). Then he says "ni hao" (hello in Chinese) so poorly even I could not understand him! And something else and I never did figure out what the heck he was saying (but I think was "shay shay" (aka thank you))...Rachel's looking at him like "what are you talking about?" Anyways, she did take the coat & shoes off, reluctantly. It was 5pm before we got on the other side and I got some coffee. I tried to explain to her that in the US, they do not feed us on the plane. She kept saying she was not hungry. I kept trying to say, we need to get something to eat. I knew what was going to happen...she was going to turn to me shortly after we boarded and say "Hungry" and there was nothing I can do about it. So, I got her to get some pringles (for $5!) and a she picked a pepsi to drink. I didn't think she'd drink it all, but I wasn't up for a fight. So, I drank my coffee, she had some pringles and then we boarded the plane. Sure enough, about 10pm she says "hungry". I offer the clif bar I have, she says "no"...and I just said there is nothing else I can do.
I had prayed that God would give us a great tail wind and we'd get in early. Thankfully, he answered my prayer and we got in about 20 minutes early. DH had just gotten to the airport and was shocked when I called him and told me we were already here. We got our bags and were home by midnight. My awesome friend, Stacey, had come to stay with Megan while DH came and got us. She was so kind to bring Rachel some pjs--washed and ready to wear--as I had realized on the way home that I didn't have any at home for her at all. What a relief that I didn't have to go digging in our bags to pick out a dirty pair of pjs for her put on! I got Rachel situated in her room (she was stoked to get to sleep in her own room!) and got to bed myself. It was about 12:30 when I crawled into bed. ah.
I came home to a new Megan! Seriously. We had started a few new things to help her sleep shortly before I left, and I think they helped her while I was gone to not completely freak out. In fact, within a few days of me leaving, she had started sleeping all night by herself. And before I came home, she started going to sleep by herself! So, I came home to sleeping in the same bed with DH all night for the first time since we got Megan! What a special blessing to come home to!
So, as you can tell our travels were loads of "fun", but we are home. We're all adjusting. I'll write more that later.
Okay, to let me start with getting up Thursday about 6am (China time...5pm Wed home time). I had worked on most of the packing the night before, so I was in pretty good shape to meet our guide at 10am. In fact, we got out of the room a little early as I was hoping she would be there early (but she wasn't). We loaded up and headed to the airport. I again asked the guide to explain to Rachel what was going to happen...that it was going to be a VERY LONG day of traveling. She was very excited to meet DH and Megan. We left Guangzhou a little late, so it was close to 1pm. Of course Rachel kept telling me that she was hungry. I could do absolutely nothing about it as she did not want a clif bar. They finally were able to serve lunch around 2pm or so. By then Rachel was famished. We got to Seoul about 5pm local time. Our flight didn't leave until 8pm, so I figured we needed to get Rachel something to eat besides she said she was hungry. We got some KFC (which was an interesting experience as well as it was upstairs several gates down from ours), but she didn't hardly to eat anything. I was not hungry at all, and we ended up throwing most of it out (unfortunately). We got to the terminal for our departing flight and Rachel was so nervous we were going to have a seat as the flight was full and she kept seeing all these people lined up to get on the plane yet we were not lined up yet. I don't know how many times I had to say "its fine. We will have a seat." I had gotten some water for the flight (you can never have too much water!), only to find out after we went to get on the plane that we had additional security to go through and we could take no water on board. Man, a never opened bottle of water went into the trash. What could be more frustrating???
I should back up and tell you that when we checked in at GZ, we found out that Rachel & I were not seated together. The attendant suggested I check at the gate to see if they can move one of us and get us together. Well, they could not. There was not one seat open on the flight. As we were getting ready to board, I started praying that someone would be kind enough to switch with one of us so we could sit together. In fact, the attendant who I had talked to was the one who scanned our boarding pass to get on the plane. He said "I sure hope you can switch seats" as he scanned us in. I just said "yes. me, too". Okay, so we get on the plane. There was a lady sitting by herself in row 38 (one was us was 38, the other 36). I explained to her the situation and asked if she would move. She didn't entirely understand what I was asking, but eventually she agreed to move. Whew. She even moved her luggage in the overhead space (yes, just 2 rows up...but same seat "B"). So, I was thanking God for answering our prayer. The man sitting by the window came, so we got up so he could get into his seat and suddenly the lady is back, saying she is supposed to sit in that seat. She squeezes past both of us and sits down. At this point, Rachel is very confused. I'm ticked. I asked an attendant to help me as she had agreed to move. The attendant attempts to ask her to move again, and she just got rude. The attendant--trying to get the plane off the ground on time--asks me if we can just sit in our assigned seats and she would help us change when we got off the ground. I absolutely insisted that she tell Rachel in Chinese. Well, she didn't know Chinese and she wanted us to just sit down. My mama bear came out and I said, you need to get someone over here to explain to her in Chinese that we are not going to be separated the entire flight. Everyone around us was watching the interchange as I was NOT going to do it until Rachel understood it was not the entire flight. Finally, a young lady sitting the row 37 said she would explain it. While at the same time, I asked the attendant if she would ask the man sitting in 36C if he would be willing to move to 38C (my seat). He was an older gentleman and he said that was fine. So, we got to sit down together. And I prayed blessings over that man many times on that flight! After we got off the ground, the attendant came and asked if I was satisfied with where we were sitting. I said, yes, we're sitting together and that's what I needed. By the way, Korean Air ROCKS!
