Category: Travel

Before Jaime and Chris left we tried the group shot one more time and Dani looked at the camera. Yeah!

Today started like all the rest – with the breakfast buffet. Nadia told me, “I am really going to miss the buffet when we go home. At home I just have to order from you.” HA! We wanted to go to the Botanical Gardens like we did on Amelie’s trip, but the weather just didn’t cooperate this trip. It was foggy and misting rain all day long. After breakfast we took the girls exploring around the Garden Hotel and took a lot of photos which I am going to put up as a separate blog post. It’s a really cool hotel with nifty decorations.

The girls pretending to take reservations at one of the Garden restuarants.

Our suite had a shower and bath set up that is one big area that you can close off with a door so I put them in the room with Playdoh and let them have at it. The big girls had a blast and Dani was going between looking through the window at them and coming back over to wherever Mike or I happened to be. I started looking at what we needed to pack and googled the cost of overweight baggage on Korean Air and knew we needed to buy another bag. We walked over to Subway for lunch and then I haggled with a street vendor to get us a new bag. We ended up with hot pink which thrilled Amelie and she asked if I bought it for her.

I love Dani getting in the mix here with her sisters. I asked them to try and get all the plastic off our new bag.

First shot of them all looking at the camera (sort of).

After the girls had a long nap they got up and we decided to brave giving Dani a bath in the sink. Our first 2 tries were a major fail because she was hysterical. Even just washing her hair was an ordeal. But we pushed through this time and by the end she calmed down a bit. A little while later I put both big sisters in the tub and she watched them through the window laughing, but didn’t want to watch when they were getting their hair washed. It’s one of the hard parts of being an adoptive parent – you just don’t know what they have been through in their short lives and why things freak them out. But we just keep on loving and trying to help their sweet little hearts.

I went over to the Trust Mart before dinner because I didn’t think we had enough diapers to make it home. What an adventure that was! Complete with a family of beggars desperately trying to get me to give them money saying, “Baby hungry. Baby hungry.” Sure, as if I am going to open my wallet in the middle of a busy China street. The craziest thing at the Trust Mart was that a pint of Hagen Das was $13 USD!!!!! Once back from my trek in the misty rain I heated up water and we had noodles and other food in the room and I set to work packing the bags with Dani’s help. Then it was time for bed on our last night in China.

Dani is like, “Hey people! My shoes are on, it’s time to go. Why are you making me wait?”

The day started with the girls sleeping late and then going down for breakfast. We had a relaxed morning in the room and I ran out to get some food at a little bakery across the street to go with the noodles we were going to eat in the room.

Dani decided to stop screaming every time we got in an elevator 🙂

In the afternoon I had plans to go shopping with Ann from Red Thread. Mike stayed back in the room with the girls to have a nap and wait for Lily to bring our paperwork from the Consulate. I gave her my list before we left the Garden and we hopped in a cab and were on our way.  I had so much fun with Ann. We laughed and laughed and she told me that I was a fast walker for a non-Chinese. HA HA! I was on a mission to buy some more of what we purchased in the past and things that I regretted not getting in 2011. First we went to the warehouse part of town that sells toys, silks and hair bows and clips. We started with the silks and I bought one of each size dress going up to teen size for the girls to wear for things like the Chinese New Year party at Chinese school. I also picked up a couple of silk tops for myself. Then we went to the bottom floor to the hair clip place that she took me to in 2011. I totally stocked up for our girls and for gifts!

From there we took a cab over to the area of town where the wholesale jade stalls are set up in a bunch of winding alleys. I wanted to look for some specific ornaments and bracelets for the girls and for gifts. That was really fun because you could tell it was not a place that Westerners usually went. I was asking about different designs and the woman agreed to take us down to her store house underground. Ann told me I was very lucky because most people don’t get to go down there. Ann took several photos of me and she said I was just having fun wherever I went 🙂

Way underground. Ann said, “Pretend you got kidnapped.” Then I just started laughing.

Ann and I at the end of our adventure!

After picking up the items there we went to our final stop which was the children’s wholesale district. I picked up a bunch of TOTALLY awesome unique shoes for the girls. Ann told me to stop acting like I liked the shoes so much because she didn’t want them to make the prices higher. Then I picked up some Hello Kitty clothes for the girls and a Batman and Superman shirt for Nadia. Last, we took the subway and after 3 hours of fun I was back at the hotel. Mike said Dani slept the entire time, and the other girls napped and then watched “My Neighbor Totoro” on the Kindle.

I made Nadia laugh hysterically.

And Nadia laughing so hard made Dani laugh extra hard.

For dinner we decided to head over to The Italian Restaurant to have a full meal, not just take out pizza. It was American prices but AMAZING. We started with garlic bread and here was Dani’s face after the first bite.

Then she just kept asking for more!

