Merry Christmas everyone!

Sorry about the terrible delay in updating- for all of you still out there reading this! We have been so busy since coming home as you can imagine. Not just adjusting to having a new family member, but all the preparations for Christmas! Megan is doing exceptionately well, amazing considering the changes in her life. She began school two weeks ago, we expected her to be overwhelmed by this, as she spends a good portion of her day in the classroom expected to learn with just an english speaking teacher. Well, she surprised us again when she got off the bus and announced "I love go to school". She has continued to get off the bus with a big smile, not stressed at all. She has two periods a day of ELL services- English Language Lerner education- she just loves this. We called an interpreter at our agency a couple days into school to be sure there was nothing she needed to ask us, or tell us. The interpreter asked if this class was good, she responded with, "it is not good, it is perfect!" if only we could all be as positive and optimistic as this child! She has called her family several times since coming home, and this weekend called two friends, whom she talked to for almost an hour! Thank goodness for Skype on the computer- 2 cents a minute!
She has been eagerly awaiting Christmas. Although she never celebrated this holiday in China, she knew enough about it to be very excited. She has been asking each day for the last two weeks what day it was, and has announced how many more days until Christmas! Christmas was very special for all of us today, she loved each gift received and announced " I love Christmas" tonight. We hope all of you had a blessed day as well-
Merry Christmas!

Still on China time- and more computer issues!

We made it home safely Sunday night. All our flights were early- amazing for us, we arrived at the Rochester airport at 9pm to our wonderful family and friends waiting for us. Megan seemed to handle all this attention well. Loved her balloons- thanks Grace! She seemed thrilled with her room, liked all the animals, but not sure she wanted Sabrina- who had planted herself on Megan's bed.
Thought we were home free when we put everyone to bed at 12:30am, all sleeping until Monday morning- but no such luck. It is 6am now, and everyone has been up most of the night. Katie and Grace went to bed great at 7:30pm last night- exhausted. I woke to them awake and playing in their room at 12:45am. Gave them some Benadryl to help and went back to bed. Woke to some noise at 2am or so, which I tried to ignore. Heard Megan laughing at 2:45, went upstairs to find her showered, dressed, and watching a movie on her DVD player in her room. I was greeted by both boys, who said they had been awake since 12:45am.
So here we all are, 6am and feeling awake, which I am sure will turn to feeling completely exhausted by noon.
Tried to use this early hour to transfer the rest of my pictures to find that my computer is not reconizing my USB ports- have no idea why. Soooo will try to do that later on Jim's computer.
Love to all from the family still on China time-
Benadryl for all tonight!

Beijing day 2 and 3

Sorry about the delay everyone! We are having trouble with our internet connection at this hotel- had someone in our room for an hour yesterday, they could not connect us. Luckily- we are back up tonight- was able to upload some of yesterdays pictures but it took forever, so

