Last one from China

Well we are packing up and checking out soon.  We don't leave for another 4 hours so we are going to leave our luggage down stairs and venture off to McDonald's again.  Ken thinks he can get us there directly this time.  I hope so because another family is coming with us!  We enjoyed our last breakfast at the Victory this morning.  The food has been good, the kids and Ken seem to enjoy it.  Everything from Chines to American to European items to eat.  I stuck with toast and fried rice.  All my stomach could handle.  Lilly did a toast this morning "To home"  and that was a big cheers from us!  So next time we post it will be from Hong Kong.  Good buy China.

All you really need

Now that we are winding down our stay here in China I thought I'd share with you our days and where we "lived".  I think when you are in a hotel more then a couple of days it becomes a home.  So these are some pictures of our "home" in China.  Here is my kitchen.  I prepared meals (pretty healthy ones too!)  Noodles, fruit, eggs, yogurt and sometimes desert!  This is our dinning room.  Cozy!  My laundry room.  I know what you are thinking that's a shower, a sink and a hair dryer!  No that's my washer, clothes line and dryer.  When you travel through the parts of China we have you see how little so many have.  The building are dirty and run down, wash is hanging out every window drying in the pollution, and car fumes.  The river makes the Connecticut look like clean drinking water.  My grocery store? 7-11 (boy I miss Shaw's).  Children play in the side walk in front of the store their parents are working in.  It makes me thankful for all that we have BUT I also realize we have so much more then we need.  I hope I can keep the sights, sounds AND smells with me to remind me that our luxuries could take care of so many others basic needs.

Haven't posted in a while

It's hard to remember what you've posted last when you cant see your blog!  And I really miss reading other Blogs.  Today is day 8 and I cant tell you how happy I am that we only are here for 10 days.  Not much to say both Ken and I have lost weight (at least 5 lbs for me).  The kids are doing fine but bored.  Finishing our shopping today and then our Consulate appointment this afternoon.  We are suppose to do a group dinner tonight at a Chinese restaurant.  Then tomorrow we wait for the OK to leave and head to the Train Station.  We will go to HK and then fly our the next morning.  Home Thur. night.  Teddy is officially ours according to China its just the US part of things now.  Missing everything home!  Carrie

Teddy Dong Dong

We call him Dong Dong and add Teddy to the end.  It seems like his name is very important to him.  He likes to say it a lot and laugh.  Maybe it sounds as funny to him as it does us!  He is very chatty to everyone.  He talks non stop to us and it doesn't bother him that we don't know what he is saying.  He signs us a song that he fills in one part with either Baba, Momma, Lilly or Ollie and sometimes Dong Dong.  He is funny, happy, listens well, holds our hand while we are out, a little lazy I don't think he did much walking, he eats anything if its not to spicy and if we tell him to share with Ollie or Lil he does.  He can write his numbers 1-10 in the correct order and then backwards (in English).  He like the DS and has figured it out.  When we are out and he wants his way and doesn't get it he tells us he needs to go to the bathroom.  That way he gets Daddy to him self.  Mommy isn't as much as a push over.  He has certain things he comes to me for and certain things he goes to Ken for.  I think he will be a great addition to the family.

Lilly

Lilly is probably the best traveling companion in the world!  She sleeps eats and never complains on a plane.  Its all an adventure to her.  She has been very excited about getting Teddy and has remained that way.  We have had to remind her of boundaries with him.  I think he had older girls that might have helped take care of him.  He wants her to do a lot for him and she started of mothering him a lot.  She did great with jet lag there was only one day she slept at a weird time and we let her stay up reading in bed and we all went to bed.  The hardest thing for Lil has been shopping on the Isl.  She doesn't understand this isn't a store at home with the price tag on the item and we know how much it cost.  When someone sees you interested in something they come right after you and start getting pushy.  Poor Lil just wants to buy something and I tried to explain to her I have no idea what it cost and we need daddy to figure out the price AND if its worth what they want.  And being just a child she doesn't understand going from shop to shop and seeing who had the nicest and best prices.  We did go to a shop today that no one followed your around (YEA) and items were marked.  We got her one dress and some shoes.  But she is just her regular easy going happy smiley self!

Ollie

I thought I'd do and individual post on how each child is doing.  Ollie has had the hardest time with the trip.  After our first flight (2 hrs) she was ready to go home.  She was very scared for the first couple of days and just wanted to go home.  She kept telling us she was scared when we boarded the plane for Japan, luckily she feel asleep as soon as we sat down.  She traveled OK slept alot on the planes.  As soon as we got to hour Hotel in Hong Kong she stripped off her clothes and wanted her swim suit.  Mind you it was after midnight there.  We convinced her to wait til morning.  She has been a trooper going from plane to plane, train, and taxi cabs.  On our flight to Providence she seemed so happy and grabbed the window seat but by the end of the flight (2hrs) she was a wreck crying and saying something in her mouth hurt.  After we landed she seemed to be OK.  She is OK with Teddy.  On the first day we got him she was very concerned when he didn't come with us to the restaurant and was relived when she saw him there.  She kept telling me Teddy come home with us.  Everything was looking up til 2 days later she realized he takes up a lot of Daddy's time.  I think this will change once we get home and not stuck in a hotel room.  Last night she asked me if if Teddy stay in hotel?  I told him no he's coming home with us. She said "No Way"  I told her he had no mom and dad and now I was his mom and dad his dad and we were his family.  Wont it be nice to have a new brother?  No Way!  At least the girl is honest.