We had the very best broccoli of our life – even Amelie kept asking for more. Then our pasta dishes came out. The girls and I shared two different dishes and Dani went wild for the Pesto Spaghetti. I finally had to cut her  off because I was afraid she might get sick from eating so much.

We walked back to the hotel and then got the girls into bed. Our trip is almost over and we are all ready for home. Nadia is in dire need of a chance to be somewhere quiet and alone. Amelie is in need of her routine. It’s been good, but on these trips, once the American documents are delivered to the hotel…we are ready to be home.

March 10, 2014. Swearing-in day at the Consulate.

The girls had a HORRIBLE night! They got us up a combined 10 times crying, thrashing or having bad dreams. We blame Pizza Hut! HA HA HA!! We all woke up late and scrambled to get ready for the consulate and scarf down some food on the buffet so we could meet up with our group on time. We loaded up in the van and stopped at the medical place across the street from the Consulate to get some needed copies. Then we walked across the street and went through security at the Consulate. The new building is really nice and super fancy! I started joking about our tax dollars being at work since it used to be inside another office building and it’s now on it’s own land with barricades. We have no photos to show except the one above because we couldn’t take in cameras or even our watches.

We took a number when we arrived at the correct floor and waited for the rest of the families that would be sworn in. We received our instructions and then we took the oath for the kids as one big group. Then we waited to be called to the window to take care of all the paperwork. Once that was finished we went back outside and met up with our guide to take us back to the hotel. We went back up to the room for a bit and changed Dani out of her dress. Later on we went over to Subway for lunch again, because we wanted something quick and familiar and Dani LOVES tuna subs loaded with veggies. She is such a great eater and I don’t want her to lose that once home.

The girls playing on the 4th floor of the Garden after our consulate appointment.

After nap time the girls played in the room and just relaxed after our long night. At dinner time I took Amelie with me for a walk and some mommy time. We saw “The Italian Restaurant” with a take out window just for pizza. I went ahead and order some for us and then took Amelie walking around the streets while we waited. She was so happy to be alone with me, just like Nadia was in Nanchang. After pizza we put on jammies and got our very tired girls to bed.

Dani appears totally comfortable with us now and has a lot of temper tantrums. Here are the reasons we have found that she has them:

• Pick her up, don’t pick her up.
• Put her down, don’t put her down.
• Give her a toy, don’t give her a toy.
• Wave at her, don’t wave at her.
• Kiss her, don’t kiss her.
• Plus 100 other things. You get the idea. It’s so unpredictable that I just laugh.

Here are the times she never has a tantrum:

• Giving her food or milk.
• Putting on her shoes.
• Going outside.

This was given to us at check-in, from the Garden Hotel. I think it’s a really nice touch, and the straw sippy cup has come in handy since Dani doesn’t like the ones we brought with us.

This sign just makes me giggle when I see it.

My Panda and Spidey… oh how I love them. 

After breakfast we went to Shamian Island, because it’s tradition and I wanted to look for some fingerprint paintings and a name chop for Dani. I also found some really COOL shoes for the girls, and I picked up a pink Jie Jie (big sister) shirt and super cool Panda Vest for Amelie. She has been wearing it non stop. The rain stopped and the girls had a chance to run around the island and we took a bunch of photos of the statues around the place. It looks so much like Louisiana on the Island. We had a quick lunch at Subway and then walked around some more until it was time to meet up with our group.

These paintings are awesome and I am glad I had a chance to buy more.

Dani is not a fan of group photos. Here she was just starting a massive tantrum that included some Rockette Kicks.

Amelie loves elephants.

Happy in the stroller with her new toy. Mike got all 3 girls some really cute frogs that are also musical instruments.

Eating makes this girl so happy.

After we left the island we headed back to the hotel and put the girls down for a nap. Once they woke up we headed downstairs to exchange some money and hunt down the indoor playroom. When we found it and opened the door Nadia squealed with delight and said, “I don’t care if it’s small!!!!” Her and Amelie were manic going around the room playing on stuff. They are so accustomed to playing outside for hours at a time creating their own made up worlds that all this hotel time has made them a little stir crazy.

After playtime and talking to another family in the playroom we met up with Jaime, Chris and Sawyer to head over to Pizza Hut for dinner. Mike and I decided that it was the worst service we had ever received in a sit down restaurant. And for China it was sort of a surprise since they usually have exemplary service. It got so extreme with us trying to flag down help that Jaime and I finally gave up and went to the 7-11 downstairs to buy drinks for the family. The staff didn’t seem to notice or care. Mike ordered a drink that never came and after I flagged down a few people we got a piece of cake to go for Jaime. I can’t help but laugh about it because it was like they had the most apathetic staff in China.

By the end of all that the girls were beat and we decided to skip showers and put them to bed since we had to be ready to roll early in the morning for the Consulate appointment.