I could not sleep on the flight. I was hot. Rachel was cold, of course. (She had 2 shirts, a sweatshirt and 2 blankets on.) I just could not get comfortable long enough to sleep much. I think I maybe slept 30 minutes. Rachel was able to sleep quite a bit, so that was good. I watched C0untry Str0ng (great movie!), True Grit (also very, very good!), Gulliver's Travels (okay), The Kings Speech (awesome!) and The Black Swan (very, very weird--and I sure wished I could have had that 2 hrs back!). By the time we landed at LAX, I was beyond exhausted. I figured LAX would be bad, but I honestly did not think it would be THAT bad. Let me just say that I will NEVER fly through LAX internationally EVER AGAIN. Ever, ever, ever. I don't care how much more it costs me, I will not do it. We waited well over an hour to get through customs/border security. Once I gave the agent Rachel's "brown packet" (aka her immigration/adoption paperwork to make her a citizen), he told us we needed to go down to the new immigrant section, but he only vaguely pointed in the general direction of where we needed to go. I would guess we were on row 40 or 45 or so. So, I walked down to about row 20 and stood there waiting to ask the agent where the new immigrant line was. Well, the agent who helped me was going on break (or something) and he says something to me about why I was standing there, then directs me to row 1. I get down to row 1, the guy literally squeaked out TWO WORDS: "sign here" to Rachel, then stamped her fingerprint over her name. Then he said, you can go get your bags and come back. Okay, well, considering our bags had been sitting out there for well over hour, I honestly had no idea where I supposed to be looking for my bags. I started looking on one carousel where it said the bags were from Korea. Well, they weren't there. I finally asked an airline staff member "what if we can't find out bags?" He asked what airlines and directed me to the right area. Good. Bags gotten. We went back to the "new immigrant" area. There was another agent there as well this time. He grumps something about "stand in that line" to us. So, we stand there...I could see the first man was working at the computer right in front of where we were standing, but it became evident very quickly that this line was for the signature and fingerprint, which we had already done. When it came to our turn, I just said "we've already done that part. This man is working on our packet." He growls (literally) back, "well, SIT DOWN!" I--being tired--say "well, no one said anything about sitting down. How was I supposed to know?" The guy working our packet then waves us over to him (about 20 seconds after Rachel sits down). He again says nothing, but hands us her passport with a piece of paper shoved in it. I guess we were done and asking them to be helpful or even the least bit friendly was too much to ask. Geez.
