Finally Home!

We traveled home on Saturday, June 21. It started with Annie and me waking at 4:00 AM with the kids getting up at 5:00 AM. We had to catch a flight from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, which only took about an hour. Then we had to board the flight to Chicago - 14 hours! It's one of those flights for which you wished they could put you into suspended animation. We finally got home at about 9:45 PM after several time zone changes, a connection in Chicago, and customs and immirgration. I was completely surprised at how well both Little Annie and Rose Xiufen did. There was very little complaining and no melt-downs. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures except for a few at the Hong Kong airport.

Since coming home Rose Xiufen seems to be doing quite well. She has shown an interest in meeting our neighbors and likes to talk to them in Chinese. She's taken a strong and instant liking to her grandma and grandpa and has enjoyed playing baseball and badminton with me, Little Annie and grandpa in the backyard. It has taken her a few days to get used to our little dog, Lucy, however. She didn't like the way she jumped on her when she first met her. But now they're used to each other - Lucy doesn't jump on her and she doesn't run away shreiking!

Little Annie graduated the fourth grade and is now on her way up to middle school, as of June 26. We all went out to Frendly's to celebrate. Here are some pictures of them there:

Today, we start the un-exciting process of living as a family in a small up-state New York village. Grandma and grandpa, who have done more for us than any couple should ever have to think of, have left to return to their home and their normal lives. Now, we have doctor appointments, school placement examinations, learning the ABC's and just getting to know each other for the summer. We look forward to every minute!

American Consulate

On Friday, June 20, we went to the American Consulate for the final interview and to collect our visa papers so we could bring Xiufen home. The morning started with shopping, followed by a lot of swimming in the hotel pool, then the ride to the consulate. No nap. Late night finishing packing for the trip home early (wake up at 4:00 AM) Saturday. Kind of a recipe for disaster!
















These are my daughters getting ready for the Consulate appointment.

This is us with the Meaghan-Kendricks at the Consulate.

Safari Preserve in Guangzhou

On the outskirts of Guangzhou, there is a nice park, the XiangJiang game preserve, that boasts the largest collection of white tigers in the world. I believe we were told that there is more than 100 of them there. It covers a large amount of area and most of it can be seen from small from small train carts that give tours through the preserve. We were lucky to be there when they were feeding the tigers. The kids, of course, loved seeing the giraffes, deer and peacocks close-up. Most of it was green space with a few lakes in the middle for the swans and pelicans. During the week Thursday, June 19, it was pretty quiet there, which was nice because it was the first time we had been without crowds since we landed in China. This was much more relaxing than the other tours we have been on.

This is us getting on the train. Xiufen was getting a little weary of my taking pictures, at this point, and was trying to hide. Our guide, Kelly, was in the lead with her little girl, followed by Amalie (Xiufen's friend from the Beijing Chldren's Welfare Institute) on the left and Xiufen on the right and Little Annie behind them.








Couldn't get a good picture of a white tiger, but here is one of their others. Good thing they had a deep mote and fencing between us and them!

My favorites were the Macaws. They had a large collection of them to greet us at the entrance to the park.

We began the packing process last night and Xiufen seemed to become a little agitated. At first, we thought it was because she was afraid of leaving China. After awhile though, we found out that it was because she didn't like the idea of not having a suitcase (maybe afraid of being left behind?). That was easy to fix on Shamian Island - within 10 minutes I had a nice big suitcase for her, much to her approval!

Pictures from Wednesday

Children's Park in Guangzhou

Wednesday, June 18, we went to a children's park across town in Guangzhou. It had a few rides and climbing areas for kids. Like many parks in Chinese cities, there were areas where people could exercise outdoors by dancing or doing Tai Chi or Qi Gong. All of the pictures are from the park. It has been raining everyday, so the trip to the park was cut short. We had lunch at a great Mongolian resaurant. Probably the most interesting thing we had were these bananna dumplings cooked in molten sugar. You had to quench them in cold water before eating them. Then the two Annies went to the silk market while Xiufen and I came back to the hotel to try to take a nap.

Tuesday's Pictures

Physical and Boat Ride

Today, June 17, we took Xiufen to the local clinic for her physical. Everything went well with that. There is one picture of everyone in the waiting room. After that, we went swimming. That was a lot of fun and pretty relaxing. The White Swan has a nice swimming pool with a wading area. We started Xiufen out there. After she got used to that, we all got in the deeper part. She THINKS she can swim, but she really just thrashes around and needs someone to hold her at all time, much to her dismay. After a nap, we all went for an evening boat ride and took pictures of the building lights along the Pearl River. Two are of a building that has lights set up for the Olympics with the Friendlies.