Do We Really Have to Leave China?

Our last days in Guangzhou were pretty great!  Our appointment to take oath at the USCIS went well; however, we do not have any pictures from that special moment because you cannot take anything in with you.  CCAI must have connections because there was a huge line outside and our representative walked right up to the door, knocked and we walked right in!

kids hanging in the room that day

Lucy hugging mommy after we took oath

We hung out with our new friends and their new kids, went on a Riverboat dinner cruise on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday afternoon we went to Shamian Island to shop.   We definitely enjoyed our time together at meals and after meal drinks.  Shamian Island was very beautiful little place settled in the big city, it reminded me of New Orleans a little bit.  There, we were able to get the famous squeeky shoes we've been hearing so much about.  The store that had the greatest selection was Sherry's place and is across from the Starbucks (for those who will be headed there soon).  After we returned bto the hotel, Landry ran up and down the hallway squeeking and laughing like crazy...I'm sure those squeekers won't last long when we get home!

This is me, trying not to vomit because I walked up to the buffet and saw chicken heads floating in a dish! 

Landry kept wanting to go outside on the boat...here he is letting me know

River boat view

A restaurant named Lucy's!

School kids doing some sort of exercise

We feel so lucky to have met the people in group 2026 and have the connection of our children's gotcha days.  As our time came to an end in China, many people were very excited to get out of China and fly home.  Not us! We could have stayed longer;  no bills, no jobs, no cooking, no cleaning, eating out, enjoying drinks, sight seeing, enjoying the kids, sleeping in.  We were kind of dreading getting back to reality and that 14 hour flight with two one year olds.

Group 2026

Aisja and Lucy - forever friends from Kaifeng!

Family of Four!

All of the kids...Of course we couldn't get them to look when we were taking the photo

Landry wanted to get in the pic!

We got up early on Thursday and headed to the airport with the two couples that we met when we first arrived in Beijing.  Our guide, Grace, was so nice to help us get checked in and walked us to the international gate.  The kids seemed tired and we were worried that we might have some meltdowns on the flight to Tokyo, but were lucky enough to get one of the front row seats with extra leg room and a bassinet for Lucy if she wanted to sleep and the kids were pretty good for the four hours.  We only had one incident were Landry rolled around on the floor yelling "no" over and over...it just happened to be when we were getting ready to take-off.  Thankfully, we got up in the air and he seemed to enjoy the rest of the flight.

Couldn't capture the front of their shirts - they say mei mei (sister ) and ge ge (brother)

Our layover in Tokyo was quick - we changed a couple of diapers, grabbed some food and water and boarded the 10 hour flight back to Denver.  There were times on that flight that I wanted to cry.  Lucy fell asleep on my lap, but anytime I moved she cried...more like whined, and it took her a couple of minutes to get back to sleep.  Landry wanted to run around for about an hour of the flight, not too bad, right?  He ended up sleeping for the last five hours, so we've decided that he is a pretty good traveler.  We landed in Denver a little early, super tired, but very excited knowing that Lucy was finally our daughter!  After getting our car jumped in the parking lot, we drove back to our house as a family of four.

The last two days have been an adjustment, we are tired and the kids don't understand the time change so they are waking up in the middle of the night, taking long naps during the day and crying a lot.  Hopefully, it will only take a few days to get back to our normal schedule...for now, we look like crap and feel like crap.  

Lucy and Landry enjoying lunch in their high chairs at home!