Okay, so customs/immigration done. Next we had to wheel our bags out through yet another layer of security. I'm not exaggerating when I say that line we were standing in was at least half way across the terminal. And there were 2 other lines equally as long. Sigh. It took another 15-20 minutes to get out of THAT line and out the "door". Somehow we were supposed to know that this exit was to go both outside and to re-check our domestic bags. Yeah. Right. I asked the agent as she handed me our passports back...she also grumped "yes. to the right." Nothing was marked and I was scared I was going the wrong way...because once you get out, there's no turning back! Well, we hurried up the ramp and around the corner. I did find a nice AA staff who helped us with our boarding passes (they reprinted them...I don't know why), got our bags on the belt and then told to out the door and to the right. Well, there were 2 sets of doors...and I wasn't sure if we were supposed to go outside of what. Eventually we figured it out...to the next terminal--in the next building. We got into the next terminal building to see (literally) the security line upstairs again half way across the building and snaked around on the other side. I couldn't believe it. Oh my gosh. So, another 45 minutes before we got through that line. I'm so tired at this point. Rachel is people watching (who can blame her!) and lagging several steps behind me the entire time. By this time its already after 4pm and our next flight was boarding at 5:35. I was a bit stressed thinking, how are we going to get through this line that fast? As we got closer to the security area, I tried to explain to her that she's going to need to take her shoes and jacket off. She kept saying "no". I kept saying "yes". I was in no mood to try to negotiate with her. When it was finally our turn, the agent was trying to be all smart asking me if she spoke Chinese (what do you think, idiot? She young, has a Chinese passport, and an IR-3 visa at that meaning she becomes a US Citizen when we land in the US). Then he says "ni hao" (hello in Chinese) so poorly even I could not understand him! And something else and I never did figure out what the heck he was saying (but I think was "shay shay" (aka thank you))...Rachel's looking at him like "what are you talking about?" Anyways, she did take the coat & shoes off, reluctantly. It was 5pm before we got on the other side and I got some coffee. I tried to explain to her that in the US, they do not feed us on the plane. She kept saying she was not hungry. I kept trying to say, we need to get something to eat. I knew what was going to happen...she was going to turn to me shortly after we boarded and say "Hungry" and there was nothing I can do about it. So, I got her to get some pringles (for $5!) and a she picked a pepsi to drink. I didn't think she'd drink it all, but I wasn't up for a fight. So, I drank my coffee, she had some pringles and then we boarded the plane. Sure enough, about 10pm she says "hungry". I offer the clif bar I have, she says "no"...and I just said there is nothing else I can do.
I had prayed that God would give us a great tail wind and we'd get in early. Thankfully, he answered my prayer and we got in about 20 minutes early. DH had just gotten to the airport and was shocked when I called him and told me we were already here. We got our bags and were home by midnight. My awesome friend, Stacey, had come to stay with Megan while DH came and got us. She was so kind to bring Rachel some pjs--washed and ready to wear--as I had realized on the way home that I didn't have any at home for her at all. What a relief that I didn't have to go digging in our bags to pick out a dirty pair of pjs for her put on! I got Rachel situated in her room (she was stoked to get to sleep in her own room!) and got to bed myself. It was about 12:30 when I crawled into bed. ah.
I came home to a new Megan! Seriously. We had started a few new things to help her sleep shortly before I left, and I think they helped her while I was gone to not completely freak out. In fact, within a few days of me leaving, she had started sleeping all night by herself. And before I came home, she started going to sleep by herself! So, I came home to sleeping in the same bed with DH all night for the first time since we got Megan! What a special blessing to come home to!
So, as you can tell our travels were loads of "fun", but we are home. We're all adjusting. I'll write more that later.
Sunday, May 08, 2011
We're home
We made it home...I think we walked in the door about 12:15am on Friday morning. Both Rachel & I are still dealing with travel fatigue, time zone change and jet lag. The family is still getting used to each other, but things continue to go well.
I'll post more about our flights another time. I also have more pictures to share...in a few days, hopefully.
I'll post more about our flights another time. I also have more pictures to share...in a few days, hopefully.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Wednesday
We went shopping with Ann, a lady who does "personal shopping". We had Ann take us shopping when we came with Megan...oh man did we get the deals! She takes you to all the wholesale places so we pay at least 50% and in many cases 80% off what shops around the hotel are asking for the same things. She only charges $10 an hour and worth every single penny! She shops quick...so you are not wasting any moment of her time with her. I got pearls...very high quality pearls cheap. I got all sorts of really great things. One thing that's big this time (and not last time) are "sets" of placemats with chop sticks and napkins. Around the island they were ranging about $7-8 for a set of 6. I got a set for about $3. Yeah, I know I saved far more than what I paid her!!! Rachel kept up far better than I expected since she HATES walking anywhere. LOL. That still cracks me up!
Well, tomorrow morning at 10am (China time) we leave this crappy hotel (that I hope to NEVER stay at again!!!) for the airport. We get home (or rather to our home airport) at 11:05pm the same night. We'll be in "commute" for an entire 24 hrs. Yuck. Not looking forward to that at all. At any rate, I'll post again when we get home...I have several things I want to post about, but I need to get us to bed really soon since we have a busy day tomorrow. We need to be well rested. Thank goodness we're mostly packed. That helps.
Well, tomorrow morning at 10am (China time) we leave this crappy hotel (that I hope to NEVER stay at again!!!) for the airport. We get home (or rather to our home airport) at 11:05pm the same night. We'll be in "commute" for an entire 24 hrs. Yuck. Not looking forward to that at all. At any rate, I'll post again when we get home...I have several things I want to post about, but I need to get us to bed really soon since we have a busy day tomorrow. We need to be well rested. Thank goodness we're mostly packed. That helps.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Tuesday GZ Zoo Pics
Painting in the Black Bear area.
