Settling In

It's been over two weeks since we arrived back home in Las Vegas and Gracie is settling in to a routine. One of the activities she enjoys the most is her daily walks in the stroller. We always go out around 10:30 in the morning after it has warmed up some and take at least a 25 minute walk and of course Sunny, our dog goes along as well. Gracie of course has to bring a toy with her and it ranges anywhere from a Lisa Simpson action figure to a a plush Woodstock. We hope during these long walks that Gracie falls asleep for her morning nap but the last couple of days she has enjoyed the scenery too much to do that. During one part of the walk through the green belt there are dogs in the backyard of some of the houses that usually bark but on the days they don't Gracie starts making barking sounds and Marie and I get a big kick out of it. Gracie has also had many visitors and we can't thank those enough who have come by with dinner for us or toys for Gracie, the company is great to have also. Gracie is sleeping well at night but her naps are few and far between lately, but Marie works her magic and seems to get Gracie to sleep anyway. Gracie also loves going out into the backyard and look at the roses or somedays just sit with Dad as he types away on his computer or surfs the net. It's hard to not go onto the Babies R Us website and order everything they have for her but pretty soon I will be putting in a big order for Christmas(can't wait, I feel like I'm five years old again). Gracie also loves playing with all her plush stuffed animals and she always gives them a big kiss saying "MMMMAAAAHHHH!"(too cute). I've got to get to work on planning that trip to Oklahoma, real soon I promise(all you Oklahoma relatives) and I can't wait. Well gotta go. I have to get back to the Babies R Us website. Ciao!

First Thanksgiving

First Thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Thanksgiving -40 plus relatives and friends and G'ma and Grandpas house. It was an all carb meal for Gracie - stuffing, yams and potatoes. We were having so much fun we forgot to try pumpkin pie. Some of you may wonder how 40 people can cram into Mom & Dads house -- we use the patio too and even have a TV set up for the football fans.

We started to count the relatives - not counting spouses--and as a baseline number-- Gracie has 8 Uncles and Six Aunts, 21 first cousins, three Grandparents, at least 8 or 9 2nd and 3rd cousins-- (currently living in Las Vegas) --and this gets tricky because I keep forgetting whether a cousin is once removed or 2nd cousin--and several great aunts and uncles, and well, we stopped counting. I think it will be fun to do a formal count a bit later and we'll let you know the total. That's just the relatives!

My bangs are straight!

My bangs are straight!
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Rest easy- Grace went to salon to get "Chaddad" and Chadda is a miracle worker. A few snips at the wiggling child- and Tah-Dah! Straight bangs and trimmed tresses. Wonderful! Thank you Chadda!

Patio seating please!

happy gracie
Originally uploaded by mc10672

For all you fans of the site, I know it's been a while but we're back. Sorry for the time away but spending time with Gracie is just too much fun. We found out one thing...Gracie likes sitting outside as much as we do. Doesn't that lunch look yummy!! The weather here in Vegas has been great so we have spent a lot of time outside. From walks to lunch and supper it has been outside for us and Gracie absolutely loves it. Sunny loves it too because now Gracie knows that whatever she throws from her tray of her highchair, Sunny gets to eat it and Sunny looks to have gained a few pounds. She won't eat her dog food we give her (that's Sunny I'm speaking of) because she knows that once we feed Gracie she can have something better.
Today Gracie had Matzo Balls which, Tyotya Karen made for us and Gracie loved them(as did Mama and Daddy), they were delicious!
Gracie also seems to notice and hear all that goes on around her. One day she saw me talking on the phone and saying "hello" when I answered it. The next morning she picked up the TV remote, which looks somewhat like a phone and put it to her ear and said "hello" and began carrying on a conversation, she was so serious I had to laugh.
I am now an expert on putting car seats, sorry, Child Restraints in cars now. One, the Britax was very easy to install the other, Eddie Bauer, well let's just say I had a few choice words for it I can't mention on this blog. But they are both in and Gracie will be safe no matter which of our vehicles she rides.
We found out something else, don't always trust your human resources department at work to know how getting someone on your insurance works, but that's another story. Let's just say we have an appointement with a representative for our insurance tomorrow morning.
Gracie also knows how to say and wave "bye bye" and she likes to feed herself and sometimes hold her own bottle. Cheerios has been dethroned as her favorite snack, the new king is Graham Crackers. We now own stock in Nabisco as well as General Mills. Spaghettios is also on Gracie's list of favorites, which is a starter food for all children of Italian parents. She also loves when you hold her and do daily things around the house, whether it's making coffee in the morning or loading the dishwasher she watches intently and seems to ask questions of what you are doing.
Life with Gracie is great!! Can't wait to get her to Oklahoma though. I keep telling her about Oklahoma and she can actually sing most of the State song.
Well that's all for today, we gotta make a grocery store run. Ciao everybody!

