Last day in Guangzhou

We are headed home in the morning!!!! Whoohooo.... We have had a blast but are very ready to be home with the boys and the rest of the family. I could not access the internet last night to upload pictures from our consulate appointment so here they are. Yesterday we went to the Jade and Pearl Market after our consulate appointment. WOW..... I am just glad that we had our interpreter with us to help us out. He has been amazing to us. Today we went on an adventure with Kim, Doug and Lakelin. We tried to find some outdoor market for kids clothes with no such luck! It also took us 45 mins to get a cab. We kept getting bypassed for some reason. After shopping we had a nice Italian dinner as our celebration dinner. We got the kids' visas and papers to enter the US tonight too!!! We are ready! 

 Lily in the play room

 Lily in her pretty consulate appt outfit

 Daddy and Lily

 Mommy and Lily

 Lily and Lakelin

 Lily on our way to the consulate

 No camera's allowed inside so we took a picture in the lobby

 Mommy and Lily at the Pearl market

Visa paperwork to enter the states..... DO NOT OPEN!!!

1 week

Today we had TB tests read. We have been cleared medically. Amen! We all passed TB so we decided that we would head to the zoo. As we pulled in Lily passed out. I would say if you are here in Guangzhou don't go to the zoo. I think the conditions are awful for the animals. We saw lots of them but the conditions are nothing like we have in the states. I really don't think Lily got too much out of it. All in all a great day yet again. This little princess is truly a princess in every way. She loves everything girly. She is such a blessing to us already. I am more in love with her everyday. She is so funny! She dances, sings, and is a "ham" for all of us. She just loves Lakelin and I am so sure she will miss that little girl. I guess we are going to have to visit Iowa! 

 Lily asleep at the zoo

 Brown bear begging for food from a lady

 These were the conditions.... No water, cement and very little area for each animal. I was SO mad!!!

 The 4 girls from our agency!!!!

 She loved the pigs

 An entire and I mean entire roasted duck

 Lily and Lakelin on our walk back to the hotel

 First shoulder ride on daddy and she loved it

Day 6 with Lily

Today was yet another great day!!!! We finished our Visa paperwork, played at the hotel, our guide took us to Dim Sum and shopped at a few of the local shops. Lily has a fascination with my hair so several hours in the afternoon she played with my hair, brushed it and put hair ties in it. She was having a blast and so was I. We walked the grounds and found a ton of Koi fish. She loved them! She has been fighting a cold so our guide got us some Chinese herbal medicine from the pharmacist and I kid you not she has not coughed from the moment we gave it to her..... Shawn says we are buying 10 bottles and raising the price for our US friends! LOL She fell asleep at 745 and we have been hanging out in the hotel room watching the discovery channel. Precious mommy and daddy time! Love it! Tomorrow is reading the TB test results and some sightseeing with our guide. We were going to go to the zoo but since we don't go to the clinic until 230 we decided to forego that idea. 

 Lily and mommy at breakfast

 She is telling me all about the fish

 Koi ponds at the Garden Hotel

 A lady gave her a piece of bread to feed the fish

 Checking things out

 Christmas tree in our lobby from the 3rd floor

 Mommy and Lily again

 She loves bows now

Lily LOVES Lakelin and wanted all of us to hold hands while we were shopping

Guangzhou (Finally)

We made the short trek to Guangzhou!!! This is our final stop before we head home (in 6 days!!!!) If I had a choice I would have stayed here all 2 weeks. The Garden Hotel is AMAZING to say the least. It is a 5 star hotel that is beyond what I ever expected. This is a very large city of approx 16.5 million people in this city. We did not have internet connection yesterday as we waited for Lily's Chinese passport. Our guide could not pick it up until 5 pm therefore we ended up changing our flight from 7 to 9 pm (after Lily's bed time). Then..... our flight was delayed for almost 2 hours. We had to wait in the very small and VERY HOT Nanning airport with a 2 year old who was hot and tired. When she is tired and bored she decides that it is fun to go to the bathroom 1200 times. Did I mention they had "squatty potties?" Nasty with pee all over the floor and she felt it was super cool to go in multiple times. Anyways, we finally got on the plane and she was so excited to see all of the new things. She watched everyone and was great on the flight. We didn't get to Guangzhou until midnight and checked into our hotel around 1 am. She fell asleep as we were landing and stayed asleep until 730 this morning. 

We got up and have a free breakfast buffet which is HUGE!!!! Western and Chinese breakfast with everything you can imagine to eat. After breakfast we had our medical at the travel clinic. Today the clinic has been the busiest that they have seen in over 4-5 years. They saw about 100 adoptive families there today. It was hot and busy. We have had nothing but hot weather. 70 and up everyday. Today was 80 and tomorrow will be 85. It is very humid too. We packed for winter so we sent our laundry out so we could have our short sleeves back. I am also soaking stuff in the tub now. 

Tomorrow is finalizing Visa paperwork and checking out some of the shops around here. We had Starbucks, Pizza Hut and great Mexican tonight. Our guide is taking us to the zoo, shopping on Shamin Island, a river cruise and said he would even take us to lunch and or dinner one day for traditional Chinese food. 

As for Lily...... She is acting like she has never had another family!!!! Praise God!!!! She is also picking up on signs really well. Of course here favorite is to sign "cookie more please" the kid LOVES to eat snacks!

We also met another family that I have been talking with from our agency and the girls play great together. Kim, Doug and Lakelin (their newly adopted 6 yr old girl) are from Iowa. What a wonderful Christian family. Can't wait to watch Lakelin blossom. I think we maybe going to Iowa to visit one day.

 In Nanning before we left

 First airplane ride

 Christmas tree in the lobby of the Garden Hotel

 Waiting at the medical clinic

 Lakelin, Kim, me and Lily 

 Lily was watching a little girl have a tantrum

 Lily and daddy

 Fell asleep on the bus back to the hotel

 Our room at the Garden (King bed)

 This is a glass wall with a remote control curtain between the bedroom and bathroom. It has a rain shower in it too!!! Felt so good at 1 in the morning.

 Our view 

 Our view

 Living room to the front door

Other direction of the living room.