Spring Break Part 1 - Half Marathon

I can't believe that Spring Break started just a week ago. So many big things have happened this week! Our week started with a trip to Atlanta. The original plan for Spring Break was actually to go to Savannah on Thursday for a few days and meet up with my college roommate and her family to run a half marathon there. But, since they scheduled David's surgery for Thursday we had to make a new plan! That plan included switching our half marathon to one in Atlanta the week before. So we woke up early Saturday morning, put the kids in the car, and hit the road. The first few hours were a little rocky because for some reason Lily kept getting upset about random things and crying. I'm not sure what finally calmed her down - getting to watch Frozen, stopping for lunch, or the threat of a consequence, but she finally got her act together. She even earned her three stars (my car behavior management system) so that she could get a treat the first time we stopped for gas! We hit up Chick-fil-A for lunch and let the kids get some energy out on the playground while we ordered. Then we loaded up the car again and ate on the road. We managed to avoid traffic the whole way until we passed Macon. For some reason there is always crazy traffic right around McDonough. Saturday was no different. We kept watching out ETA on the GPS climb higher and higher, and thankfully we were able to take an alternate route that saved us about 45 minutes of waiting. We still sat in quite a bit of traffic though. Finally we could see the Atlanta skyline in the distance! I still get a sense of nostalgia every time we drive into the city for the years that we lived there and that skyline meant we were almost home. We got off our exit, drove for a few blocks, and spotted our hotel up ahead. Then we stopped. Traffic wasn't moving again, at all. We inched closer and closer, and finally when we got close enough to the entrance we saw a sign that said we had to enter around the block. Agh! So we got in the left lane to turn, only to get stuck behind a taxi that decided to pull halfway up onto the curb and completely block our lane (we were on a one way street). We couldn't pull around because traffic wasn't moving, and he just sat there oblivious. We are not typically horn honkers, but we laid on that horn. He finally realized that we couldn't get around him, so he got back in his cab. Whew! Oh wait, nope. Now he pulled up to the intersection and just completely stopped in the lane. Like on the street. Apparently he was picking up people from our hotel, and instead of going around the block and turning in he decided to just make the street his own personal parking space. The people came out, loaded up their suitcases, and then went back into the hotel. We were about to lose our minds. We started the honking again. He didn't move. Somehow we finally managed to get around him and pull into the drive of the hotel. When we checked in we found out that they were filming a car chase scene for a movie with Jamie Fox, and that's why the traffic was so atrocious. I was very thankful that we wouldn't have to contend with any traffic the next morning for the race! We purposefully chose a hotel that was a block away from the race start.

As soon as we made it up to our rooms, Cherie arrived! Our next order of business was to walk to the race Expo at the World Congress Center. Again, thankful that we chose a close hotel so we didn't have to venture into that traffic again. We walked through Centennial Park and saw the finish line for our race! Then we continued on to the Expo. Along the way Brian decided to stop and let the kids run around in a field while Cherie and I went on. We picked up our numbers and shirts and checked out the booths in the Expo. We decided not to try to dried leaves they had for samples. Ok, so they weren't actually leaves but they were weird dried plant things that looked scary and gross. Nothing else really caught our eye so we went back to find Brian and the kids. They were playing near some purple trees that Lily of course loved since she loves all things purple. By the time we made it back to the hotel it was after 5:00 and we had made plans to visit with some friends for dinner. We got our car from the valet and headed to their house. We had a great time visiting with them and letting our kids play to together. I wish we lived closer to Atlanta. We have so many wonderful friends there that we love! At 8:00 we reluctantly headed back to the hotel so we could get the kids to bed and I could get to bed early too. I helped Brian tuck them in, then went over to the room that Cherie and I were sharing. No joke, as soon as we turned off the light the people in the room next to us started making all kinds of noise. Our room had an adjoining door with them, and it seriously sounded like they were standing in our room talking. We tried to drown it out with a sound machine and the AC fan, but they were still audible. Thankfully sleeping is my super power, so once I fell asleep I didn't wake up again. Poor Cherie had a much harder time, and Brian said he could hear them at 3am! (They were between our two rooms.)

Sunday morning our alarms went off all too early and Cherie and I got ready and headed to Centennial Park for the race. A cold front came through, which is great for racing, but that period of time when you're waiting for the race to start is pretty much miserable! We kept our hands in our sleeves and pockets to keep them warm, but pinning on race numbers was nearly impossible. After walking through the park we headed to the street with the start corrals. We found corral C, but couldn't find a way in. Apparently the reason that we were walking in the opposite direction of everyone we saw was because the entrance to all corrals was in the back! So we turned around and made the walk again. I'm pretty sure that Cherie hated me at this point, but it was too late to turn back! At 7:00 the first wave started, and we started walking up toward the start line. Six minutes later it was our turn and we were off!

Going into this race, I really wanted to get my best half time. I felt really well trained and with the cold weather I really thought I had a shot. Within 5 minutes of starting I quickly started to realize that this may not be a possibility. I knew that this race would have hills. But I completely and totally underestimated how many hills there would be! Let's just say that I thought running the Ringling Bridge 4 times in a 10 mile run was going to be a harder task than the Atlanta hills. In reality I basically ran the Ringling Bridge continuously for 13.1 miles. There were literally only two times in the entire race that I was on level ground and felt like I might be able to get in a rhythm. I was either going uphill or downhill the whole time! I had made a last minute decision to do some intervals in this race, and I am so glad I did! I don't think I would have made it without them. I ran the first three miles with Cherie, and started my intervals at mile 3. I ran for 8 minutes (sometimes 9 if the interval ended on a downhill) and walked for one. Unfortunately I messed up my watch somehow, so I wasn't able to use the intervals on there where it beeps at me. Instead I resorted to good old math skills. I felt pretty good until I exited Piedmont Park after mile 9. I turned the corner and looked at a neverending uphill. I almost walked so many times. Instead I did crazy runner things like talking out loud to myself, making grunting sounds like tennis players do, and letting out little yelps of achievement. I made it to my next interval and I was never so happy to walk. According to the elevation that section of uphill was about a mile, and when I reached the end of it I started to feel pretty good again. There were downhills every now and then that helped me catch my breath. Then mile 12 came. More neverending uphills. Typically I skip my last walk interval, but with that uphill it wasn't going to happen. There was some more crazy runner behavior, and I pretty much talked my way to the finish line.

Pretty much as soon as I stopped running my legs stopped working properly. I don't know if they were numb from cold, completely fatigued from hills, or just not getting enough blood, but I felt like they were unattached from my body. It's like I was walking on unstable wooden poles that may or may not move when I wanted them to. This was my fifth half marathon, and I've never experienced immediate stiffness and fatigue like that. I was pretty certain that I was going to need a wheelchair for the next few days. (No comments about how I actually did need a wheelchair after a previous half marathon.) Right after I crossed the finish line Brian called me. My fingers were so numb that I could barely figure out how to get out my phone and answer it. He told me that the kids were absolutely freezing so he was going to come say hi and then take them back to the hotel. The poor things were popsicles! Caroline was crying because she was so cold! I made them take a picture with me, and then Brian took the three oldest ones back. Lily wanted to stay with me and go find Cherie. I hobbled on my sad excuses for legs to the other side of the park and grabbed some chocolate milk on the way. There is nothing like chocolate milk after a hard race. It's one of my favorite things. I half fell to the ground to attempt to stretch for a few minutes, but it pretty much did nothing. It wasn't my muscles that were hurting, it was my joints and ligaments. But it sure felt good to sit! Now Lily was rethinking her decision to stay with me and was complaining about how cold she was. Cherie and I helped each other to our feet and got a picture by the finish line, grabbed our boxes of food, and walked back to the hotel. I took the most amazing and possibly longest hot shower of my life and felt much better after.

We decided to walk down the street for lunch instead of trying to mess with driving when half the roads were closed. We were the first people in Ted's Montana Grill, and I totally embarrassed everyone by wearing my race medal. Whatever, I earned that thing! I can't really eat for a while after a race, so I ordered soup and salad that I barely ate. At least Brian and Cherie actually enjoyed their food! Our waitress was super nice, but she kept referring to my kids as babies or "the babies", so I'm pretty sure they weren't too pleased with her. She did keep bringing them lemonade though, so she at least had that going for her. By the time we left the restaurant was full and we felt like quite the trend setters. We walked back to the hotel, said goodbye to Cherie, and headed to Marietta for the second part of our trip.

Orthodontist Visit

Today was a big day for our little guy! It was his first appointment at the orthodontist! If you remember from the previous post, the orthodontist is basically the key decision maker for the first step of David's care plan. We were waiting to see him to find out if we could use braces to close David's palate before surgery or if we would need to have an appliance put in like we did with Lily.

So today I had to be in Tampa by 10:25 after dropping the other three kids off at school. I managed to get Matthew to the bus on time and Caroline to her class a little early so that I could drop Lily off in the office by 9:15 and get on the road. Of course when I took her into the office there were other people waiting and the secretary was nowhere to be found. By the time someone came up to help us it was already 9:15. She called Lily's classroom and Ms. Cindy came up to get Lily. David and I were on the road by 9:20. According to my GPS arrival time I had only 2 minutes to spare. I made great time on the highway and was set to arrive 10 minutes early! Then I made the mistake of getting off on Fletcher. The traffic was awful and I watched the minutes tick away. We slid into the parking lot at 10:24 and made it just in time!