Visit to the doctors

Visit to the doctors
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Today Grace went to the doctors --- and doc says she looks healthy and seems very "with it" for an newly adopted Chinese child. Didn't have any recommendations for feeding even though --- (rim shot here)-- she only weighs 14.6 lbs. That's right on 14.6 lbs. Now in G-town, during the medical examination, it was in Kilos, which I don't remember, and I glanced at the chart for conversions and said, gosh my child weighs only 14 lbs, and walked away, then I had someone re-check the chart, and they reported 17 lbs. Which sounded more logical because she supposedly weighed over 15 lbs at 9 months. So either they weighed her with their thumb on the scale or with all their clothes on (most likely). I did expect her to weigh more- she's a good eater, but Doc didn't seemed concerned. Gracie was pretty calm throughout the whole thing, then the nurse came in and she got 4 shots, and wailed (as I did during shots until I was 35) but she recovered fairly quickly with the help of a graham cracker, then headed downstairs for the blood draw, which seemed to hurt less but still freaked her out with four people holding her down. So the rest of the day was an "all Grace day." We stayed in and got her in her sleeper right away and played. We tried out the banana cookies. Naps were optional--but she took one anyway (late) and so did Dad, who still has his "Nanchang Cold." Then we tried out something new at dinner - Gerber pasta wheels with Chicken (big hit), and watermelon. Showed off her walking skills (3-4 steps at a time, with a "catcher" at each end) to some visitors. So she went to sleep at around 8:30 and although she is restless--crying and fussing in her sleep a bit - I was expecting a rough night due to reactions to the shots- she hasn't woken up yet.


We've been home almost a week, and I can't say we've been very productive. We eat alot. We are still unpacking. We try out new toys and new books. We go for walks or to the store. We try to take naps. We do laundry. We have not yet installed the second car seat, cleaned the backyard, make appointments to get Grace re-adopted for state of Nevada (which needs the extra income or something). We've been vegging out. Next week, we'll try to get back to reality.

Worlds Second Most Photographed Child

PB130044
Originally uploaded by mc10672

The honor of the most-photographed child goes to our nephew Vinnie, who I believe is still the all time record holder.

The folks at Great Wall recommend that we don't overwhelm our new citizen with family and friends and actually recommends trying to avoid large gatherings so it is up to Mom and Dad to hold, feed, and play with her. This is so she begins to realize that we are her parents, and not just attentive hotel staff. So we are trying to have brief visits by small groups of family and friends over the next few weeks so everyone can say hello. Don't worry, we will be at Thanksgiving! And, by the time she gets to Oklahoma to meet Davids family and her 10.5 Uncles and Aunts, numerous cousins and of course, Grandma Rose we think she'll realize she is stuck with us, her family.

Jet Lag Stories: First on the list, was to catch up on sleep, so the first night, Gracie fell asleep early, woke up at 11:00 and played til 4 am. Pretty much same the second night, and we've been keeping naps short so last night her final bedtime was at 1 am. Today we woke her at 8:30, and she had a short nap (in the carseat), lots of outdoor activity for sunlight. We put her to bed at 6:30 pm (Poor thing was so tired she was about to drop, and didn't even complain about the bath). She was up again an hour later, but we got her sleeping again by 8 pm. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

By request, we posted David's truck crash photo on flickr. We've posted more Grace photos there was well. Expect more.