Friday

We started the day with breakfast at the Victory, just Lil, Teddy, and Dad.  Mom and Ollie hung out in the room and we sniped a few snacks to bring back.  Ollie has been dieing for a dip, so we headed up to the roof to swim in the pool.  The girls enjoyed it, Teddy was a little unsure.  He did get in the pool, but wanted to get out quickly.  He felt comfortable in the 2" deep foot wash area, but still wanted a life ring.  It seemed like the idea of wearing clothes when you get wet was strange, he wanted to take off his suit.  After wards we went out for a little shopping and the girls got purses and Teddy got a toy cell phone.  The girls got a kick out of the Barbie poster in Chinese.  We went back to the hotel and Dad and Teddy headed off to get his shots, which he was not too happy about.  3 shots, a TB injection, and oral polio.  We picked up noodles for the kids for dinner and Carrie and Ken got Subway (which was just like in the US).  We were all going to head to the playground, but Ollie was getting ready to crash and it was getting dark, so just Dad, Lil, and Ted went.  He burned off quite a bit of energy, should sleep well!!!

Airplane pics

Here are the pics that should go with the airplane blog entry

Guangzhou round 2

We we landed and did get to go to the hotel to check in before our medical appointment which was good so Carrie and the girls could hag out at the hotel while Dad and Teddy went to the doctors.  The medical appointment went pretty well, except Teddy had to have 3 doctors check "him" out.  He thought is was pretty funny how much time they spent looking at "him".  He was getting a little restless at the end, and the last thing was an eye exam.  They tested him for color blindness, and he said he saw a light house when it was the number 9.  They finally got him to understand and he answered right.  The vision exam was a finger chart where the fingers pointed up, down, left, and right.  He was clowning it up pointing both right and left but he seemed to see fine.  It was an early night, we ordered Papa John's but Ollie had fallen asleep at 4:30 before we got back from the appointment so she missed dinner.  Carrie was crashing and I was not too far behind so I got Lil and Ted in bed and hit the sack.  I think we were all asleep by 8 and slept until 5.  It was the longest we have slept since arriving.

Airplane ride

Teddy seemed to enjoy the airplane ride.  He definitely wanted the window seat so he could check out what was going on.  Lil was planning on having the window seat but came across the aisle to sit with Dad so Ted could see.  When we got in the air he started to settle down and ended up falling asleep.  Lil and Dad played some hangman and DS.  We hit some turbulence and Teddy woke up.  The chicken they served on the flight was a little spicy and none of the kids were a big fan.  We landed and got our bags.  This flight we knew they would go through EVERY bag at security so we checked anything that resembled a liquid to avoid any more hassles.  Shenzhen Air was better coming up compared to China Southern coming back.  You know how they tell you to not unbuckle your seat belt until the planes has come to a complete stop?  now we know why because I think they hit something with the plane at the gate and some people almost ended up in the seat in front of them!!!

Day 2 morning

Well sleeping was easy, Teddy got his PJs on and climbed into bed with Ollie and Lilly, went to the foot of the bed, and covered up to go to sleep.  He got the most sleep out of all of us too.  We got up rather early and went to breakfast at the Crowne Plaza because our Holiday Inn building did not have a breakfast room.  It was a very good buffet with plenty of eggs, watermelon and fruit, salad, rice, fried dumplings, and pastries.  And yes, kids eat free at the Holiday Inn in China too!  We headed to the airport and Teddy pulled out his cars and he and I started playing with them.  It wasn't too long before the older gentleman sitting across from us was on the floor too talking to Teddy and crashing the cars with us.  Teddy is quite a ham, it seems everything he says makes the people around him laugh!

Day 1!!!

What a day!  We are exhausted Ollie fell asleep at 7pm and we are soon to follow.  I'm hoping since Dong Dong was up early he will sleep well tonight.  Lilly got over 10hrs of sleep she's doing fine!  I hope this post makes since I'm getting alittle  loopy!  We flew into Zhengzhou was met by a driver taken right to the hotel where we saw Dong Dong standing our front.  We knew it was him he was wearing the sweat suit we had Ann at Red Thread send.  He looked so tiny!  I knew he is smaller then Ollie but I just wasn't thinking he'd be that small.  He  knew who we were and he had a bottle of milk he offered to share with us (the milk taste horrible here) we all took a drink and he was pretty happy to meet us.  We gave him his backpack of toys which he took out he loved the cars.  We had about 3 minutes to spend with him and then we were whisked off to lunch.  He did not ride with us which concerned Ollie a lot!!! She was so relived and happy to see him at the restaurant.  Boy can he eat!!!  And he loved anything that was given to him.  The women who brought him, one of the nannies, has been with him since he arrived at the orphanage.  She was having a hard time (she started to cry a couple of times during the meal) letting me help him.  Then we were taken to the CCAA to complete the adoption.  He is ours!  He rode with the Nannie again and when he got there he played with the girls and was having a good time til they told him she was leaving.  The Nannie also had a hard time.  Its nice to know he was loved so much.  He is one strong little guy!!  He cried hard and tried to leave Ken had to hold him this probably lasted about 15min and then he went back to play with Ken and the girls while I finished up some paperwork.  We were told we have done the fastest adoption in history!  We had to tell them we were waiving our 24 hour right (to what give him back we don't think so!)  we waived it.  There is so much more to tell but Ive got to get some sleep Ken is crashing fast.  Dong Dong is happy he laughs and smiles hes all BOY he eats very well and Lilly is just mothering him something awful.  Ollie is a little jealous.