David was all smiles until we got out of the car. Then he got his nervous look and started shaking his head no. Sorry buddy, there's no turning back now! He was fine when we went in and played in the waiting room while I filled out paperwork. Then they brought us back to the new patient office to fill out paperwork. David was very clingy and wanted to be held so I could tell he was nervous. After the paperwork was completed we needed to take some pictures.

We went into another room and I tried to put David on a stool so they could get a regular old normal picture of him smiling. He lost his mind. As soon as I put him down he started crying and tried to catapult himself off of the stool. I scooped him up and tried to calm him down by taking a picture of him on my lap. It didn't work. He is totally crying in his picture. Then we had to go sit in a dentist chair for more invasive pictures. Seeing as how just sitting and smiling caused so much trauma, I was dreading the rest of this task. But thank goodness for Wendy. She was the wonderful woman taking the pictures. She handed David latex gloves and helped him put them on, then gave him one of those plastic things they use to hold the lips back. He was completely distracted and warmed right up to her. Next thing I know he's holding the plastic thing to keep his mouth open and biting down like a champ while Wendy took pictures. No tears!

We headed back to the office while the pictures were uploaded and printed and shown to Dr. F. for his opinion. David was happy as could be. I kept him busy with the Chinese/English app on my phone. Then Dr. F. came in, and of course he started crying again (he's really got the stranger danger thing down). To calm him down Dr. F gave him a musical toothbrush which he then proceeded to hold up to his ear and play repeatedly. Eventually he stopped crying and I could actually have a conversation! I was so excited to hear that Dr. F didn't have any hesitations about doing braces! He asked me if I wanted to come back or go ahead and do them today, and I decided it was better to just rip off the band-aid and get this party started.

At this point it was 11:20, and in order to get Caroline on time I would have to leave at noon. I had no idea how long everything would take so I called my mom for backup. Dr. F wanted to have the same tech that put Lily's brackets on do David's so we had to wait a bit for her to finish with her current patient before she could work on David. Finally it was our turn! David followed Carmen over to her chair, but as soon as it was time to sit in the chair he started freaking out again! I think that the fear and nervousness about not understanding what is happening is actually what makes him cry. Once he realizes what is going on he calms down and is pretty compliant. Carmen quickly realized that getting David to lay in the chair wasn't an option, so instead I crouched down on the floor and held him half standing in front of her. She showed David how she was going to blow air on his teeth and clean them with cotton and all of a sudden he was totally fine with it! I think he just wants to know that he can escape at any time ;o) From that point on David did awesome! He stood right there in front of her and let her do the whole cycle - dry, clean, place bracket, heat light - for every tooth! A few times he got tired and signed all done, but he hung in there. My legs lost all feeling sitting on the floor with him and Carmen's back almost died from leaning over, but at least he didn't cry! Once all the brackets were on she placed the elastic chain and we were done! David was all smiles and was so proud of himself for being brave. Now we go back next Wednesday for tightening - yikes!

Thank you all for praying for us through this journey. We are ecstatic that the first step of this journey has gone smoothly, and now we pray that the braces do their job and pull David's palate together. We probably need to visit Dr. R again and schedule surgery sometime soon as well. But today, we celebrate success!

David's 1st Cleft Appointment

Blog blackout is over! At least for today ;o) I know that many of you want updates on how David is doing, but to be honest writing about the past month seems kind of overwhelming. So I'm starting with a baby step and just updating about his first cleft appointment.

We went to see the cleft team on December 18th, except on the way up there we discovered that there was a mixup and we weren't actually on the schedule for the day! Thankfully the team coordinator is awesome and told me to come anyway and we would work something out. It actually ending up working out better! Instead of paying to see a speech pathologist (no speech, so not much to evaluate!), social worker, pediatrician (he had already seen ours), ENT (no fluid when the pediatrician saw him), audiologist (hearing tests are tricky when you don't speak English!), and dentist, we just saw our surgeon. It was just like having an office visit, just not in his office!

Dr. R checked out his cleft (non-evasively thank goodness!) and commented on both how wide it was and how old he is, compared to most cleft patients. David just sat on my lap and nervously eyed the doctor, but he didn't cry at all. Unfortunately the team orthodontist wasn't there, and he's a big part of the surgical plan. Dr. R. took some pictures of David to send to him, but nothing will be decided until we have an appointment with the orthodontist.

So, here are the options. We are hoping that we can use braces to bring David's cleft closer together. This will enable Dr. R. to close everything - lip, gumline, and palate - in one surgery. This would obviously be amazing, so we are praying that the braces are an option and that they are effective! Since David is 4, his bones are not as flexible as Lily's were when she had braces. If the orthodontist doesn't think they will work, then we go to Plan B. In Plan B David will have an appliance attached to the roof of his mouth that will help to close his palate. Unfortunately the only way to place is the appliance is with a surgery. Once the appliance is in place for about a month, David will have another surgery. In this surgery Dr. R. will close his lip and gumline and remove the appliance. The palate tissue will need time to heal from the appliance, so we will have to wait about 3 months for the lip to heal before David has a third surgery to close his palate.

We are obviously on Team Braces and are praying for one surgery! Our appointment with the orthodontist is on January 11th so we will know more then. If he thinks braces will work, they will go ahead and put them on that day so we don't have to drive back to Tampa (again!). I will update again when I know more!

The Neverending Day – Day 13, November 27

This morning we woke up and packed up our final few things before heading downstairs. We had arranged with the cab driver who picked us up from the train station to take us to the airport, but when we called him he decided that he didn’t like the price he had originally quoted us. He said he would come, but we weren’t optimistic. So, we waited in the lobby to see if he came. He didn’t but he sent someone else in his place so we were golden. The drive to the airport was an uneventful 45 minutes. We arrived and loaded our luggage onto a baggage cart, then headed to check in at the United counter. We didn’t have seats together for one of our flights, so the woman at the counter fixed that for us. It took quite a while to check in, but we had arrived in plenty of time. Once we dropped off our bags we headed to security. This is when our kids began taking turns melting down. For some reason Caroline was upset, and when we had to walk through the metal detector she just refused. Crying, screaming, wouldn’t do it. So I went ahead and walked through it thinking that she wouldn’t want to be left behind and would follow me. Nope. More crying, more screaming, now add in some arm reaching and terrified screeches. To say we were getting a few stares would be, well, at this point I’m sure you know how people around us were reacting. I tried coaxing her, reasoning with her, and laughing at how crazy she was being, and nothing worked. Finally I just told her goodbye and started walking away. Next thing I know she’s flying through the air and grabbing onto my legs. We decided that food would be a good idea, so we found the food court and got some breakfast. The kids got egg burgers? from McDonalds and I got a ham and cheese croissant and fruit from a deli. Everyone seemed a little more chipper after they had food, so we decided to go find our gate. We still had time to spare, so we found a comfy area to sit and let the kids play. Right before it was time to board we figured out our seating arrangements. We thought we were sitting all in the same row, with two people in the middle separating us into two sections. But when I looked at the seats, we had 4 pairs. At least they were right in front of each other. We each paired up with a kid and got on the plane. As we got on the plane and started looking for our seats, I quickly realized that we were passing all of the economy plus seats. As fast as I knew we had upgraded to economy plus for both of the long flights. I’m not sure what happened, but we were definitely not in economy plus. And we weren’t right in front of each other either. There was a row in between each of us. At this point I started to have a mini panic attack. I was going to be stuck on the inside of a row, not near any of my family members, with no in-seat tv screens and no other entertainment because we lost an ipad and a phone, with no leg room, and next to Lily for the next 11 hours. I literally leaned my head against the window, covered my face with my hair, and had a little cry. Then I pulled myself together in time for our aisle patron to join our row. We could not have had a nicer person next to us! I couldn’t hear him when he said his name, but we will just call him Chris because he looks like a Chris. Chris was traveling for business and had a 2 year old daughter at home and told us not to worry about getting out. He told us that even if he was asleep just to nudge him and he would be happy to let us out. I think Chris was an angel sent just for me. At one point after I finally managed to get a little sleep, I woke up to him reading “Daniel Tiger” to Lily. He was awesome.

After my mini meltdown the flight went much more smoothly. Although I did cringe when they announced that the in-flight wi-fi wasn’t working and there would be no entertainment available through their app. Thankfully they reset the system and it did end up working about 30 minutes into the flight. Lily found a red stamp in her backpack (we still have no idea where it came from) and proceeded to stamp herself. I didn’t care what she did as long as she was quiet and happy, so I let her stamp her hands and arms until they were completely red. Desperate times. Once we got in the air she was able to put her tray table down and do some coloring. Then they fed us, which also helped kill time, and we read some books. Our flight left at noon, so a few hours in I figured she would be tired. She wasn’t really wanting to sleep so I put a movie on the laptop for her. After about 40 minutes in she told me she was tired and fell asleep. In the other rows Matthew and Caroline were happily playing with Baba and Daideo’s ipads and Brian kept Matthew entertained by listening to the in-flight music with headphones. He also loved looking at pictures on Brian’s phone. He did pretty well on the flight and slept for a little bit too. I think the kids each got about 2 hours of sleep. At one point Lily had to use the bathroom (for like the third time) and my friend Chris was sleeping, so I turned around and asked Brian if he could grab her and take her. He did, but that meant I had David and David did not like that. He started crying the instant Brian walked away, and nothing I did could get him to stop. Sorry Chris, I tried to let you sleep! I handed him off as soon as Brian got back and realized that the airplane was not going to be a bonding time for us. We could work on that when we got home and he wasn’t terrified.

