Plane Ride and Arrival Home

 

Waking up in Hong Kong we could see that our room overlooked the hotel's golf course.  Dada didn't have time to play because we had to pack and get to the airport which you can also see behind the golf course.

 

 

Ok we didn't get any photos while on the plane as we were very busy.  We had great seats just behind the bulkhead so we had extra leg room.  We had a bassinet that hooked to the bulkhead so Chelsie had a place to sleep and maybe mama and dada could nap a little too.  The world was good until the plane took off and got up into the air.  Chelsie was not a happy camper.  The crying started and continued and continued and continued.  Nothing would calm her down.  We tried everything including milk, juice, playing, watching cartoons, standing up bouncing her in our arms.  Mama finally got her calmed down by walking up and down the aisle of the plane (yes climing over legs of people trying to sleep) and she dozed off to sleep.  But as soon as mama sat down in her seat the crying started again.  After 10 hours of this, our girl was so exhausted she slept the the last two hours until we reached Detroit.

 

Once in Detroit we had to go through customs which took forever but thank goodness our flight to Charlotte was delayed which allowed us to make it from one concourse to the other and able to make our flight.

 

Two hours to go and we would be home but as luck would have it Chelsie cried once again as the plane got into the air and continued until we landed.

 

Arriving in Charlotte we were exhausted but on an adrenaline high as we wanted everyone to meet our precious girl.  There were so many friends and family members that were waiting at the airport to greet us.  Coming home never felt so good! 

 

Our home was beautifully decorated on both the inside and out.  We had balloons, gifts, paper mache flowers and a well wishes tree with special wishes for our new family.  Family members arranged pizza for dinner plus cooked meatloaf and spaghetti to get us through the next several days.

Then it was time to show our girl her room and get her ready for bed.  As you can see below she was more interested in throwing her bracelet than checking out her room or getting a bath.

 

Train Ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong





We were dreading the train ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong as we had visions of a crowded train packed like sardines.  However, it was nothing like we imagined.  Everyone in our party had a place to sit and there were seats to spare. 

 

We are not sure of all the cities we traveled through, but you can see below that it was apartment building after apartment building.

 

Miss Chelsie enjoyed the ride until she hit the back of her head on the window seal.  This sent her into a crying fit and mama had to stand and hold her in the back of the car by the bathrooms (yes they were squaty potties) until we reached Hong Kong.

 

The train was late leaving Guangzhou due to the typhoon so it was after 10:00 pm when we checked into our hotel in Hong Kong.  Once we got to our floor in the hotel we were welcomed by a dance group practicing for their competition in the morning.  This made us feel as if we were right at home as we have been to many competitions over the years. 

 



 

After getting to our room and ordering dinner from room service we all had baths and settled in for a good nights sleep.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day!!!!

American Consulate and Packing for Hong Kong

For our last full day in Guangzhou we had our appointment with the US Consulate where we took an oath and promised not to abuse or abandon our child.  We also applied for our adoption documents to bring Chelsie into the states.  Here is a picture of our group downstairs after our appointment as we were not allowed to take cameras up stairs to the consulate.  Finally all paperwork is done!

ok so we don't know how to get the photos to rotate on the blog as it reverts it to it's original form.

After our appointment we made our way back to the hotel where we began packing for our trip home.  As you can see we had a little helper that really enjoyed being in the middle of everything. 

For our final dinner meal in Guangzhou our group had planned on going to one of the local restaurants, but we ended up at the hotel buffet due to the rain.  The buffet was FABULOUS it had everything you can imagine.   Many foods for all palates were well represented and we all ate well.

Medicine Street-Pearl and Jade Markets and Shamin Island

Early today we had an interesting walk through what is known as “Medicine Street”.    You will see by the photos that this is a very different look at medicine as we know it.  I am sure that many of the products that we use have their foundation in what you will see in these photographs, but they sure do look different in person.  I believe that you could find about anything dried hanging up there such as snake skins, lizards, and the scorpions in the picture are actually live.  They sell turtles that are live and even sadly some dogs and cats were in cages, although we were told that they were sold as pets.  We got a little concerned when one of the puppies barked and Chelsie started to cry.  Since we have a 60 pound pup at the house, this was a little scary.

Sea Horses

Snakes

 Scorpions

After that, we ended up at the Jade/Pearl market where the women were in heaven.  Not much to say about this except to say that we spent a lot of Yuan there.  And I mean a lot!  Anyhow, enjoyed seeing the big city of Guangzhou.

Sorry it is sideways

After the markets we spent a couple hours at Shamin  Island.  We ate lunch at the famous Lucy’s while Miss Chelsie took a well-deserved nap.  I don’t think we have mentioned it, but she LOVES her stroller!  Great day for all!

Statues that are a symbol of adoption outside Lucy's

 

Another Free Day for Our Family

Today we had another free day.  We spend most of our day at our hotel, but we did venture out to do a little shopping at the shops in the hotel next door to us.

Since we don’t have much to report for this day we thought we would just share a video of our wonderful guide Veronica getting our precious girl to walk.

Sorry, we had to break the video up into 4 parts to get it to upload.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yun Tai Garden

Today we went to the beautiful Yun Tai Garden located near Baiyun Mountain.  This garden is one of the largest gardens of its kind in China.  Yuntai Garden is heralded as "the Pearl of the Flower City of Guangzhou" with over 200 kinds of Chinese and foreign flowers.  In addition to the foliage this garden has stone carvings, statues and water features for all to enjoy.

The locals use this special place for weddings and other events.  We actually took a photo of a young couple that just got hitched. Yes she is wearing red; in China it is good luck to wear red on your wedding day.

Sorry this is sideways but the blog will not let me turn it.

The children loved playing in the water!