Looking good in red

Looking good in red
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Hi, Mom and Dad are asleep now, so I wanted to show you my cool appropriately red sweater outfit from China along with my favorite squeaky shoes, which I really love, but I'm still learning to walk, so it will be a while before I can really show my stuff, like my friend Natalie. I kept Mom and Dad awake til 4 am this morning, so today they played with me, took me for a walk in my stroller, and we had all sorts of visitors, some had TOYS and books for me. So far, this hotel has just been great, and I even have my own high chair. No buffet, but room service is very prompt with a wide selection of menu items. So, its back to playing for me, sleeping for Mom and Dad.
--Ciao.
Gracie

You need a chew toy, not stuffed bear

You need a chew toy, not stuffed bear
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Yep, last night Gracie fell asleep but awoke at 8:45 pm and didn't go back to sleep until close to 4 am---then she slept until 2:45 pm. Sunny was delivered to us around 11am, while Gracie was asleep so we had time to get reunited before Gracie woke up. They are getting along fine and Sunny positioned herself on the floor belly up when Grace was being changed. Gracie took to a little Penn State bear but Sunny thinks she should upgrade to a chew toy. However, when I was changing Gracie Sunny walked in with the Penn State bear in mouth.So dog and child getting along great, except that Sunny is eyeing those squeaky shoes as one of those annoying squeaky chew toys she loves to get a hold of and remove those out annoying squeaky devices.

Anyway, we have been eating up a storm, well supplied and attended to by family and friends. We have homemade pumpkin pie, banana bread, quiche, loads of watermelon. So far Gracie's favorite has been chicken stew with rice.

Its almost 2 am now and we are all up and busy. Tomorrow when we are caught up on sleep we'll start trying to adjust to the time change.

A picture is worth a Thousand words

We are home
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Hong Kong Airport

Hong Kong Airport
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Bassinet Class - Korean Airlines

In flight =Bassinett Class
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We're Home and We're Happy

We arrived at 2:30 pm, November 9fth about 24 hours after leaving G-town at 8:30 am on November 9th, arriving Hong Kong; Hong Kong to Seoul; Seoul to Las Vegas. We had a warm reception at home, ate eggs at Grampa and Grandma's, before heading home....now Gracie and David are crashed out (It's 7:30 pm) and I am soon to follow. Gracie did well - was a bit grumpy in Korea, waitiing for the connection but on the long flight, (10 hours) charmed the wonderful stewardess at Korean Air. We had bulkhead seats, with an empty in between but took turns watching over Gracie in her bassinett, because it was so shallow Gracie just would roll out. Still the Korean Airline staff cooed and watched over us. They are getting a letter of appreciation from us. Now my sister Lisa is watching over us tonight. We are a bit punchy with the lack of sleep so no pictures till tomorrow. I hope my fellow Jiangxi travelers had pleasant trips and are all at home safe tonight.

Ciao China

Ciao China
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Our luggage has to be out in the hallway by 4:30 am, and we are headed to G-town airport with 80% of our group, headed to Hong Kong (70 miles away, we could've taken a train) but the cool thing is we can check our luggage all the way through to home at our first stop. We can take 2 (two) 50 lbs pieces of luggage back to us. (Gracie doesn't get an allowance) which is OK, because we are coming back with only 3.