The flight was surprisingly not that bad. Long, but not unbearable like the last one was. We landed in San Francisco just before 8am. We had arrived at the Hong Kong airport at 8am, so we were basically about to live the same four hour period again, just in a different airport. We got off the plane not a second too soon and headed to immigration and customs. I was very thankful for the one form that was required, not one per person. We couldn’t go through the line for citizens with my parents since we had David with us, so we headed over to the visitors line. I remembered that last time there was a separate line for new immigrants, but the man directing people didn’t think there was one. Once we had stood in line for a few minutes I spotted some canvas tape dividers that said new immigrants. Except I couldn’t figure out how to get there! The entire section was blocked off. I went back to the man and told him that I had found the line but didn’t know how to get to it, so he went and asked. Then he came back and escorted us right up to the window. Score! I handed over the sealed brown envelope I had been carrying since we left Guangzhou and all of our passports. The officer was so nice, and spoke English! Yippee! He processed all of our paperwork and set us free to claim our bags. Mom and Dad were already at baggage claim with a cart. All five of our bags arrived and then we went to recheck them through security and onto our remaining flights. Our layover in San Francisco was over 4 hours, and since we had already cleared customs and had time to spare we went to the United counter to see if we could get on an earlier flight. Our original itinerary had a two hour layover and I was worried that it would be too tight, but 4 hours was crazy long. It actually seemed like a possibility because there were two different early flights to Tampa, but when we got up to the counter and they asked if we had checked bags we were quickly shut down. I even asked if we could just leave our bags at the airport and get them later, but he said that with heightened security we couldn’t. So, on to our fourth security check of the day! This time no one lost their mind so we made it through without incident. We headed down to our gate and staked out a table and chairs near a charging station. The kids were starting to get into it with each other and were all exhausted so it was a long wait. And every time Brian walked away for something David lost his mind. It was great fun. We finally boarded, and this time we were back on a Dreamliner plane with in-seat entertainment! Matthew and Caroline sat together and across the aisle from Lily and I. My mom was in front of us, my dad was in front of her, and then Brian and David were together. This flight was almost four hours long, and David did not do well. I think at this point he was beyond exhausted, the TV did nothing to distract him, and he pretty much cried for most of the flight. We tried one of the tricks that we used with Lily – I took David, and then he realized that being with daddy would be way better so when I handed him back he would be so happy to be with Daddy that he stopped crying. Yeah, didn’t work. He just got even more mad that he was with me and couldn’t settle down. My dad tried holding him, and that helped for a little bit but then the crying started again. I think he finally fell asleep for about 30 minutes and then woke up crying again. Poor Brian was exhausted and frustrated and just couldn’t wait to get off the plane! Matthew and Caroline both fell asleep on the flight, and were not happy when we had to wake them up to get off.

Eventually the flight did end, and we bolted out of there as fast as possible. One more flight to go from Houston to Tampa. Our layover wasn’t long, but all of the kids were tired and crying on and off. We had to cross the airport and they were not having it. We decided that sugar would surely help things, and got them cinnamon rolls at Cinnabon. We gave them each a bite to get them to the gate and were able to board the plane quickly. This time I sat with Caroline, Brian was across the aisle with Matthew and David, and Baba and Lily were in front of me. I cut each cinnamon roll up for the kids and that kept them happy. The last flight was short and sweet. Matthew played with Brian’s phone, Caroline watched a movie on the laptop, David fell asleep (hallelujah!) and Lily had a great time with Baba. When we landed, we had been traveling for a total of 28 hours and I think we each slept for maybe 3 of them. We were all exhausted and beyond ecstatic to be home!

When we got off the airport tram we were greeted with huge yellow banners and the smiling faces of our friends welcoming us home! I knew that they would be there, but seeing them all was so amazing and overwhelming that I couldn’t stop the waterworks. I’m pretty sure I was uttering half nonsense because I was so tired that I couldn’t form sentences, but I think I was pretty adamant about never going back to China again or ever boarding another plane. We hugged, talked, I cried, we said goodbye to my parents and then we got in our van to head home. Lily was a pretty terrible car rider and I was fearful that David would be too since seatbelts are new and not his favorite thing. We translated that this was his special seat and Lily would show him how to ride in it, and then had him watch Lily buckle up. It didn’t work. He didn’t like it and started crying. He continued to cry until he finally fell asleep. He didn’t wake up when we got home so we just put him in his bed and hoped for the best! Brian and I got the other kids in bed and finally went to sleep ourselves around 12:30. There’s no place like home!

Thanksgiving in Hong Kong – Day 12, November 26

It’s so weird that today is Thanksgiving! It definitely does not seem like at all here. Last night was a bit rough in our room. David woke up crying a few times with a fever, and both he and Lily wet the bed. And of course they were in two different beds. The other two kids slept great though! Our room was up first, and Brian did everything he could to keep David distracted from eating. Once he’s been awake for thirty minutes, he pretty much wants to eat. And that’s a little tricky when you’re traveling. I think everyone was finally up and ready around 8:00. Our plan was to find a Starbucks to grab a quick breakfast and then head to the Star Ferry. There was a Starbucks right around the corner, so each kid picked out a pastry and we had breakfast there. We didn’t want to get them coffee to drink, obviously, so we went to find a 7-11 nearby. They are everywhere, so it didn’t take but a few seconds to find one. Apparently our hotel isn’t in the best area. There were all kinds of sketchy people around the 7-11, and after the kids picked their drinks I quickly escorted them outside to get away from the woman yelling obscenities in English who looked like she was about to fight someone. Nothing like starting our day off with a bang! It was about a 10 minute walk to the ferry. We were amazed at how quickly the giant buses whip around corners with no warning and were very careful to obey the crosswalk signs so we didn’t get flattened.

We arrived at the ferry terminal and were met with people from the Big Bus tour. We had been debating on doing it, and decided to go ahead. The tour also included the ferry ticket so we had to go ahead and buy it then. We needed a bit more money so Brian and my dad ran downstairs to the ATM we had just passed while my mom and I waited with the kids. We waited, and waited, and waited, and could not figure out what was taking so long. Thankfully the kids happily entertained themselves by chasing each other. I finally decided to go investigate, and discovered that the ATM machine had eaten our card! Brian was on the phone with the bank trying to figure out what to do, but he kept getting put on hold. My debit card has a totally different number than his, so we decided to just call our bank and have his card cancelled. We could still use mine to get money. Our hotel actually provides a smart phone to use while we are here, and that thing came in super handy. We mainly used it as a wifi hot spot so we could use our phones. Brian called and cancelled the card and we were on our way again.

The ferry ride was short, but the views were really nice. It’s amazing how many skyscrapers are in Hong Kong! We learned today that the city has 8,000, the most skyscrapers in any city on the planet! I can definitely see that! We exited the ferry and headed to find a red line bus to start our tour of Hong Kong Island. The kids were so excited to sit upstairs and even more excited to get their own headphones for the tour! We found seats all together at the top and our adventure began. The tour took us all over the central part of the island and we saw tons and tons of skyscrapers. We seemed to either be crawling through traffic or whipping around corners dangerously fast! At one point I almost got smacked in the head by tree branches at 30mph! We got off the bus at the Peak Tram stop. The Peak Tram takes you to the very top of the mountain on Hong Kong Island where you can see amazing panoramic views of Kowloon. Poor Caroline almost didn’t make it on the tram! Brian, Matthew and I got tickets included with our bus tour, and the little kids didn’t need a ticket for the bus. We assumed that was also the case with the tram, but apparently it wasn’t! The three of us had already scanned our tickets and gone in, and Caroline was stuck on the other side with my dad. The workers explained that kids had to pay when they were four, so Brian had to go back out and get her one. There was a super long line to buy tickets, but the worker took him right up to the window which was a big help. We were finally all inside! The whole day David was definitely not feeling well, and we were pretty much giving him Tylenol every 4 hours. He is good about taking it now. He had started to feel pretty warm again, so we gave him some right before we boarded the tram. Of course everyone pushed and shoved to get on, the norm in China, but I managed to snag us seats on the right side because I read that the views were better there. I am so glad I saw that tip, because the views were awesome! We traveled up the mountain at pretty much a 45 degree angle and made three stops for locals along the way. I would definitely not want to live there and have to walk up that many steps every day!

