Gorgeous Guangzhou

We've had more busy, fun, memorable days.  So Monday we went to the Guangzhou Zoo with the three other families in our 'travel group'.  Here are the moms and our precious little boys (and my precious girls too).  The other three families left their big kids at home.  Aren't we cute?  :)  Oh and our wonderful guide, Miko, says we are the first group she's ever had to be adopting all boys. 

 

The zoo was very nice, although I think the Chongqing Zoo had more beautiful landscaping and exhibits.  But both had great animals including...

More pandas!

And I kinda loved that they had a turtle exhibit.  It was full of Red-eared sliders and box turtles.  Basically it was what my girls would like our backyard to look like.

Now this zoo did do one thing differently which we found out when we went to see Ellenies favorite animal...snakes.

The picture does not adequately depict all that is going on.  You can probably find 4 or 5 of the white bunnies hopping around.  Can you see the 3 or 4 chickens?  Is this an American farm exhibit?  Nope.  They are theside show.  They are really the next meal for the 4 or 5 GIANT pythons that are also in there!!  Every snake got to live with its own live prey.  Every tank had chicks or mice or even live baby moles.  It was sorta National Geographic cool and sorta not.  

So after the zoo and naps, we had to get ready for our big night out on the Pearl River Cruise.  Isn't there one in Mississippi too?

James loves to be in the carrier and I definitely think it's done wonders for our bonding.  As a solid 30lb sack of sugar, he is not doing wonders for my back.  Love every minute though.

My sassy molassies before we set sail...

And after we were cruising. Isn't it beautiful?

We finished the night off with ice cream which he just could not understand.  So delicious but so cold!

Today, Tuesday, was our next big day!  The whole reason we came to Guangzhou was to come, in person, and submit our adoption papers from last week along with a gazillion other pieces of paperwork for James' US Immigration Visa.  It's a big deal.  Like he will be a US citizen when his feet hit US soil in Atlanta big deal.  At that moment he has all the rights and freedoms of a US citizen big deal.  So we had our picture made outside.

We will pick up his Visa tomorrow, Wednesday, and be able to fly home Thursday.  I am having mixed feelings about leaving.  I think James probably is or will too. :)  Brad and the girls are ready to BE home.  Now, I can't wait to have James home and begin our new life with him, but I have really enjoyed China.  Probably much more than I thought I would.  I've loved the exciting energy, the friendly people, the rich history, the interesting street scenes, the beautiful architecture, and the delicious food. 

There's always so much to see, to process, to understand about a new place and just too little time.  These pictures are all from today as we went to a late wholesale market and then walked to our neighborhood grocery/ department store - so much color, texture, beauty.  If only you could hear and smell these pictures as well...

After all that stimulation, We needed to find our Chi so we went back to the garden at our hotel.  Love this sweet picture of my sweet chickadees.

And now the one you've been waiting for...

So thankful I get to see this smile about a hundred times a day now.  He's the best part of China by far.  So blessed to get to bring him home.  

Grand Guangzhou

Today was another day to relax and wait for our consulate appointment which is Tuesday.  So we headed out with our guide and three other adoptive families to do a little shopping.

It rained everyday we were in Chongqing so this is really the first sunny day we've had with him.  He squinted in the sun so we tried some sunglasses on him.  They lasted long enough for us to get a good laugh and one funny picture.

Pearl market:

Mobile Sugar came juice stand.  I really wanted to try it but someone who had before said it would not be a good idea.  I didn't ask any more questions.

We visited the Chen Essential Hall which is a beautiful building built over a hundred years ago as a school for the Chen family.  Now it serves as a museum and market where artists create beautiful Chinese art.

This artist only paints using his hand and finger to apply the paint.  He uses a small brush pto sign the art but that's it.  It was fascinating to watch him.

Here's a painting of The Great WAll he did while we watched.  Everything was applied by placing his hand in the liquid ink and stamping different parts of his hand and fingers on the paper.

Brad took the kids (we have three now!!!) on a snack picnic while I ordered 'chops' for each of them.  Chops are special hand carved stamps made of jade.  I ordered one for each child with their English name on top and Chinese translation name under it.  James has his Chinese name (Li Jiao) under James.  It's something unique to China that we wante each of them to have.  I'll post a picture when I get them tomorrow.

This is a very exciting moment right here! James watching his first ever Alabama football highlight!  He really seemed to like it and could tell how excited we were to hear Bama had won.  He was glad he hadn't worn his crimson all day for nothing.

Later we had a nice walk around our hotel's garden on the way to the pool:

Today is officially the day I realized we have a two year old again.  Mainly because I only did about 6 different activities with James all day but we did them 87 times each.  We opened and closed that door over and over and over. We flipped on the bed over and over and over.  We picked up the stacking cups he threw down over and over and over.  It's amazing how much more you enjoy it when you know it doesn't last forever.  Or maybe I just have more patience because this is the first day he really did it. :)

Either way, I'm so thankful to have a two year old again.  So precious, so funny, so cute, so innocent, so full of wonder.  So thankful.