Today we tried to spend the rest of our Yuan, even indulging in Starbucks (about the price of a entree at at good restuarant). We got so busy, we didn't have lunch (Gracie had left over rice noodles and rice and formula). Finally made it to the American Consulate (AC for short, ,I have to pack). It was 40 minutes away, and looked like it was a part of a office building/mall. The "interview" was handing in a piece of paper and getting our picture taken (took all of 10 seconds), then we had a cheerful naturalization officer had us swear that our paperwork was correct, and then we got Gracies Chinese passport to leave the country, and hopefully, her American passport is in the sealed envelope they gave us. They made us repeat that we go to immigration "non-US residents" counter upon arrival (in Las Vegas) and they'll open the packet then. (Hopefully, there isn't a spelling error or comma splice on page 47 otherwise I'd fear we have to start all over again. ) She'll be "citizen" upon arrival. But we did hear today she can have dual Chinese citizenship, but the Immigration officer highly recommended that she travels always on her US passport.

Fun facts about China in case I forget:

Pappa John's does deliver - we stayed in and had pizza tonight.

The soda cans still have flip-tops.

All of our electrical appliances work fine in China, you just need adapters to fit in the the variety of plugs.

There seems to be a fast food chain named after Bruce Lee, or have his likeness on it.

The locals here call you "Madame" in sort of a French-Colonial way.

We had one nurse practitoner and one nurse in our group.

Sometime last week, we all had the feeling that we had moved to China. We've been here that long.

Hopefully, the next entry will be from home, but you may hear from us while in Korea. Wi-fi in the airport.

Thanks.


Just a P.S. to Marie's entry...
While shopping at Susan's, a store we bought many souvenirs from and had our laundry done while here in Guangzhou, I overheard a conversation between Susan, the store owner and two very heavyset angry looking Australian women looking for Chinese clothing. The Australian women were talking about visiting China 5 times and Susan asked if they were adopting and one of the Australian women made the remark that "No I would never do that. I don't understand these people, coming over to adopt and taking these children from their homeland." Susan replied, "Have you never seen what happens to children in these orphanages and how they have to live?" So the Australian woman says,"Well they should just donate money then." I looked directly at the Australian woman and shook my head and told Marie what I had just overheard. So as Marie and I were finishing our shopping and the two Australian women were standing there I said very loudly, "Well my wife and I are going to take our beautiful adopted Chinese child home to the United States of America and raise her in our beautiful home. Donating money to orphanages isn't good enough for us we wanted a child from the orpahanage." Of course the angry Australian woman didn't like this and just looked at me and walked out. Hey angry Australian lady, good luck in finding clothing here, for that matter anywhere, in your size.

My Public Awaits

My Public Awaits
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We had only one task today: wait in our hotel room until 12:30 Rui turned in our paperwork today to the consulate and she said she would call if there were any questions. There were none. This worked out well because David woke up with a slight fever so we all took naps and hung out until about 2 pm, when I took Gracie for a walk in her 120 Yuan stroller--to drop off and pick up laundry. Our preferred shop is "Susans Place" which is tucked in an out of the way spot either in a Chinese embassy or some sort of military compound, and we have to pass a Red Army guard. Sometimes they say hello, sometimes not.

We then went to purchae water, and finally I located a Thai restuarant that we missed going to - Cow and Bridge. I also paid a visit to one of the entreprenueral ladies - Hebe's shop to purchase an outfit for Gracie. I'm buying a few things, but we really need to step it up tomorrow to spend the rest of our Yuan; because I guess its pretty worthless to exchange back into US dollars. In "I wish I had my camera now" moment - there were police recruits marching in front of Starbucks , and someone like an army captain teaching some Jr. High school students how to stand at attention and march.

By the time we came back, David was feeling much better, but Gracie and I went down to the Swan Room - sponsored by Mattel, the same one who gave us our "Going Home Barbie" (with little chinese baby). Gracie mostly watched the other kids, and tried to boss around one of the older and bigger kids, landed on her head again after tumbling over a little plastic table, and generally had a good time.

We went out to dinner at a new place "Station" with a few other families - it was very good - like Lucy's, it has outside seating ... pizza for me and David tonight. Gracie had congee and dipped her french fries into it. I fed her most of the time, but then she wanted to take over so I gave her a little plastic spoon and she worked on trying to feed herself. We were outside, and she had a bib, so I just let her go for it. We had a wonderful walk back to the hotel - again the nights are just perfect - walking along the Pearl River - where the boats go by - which are all decorated in neon - there are also neon light tubes along the river, and some of the hotels across the way are lit up Vegas style.