We exited the tram into a gift shop. Just like they do in America, they make you walk through a gift shop at every attraction. We really had no idea what to do when we got off, but we decided that finding a bathroom might be a good idea. Once that was taken care of we started going up escalators because that’s what everyone else was doing. We figured there had to be some sort of viewing area somewhere. I think we must have gone up 8 escalators (which David is no longer afraid of by the way!) and we finally saw something called Sky428. We thought we had to buy tickets to go up there, but Dad just used his tram ticket and they let him in. So we all followed suit! We got up to the top and the views were just incredible. They gave everyone a free audio guide and the kids of course were all over that. I have no idea what the audio guide said, because mine didn’t work. But Matthew kept pointing out a building and telling me that he was listening to information on it right then. I just enjoyed looking at everything. After taking some pictures and writing love notes at the giant heart they have up there we were all freezing and wanted to go back inside. It’s so funny – in Chengdu it was a little chilly and they turned off any source of air conditioning anywhere. Here in Hong Kong it’s actually pretty cold and windy, and everywhere we go the air is on full blast! There’s no way to get warm! At this point it was lunch time so we started heading back down the escalators to find some lunch. We tried to go to Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. but there was a 40 minute wait so we nixed that. It seemed like our other options were Chinese, Japanese, and Burger King, none of which sounded appealing. Then we happened upon a wood fired pizza place and decided to try it. Of course it was also freezing in there. A salad bar was included with our entrees, and I was so happy to eat a salad again! There was a dessert bar too which also made me happy. We only ordered three entrees for all of us (the kids shared a pizza) and the waiter made sure to tell us that only three people could get the salad and dessert and they didn’t allow sharing. That didn’t stop me from sneaking some bites of chocolate brownie and black olives to my kids though! Everyone felt better after some lunch so we decided to head back down the mountain and complete the bus tour of the island. We found the tram, and we also found a gigantic line for it. It was still pretty windy and the kids were definitely cold, so mom and I took them to find some shelter while the guys waited for a bit. David really wanted to go into a restaurant and follow a bird that he had seen, and didn’t like it when I didn’t let him. He started one of his fits so I quickly told him to stop crying in Mandarin, lifted him to his feet, and made him walk with me. He definitely wasn’t happy with me, and showed me that by letting go of my hand and going to my mom. Oh no, we aren’t playing that game. My mom refused to take his hand and pointed at me, and he started to cry again. This time I picked him up and cradle carried him inside. I tried to distract him and make him laugh, but he still didn’t want to hold my hand and started to cry when he couldn’t hold Baba’s. I again told him to stop crying in Mandarin, held out my hand, and he reluctantly took it and walked with me. We found a little train for the kids to climb on so we did that for a few minutes. Then we went back out to check the line progress. They had moved quite a bit and were about to be on the inside of four lines of people so we hopped back in with them. It was still a pretty long and boring wait. David and Lily both wanted to be held, and we all took turns convincing them not to cry and holding them. Finally we boarded the tram! Lily was on my lap and was literally falling asleep sitting up. David was looking pretty tired too. Lily passed out on me, and I carried her out and onto a green line bus. She then proceeded to sleep on me through the entire tour of Aberdeen, Stanley, and the rest of the Island. To say that my arms and back hurt would definitely be an understatement. The views on this side of the island were just as beautiful. This side was much less developed and had several harbors. Every building was built with tons of windows to maximize the water views. A few of them were so narrow that they looked like they could fall over in a strong wind!

The other place that we wanted to get off the bus was in Aberdeen for the sampan tour. A sampan is an old boat that people use to get around the harbor and fish. Many people actually live on boats in the harbor and it’s like it’s own little fishing town. We climbed aboard our little boat and started our tour of the harbor. About two minutes in dad realized that he didn’t have his wallet. The last time he saw it was at lunch. We spent our 25 minute tour checking and double checking our bags and pockets to make sure that it was indeed missing and to figure out exactly where he had it last. We think that it probably fell out of his pocket on the bus we just left. There was a bus waiting when our sampan tour ended so we got on and headed back to the central station. My dad tried to ask the driver if he could contact the other bus driver, but he didn’t really speak English. When we got back to central he headed up to the Big Bus office to see if anyone there could help him. They gave him a number to call and took his number in case anything turned up. We are not optimistic.

We took the ferry back over to Kowloon where we started. It was already 4:30! The last bus tour of Kowloon begins at 6:00, so if we were going to do it all we pretty much had to go back and get on. The stop was on the same road we had walked earlier, and with a little help from a local who saw me holding a map we arrived there at 5:10. The bus worker told us the bus would arrive at 5:30 so we crossed the street and walked to find some snacks for the kids at 7-11. We made it back, and sure enough the bus came right on time. It was now dark and definitely chillier so we decided to sit downstairs in the bus for this tour. Too bad they still had the air on and it really wasn’t warm! We made it through about half the tour before everyone was self-destructing and ready to get off. Both my parents have an awful cold and were freezing even more than the rest of us! We walked back to our hotel for the night. Brian helped my dad take care of cancelling all of his cards since he had hardly any voice left, and then we ordered room service to feed the kids dinner. We are all so ready to fly home tomorrow! And I’m sure I’ll change my mind at about hour 6 of the long flight, but I don’t even care that I have to be stuck on a plane for 13 hours. Just get me home!!!!  

Thankful

When you’ve spent almost two weeks in a foreign country, it’s very easy to find things you are thankful for! And since it’s already Thanksgiving here, I thought I’d dedicate my thankful post to the good ole’ U. S. of A. On this Thanksgiving I am thankful for:

• Clean water for drinking, bathing and brushing my teeth
• The English language
• Cultural barriers that make excessive staring and unsolicited advice taboo
• Internet that isn’t restricted
• Google translate
• Clean air
• Toilets
• Toilet paper
• Hand soap
• Cleanliness standards in public restrooms and restaurants
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
• My minivan
• Trees
• Running outside
• Traffic laws
• Open space
• My house
• Bedroom doors
• American food!!!!

Even though I definitely miss home, I am thankful for the experience of a different culture to make me appreciate what I have there. And I am thankful for the opportunity to get to experience a piece of my children’s past. And I’m sure poor David will be having many of the same thoughts I am when we get home and he begins to experience culture shock. Everything will look, smell, and sound different to him.

On a serious note, I am of course incredibly thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful that God has given me four precious treasures to raise, even when they drive me nuts! I am thankful for a husband who is always up for an adventure with me, and loves and serves me well. I am thankful for supportive parents who give up two weeks of their life to come to a strange country and help us. I am thankful for a brother and sister-in-law are also great friends and love and encourage us. I am thankful for our friends from Life Group who stand by our side and get on their knees for and with us. I am thankful for my church family who loves and supports us well. I am thankful for all the friends that God has brought into my life. You have all blessed me and shaped me in different ways. And I can’t wait to see you soon!!!!!

From Guangzhou to Hong Kong – Day 11, November 25

This morning I was thinking to myself that I really wouldn’t have much to blog about today, because the only thing on our agenda was packing and traveling to Hong Kong. Boy was I wrong! The morning was rather uneventful. I was up early, so I went down and rode the stationary bike for a good 45 minutes while all the kids were waking up. When I got back I started gathering clothes for our last load of laundry. My plan was to pack one suitcase to use for our time in Hong Kong and not even have to look in the others, so I gathered everything that needed to washed for our final few days and started the last load. I had made plans to Facetime with our Life Group during their Thanksgiving feast, so I quickly showered before it was time for the call. It was great to see everyone’s faces and let them see David for a second. He of course repeated his favorite “ni hao” phrase and waved. Such a charmer. It was so weird to see them eating dinner on Tuesday night, and for us it was already Wednesday morning! And it was also a bit depressing to watch them eat delicious Thanksgiving food. I am totally bumming out about missing Thanksgiving this year. Last time we had Thanksgiving in China I really didn’t mind, but this time I do. If anyone has any Thanksgiving leftovers they would like to deliver to our empty fridge we will gladly take them!

We went downstairs for our last delicious breakfast. We knew that we might not have dinner available later that evening on the train, so our mission was for each adult to covertly make two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using the supplies from the buffet and stick them in mom’s bag. Interesting tidbit – the peanut butter there is really runny. Which makes it tricky when you are trying to wrap a sandwich in napkins to keep for later! We were laughing hilariously at ourselves and how un-sneaky we were. Scott and Catie, you can just picture our time in Ireland and you will know exactly how smooth we were. We also squirreled away 6 bananas and two apples. When everyone was finished eating we went out to the fish pond for one last fish feeding. Oh, and we stole more bread for that. I think we cost the hotel at least two loaves today.

The kids had a great time feeding the fish and the adults enjoyed the beautiful weather. At some point Brian decided to start making crazy faces when Matthew was taking pictures, which led to a whole series of ridiculous pictures by the fish pond. The workers cleaning the pond I’m sure thought we were wacko. But we found ourselves hilarious! I finally decided that I should be responsible and start packing up the massive quantities of things scattered all over our apartment so we headed upstairs. Brian put a movie on for the kids to keep them occupied and I worked on packing. We didn’t want to kids to have too much in their backpacks because we really needed them to be able to carry them while boarding the train, so I had to figure out a way to empty out a bunch of their things into a suitcase along with the gifts and souvenirs we bought. I’m not sure how, but it all managed to fit! I had everything packed and was just waiting on the clothes for Hong Kong to dry by lunch time. We weren’t really hungry yet so Brian took the kids to the playground and the fish pond again while my parents went to the fitness center. I had a whole hour of quiet all to myself in the hotel! It was amazing! During that hour the clothes finished drying, but when I started to take them out I noticed they were still damp and needed a bit more time. I put them back in for what I thought was a 15 minute dry, but all of a sudden water started going in the drum! I quickly realized it was a 15 minute wash and stopped it. But now everything definitely needed more drying time!

Everyone returned to the room so we could go get some lunch at McDonald’s. I wanted to go ahead and take out the clothes so that everything would be packed before we left. Too bad the door to the machine wouldn’t open! I couldn’t get the cycle to pause, and even when I turned it off the lock was still engaged! The shortest drying cycle was two hours, and we were leaving in a little over an hour so letting it finish the cycle wasn’t an option. After everyone took a turn trying to figure it out we decided to call housekeeping. The first woman that tried to fix it was unsuccessful and just told me to let the cycle finish. I explained to her that I couldn’t do that but I’m not sure she understood. Then she started trying all of the other cycles to get it to unlock. I was watching and ready to pounce on the stop button the second I heard water filling that drum again! After a few minutes she decided to call maintenance. At this point we were going to be crunched for time if we wanted lunch, so Brian and I went ahead with the kids while my parents finished getting ready and helped with the washing machine situation. When we left there were a total of three people trying to figure it out!

