Morning Comes Early

We arrived home last night around 9:30pm. The flight from Hong Kong to Newark went smoothly. We thought we were having great luck, but then we ended up sitting on our next plane in Newark for about 3 hours before it took off. That was very painful for the adults.

Both kids were in bed by 11. We stayed up until 1 am trying to get some stuff put away - that was a huge mistake. Eva and Kai got each other up at 4:45 and were completely ready to start their days! I think we've got a couple of long days ahead of us to get everyone over jetlag.

We've back in Hong Kong

We've made it back to Hong Kong after a very long day.  We checked out of our hotel in Guangzhou this afternoon and then were put on one of three buses taking families to the US Consulate office.  Unfortunately, their was no air conditioning in our section of the bus. It was so hot that Eva and Kai were both drenched in sweat by the time we got there.  Poor kids.   The procedings at the Consulate office took much longer than usual because there was a film crew and reporter from Reuters there.  Look for us in the crowd of any China adoption news stories that you may see in the future.

 

After the Consulate appointment, we went to the train station and took the train to Hong Kong. We got on an earlier train than we were originally scheduled for, but due to the early departure, we didn't have time to have dinner before getting on the train.  The kids were really miserable (adults were miserable by default). We're now settled in to our hotel and everyone is fed and asleep.  We start our day tomorrow by leaving the hotel and 7:30 am and hope to be home 25 hours later!

Pink Pajama Pants

We are still able to post text to the blog but can't load any more pictures, so you'll have to believe me when I tell you that the pink pajama pants have not made an appearance in several days.   When we first met Kai, he was wearing pink pajamas - top and bottom, coverd with a pale yellow jumper.  Of course everything was in the traditional split-pants style - that means a bare undercarriage for ease in using the potty.  Now, one would think that if you had spent the first 23 months of your life with a bare bottom that it would not be that big of a deal to part with your pink pajama pants and have bare legs...  Wrong!  Having bare legs was VERY traumatic.  So, whenever we went anywhere, the diaper and shorts all went on over the pink pajama pants.  We also had some backup split pants, but the pink ones were always the favorite.  He wore them on the plane from Hohhot to Guangzhou, but it is so hot in Guangzhou that we couldn't possibly dress him in layers.  He really isn't used to the heat and humidity and breaks out in a heavy sweat after being outside for about 15 minutes during the day.  So, Good-bye Pink Pajama Pants and the bold fashion statement that went with them. 

 

Our US Consulate appointment was today.  This is when our guide takes all of our paperwork to the US Consulate and applies for Kai's immigrant visa. Our job was to wait by the phone in our hotel room in case someone from the Consulate wanted to ask us any questions.  It's kind of odd to have an appointment with the US government that a citizen of another country attends on your behalf, but that's the way it works.  Everything went smoothly. No one asked us any questions.  So, Kai is approved to become a US citizen. We are now just waiting for the visa to be printed. We should receive it tomorrow afternoon shortly before leaving on the train for Hong Kong.

 

No more blogging?

We are not able to access our website today, but our internet connection appears to be fine.  We weren't sure if we would be able to access it at all while in China, so I gues we were lucky up until now. I think that we can still add posts through email - that's what this is.  Can someone please leave a comment if you can see this? That way we will know that it got to our website.

 

Today we had our medical exam and filled out paperwork.  It all went very smoothly.  The medical exam is very basic and is meant to screen people coming to the US to prevent people with infectious diseases from traveling. The paperwork for our Consulate appointment tomorrw. 

 

 

Fun with Dad

We had a great dinner tonight. Terri's friend Wiki who lives in Guangzhou went with us, so not only did we have some great company but we also were able to order exactly what we wanted at the restaurant thanks to her.

Kai has been charming everyone he meets. He and Eva both shook hands with nearly everyone that approached them at the restaurant. The two of them have been clowning around together quite a bit. In the video, Eva couldn't quite get Kai's attention, but generally they play quite well together... when they're not squabbling over some coveted toy.

It was Terri's birthday today! Unfortunately our schedule changed, and instead of spending her birthday on a dinner cruise on the river, we ended up going to a shopping mall and a Pizza Hut with two other adoptive families. There were 14 of us, including 6 kids all under the age of 5... not exactly a relaxing or enjoyable time. Hopefully we can give her a little time relax tomorrow!

Guangzhou Day 1

We've arrived in Guangzhou after a 5 am start to our day and a three hour flight. Kai does not like flying. He cried and screamed about 50% of the time. He was eating about 45% of the time and ok to just hang out the for remaining 5%. So, if we extrapolate that to our trip home next week, that's about 8 hours of screaming that an unsuspecting plane full of people will be treated to, AND we had better bring an extra suitcase full of snacks.