So we took no pictures today, and tonight we are too tired to start packing, so we'll do that tomorrow morning, because we may need to purchase another suitcase. The big packing is getting a one year old across the world, with enough Cherrios, diapers, formula, rice cereal, toys, blankets, and clothes - just in case we end up spending the night in Korea or something. I think she'll be fine - as long as we all stay healthy.

New Red Threads

Check out my cool new clothes 8
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Today we went to Yuntai Park - it is a beautifully landscaped park with colorful beds of flowers, a beautiful lake and wonderful paths to explore. We share the park with lots of local kids on field trips who hold hands or are roped together and then yell "Hello!" to us every time we went by. ( I don't know if I have mentioned that the weather here has just been perfect...around 75 degrees, clear skys, balmy nights - so much so, many folks have purchased T-shirts and hats. ) We went to a Brazilian restuarant for lunch, it was terrific, and I have to hand it to these places who allow 30 or so hungry Americans to descend upon them, all clamoring for high chairs and leaving behind a pile of Cherrios, food on the floor and used Kleenex.

Many of the kids have colds, including ours, and David has the cold that Gracie and I are just getting over. He has it bad - but we are pretty much set in all the OTC meds we brought - this cold features a sore throat, runny rose then night coughing - Gracie and I are now in the coughing a little at night stage.

After our lunch, Rui reminded us that tomorrow she is handing over our paperwork to the American consulate and we just need to hang around near the phone in our room in case they need us for something. Otherwise, we should just show up for our appointments at 2:45 on Thursday and we will be done in a few hours. We are down to our last 72 hours.

We took another walk today - dropped off and picked up laundry today. We haven't gotten off the Island really, nor have we've gone to the famous "Pearl Market" - it is kind of hard to concentrate on shopping with a one year old in tow.

There are dozens of little shops catering to adoptive parents on this Island, all run by exceedingly earnest ladies who dart out of their shops when they see you approaching, all complementing your baby on its beauty, you for your youth, and promising you the best prices and most special bargins on the Island. I call them the "Entrepreneral Ladies of Shamain Island." Believe me, there are no shortage of cute outfits for babies on this island.

We've been eating at Lucy's every night - its so easy - and they have some great meals for kids - and loads of high chairs - meals include scrambled eggs or congee - or my favorite - noodles, chicken and egg, which Gracie loves. The have seating outside, and the weather is so great, and its wonderful to see the boats go by on the river.

We took our famous "red couch" photo at the White Swan lobby today. Our girl was the only one in little pants, mostly because I didn't think I could find a dress that would end up above her ankles, but she looks pretty royal in her custom made outfit-- and maybe she will forgive me someday for making her hair bows out of red shopping bags. Like Gotcha Day, Gracie didn't cry -- the photos are on Flickr, just seemed to be intrigued by some of the crying kids nearby. We all put ourselves together as well, and took some photos of each other and all of us with Rui.
I've also tried to include picture of Gracie showing her teeth - looks like she takes after my front teeth, two big front teeth with with a nice space in between...she has one on the bottom and another one coming in right next to it...but when I took a closer look, I noticed the picture is not of teeth - it Cherrios in her mouth.

Nov. 4: The Bank of China

Chen Temple6
Originally uploaded by mc10672

I just came back from The Bank of China. It's right next to the hotel which so I was surprised not to see English on any of the signs when I stepped in. There were five counters, each with a teller, with another person standing behind each of the tellers. Everyone looked very official in blue suits and ties. There was about 10 people sitting in chairs I sort of stood there for a while then a customer aindicated for me to take a number and pressed a button on a kisok for me, so I could get a number. Then I waited for about 40 minutes. The teller spoke English and I turned over my passport and my Amex travelers checks and dollars. Never did I see such a flurry of stamping, carbon copies and counting and countersigning. It took at least 20 minutes. We turned over $390 and that should do us for the trip unless we start doing some serious shopping. Next time, I'll exchange my money at the hotel.