The walk to McDonald’s is quite short which is great. This McDonald’s has been completely redone and was different from when we were here two years ago. You actually order on a touch screen kiosk, which is great for completely eliminating the language barrier! I did feel slightly uncomfortable though, because two of the workers were literally standing over my shoulder while I ordered. I think they were just waiting to jump in if I needed help, but I felt like I was being monitored during a standardized test! We got our meals, and everyone ate except for David. I had used google translate earlier in the day to tell him our plans for the next few days, and we thought he might be nervous or maybe getting the lovely cold that half of us have. When my parents left they told housekeeping that we needed the clothes out by 2:15. They were going to try to let the cycle finish, but if it didn’t then they would call the engineer to open it. I was starting to get a little nervous that I would run out of time and miss our train, so we had the girls pack up the rest of their food and we headed back. When we got there they told us that they had gotten the door open but the clothes were not quite dry. Well that was definitely an understatement. I don’t know what cycle they put it on, but all of the clothes were soaking wet. I may have had a minor freak out because not only did I not know how pack wet clothes without getting everything else wet, but now half of us didn’t have underwear for the next few days! I was so mad! On what planet does it make sense to wash clothes when someone is about to leave! Thankfully mom came to the rescue with some quick problem solving. We stood in the kitchen wringing everything out the best we could, then we put the clothes inside a plastic bag and inside a laundry bag. Hopefully we will be able to find some way to dry them when we get to Hong Kong. During this time I also noticed that David was starting to feel a little warm. I quickly found the medicine I had packed and tried to give him a dose. He didn’t want to drink it, so we asked the bellhop if he would explain to him in Chinese that it was medicine and tell him he needed to take it. He took one sip and then refused the rest. I think it was too sweet for him.

One last sweep of the apartment and we headed downstairs to the lobby. We met Miko and Aron there with David’s passport and immigrant visa! Woohoo! There is always a chance that there could be a problem issuing visas and you are delayed leaving. I think that Thanksgiving worked in our favor though, because normally you get the visas around 5:00, and they were able to get them early today. We needed to change our yuan over to Hong Kong dollars, so Brian quickly ran off to do that at a bank around the corner before our shuttle came. He returned empty handed ten minutes later because they wouldn’t change it without his passport which I had! Meanwhile poor David was sitting on Matthew’s suitcase literally falling asleep sitting up. He was also very warm. I mentioned to Miko that he wasn’t feeling well and wouldn’t take medicine, and she told me that I had to get him to take it. She said that they check people’s temperatures when they arrive in Hong Kong and they won’t let you in if you are sick. The only way you can come in is after a lengthy medical exam proving that you don’t have some contagious flu. I relayed this message to Brian, and we didn’t know what to do! We definitely didn’t want to arrive at the train station and be sent back to Guangzhou, and we also didn’t want to spend thousands of dollars to change our plane tickets and fly out right then. We decided to have Miko talk to him and try to get him to take it, and then just force it down his throat on the train if he refused to take it. Desperate times folks. She did convince him to take it, so we felt much better at that point. I think Miko took pity on us at this point and offered to come to the train station with us. Originally we would have met here there with David’s visa around 4:30, but since they got them early that wasn’t necessary. Miko said we could change our ticket to an earlier train since we no longer had to wait for it. That sounded good to us! The shuttle took us the station (David totally passed out on me during the trip) and a bellhop came and got all of our bags. Then he started sprinting across the station with them with all of us struggling to keep up! We went through security, then headed upstairs to the ticket office and waiting area. Brian waited with Miko to change our tickets and the rest of us followed Speedy Gonzalez the bellhop up to the waiting area on the fourth floor. Of course Lily had to go to the bathroom, so my mom took her and Caroline while we were waiting. Apparently Lily didn’t want to wait for my mom to find a bathroom with a western toilet, and just pulled her pants and underwear around her ankles in the middle of everything! A Chinese woman was pointing and yelling at my mom to fix the situation. Then we started calling her name, so Lily never did get to go. While she was doing that we learned that we needed to fill out our departure cards, and we needed to do it quickly so we could make the earlier train! I so love that in the US it’s one customs form per family. I had to fill out that card for each kid! Crazy! We got the cards done and took off at another jog to the boarding area. At that point we said goodbye to Miko (and our luggage hoping that the bellhop would indeed deliver it to the train) and entered the boarding area. It took them forever to scan all of our passports, so by the time we got in it was time to get on the train! We were in coach 10 and had to walk all the way to the back of the train. It worked out nicely though, because our car wasn’t full and we were able to spread out a little more. We didn’t buy tickets for David and Lily so they didn’t technically have a seat, but we had enough room for them.

I sat with the boys and Brian sat with the girls to start. Matthew had some school work to do, so he did that while David colored. He did a great job coloring and it definitely kept him busy! The only problem was he kept dropping the markers and caps and I had to go fishing for them. I think the sixth time I hit my head I handed him off to Brian for a different activity. The train ride was very peaceful and I enjoyed seeing a tiny bit of countryside after being in a city for so long. Lily ended up sleeping most of the ride, and we fed the kids their PBJ sandwiches. It took us a little over two hours to get to Hong Kong from Guangzhou. Once we arrived we exited the train and were immediately swarmed by two masked Chinese wielding temperature devices that looked like laser guns. Poor Caroline was in the front, and she looked around panicked trying to figure out if this strange masked person was going to shoot her! I told her that they were just taking her temperature so she stayed still for them. They checked all four kids, and praise God they let us pass. I am so thankful for Tylenol and answered prayers! All the kids are pretty much constantly sneezing or coughing, so I willed them to keep in inside until we got away from the germ inspectors. Of course we had to stop and fill out an immigration card for each person again, which takes a small eternity. Lily kept coughing and I was sure they were going to make her go back and be examined. Hallelujah they didn’t and we made it through customs in Hong Kong. We grabbed our bags and headed out to find a taxi to our hotel. I really expected the train station to have more in it. Like an atm or signs for where to get a taxi. But it didn’t. When we walked outside we were met with a very nice Indian man who offered to take us in his van to our hotel. At first I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know if he was legit, but he had business cards and spoke English and seemed very trustworthy. And he said he would take our Chinese yuan since we hadn’t gotten to change it yet. Is it weird that I totally trusted him because he spoke English and wasn’t Chinese? He ended up being a very nice man and gave us his card if we needed a ride during our stay here. We definitely needed that bit of encouragement and help after the calamity of events from earlier in the day.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile without incident and checked into our rooms. Poor David had a pretty bad screaming fit when Brian left the room to get money. He did let me hold him, but I couldn’t get him to stop crying for any length of time. The poor kid had to be exhausted and confused and definitely not feeling well. Brian came back and we got him to sleep. Then I took Matthew and Caroline over to Baba and Daideo’s room since it was Lily’s turn to sleep with David. Tomorrow we have the day to explore Hong Kong, and then we fly home on Friday!

Consulate Appointment – Day 10, November 24

Today was our last official adoption appointment! We had to meet in the lobby at 8:50 so we went down to breakfast a little earlier than normal. I am pleased to announce that we didn’t have any food-related fits at breakfast today! Yippee! We were traveling to the consulate with five other families, and anticipating the longer than normal wait time we decided to just bring David and to have the other three stay back at the hotel with my parents. I think David enjoyed having our undivided attention. We took the hotel shuttle with the other families from our group, plus two additional families. The shuttle took us to the medical facility where we would receive David’s medical report and walk across the street to the consulate. I was a little worried that he would get nervous about going back to the medical building, but he didn’t seem to mind at all. We all got our reports (we had already learned that the TB test was negative, woohoo!) and then walked down the block to the consulate.

There are always tons of people lined up outside the consulate. Being Americans we get to walk right past all of them and go in another entrance. It was all I could do not to bust out singing “I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free…” Although I was singing it in my head the whole time we were there. We stopped to take a quick picture outside before turning our phone over to Aron since they do not allow phones inside. She gave us directions on where to go, and then we left her there. We were the last in our group, which is surprising since David is always trying to get to the front of the line wherever we go! After a security check, a quick walk through the courtyard to another building, and an elevator ride, we were met with a room full of chaos! For Lily’s adoption it was literally us and one other family. There had to be at least 50 people in that room today! I think because Thanksgiving is on Thursday there were more people than usual scheduled for each day. I’m not even sure if they are doing appointments on Wednesday, because they would be closed for processing the visas. We proceeded to the window to check in and get our number. We were C525. They were currently serving C511. We were definitely in for a wait. This was confirmed a few minutes later when we saw that family that had left the hotel an hour earlier than us was still there! There is a small play area for the kids, but I think it was a little too crowded for David. He was just happy to sit in the chairs with us and wait. Normally we hide snacks and drinks from David because he wants them the second he sees them, but we were only allowed to bring a clear bag into the consulate. About 10 minutes into our wait I caught him opening up his snack cookie. There went our main source of distraction! Oh well. After he finished his snack he got a little braver and took my hand and led me over to the play area. I sat with him while he played with some of the wooden toys at the table. Finally at 10:15 (we got there around 9:30) they called our group up for the first step of the process – taking an oath. Since I was with David, Brian was the representative from our family. It was cool to watch a whole group of people raise their right hand and repeat words about caring for and protecting orphans together. Once that step was over we waited for our individual numbers to be called. We were the last ones from our group (except for the two extra families who joined us on the shuttle) so we watched everyone go up one by one and turn in their paperwork. Finally it was our turn! We handed over our envelope of important documents, received a few things back, and then went back to our seats to wait for the final step. At some point I went to use the bathroom, and it was an actual clean, western bathroom complete with hand soap and toilet paper! I almost just stayed in there marveling at the cleanliness and familiarity of the whole thing. For the final step the man at the window calls you up by name. The room had definitely cleared out at this point, so we could actually hear what he was saying. When it was our turn all three of us went up to the window. I lifted up David so he could see him (this is a required step) and the man said “Ni Hao David!” David, being the charmer that he is, gave him a big smile and a loud “Ni Hao!” right back. Then he continued to say ni hao over and over again to get the man to smile at him. I finally had to put him down so the poor guy could concentrate! He asked us to describe David’s medical condition, then Brian was fingerprinted, and we were done! We walked back across the street to the lobby of the medical facility to meet our group.