Today is the day

One more hour til we leave for the airport then we meet Teddy this afternoon.  We are doing pretty good.  The girls got some sleep last night (ollie is still sleeping) and I managed to get 4 hours then another 2.  Lilly is pretty excited Ollie is starting to except it but if we said we were going home now she'd be fine with that.  This switching hotels every night is getting old.  We have just one night tonight in Zhengzhou at a Holiday Inn then back to the Victory and I can finally unpack.  The nice thing is the Victory will keep our extra luggage for free til we get back so no lugging that with us.  Next time I post there should be picture of Teddy.  Keep your fingers crossed he has and easy transition to us.  I'm not sure how Lil is going to be if he gets really up set.  Love to every one.  So happy we can Skype this time.

Good morning from HK

Well we didn't exaclty sleep in, got up around 6:00. It is more like waking up from an afternoon nap. The girls wanted to hit the pool, Carrie found it out our window. Nice view of the Harbour, and clean. It felt really good to finally get a shower and some clean clothes. Lil spilled her apple juice on my leg on the first flight, luckily it was not too much. I have attached some pictures of the flight and the pool this AM. After swiming we went for a walk to the attached mall. We found a 7eleven and picked up some water and milk for the girls. We saw signs for a food court and luckily one of the places had english descriptions. I grabbed a coffee and an egg sandwich. Ollie thought the sandwich looked good so I had to go pick up another one, and Lil wanted some noodles so I grabbed some of those too. Quite a bit less expensive than the hotel breakfast, 45HK dollars ($7US). Not too many shops in the mall were open, but Lil enjoyed window shopping at the bridal store!

Our Travels so far

Well its 3:40 AM and everyone is able to sleep except Mom. Mind you they also slept well on the plane too! So I thought I'd share our trip so far. We are in Hong Kong at a hotel a business associate recommended to Ken. We got in at 12:45 AM after a hour delay on our last leg of the flight. We got up-graded for free to a suite. We must have looked pathetic to they hotel clerk :o) Now if we could just have this room at the Victory it would be great. So this is how it's gone we checked in 2hours before our international flight from Manchester NH and that was the longest we spent in any airport. All our flights were an hour (yes one hour) apart. We literally ran from one plane to the next! The girls did great with their backpacks and luggage. The flights were uneventful except for the hour delay (something wrong with a battery) The longest flight was nice we had a middle row to ourselves and it gave everyone (except me) plenty of time to sleep. A few things to share. If you ever need a travel companion take Lilly! She is unbelievable! We were over Alaska (pictures later when Ken wakes up) and she looks out and says "Momma is more beautiful then I imagined." We found our she loves shrimp cocktail. She ate hers, mine and Ollie's. Then she says (about plane food) its so good if you close your eyes its like being in an elegant restaurant. Gotta love her. Ollie is doing great she just doesn't understand. She wanted to go home after the first plane ride. But when we got to the hotel at 1AM our time she stripped off her clothes and wanted her bathing suit! "Lets go pimming" she said. More later gotta try and sleep again!

First flight

Here we are after 14 months of waiting finally at the airport waiting to start our Journey. I was so nice we didn't have to leave til 8:30 from home (not like the 4am last time). We said good by to Max, Gramma and Grampa and Tobey at home Sannie came to the airport to drop us off and headed back to College from there. It was nice to have everyone home for the weekend before we left. Its just so unbelievable to think that when we land back in NH we will be a family of 7! Oh Sannie was a wreck when she dropped us off! Makes me wonder how she is going to be when she leaves for Spain for 5 months! Love you all!

Pumpkin Day

One last bit of business before we left was to take the wagon down the street to get our pumpkins. It was a little grey, cool. and windy but still a very good time. Grandma and Grandpa picked up some of their own too. We couldn't quite fit them all in the wagon so we had to lug a few home by hand. I think they will make great jack o' lanterns when we get back home!

Happy Birthday Max!

Today is Max's Birthday and Ollie has made sure everyone knows. Happy Birthdays are Ollie's favorite days. I made baked mac & cheese for dinner and we had a cheese cake two of Max's favorites. Boy how the years pass.

Testing

So we cant blog in china so this is an email blog test!