Gracie had her visa photo taken this morning then a medical exam in the G-town Shamin Island Adoption Medical center. Just basic stuff, like weight and height and a quick look at her nose, ears and heart. The locals go there too and there is a special section for adoptions - and there were about 20 families there. She screamed her lungs off the entire time and then was fine the instant we came out. She weighs just over 17 lbs. We then went shopping and failed miserably as I think I am so bad at bargaining that I just given up, and David has taken over in that department, but I think we are set in Gracie's clothes now.

Anyway, we are headed off to lunch - Gracie is having her Cherrios mixed in with her rice cereal before we head back to Lucy's. Yesterday, she got some pink squeaky shoes and loves jumping up and down on them, holding on to the wall, or the edge of the couch. My job now is Fun Police, as David and Gracie just love to play and imitate each other, making funny snarfing sounds at each other, and I get to step in for no so fun things like diaper changes and sleep time. For Gracie, she enjoys her bottle and rice cereal, but she is determined to eat her food by herself and so we basically cut up pieces for her and she feeds herself, although some times she lets me pop in food. Her favorite continues to be watermelon and eggs, and at the glorious buffet this morning she had some banana bread as well.

Also, for some reason, blogger is now completely accesible - we can even read the comments and we no longer have to go through anonymouse to see the blog. We are spending the rest of the day hanging out in our room, Gracie is learning to walk, and may even send out for Pizza tonight. Upon our arrival to the hotel the other day, Rui passed out flyers and advised us that the folks at Pappa John's delivers AND speak English.

We did start the day with a skype/video session with mom and dad and Frankie and Chrissy. Technology is a wonderful thing.

More on the White Swan: We have our own hall monitor who stands in the foyer and runs to press the elevator button for you as you open your door to the room.

The photo is from the Chen Family temple from yesterday. Apologies for the have the strange black spot that is now showing up on our photos - we thought it was dust or something from Nanchang but it is still there...

This Just In! Locals Go Crazy Over Gracie

Chen locals 6
Originally uploaded by mc10672

The day started off waking up in the beautiful White Swan Hotel. Wow! What a difference from Nancheng. Marie and I looked out the window and saw what a clear day it was and couldn't wait to get out. Of course Gracie was moving at "Gracie speed" and only paid heed to the "Gracie Clock". We did eventually make it down to breakfast and what a breakfast it was! The waffles are delicious and there are so many choices. The view, seating area and wait staff are fantastic. Watermelon and banana for Gracie, waffles for Marie and scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, french toast, cereal...need we go on...for David.
On to Chen Family Temple, Wow! What a beautiful day!!! All the families were in great moods as usual and Rui, our guide, was her usual patient and cheerful self. The Chen Family Temple is full of amazing reliefs, statues and quiet and peaceful sitting areas as well as many shops to purchase great souvenirs.The local people here are also very curious of our little bundles of joy.
The local Chinese ladies stopped Marie several times and commented on how beautiful Gracie is and they loved her hair. Rui told us that some of the women were talking about Gracie and just couldn't believe how cute she is, they were going crazy over her and Gracie took it all in stride. Gracie was good natured as all the women had to touch her hair and cute little face. What a great time we had.
After the Chen Family Temple we went shopping and found Gracie a little glass ball with "inside painting" they call it. The glass ball is hollow and the artist does a painting on it from the inside using a special paint brush. This one had two little dogs on it because 2006 is the year of the dog also the year of Gracie's birth. I had the artist paint Gracie's name on the inside and it will be one of her keepsakes. Then it was back to the hotel and of course lunch at Lucy's. I had to have a double cheeseburger with cheese and boy was it good. There at Lucy's we also saw several other Great Wall Families having another great meal. Lucy's is the place to be.
Marie, Gracie and I, well maybe not so much Gracie, had to walk off our meal so we did some shopping. You know how you tell yourself I'm not spending too much today, and the next thing you know you're down 5 or 6 hundred Yuan. It's neverending. But what great purchases. A new stroller for Gracie, a few more Beijing Olympic Baseball caps, some t -shirts, squeaky shoes.....I could go on and on. So we moved on and it became a little overcast but then the clouds parted and there was Starbuck's...how could we pass that up. Marie saw Green tea frapuccino and had to have one. Here we also ran into another nice family adopting from China, Tom and Linda from Albuquerque(is that spelled right?) New Mexico and we all sat down together with our Starbucks and had a nice chat. Hey this would be a great commercial for Starbuck's...yeah like they need to advertise.
Back to our beautiful hotel room for a nap and then it was out for a Dim Sum dinner. One of the courses on the menu was pigeon and hey I gotta say it was really good...hhhmmmm!! All those pigeons hanging around our house back in Vegas....I wonder? Miss Gracie decided we were interrupting her naptime so she let us know. Marie tried taking her out for a walk but that didn't work. Marie came back in and got a to go box and loaded it up with baked pigeon and other delicious delicacies and we headed back to the room. What a day! Marie is relaxing in her silk robe which was laid out on the bed for her and little Gracie got her wish and is fast asleep in her much safer crib snoring away and here I sit typing away...Oh Man!! Is it already 9 o'clock...past my bedtime folks. Had a great day and Gracie is such a joy! Gotta go! Ciao Y'all!!!