The original plan was to meet in the lobby at 11:30 to go to the Chen Family Temple, but we didn’t make it back to the hotel until almost noon! I felt really bad for all the people waiting in the lobby to leave. If we had working phones they could have told everyone to come down 30 minutes later. Oh well. I quickly ran upstairs to drop off our paperwork and grab Dad who had gone back up to watch the Patriots game. To be perfectly honest, I definitely could have done without going back to the Chen Temple again. But I wanted to get a chop (a stamp with David’s Chinese name carved into it) and a name scroll for two of his gifts. What we probably should have done was just have me go and spare everyone else the 90 minutes of waiting around and dealing with tantrums. Sadly, hindsight is 20/20 so we all went. When we got there I went to the gift store first and ordered both of the items I wanted. Then we took a walk around looking at the art exhibits. There are some pretty sweet ivory carvings. We also saw pottery and sculpture, and tried to find the embroidery but were unsuccessful. Once we had seen everything we took a seat on one of the walls and started to give the kids a snack. Lily was upset about something and starting to cry, so I took her on a walk to distract her. As soon as I walked away, David went into a full blown tantrum because Brian tried to give him half a banana and he wanted the whole thing. He did the whole head hitting, shoe throwing, undressing thing and apparently there were all kinds of people staring at him. And not like a subtle looking over their shoulder to see where that noise was coming from. They literally walked over and made a circle around him like it was a show for their own personal entertainment. My dad basically shooed them away, and eventually they got David calmed down. I’m not even sure how. I was happily shopping for tea and looking for another gift for David and missed the whole thing! It was getting close to time to leave, so Brian took the kids outside with my dad to wait at the meeting place while I went to pick up the name scroll. I went out to find them and didn’t see them anywhere! I came back in thinking maybe I missed something, but they weren’t there either. Finally my mom and I started walking to see if maybe they went back to the bus, and then we saw them sitting on benches behind bushes. They were there the whole time, I just couldn’t see them. But, while I was off looking for them David had another tantrum! This one was because he didn’t like the bush poking him in the back while he was sitting on the wall. It also resulted in a audience, complete with a woman videoing the whole thing with her phone. My dad let her know that he was not okay with that, and she quickly ducked her head and walked away. Yep, definitely should have left everyone at home. I don’t know what it is about that place, but Lily had a huge tantrum there two years ago. Anyway, we could not get out of there soon enough!

Mom wanted to go back to Liwan market to look at pearls again, so she and Dad did that while Brian and I took the kids back to the hotel to nap. Miko gave them directions and tried to help them get a cab but they were all full! They finally made it there and walked all over the market. The entire thing, floor after floor after floor, is all jewelry! I have no idea how anyone makes a living. There are so many shops that are all the same, and none of them seem to be busy. It totally blows my mind. Once they were done there they had another adventure with Chinese taxi drivers on the way home. I think my dad is a little over the culture here ;o) While they were off adventuring, Brian and I enjoyed some time relaxing on our bed while the kids all played nicely out in the living room. Maybe there is something to this whole four kid thing after all! After about 30 minutes Lily started self destructing so we decided to enforce nap time after all. Both she and Matthew have a cold and could definitely use the extra rest. David watched the other three go in their room to nap, and then climbed into his bed and went to sleep without complaint! While they were sleeping I went down to run on the treadmill for a while. I am so looking forward to being able to run outside again when I get home!

The two little ones woke up first, and as it got closer to dinner time we started to wake up the other two. We did wait to leave until we watched most of the Patriots game on replay though! This was our last night in Guangzhou and we wanted to go out somewhere. We decided against Chinese food, and thought we would try a new pizza place that opened up nearby called Oggi’s. It was only a short walk away, and was really good! It actually tasted a lot like American pizza! David isn’t a huge fan of pizza yet. I’m sure that will change when his palate is repaired, because it’s a little hard for him to eat right now. The other three kids devoured theirs, and then we walked back to the hotel for bed. Bedtime for David didn’t go as smoothly this time. Probably because he had taken a nap. It went great for me though, because I fell asleep in Lily’s bed while I was snuggling with her and stayed there until midnight! Tomorrow is our last morning in Guangzhou before we head to Hong Kong.

Animals and Boats – Day 9, November 23

We didn’t have to be anywhere until 11:30 this morning. It was great being able to let the kids play and have a bit of a lazy morning. Everyone but me went to work out, so I busted out the kinetic sand to entertain the kids. David still doesn’t like it when Brian leaves, but he seemed alright when we used Google Translate to tell him that Daddy would be right back, and he was going to stay here with Mommy. The first day of work on Monday is sure going to be interesting. And then when all three kids go to school… yikes. The kinetic sand entertained them for quite a while. Most of David’s ended up on the floor. Thankfully his is tan and so is the carpet, so it blended right in. Once Brian got back we started getting the kids ready for breakfast. We headed down there around 9:00. We keep hoping that we’ll get bumped to the 30^th floor, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe they aren’t doing that anymore. After breakfast we came back upstairs and let the kids play some more. They did some combination of sword fighting, wrestling, hide and seek chase. Who knows. But they were happy. At 11:30 we met our group downstairs to go to the Guangzhou Zoo.

The kids always want to sit on the back row of the bus, and this time was no exception. We don’t mind, except there are no seatbelts and one kid always wants to sit in the middle which would result in imminent death if the bus stopped short. We arrived at the zoo and were taken on a shuttle bus tour first so that we could get to know where all the animals were. I sat in the back row facing backwards with all four kids and held David on my lap. Matthew kept pointing out which animal exhibits were stinky and Lily enjoyed telling me about all the mommy and baby animals that she saw. (Mommy and baby is completely arbitrary and solely based on their size.) My favorite part was when we drove past the zebras and Lily was beside herself because she was wearing her zebra shirt! She kept saying “Zebra! Like my shirt! Hi zebra! Look at me zebra! Look at my shirt! I have zebra, and that is zebra!” If only the zebras could speak, I’m sure they would have been equally excited about their appearance on Lily’s clothing. After the shuttle bus ride we were on our own to explore for a little while. We started with Ocean World because the kids wanted to see dolphins, but it was completely deserted. Apparently the dolphins don’t come out in the winter? We did see a wooden sword just like Matthew’s though, which was a total score because his broke so we were able to replace it. Next we backtracked to see Matthew’s choice of pythons and Caroline’s choice of turtles. We are definitely spoiled by the quality of zoo in America. They operate on a low maintenance standard here, which means that the animals always have food readily available and the glass is rarely cleaned. We peered in to see the turtles and the snakes. I’m not sure how many snakes were actually in the tanks, because we really couldn’t see in very many of them. We were able to see the pythons though, along with the cute little bunnies that were hopping around in their cage. (See what I mean about low maintenance?) The girls were all about the bunnies, and then Matthew tactfully told them that the bunnies were going to be eaten by the snakes. Moving on! Quickly please! On to the alligators! Thankfully there wasn’t any visible prey in the alligators habitat. We came upon more snakes and some lizards, and David discovered two cute fuzzy little ducklings all snuggled up in the front of one of the tanks hoping to avoid their demise. I had to drag him away from those. Once the violent death section of the tour was over, we headed to find the giraffes, elephants, and zebras. We took a little detour to check out the flamingos and swans and saw quite a few lions. I don’t like looking at the lions. It depresses me. They are stuck in these tiny little cages and they just lay there sleeping. I heard that they actually drug a lot of the animals to keep them docile, and I think that was the case here. Wow, death and drugs. This is a depressing zoo trip so far! Nothing like feeding leaves to giraffes to bring a little sunshine into the day. We paid a few dollars to let each of the kids have a turn feeding the giraffes. David and Lily didn’t like that the older two got to go first and were starting to throw mini temper tantrums. We somehow managed to prevent them from escalating and handed the two younger ones over the fence for their turn. It was getting close to time for us to go, so we started walking back toward the front gate. Along the way we checked out the stinky elephants and tried to see the zebras up close but they were hiding. We did find the tigers, but when we walked up the male was trying to mate with the female, so we orchestrated another quick exit as the kids asked what they were doing. Wrestling. Definitely wrestling. That pretty much concluded our time at the zoo. Then it was back to the hotel for a few hours to rest.