The climate in Guangzhou is the complete opposite of that in Hohhot. Hohhot was extremely dry - I would wake up in the middle of the night and want to drik a bottle of water. We were treated to a sandstorm on Thursday which made everything seem gritty and drier, and everyone except Eva was having some sort of resirpatory problem due to the dust. Guangzhou, on the other hand, is rainy, hot and extremely humid. Scott, Terri and Eva have already ventured out for supplies and snacks while Kai is taking a nap. We don't have anything official scheduled for today. Tomorrow, we are going to see the Six Banyan Temple (or something like that).

Last night in Hohhot Photos

Last Day in Hohhot

At 6:00 a.m. tommorow we fly out of Hohhot and head to back to Southern China for our visit with the US Consulate. We started this morning with a trip to the Museum of Inner Mongolia. Mary stayed back to get some work done, so it was Terri, myself and the kids. As soon as we arrived we were asked by one staff to translate into written English a pamphlet about dinosaurs. Terri obliged, but unfortunately that left here with little time to check out the exhibits. I enjoyed the exhibits although a lot was lost on me because I could not read most of the signs. There was a very regal and huge statue of Ghengis Khan that was quite striking.

Eva and Kai did not care at all about the exhibits, but did enjoy running around the halls and being pushed in the stroller.

This afternoon we all visited the local Buddhist Temple. It was over 200 years old and an amazing site. Mary did have to be corrected for taking photos inside the temple. (They don't like that). In her defense we were allowed to photos everywhere else and no one told us before hand.

Kai and I are now alone for the first time. It is going fine. Mary, Terri, and Eva are off to buy Kai another shirt or two and to get an extra piece of luggage.

Should be a busy final night here. The hotel rooms are a disaster and we have to meet our guide very early in the a.m. I hope all is well back home. Thanks for reading.

Grasslands part 2 (It was very windy!)

Our Trip to the Grasslands

Some More pictures

Hohhot Day 5

Well we missed a day of blogging, but things are going well. Yesterday Terri, Eva, Kai, and Scott went to the largest park in Hohhot. We hired a paddleboat and paddled around the lake. Next we were surrounded by no less than 30 local residents who all wanted to take pictures with themselves and Eva. It was quite a scene and Eva was a pretty good sport. Next we rode the ferris wheel followed by a few more photos with Eva's fans.

We had dinner at our usual place, and this time it was Eva that lost her cool. She climbed in and out of the stroller about 10 times, took her shoes off, and would not sit still for more than one minute. The people here are notoriously polite, but I thought perhaps we were going to get kicked out. Kai sat nicely and ate his usual huge portion. The kid really likes to pack it in.

This morning (Wednesday here) we took a 2 hour bus ride to visit the grasslands. Mongolia is known for these windswept plains and we were able to walk inside of some yurts and were served "milk tea" by our hosts. The winds in the spring are sustained and felt to be above 50mph with no slowing down. It is a very unforgiving environment, but beautiful. It was a great experience.

Its just past lunch now and we had some carry out from the local Muslim place. It was good, but not nearly as spicy as we all started to enjoy. Kai polished off 3 huge dumplings and wanted more.

The kids are playing nicely on the floor with Terri. Kai has started to respond to his name and does a fairly good job prounouning "Eva". Terri Felton has been a godsend to have on our trip. I honestly don't know how we could have done this without help.

We head to visit a local Temple tommorow and hope to post some more piscutres soon. Thanks for reading.

Hohhot Day 3

It's Tuesday afternoon. The Chinese portion of the adoption is complete and we are now waiting for Kai's passport which we expect to receive on Friday.

The majority of the paperwork happend during a two hour period on Monday in a conference room in the hotel. During that time Kai charmed everyone by trying to help with the paperwork, playing hide and seek, running around, and at one point going around the room attempting to shake everyone's hand. He received a Mongolian hat from the orphanage as a gift. He is quite pleased with it.

We've gotten quite good at getting lunch and dinner for ourselves. We've been back to the same restaurant 3 times now and have really enjoyed everything we've ordered even though we never know exactly what we're going to get until it comes to the table.

We're going to do some shopping this afternoon and will do some sightseeing tomorrow and Wednesday. Thanks for all the well-wishes. We really enjoy hearing from everyone.

Some pictures from this morning

A short video

We don't have too many pictures of Kai smiling yet. The photos we have are all either within the first 10 minutes of meeting him (and he looks scared) or are taken when he has been busily playing and not looking at the camera. We have gotten a bit of good video, though.

Meet Kai

We got a little surprise today... We got Kai about 20 minutes after we arrived at our hotel in Hohhot! Our guide informed us that this was going to happen when we were half way between the Hohhot airport and the hotel. He has been doing extremely well. He interacted with us right away and plays quite nicely with Eva.

After about 15-20 minutes with two staff members from the orphanage, we were on our own. We went to dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. No one spoke any English and we certainly didn't know what we were doing or what we wanted, but we managed to get some really tasty food. After that Scott and Eva went back to the room and Mary, Terri and Kai went for a shor walk and picked up some water and extra snacks at a local store. When we returned to the room, Kai was sad and crying. He wanted to have his shoes on so that he could leave and when Mary said no, he noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes, so he brought her her shoes so that she could leave with him (we're assuming that he wanted to leave to find his foster family). He settled down nicely and went to bed very easily.