China Disneyland

Please do not spit
Originally uploaded by mc10672

We are on Shamain Island at the White Swan and its darned wonderful. Its so unlike Nanchang that my first impression is that it seems like a Disney version of China. But first, how we got here: Grace was wonderful during her first plane ride, (China Southern) perfectly content to play with a waterbottle, an empty cookie container and three of her stacking cups--and of course, we kept her fed with Cherrios. In fact, all the kids were good. We also got to make her a bottle on the plane, using hot water from our thermos - sort of a practice run for our long trip home.

Guangdong Province is the richest area of China - its close to Hong Kong and Shamain Island shows quite of bit of its British influenece, with lovely 19th century buildings, gardens and signs cautioning people not to spit. The US consulate used to be here - the big attraction is now the White Swan Hotel where we are staying, and the adoption business, with lots of baby shops and eating places. It is right on the coast, so the smog is miminal and the temperature is like the LA coast. The frist thing we all did is march down to Lucy's - an American style cafe- and ordered hamburgers--the kids being so good in their high chairs --then we went for a walk, which was supposed to be just a look around, but I ended up buying 3 baby outfits.

Afterward, the group came up to check out our room - which we had upgraded - sort of a gift to ourselves since the plane tix didn't end up costing as much as we had budgeted - it has a separate living room separated by French doors - sort of like the rooms you see in the movies. And while you still can't drink the water, the floor is so clean I almost kissed it. Then I put down Grace and she had a great time crawling around and playing with her toys. We have lovely neutrogena soap, and two ladies came in to turn down our bed and lay out a "good night" mat by our bed - we have a deep marble tub and shower, TV in each room, 2 bathrooms, and of course, a decent crib--photo has been uploaded so you can see.

Grace fell asleep about 7 pm -- after having a great time jumping on us and giggling - and I took a long hot bath, boiled some water for tea, and we are in our robes and our White Swan slippers, thankful for our safe trip so far, and for clean floor in our room and of course, our little Grace, who continues to delight and charm us. She is one cute kid and we are lucky parents.

Ciao Nanchang!