The kids were all pretty tired so we instituted nap time for all of them. David was definitely not having it. As soon as I put him in bed and closed the curtains he started crying and trying to escape. I started the routine of repeatedly putting him back in bed and using my phone to explain to him that it was nap time. It’s really funny to go back and look at all of the things we have translated. You can definitely tell when we are trying to calm him down from a tantrum! I think I tried every trick in the book for a while, and finally told him that if he kept crying I was going to leave the room. So I did. I stood outside the door and listened to him scream for a good long time. Then I went back in and asked him if he was ready to stop crying and take a nap. I pulled him into the bed next to me and started playing the twinkle twinkle little star song I have. The kids love it because it has a little Asian girl doing all the signs for it. That finally worked. I let him watch it on repeat for a while, and then told him that it was time for bed. He didn’t like that and started the crying again, so I started making up lullabies using the little Mandarin that I’ve learned. The one that stuck basically repeated good night and I love you over and over again. He kind of fussed and whined a few more times, but at some point he did voluntarily get under the covers and eventually fall asleep. I decided to take some time for myself and worked on the blog some too. Then I went down to the exercise room and rode the bike for about 30 minutes before our next event.

We met our group in the lobby again for the Pearl River Cruise. We always get there super early and have to wait for our guides to buy our tickets. We waited upstairs where there were couches. Something else I find strange is that there are usually stains on all of the furniture. These couches were no different. I have no idea what people are doing on them, but they are definitely not neat! Even if they technically are clean, you definitely don’t feel clean sitting on them. And I am not a neat freak by any means! Miko came up to give us our tickets. Lily just loves Miko ever since I told her that she was our guide last time, and she always asks where her friend Miko is. I think Miko loves Lily too, because she gave her a few snacks while we were waiting. We all had a taste and they were delicious! It was like a cross between a cheeto and a churro. It was finally time to board the boat so we went downstairs and got in line. You totally have to stand your ground in any kind of line and box people out or they will completely cut in front of you. We got on the boat and found our table right away. We all wanted to sit together and the largest tables they had were for six, so we pulled up an extra chair and I had Lily sit on my lap. Almost the entire time that we were on the boat they were making some type of announcement really loudly in Chinese. They never translated them so I have no idea what they were saying, but I think at some point they announced that dinner was starting because there was a mad dash for the buffet line. Now most of the time when you have a buffet there is a definite starting and ending point and everyone travels in the same direction. Not here. Here you grab a plate and just start doing whatever you want. It doesn’t matter if the person in front of you was there first or if everyone else is going in the opposite direction. You just grab the serving spoon and elbow your way in. I somehow managed to survive getting food for myself and the girls at the same time. The food was definitely not as good as the hotel buffet, and it’s also all Chinese. I tried to stick to the safe things like fried rice, egg rolls, and steamed buns. I definitely did not try the chicken feet. The kids managed to find enough things that weren’t spicy. The cookies were for sure the biggest hit. Good thing we got them when we did, because they were all gone very quickly! All of a sudden the crazy loud announcements started again, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. Since everyone except David was done eating, we handed him a roll to go and headed upstairs to escape the noise. Neon and LED lights are very popular in China, which is also why the river cruise is so popular. All of the bridges are completely lit up along with most of the buildings along the shoreline. The views are really very nice. When we got up to the top deck we walked smack into a line of people waiting to get their picture taken. The girl told me that you could get a free keychain, but I didn’t really want to wait in the long line. So instead we walked around it and took our own pictures right next to them. Both Matthew and Lily have a cold right now, and Matthew wasn’t really digging the boat ride. After about 10 minutes of standing up there he was ready to go back down. I wanted to wait until I saw the Skylon tower and so did everyone else so he ended up sitting on the ground with my mom or Brian most of the time. I could tell David was a little nervous about being on the boat. I held him in the beginning and he would kind of whimper when I got too close to the side for his liking. Even when he wasn’t being held he stayed right next to us and was always holding someone’s hand. We also eventually decided to get our picture taken because the line died down. Caroline of course didn’t want to be in it, so instead of having a picture with a missing kid just Brian and I took one together. Finally we got to the turnaround point with the tower directly behind us. We took a few more pictures and then headed back down to see if they had entertainment like they did previously.

We entered in the middle of a magic act. Or maybe she was an illusionist. I’m not sure, but the part of her act that we saw consisted of her swallowing 5 razor blades and a piece of string, and then pulling everything back out with the razor blades all tied to the string. There were a lot more hand flourishes and dramatic pauses mixed in there, but that was basically the gist of it. The boat high tailed it back down the river, and we arrived back at the dock shortly after 8:00. Right before we got off we asked Aron how to pick up our keychain and she told us to hurry down to the first floor. It was a flurry of activity with a “line” if you can call it that with everyone reaching and talking really loudly. We finally gave our ticket to the guy behind the table and got to see our pictures. The large photo was only about $3 so we bought those in addition to our free key chains. We squeezed through the crowd and made it back to our bus. The kids were all exhausted and I thought we’d lose some on the drive back, but they all stayed awake. As soon as we got back it was time for bed! One day hopefully I will be able to stay awake past the kids’ bedtimes, but it definitely hasn’t happened lately!

Shopping in Guangzhou – Day 8, November 22

Praise the Lord I slept past 3am for the first time since arriving in China! I actually got 10 hours of sleep last night! Today is a new day indeed! Our little buddy woke up smiling as always today, and loves to just look out the window and talk to himself. I’m still not feeling completely well, but I decided that I might try to run on the treadmill this morning since I was actually well-rested. Mom was going to Facetime with family back home so I tried to get that going so I could say hi before I went. We keep having issues with our VPN, so I could not get it to connect. I was quickly running out of time to run, so I gave up and went downstairs. It’s really hard to choose your speed on Chinese treadmills because everything is in km. Who knows how far or fast I actually ran, but I only had 20 minutes before I had to get ready for breakfast. When I got back upstairs they had gotten Facetime to work, so I got to talk to Scott, Catie, Sandy and Lauren for a few minutes! We didn’t get to talk long because we had to get breakfast before we met our group at 9:00. I had everyone go ahead and met them down there.

David is definitely still having some issues related to food. He eats great and doesn’t even mind sharing, but if he drops anything or eats something he doesn’t like, then watch out. Today we have no idea what the problem was, but Mom was sitting with the kids while the other three adults got food, and all of a sudden we hear David crying. Apparently something happened that he didn’t like, and he went into one of his fits where he hits his head, kicks off his shoes, and throws stuff. This time he threw the fork that he was holding in his hand and hit my mom with it! Brian scolded him, took away his food, and took him out of there immediately. He didn’t calm down until we eventually brought him back to his food. I can’t wait until I can use Google Translate all the time and actually talk to him! It’s nearly impossible to teach him anything or discipline him in any way with no communication.

Breakfast finished with no further incidents, and then we met our group in the lobby for a picture. Brian actually missed the picture because he was taking Matthew to the bathroom, but oh well. Our first stop of the day was the Liwan market where you can buy pearls and jade. My mom and I had planned to go out with a personal shopper later that day and she could have taken us to get pearls probably a little cheaper, but since we were already here and wanted to make the best use of our time we just did our pearl shopping here. I got a bracelet for David’s future wife (I got the girls and Matthew’s future wife one last time) and mom got a bracelet too. I was very intrigued by the black pearls, so Brian bought me a necklace and bracelet made out of them. Merry Christmas to me! The pearl shop was a different one than last time, and it was very tiny and very hot! Even with all the kids and dads waiting outside, I could not wait to get out of there. The kids were mostly entertained by drinking the free water they gave us, playing with the stools, and riding up and down the nearby escalator. At 11:00 it was time to head to our next location, Shamian Island.

Shamian Island is where all of the adoptive families used to stay because it used to be the location of the U.S. Consulate and the medical examination facility. Both of those things have since moved to other parts of Guangzhou, so now families stay at a variety of hotels. The island is still home to lots of little shops and restaurants, and is frequented by brides taking their wedding photos. Since we were there on a Sunday the island was very crowded. Last time we went on a Tuesday and we basically had the place to ourselves, but our guides had to change our schedule and we ended up there on Sunday instead. Last time I did most of my shopping for Lily’s gifts on the island, but since I knew we would be shopping with Ann I decided to wait on that. We did let the kids each pick out one souvenir though. We went into Michaels which was the store that gave Lily a little lamb phone last time we were there. Matthew and David both picked out wooden swords, and Caroline and Lily chose wooden frogs that make music when you rub a stick across their ridged backs. Happy with their treasures we headed to Lucy’s for lunch. Lucy’s is a restaurant on the island that is popular among Americans because it has a variety of familiar American food. Last time I was so busy shopping that I didn’t really get to eat there, so I wanted the experience this time. We got the kids quesadillas, mom and dad got grilled cheese, I got a club sandwich, and my crazy husband still got a Chinese selection of beef noodles. That worked out well for David since he didn’t like his quesadilla or fries. We are learning that he doesn’t like to eat food with his hands, and neither of those are fork-friendly. We almost had another food catastrophe when he shoveled a spoonful of spicy salsa into his mouth before we could stop him, but some quick action by us and a water substitution helped. I think the kid definitely needs a nap. He’s definitely struggling a bit today.