Chen’s Lineage Hall

Today we went to Chen’s Lineage Hall.  This temple consist of nine halls, six courtyards and nineteen buildings connected by corridors, all separated by walls from the outside world.  A pair of stone statues in front of the entrance door, measuring a little over eight feet in height and two colored drawing pictures of “door-God” about 13 feet high are said to be the best in Guangdong.

The compound was constructed in the traditional Chinese style with the main hall in the center of the temple.  In the entrance hall there is an exquisitely carved folding screen which is an excellent example of woodcarving.

The carvings are one of the most impressive aspects of the temple.  They are in the forms of wood, brick, pottery, stone and lime.  The details and colors are indescribable.  Also, one of the rooms has a display of hand crafted silk embroidery.  You could not tell it was embroidery as it was so delicate it looked like a painting or photo.

Female Stone Statue

Male Stone Statue

Wood Carved Folding Screen

"Door-god"

 

Silk Embroidery - Unbelievable

Even the railings are carved!

Free Day for our Family

Chelsie’s orphanage is about 6 hours from our hotel location and therefore we did not have the opportunity to visit the place where she has spent her first 20 months.  Therefore we had a free day to get to know each other since our other companion families used this day to visit their children’s orphanages.  We learned a lot more about the personality of the child that we now claim as our own.  She really has a “Great Laugh”.  Also she likes to play with her Daddy.  We saw the first signs of initiated contact by her.  It came quite out of nowhere when she decided to come and tap her daddy on the foot to make sure that he knew she was there.  Then she did it a few times after that and we were able to get her on video playing with him.  That was just the beginning of the joy that we shared that day.   She really loves her Mommy, especially when it is time for food.  

Unfortunately, we have been delayed in getting more information on the blog due to our converter taking a hit when the flat iron was plugged into the device.  We are working on battery power, but hope to have some more days soon.  MORE TO COME…

Medical Exan

Today we had our medical exam for Miss Chelsie.  She weighs in at a solid 17 pounds!    The doctor examined her tiny fingers and toes and suggested that they looked a bit small, but said that it was most likely due to the lack of good and sustained nourishment.  Since we have had her on the 4 bottle a day regimen, she has gotten much more coloring in her little body and even has put on a little belly like her daddy.   

Check out the eye chart in this picture.

After the medical exam, we went to WalMart in the new part of the city and did a little bit of need shopping. Interesting difference between China’s version and the US. The meat department had a few items that you rarely if ever see in the States. Chelsie had a ball riding around in the shopping cart as she really enjoys watching people. 

Tuesday At The Civil Affairs Office

Morning was a little different for our Chelsie since she was now staring at complete strangers when she awoke.  After some good mothering skills from Teri, we were back in good graces with our new child. 

After that, it was off to the Civil Affairs Office which seemed to last forever!  We drove to take care of the Adoption Registration and meet with the Notary Public for some last minute questioning.  As we sat there and sat there, our little girl got really hungry.  One thing that we are finding out fairly quickly is that she is very schedule oriented.  She is supposed to feed at 11 AM and we were informed in no uncertain terms at 11:05 that she was hungry.  That was not an easy task since she takes a warm bottle and we had to find some water to make things right.  Finally, after some running by Veronica, we were able to satisfy our little one and all was right.  Our morning however turned into the afternoon quickly since our Notary was very thorough. 

Gotcha Day!

WOW!  Words cannot describe what a day of emotions!  Good news is we have our little Chelsie.  Things happend so fast (all three families received their little ones within 3-4 min) that we did not get a lot of pictures and did not have time to pass the cameras.  However, one of our travel mates did get a few that he will be sharing with us.

Below is a picture right before we left to get our girls.  Veronica our guide is third from the right.  She is absolutely wonderful not to mention GREAT with the girls.



Below is a picture just inside the Civil Affairs Office where all adoptive families in the province went today and picked up their children.

It is truly amazing what our little one can do.  The Nanny from the orphanage told us that she lays on her right side to eat and to be sure to place a towel under the side of her head as she drools alot and you you don't want it running down into her ear.  Victoria (our guide) came to the room to help us out with her 1st feeding.  We started using one of the fast flow nipples we brought, however she was not able to get anything out.  The orphanage did give us a bottle to use for her, but when we looked at it Victoria said well you can see why she is losing half of it down her face.  It was cut and your index finger will fit completely through it.  So we cut a bigger hole in the fast flow nipple and you see can below that she didn't lose a drop!

Later in the evening we got our first laughs from Chelsie.  Sorry the video is not of good quality, but we'er sure you'll agree that hearing that precious laugh is worth watching the grainy video.

Thanks for all the prayers and well wishes.  Love to all.

Gotcha Day!

WOW what a day of emotions!  Words cannot describe the emotions that we were feeling. We were so busy that we didn't get a lot of pictures, but one of our travel mates did and will be sharing with us later.  Everything happened so fast that we did not have time to pass our cameras to anyone.

Below is a picture of our group right before we went to pick up our girls.  Veronica our guide is the third person from the right.  She is absolutely wonderful and so good with the children.



Travel to Guangzhou

We got up this morning and headed to the airport to board a plane headed for Guangzhou.  The ride was a little bumpy at times but we made it all the same. 

The plane that brought us closer to Chelsie.

Guangzhoug Airpoirt

After arriving, our guide Veronica met us and transported us to the hotel - yes another very nice hotel! She also took us shopping for baby items so we can be prepared for the big day tomorrow. After shopping she took us to a Chinese resturant for dinner, then it was back to the hotel for blogging and bed as we are exhausted.

Look at that sweet little bed!

Our dinner table tonight.

Tomorrow is "Gotcha Day" we will try our best to update and post some pictures of our girl.