Ciao Nanchang View from Window
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Our wandering group of adoptive parents are moving on tomorrow to G-Town, Guangzhou, first thing tomorrow morning. It was a beautiful day today in Nanchang, the smog blew away about mid-afternoon and for the first time we had a clear view outside the hotel. The tower in the park square below has a big bell you can ring. We took a walk this afternoon, through the small walkway along the hotel, the one I like to call the National Geographic street. The one we saw the boy in split pants and where they have small shops where men smoke, drink tea and play dice. Today many old people were sitting on the steps outside the temple square and David took alot of video. We paid another visit to the porcelan shop-- and we ran into some parents who just bought some fried cakes from a street vendor -- they shared them with us - quite tasty - and we felt quite adventurous. And hopefully that is all we'll feel. We also bought a few oranges for Gracie. (2 Yuan for 5 oranges)

David had to go to do paperwork and we spent most of the day in the hotel room. Frank and Chrissy called and we did a 40 minute Skype video call, where they got to see Gracie roll around, play with her cups and get fed rice cereal and bananas. You got to love Skype, it is so--Jetsons.

Rui had found an error in Gracies PRC passport and went back to the notary to have it corrected. It turns out they had written Gong Ya Oi, not Gong Ya Qi on the passport. Only Rui noticed and she said the police station clerk complained when they had to re-do it, saying the letters look identical to them. Rui saves the day again.

As I mentioned before, David had to do US paperwork, and some papers you can use white out, others not; on top of that the same of the forms we had gotten from the consulate back in 05 had now expired and other families had to get new forms. By the way, G-town is all about US immigration; what we were doing in Nanchang was getting China's permission to leave the country with her. She now has nice red passport from the PRC - but her US one will be issued in GZ and that will be the one she uses to enter the US.

When we get settled into Guangzhou, we'll post again.

I included a photo of Gracie in her padded crib.

Tao of Gracie

Tao of Gracie
Originally uploaded by mc10672

This morning Gracie was up at 5 am. Today's outing: The Park with the Taoist Temple Near the Lake. I'll remember the real name later. Nanchang is not only the home of the People's Revolution, it is also the birthplace of Taoism, and today's temple was spectacular. There was a shrine to Sun Tzu, author of the Art of War, and there were several Taoist monks around, playing instruments, one of whom entertained us on the a string instrument, like a dulcimer, and even invited the kids to take a try. We were so sorry that we were not allowed to take photos inside the temples, but there was a wonderful mural of epic scale, complete with good and bad guys and angry gods. We were done by noon and spent a relaxing day having a great Japanese lunch in the hotel with Rob, Michelle and Karen, and just hanging around the room. David bought Grace some plastic blocks this afternoon and she skipped her nap just to play with them all afternoon.

The other adopted kids, most are older than Gracie, are now coming around, smiling and interacting, one is showing their parents how to use chopsticks. We also got the photos developed of Gracie in the orphanage, in her rolling walker and hanging around her Fenyi buddies. It looks like they kept her pretty well bundled and in a Pebbles-like top pony tail. She has that very intent look. I sometimes wonder what they are thinking now-probably something like --this is a great field trip. Every morning, a buffet; every day a bus trip, every night a nother party. If only these people could understand us.

Here at the hotel we always hear firecrackers going off, all the time. This afternoon, they were louder than usual, so I looked outside - we are on the 21st floor and below I saw a line of people dressed in white with black hats. They were following a cart, and there were flutes and drums playing. Firecrackers were going off. I took a photo. Rui confirmed for me that it was a funeral. I snapped a photo - It's pretty far away but it was pretty interesting.

Tonight Gracie fell asleep in David's arms while the group was at dinner, around 6pm , after eating an entire bowl of steamed eggs - which were pretty darned good. So, it should be an early morning for us. Tomorrow, we go back to the Notary office, where we will get our passports and Saturday we head out for G-town -- aka Guangzhou. All the parents today were looking at each other and saying--only one week more, then we get to go home.

PS: Regarding comments on the blog - these don't get posted until I see them, and I check once or twice a day. I have the option to publish or not, so you can just indicate if you don't want me to post your comments. While in China, I cannot read the comments once I post them, so moderating them gives me a chance to read them before they are posted.