A "Relaxing" Day on Shamian Island

First off let me say that my idea of relaxing isn't the same as Abby's idea of relaxing. That girl had me on the run the entire day!!

After waking up very early (actually closer to the middle of the night than morning!) we got dressed and wandered around the White Swan for a bit. It was very dark and quiet and we watched the staff starting to set up the breakfast buffet, checked out all the big jade carvings, and wandered all throughout the lower area of shops and the fish ponds.

After a very early breakfast we decided to walk in the park and watch all the people doing their morning exercizes. Abby thoroughly enjoyed this special time with just mom -- something that we don't get to do very often at home. The gardens in the park are so peaceful early in the morning. We then spent a couple of hours just strolling around the island and watching it slowly wake up.

At 10:00 we met up with our guide Rebecca to go shopping at the Carrefore store for baby essentials, snacks, and bottled water. We also met Sara and Brian, the other family in our group who are adopting a Guangdong baby. The rest of our group will arrive here on Friday since their children are in other provinces.

As soon as we got back to the hotel Abby was immediately ready to set out again. Sara and Brian joined us and we again walked from one end of the island to the other and back again. And any of you who know our Abby personally know that she talked a mile a minute to anyone who would listen the entire time! We were wandering around for almost three hours. I think Abby tried to explore every inch of every shop we went into and every street and alley we ventured down.

After a late lunch at Lucy's around 3:00, per Abby's requested itinerary it was time to hit the swimming pool. Even though the afternoon was quite warm the pool water was too chilly for Abby to stay in long. So we came back to our room, ran a full tub of warm water and she jumped in with her bathing suit on. We blew up the beach ball, starfish and fish and pretended it was the pool. By that time she was so exhausted that we snacked lightly in our room and she was snuggled up in bed and snoring by 5:30! And there wasn't another peep out of her until 5:30 this morning.

Hopscotch in the park

Abby has decided that China is her favorite place in the whole wide world!

Adventures in Japan

Our flight from Seattle to Japan was basically uneventful. When we arrived in Japan, however, we had a little bit of excitement. Our plane was boarded by heavily masked health inspectors and every passenger had to have a thermal screen done to look for signs of swine flu. Thankfully everyone passed and we were allowed to continue deplaning.

We had a three hour layover at the Narita airport, during which Abby lost a tooth! We found it on the floor and have it safely put away in a ziplock baggie so that we can bring it home and leave it under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

Health inspectors

I wonder what these guys thought about all the passengers taking their photos!

Abby in Narita Airport

Missing tooth

We are in Guangzhou

Abby and I made it safely to Guangzhou late last night. The trip was tiring and long as usual and we were so happy to finally fall into bed. I will post some photos of our more interesting experiences as soon as I can get the camera hooked up.

So here I sit, wide awake at 4:30 am (actually Abby and I were both awake and out of bed at 3:30!). Today we will be meeting another family in our travel group and going out to do some necessities shopping (diapers, formula, bottled water, etc.). The rest of the day will just be spent relaxing!

And We're Off!

Twelve hours from now we will be walking out the front door of our house -- heading to the airport and the first leg of the journey that will bring our precious RubyJane home from China! At times it seemed like this day would never arrive. But it is finally here and I'm sure I will not sleep a wink tonight. My next post should be from Guangzhou!!

Travel Approval!

Finally, almost six months after seeing Ruby's precious little face for the very first time, we have received that coveted golden ticket -- our official Travel Approval from the CCAA. Our plane tickets have been purchased, our US Consulate immigration visa appointment has been confirmed, and we are almost finished packing.

Abby and I will be leaving Seattle on May 1st. We will receive Ruby at the Civil Affairs office of Guangdong Province some time on May 4th. Our Consulate appointment is May 12th and we will be returning home on May 14th. China here we come!!!

Sweet Baby Ruby

We can hardly wait to finally hold you in our arms!

Eggs-cellent Day

Sorry, I just couldn't pass up the play on words.

On Saturday we did our annual Easter egg coloring extravaganza. The girls are all such pros at this now. And this year they are all old enough to have a bit of patience, letting the eggs sit in the dye for more than 10 seconds. The colors turned out very vivid and some of the combinations were truly beautiful.

We colored FIVE Dozen Eggs!! We will be eating egg-salad sandwiches for weeks to come.

OK, let's get this party started!

Annie's first egg ready to drop in the dye

Abby carefully positioning her egg just right

Ellie and Abby comparing their creations

The finished product

A Visit to the Zoo

Today was our last day of Spring Break and we finally saw the sun for the first time. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed to our local Zoo. We have been visiting this zoo with our kids for over 30 years. It continues to improve every year and the girls always have so much fun. According to the girls, today their favorite exhibits were the beluga whales, the sharks, the tigers, and the penguins.

Three little "spiders" on their web

Ellie the "snail"

Abby's favorite animal -- she was born in the year of the snake

A couple of "monkeys" testing their climbing skills

Abby

Maddie

Can you spot the hiding "lemur"?

My favorite of the day