During lunch the kids spotted the playground that we had been telling them was nearby, so as soon as the last bite touched their lips they were practically dragging us out the door. My parents went for a walk around the island while Brian and I let the kids play. There’s really not a whole lot to the playground. There’s one section that I’m not even sure how kids are supposed to play with. It’s basically a triangular section that’s closed off with bars all around. It looks more like a tiny prison for misbehaving children. Of course Lily had to go to the bathroom while we were there, and David followed right after us. I found the one stall with a western toilet and had them both in there. It was all I could do to get inside the stall and close the door before the two of them had their pants around their ankles. They were apparently competing for who could get on the toilet first. Pretty much every bathroom in China is disgusting. This one was no different. I was pretty much trying not to touch anything and hold my breath while keeping little hands off the mop and bucket that were in our stall, preventing David from sticking his hand in the toilet, and perching the kids on the side of the seat because the whole front was wet from who knows what. And of course there is never any toilet paper or soap. Totally sanitary. I cannot wait to have clean bathrooms again!!!! The kids lasted about 30 minutes on the playground before they were hot and bored. As we were walking out poor David was completely flattened by a little boy who was jumping down backward off of the playground. He was not happy, so I carried him over to the river. He perked up when he saw the water. We walked down the river for a bit while the boys practiced their sword fighting skills. Then we took them to 7-11 to get some ice cream. We got 5 ice cream cones for $5! All was right with the world, until David’s ice cream started melting. The tops of the cones were wavy, so any time he tilted his cone a drop fell out. I don’t know if he didn’t like the feeling of the melted ice cream on his hand or if he couldn’t handle even one drop going to waste, but he about lost his mind! He started his head hitting screaming fit, which you can imagine when you have an ice cream cone in one hand how that might go. We grabbed his ice cream to try to calm him down, then we would give it back. But each time another drop fell the same thing would happen. We tried giving him a spoon to help him eat it faster, that didn’t work either. Finally I decided he just couldn’t handle ice cream in a cone so Brian took him away down the street and I threw away his cone. I stayed with the other kids while they finished theirs and then we walked to meet everyone in front of Starbucks. Apparently David screamed the entire walk there. My parents could hear him coming! We talked to a sweet Chinese man named James outside of Starbucks for a while who was practicing his English and saving up money so he could come to the U.S. Then Brian and my dad headed back to meet the bus and my mom and I went to meet Ann for our shopping adventure!

We were supposed to meet her at the West Victory Hotel, so we got some cash out of the ATM and headed there. We waited for a few minutes, and then as it got closer to 2:30 and I didn’t see her, I started to wonder if there was more than one Victory Hotel. Mom asked someone at the desk while I went to check a map on the street and sure enough there was! We were at the east building. The man gave us directions and we raced down the street to find the right hotel. Too bad we went one street too far and ended up back tracking! The hotel was literally directly across the street from where we got money out. We didn’t have to go anywhere at all. Whoops. We found Ann right outside, and then walked to the corner to grab a taxi. Since it was Sunday there were hardly any cabs around. We stood on one corner for a good five minutes without seeing a single one, and then decided to walk over the bridge off the island to a busier road. Lots of cabs passed us, but they were all full. Then all of a sudden I noticed that an older couple who had been walking behind us went up the road a little bit to hail a cab. That way they would be seen by the cab driver first and get a cab before us. Not cool! Thankfully they weren’t as skilled at watching the road as Ann was. She pretty much just kept her arm out. An occupied cab must have seen her first, and stopped right in front of us to let his patrons out. The older couple saw what was happening and started running down the road trying to steal our cab! The woman was talking over Ann to the driver and basically tried to body block us from getting in! But we pushed around her and got in the back, and eventually Ann must have convinced the driver to take us instead of them and got in the cab too. Once we were in she told us that the driver wanted to take them instead of us because they were going farther and would have given him a higher fare, and the woman was arguing that they were there first. Ann told her that no, we were there first. So pretty much both the cab driver and the couple were ticked off! But we were happy because we were on our way to our shopping adventure.

Our first stop was a wholesale market to buy silk scarves and traditional silk Chinese clothing. Ann took us in a building and up an escalator to a tiny shop in the middle of a bunch of other tiny shops. Think flea market on steroids. This shop had gorgeous real silk scarves. We both spent a few minutes picking the ones we liked best. I also had to teach mom how to wear a scarf, since we Floridians don’t have a whole lot of practice! The next shop was right across the way and was equally as tiny. It’s so interesting to me how they fit so much stuff in such a tiny space. There are all kinds of things on display, but if you push them aside and look in the back, there is an even bigger selection of everything in all different sizes and colors! I picked out another traditional dress for Lily to wear when she’s older, and I chose two for David. One to wear for the next few years in a deep royal blue, and one to wear when he grows out of those in black and red. I also got a traditional dress for myself, because why not! We have a Chinese New Year party every year. I had to try them on over my clothes because there is absolutely no size translation to US sizes. I think I ended up with an XL or maybe an XXL? I want to know who is wearing the extra smalls! Everywhere we went Ann would tell us the price of things in US dollars, and other the price for the same things in other places. The same silks for David and Lily on Shamian island would range from $10 to $15. I got them for $2.50. Gotta love a bargain! Mom didn’t have a reason to buy a traditional dress, but she did get a really pretty silk robe. The last shop we visited in this building had a bunch of traditional wooden toys. I got each of the kids a little stocking stuffer from there, and I got David a kaleidoscope with Pleasant Goat and the Big Bad Wolf on it. According to Ann, all Chinese kids watch the cartoon Pleasant Goat. I’ll put that away for one of David’s Gotcha Day gifts.

We left that market and grabbed another cab to find board games, jade, and cloisonné. This time grabbing a cab was much smoother, although we did have one refuse to take us first because we weren’t going far enough. When the second cab pulled up we went ahead and got in, and then Ann told him where we wanted to go. Much harder to refuse people when they are already in your car! The ride was about 10 minutes, and we got out in another area that was equally busy and chaotic as the first. I guess if you grow up in China you are able to tell where things are (and probably read street signs), but to me everything is the same and it’s neverending! If you left me alone in the middle of the road there would be no way I’d find my way back. Ever. And I’m usually pretty good with directions. This time we didn’t go into a building, we just walked along the street to find the shops. The first one had awesome board games. I wanted a mahjong set for our family and a chess set for David. My mom also saw this really cool compass outside the door that I got for him too. Ann negotiated the prices for us, then we went on to the next shop while the shop owner got everything boxed up. We were walking along the street when all of a sudden she told us to stop at the corner and wait there while she got someone to let us in. She returned a few minutes later and led us down a tunnel. We had no idea where we were going, but it looked like it used to be a subway or something. Underneath the streets were warehouse shops with huge jade carvings and other large merchandise for sale. Ann told us that they don’t let tourists come down here, this is where the people with big money shop. Then she stopped in front of a locked door and the girl she had gotten to help us opened it up. It looked like a small treasure room in there! There were all kinds things lining the floor. Metal lanterns and sculptures, boxes of Chinese knives, wooden carvings, all kinds of stuff. She led us to a shelf in the back and started opening up boxes of cloisonné ornaments. Ann gestured to all of the things on the floor and said that on Shamian island the shops sell these things as antiques. They aren’t antiques, and they buy them here and mark them up! I bought a box of really exquisite butterfly ornaments for our tree. The entire box of 6 cost me $10, and on the island I would have paid at least that for just one ornament. As the day went on I became more and more glad that I didn’t buy anything on the island! We made it unscathed out of the super sketchy underground lair, and returned to pick up our board games. Ann told us that they man was trying to charge us 520RMB, but that we only owed him 380RMB. We went with what she said, paid him the 380, and got out of there! I decided that I did want to see if there was any jade I wanted to get for David. I didn’t really want to get him jewelry, but since jade is such a big deal in China I didn’t want to leave with nothing. We walked a little farther down the road to a jade shop where the owner had a dog that I thought was a cat at first. In there I got David a jade family ball, a jade rock with a dragon carving, and two lions carved out of jade. At that point my feet and legs and arms were pretty much done, but we had one more stop to make. Mom was interested in seeing some gold so Ann took us to a plaza that reminded me a little of Times Square, but even busier if that’s possible. We went into two jewelry stores there to see what they had. We learned that in China gold is a big deal. In the states, people want diamonds. In China, people want gold. And they want pure gold. None of the 14 carat stuff like we have. I must say, the gold jewelry was absolutely amazing. It was incredibly bright and shiny and had beautiful intricate designs. Since it was such high quality gold, it was also much more expensive. Mom decided to pass, and that completed our shopping trip! Ann helped us hail a cab and we rode back to our hotel, exhausted and exhilarated.

When we got back at 5:30 three kids and Brian were sleeping. Apparently Lily fell asleep leaning over the side of a chair while eating a lollipop. None of us really wanted to walk anywhere for dinner, so I gave David and Lily baths while Brian went down to the hotel lobby to see what food he could find. The food in the hotel is safe to eat, so I was actually able to enjoy a salad for the first time since arriving here! They always have salad available on the breakfast buffet, but I just can’t manage to eat it at 8am. The kids had pigs in a blanket which they were over the moon excited about. After dinner we gave the other two kids showers and let them relax and play for a little while before bed. David didn’t put up a fight at all about going to bed tonight! Woohoo! Even though I got 10 hours of sleep last night, I was still pretty tired to I went to bed right after them. Here’s to another night of sleeping!