Brown bear
people teasing the b
Rachel at the Guangzhou zoo
Geese
Pandas
Kangaroo "baby"
Monday, May 02, 2011
Tuesday Pics
Misc pics
A couple of things ...we're at the "traditional" hotel for adoptive families and honestly I'm not impressed. We didn't stay at this hotel when we got Megan, and wished we didn't have to stay this time, but with the trade fair, the prices elsewhere were raised significantly. Its fine, but I've had several of "issues" for example this morning they told me breakfast was not included with my hotel (um, yes it is...has been the last couple of days and now it is not?). Also, when I ordered room service, they required me to pay when they delivered since I didn't give them 3,000 RMB when I checked in (about $500). Believe me, the hotel in Beijing far superior...and I never experienced these things there! Whatever.
And when we were at the Summer Palace, I had to go to the bathroom, but when I went to the bathrooms, they were all squatty potties...and the smell. Oh my gosh. It was horribly overpowering. Yuck. I couldn't do it...I held it until we returned to the hotel. It was a long time, but I could not bring myself to use the squatty potty with the pressure of others waiting to use my stall. Just couldn't do it.
Sunday, May 01, 2011
Sunday
We started the day with Rachel telling me she did not feel well. She complained of a headache and had a fever. She said she "ached all over". I was afraid we were spending the day in the hotel. I went down to get her some congee (which is essentially soupy, overcooked rice) and came back to her completely dressed and "feeling better". She asked me to fix her hair, and we went out to meet our group. I think she did not want to miss out on anything today, and its likely she didn't feel well due to the shots she had yesterday. We went to a few places (I posted pics and info on them). When we got back from the hotel, she told me she did not want to go get lunch. We had some cup-o-noodles in our room that she had gotten yesterday, so she ate that and I had a granola bar. After she ate her noodles, she laid down and took a 3 hour nap. I had to practically DRAG her out of bed at 4pm! I laid down, too. I slept about 20 minutes and the hotel housekeeping "manager" rang the door bell asking if we were happy with how are room was cleaned. I laid back down for a little while, but didn't really sleep after that. Tonight we are going out with our group for a group supper. We really have a great group. Two families and 2 dads traveling alone. All of the kids are delightful. Rachel took several pictures of Mandye (the 10 yr old), they clearly have hit it off. They were talking with each other and Mandye kind of wanted to sit by Rachel in the bus, I think. But she sat by her little sister. I hope they can sit together at supper tonight so they can visit more. I think both like having someone who can talk Chinese with them! I can relate to that feeling as I'm happy to see other American adults that I can talk to! You don't realize how much you miss that until you have virtually no one around you who you can carry on a conversation with! I noticed while in Beijing that I was having a hard time putting sentences together b/c I was always wondering if I was talking slow enough. And I was always searching for the "easiest word to translate". It was quite disturbing the few times I noticed I couldn't hardly talk! I even did it with Keith when we would skype. But, its better now. Rachel has gotten very good about telling me "mommy, I don't know English" which means she does not understand what I am asking her. Before she would say "yes" to everything. So, I'd give her a choice and she would say "yes"...yes, what? Which one? She couldn't understand. Communication wise we are doing much better. She is very smart. I have found communication improves every day. She works really hard to find the right word and if she is completely stumped she will say "computer" so we can use google translate. She is also very brave to try to pronounce different words. I'm not always very good to understand, but eventually we figure it out!
It was rainy today, but nothing too serious, just some sprinkles. I'm not really an umbrella kind of girl, but Rachel wanted to make sure we had umbrellas, so we borrowed some from the hotel. At any hit of a raindrop, she would put the umbrella up. Needless to say, its not a great hair day for me! :-)
It was rainy today, but nothing too serious, just some sprinkles. I'm not really an umbrella kind of girl, but Rachel wanted to make sure we had umbrellas, so we borrowed some from the hotel. At any hit of a raindrop, she would put the umbrella up. Needless to say, its not a great hair day for me! :-)
Sunday Pics
My beauty at the Sun-Yat-Sun Temple. The last one is us at the 5 Goat Statue. We had to walk quite a few stairs at this park. I figured Rachel would not want to, and she didn't say anything the first time walked the steps. But after we came back down from that part, we were supposed to go up another part, but she said "no. No stairs." We then waited with the guide for the rest of the group to go. The final pic is our group in GZ.
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