We already gotten lots of smiles and some laughs. He loves throwing toys, but will play nicely when one of us (including Eva) demonstrates how to use the toy. He also seems to love music and can't help but bop up and down when he hears a catchy tune.

We'll post more when we can, but need to sleep now. We've been told that Kai usually gets up at 6am. Yikes!

Hong Kong Day 2

Its near midnight on Saturday here and we are packing for our trip to Inner Mongolia. We leave for the airport at 5:15a.m. tommorow. This morning Eva, Terri, and I headed out to an old fishing village known as Aberdeen, while Mary stayed back to finish some work. The harbour was amazing and filled with all manner of wooden boats; many were live aboard.

Eva enjoyed an afternoon dip in the hotel pool and then quickly crashed. She still has a touch of the jet lag.

This evening Mary and Terri went to a night market and did a little bargain shopping.

We expect to meet our new son the day after tommorow. Things are getting pretty exciting for us.

Hong Kong Day 1

Today we went to Lantou Island and took a very long, very high cable car ride to see the Big Buddha. Everyone seems to be adjusting well to the time change. Eva was a real trooper and stayed up all day. She took at nap in the evening and woke up at 11 pm happy as could be.

Made it to Hong Kong

We've made it to Hong Kong and have settled in to our hotel nicely. The flight was delayed due to some storms that came through the Newark area, so we ended up spending about 17 hour on the plane, including 2 on the ground waiting for the weather to clear. Eva did great and got PLENTLY of sleep. So, here we are in our hotel at midnight and she is wide awake and ready for action! Hopefully we'll all get some sleep soon.

Our Itinerary

We just got our final itinerary for the trip.

• May 16: Leave Chicago 9:00 am - Continental 1176 to Newark,Continental 99 to Hong Kong
• May 17: Arrive in Hong Kong at 6:50 pm. We will be staying at theJ.W. Marriott on Hong Kong Island
• May 18 -19: Hang out in Hong Kong
• May 20: Fly to Hohhot - Cathay Pacific CX6872 to Beijing leaves at 8:05 am Air China 1128 to Hohhot leaves 1:55 pm

We are met by a guide in Hohhot who helps us complete the adoption process and takes us to see some of the local sights.

• May.20: Arrive in Huhehaote on flight CA1128/14:55, guide will meetthem at airport and transfer to Hu He Hao Te Holiday Inn.
• May.21: In the morning go to the Civil Affairs to meet the child andsign the adoption agreement. And will do the registration and applyingthe passport in the afternoon.
• May.22: Continue to do the process for notarization .
• May.23: Visit the Temple of Da Zhao Si.
• May.24: Go to see the grassland.
• May.25: Pick up passport.
• May.26: Huhehaote to Guangzhou on Flight CA1381(07:40-10:45). Transferto Victory Hotel. Medical for baby and take photos.
• May.27: Pearl River Cruise.
• May.28: Visit Temple of Family Chen.
• May.29: 09:00 am at U.S.Consulate for visa appointment.
• May.30: 16:00 Pick up the visa in the afternoon. Guangzhou to Hongkongby train T805/18:27, transfer to train station.
• May 31: Go home: Continental 98 leaves 10:25 am,Continental 1144 arrives Chicago 6:49 pm

Travel Approval!!!!!!

We received our Travel Approval today!!!! We will be leaving May 16 + /- 1 day. Kai will be joining our family on May 21. I will post more details when we have our travel arranged. Right now I've got too much to do! :)

Waiting...

We're patiently waiting for our Travel Approval and starting to think
about everything we need to do for our trip. The number of details to
account for is really quite alarming.

We've heard that blogspot web addresses are now blocked in China, but
there still may be a way to post to this site while we are there. I'm
testing out a few things - hopefully one of our options will work when
we get there.

Eva is also busily preparing. She likes to go through the house,
pointing out all items that will be Kai's and which items she plans to
share with him. So far, she has been very generous. We expect there
may be a change of heart when Kai actually arrives.

Letter of Acceptance is here!

We were notified by our adoption agency this afternoon that our LOA has arrived. This means that the Chinese government has approved our adoption application. We're very excited! We will receive it tomorrow. We need to sign it, "check the box" to indicate that we still want to adopt Kai and FedEx it back to our agency.

Next, we wait for our Travel Approval and then can really start to plan our trip. At this point, we think we'll be traveling mid to late May.

First Post

This is our blog about our adoption. We plan to update it from now and through our trip to China. If you are interested in learning whats new with our adoption, we would like to tell you about it.

Eva tells us every day about how she is going to China and reminds us that she has reserved a window seat on the flight.

We have not been approved yet, but are waiting impatiently. The page below contain information about the current state of our application to adopt. We hope that out next post will contain some very good news.