yesterdays pictures you can find here. The pictures on this page are from today, I will post the rest on shutterfly on Monday from home. Back to our time in Beijing- first off, the company we chose for touring has been amazing. We love our guide Echo- yes, thats her English name, she is wonderful. We have been riding around in a BMW van, really comfortable. Yesterday we began our day at the Summer Palace. Built in the Ming dynasty for the emperor that the Forbidden city was built for. Very similar structure to the forbidden city, but situated on a beautiful lake. The emperor and his family spent their summers at this palace as it was cooler. This palace has the longest hall of any structure. It was an outside covered walkway completely covered in beautiful paintings. I cannot remember how long it is, but seemed like we walked forever. We headed after this to the Forbidden city and Tianneman square, kids did great with all this walking, but really did not appreciate it, except for Kellan. He has really loved seeing everything we have seen. The others have been more interested in when lunch is, and how cold they are- and boy, is it cold here! Our travels from Guangzhou to Beijing are equivalent from traveling from Florida to New York. Kellan even bought a hat that covers his ears, a red army hat, but hey, keeps him warm. We have been carrying instant hand warmers in our gloves. Back to our touring yesterday, we headed in the afternoon to the Temple of Heaven, which was breathtaking. Pictures do not do it justice. If it was warmer I would have loved to spend more time there. There were many people flying kites, and many senior citizens all gathered on this walkway in their winter coats playing poker and various musical instruments. I kept thinking you would never see this at home. They were having a great time, and it was about 38 degrees outside. For dinner we had Peking Duck, which Kellan said was the best thing he has ever eaten. It was really delicous! Today we visited the Great Wall, Katie surprised us all and began climbing quickly on all fours up the stairs. She did very well and we all went together up quite a ways, when the girls, and quite honestly we, began to tire out. We headed down, Kellan and Patrick decided they wanted to climb all the way, which they did- we waited for about 45 minutes for them to come down- they were really proud of their accomplishment telling us how few people their were at the top and what could be seen from up there. This afternoon we toured a Hutong village, which is the oldest still functioning village in Beijing. Very few cars pass though, so after going over a small bridge we all hopped on Rickshaws to ride through the streets. We were able to visit with a local family in their home. A retired couple that proudly showed us around their small but very cozy home. They told us that the government gave them 3,000 Yuan to live on per month- equivalent to about $400 USD. Because of their simple life, they are able to save half of it each month, living off of less than $200 per month. The had three birds, one talking bird- funny to hear a bird speaking mandaring- and a pet chipmunk in a cage. Thought it was a hampster, but nope, a Chipmunk with a little wheel to run on and all! Went to a tea room, where we sampled for different kinds of tea- all wonderful. For dinner we ate at a incredible restaurant that serves the best imperial cuisine in China we were told. It was situated in a local park that was closed to nighttime traffic, so we had to park outside and walk through the park along a lake to get to the restaurant. We were greated at a cement walkway lit by two red lanterns lit with candles, and a woman dressed in traditional imperial dress who escorted us further along this lake to an absolutely beautful restaurant. We did feel a bit like royalty. The food was amazing. Patrick again, tried everything and has continued to be surprised with how much he likes the food! I am sure I am missing so many details I would love to share with all of you, but we are so very tired and ready to come home. Not sure if Megan Su Xue Wei has any idea of the significance that tomorrow holds for her. When we enter the US in Chicago she becomes an American citizen, but looses her Chinese citizenship. From then forward she will need to request a visa to enter the country that has been her home all her life. I am sure we will be back here with her in the future, but I cant help feeling sad for all that she is loosing. Tomorrow we head for home at 5:30 pm Sunday China time arriving in the Rochester airport just "four hours" later at 9:30 pm. If only our trip was that short! We are off to bed- our next post will be from home- with more pictures from our last day in China-

Love to all of you!

Beijing day 2 and 3

Sorry about the delay everyone! We are having trouble with our internet connection at this hotel- had someone in our room for an hour yesterday, they could not connect us. Luckily- we are back up tonight- was able to upload some of yesterdays pictures but it took forever, so

yesterdays pictures you can find here. The pictures on this page are from today, I will post the rest on shutterfly on Monday from home. Back to our time in Beijing- first off, the company we chose for touring has been amazing. We love our guide Echo- yes, thats her English name, she is wonderful. We have been riding around in a BMW van, really comfortable. Yesterday we began our day at the Summer Palace. Built in the Ming dynasty for the emperor that the Forbidden city was built for. Very similar structure to the forbidden city, but situated on a beautiful lake. The emperor and his family spent their summers at this palace as it was cooler. This palace has the longest hall of any structure. It was an outside covered walkway completely covered in beautiful paintings. I cannot remember how long it is, but seemed like we walked forever. We headed after this to the Forbidden city and Tianneman square, kids did great with all this walking, but really did not appreciate it, except for Kellan. He has really loved seeing everything we have seen. The others have been more interested in when lunch is, and how cold they are- and boy, is it cold here! Our travels from Guangzhou to Beijing are equivalent from traveling from Florida to New York. Kellan even bought a hat that covers his ears, a red army hat, but hey, keeps him warm. We have been carrying instant hand warmers in our gloves. Back to our touring yesterday, we headed in the afternoon to the Temple of Heaven, which was breathtaking. Pictures do not do it justice. If it was warmer I would have loved to spend more time there. There were many people flying kites, and many senior citizens all gathered on this walkway in their winter coats playing poker and various musical instruments. I kept thinking you would never see this at home. They were having a great time, and it was about 38 degrees outside. For dinner we had Peking Duck, which Kellan said was the best thing he has ever eaten. It was really delicous! Today we visited the Great Wall, Katie surprised us all and began climbing quickly on all fours up the stairs. She did very well and we all went together up quite a ways, when the girls, and quite honestly we, began to tire out. We headed down, Kellan and Patrick decided they wanted to climb all the way, which they did- we waited for about 45 minutes for them to come down- they were really proud of their accomplishment telling us how few people their were at the top and what could be seen from up there. This afternoon we toured a Hutong village, which is the oldest still functioning village in Beijing. Very few cars pass though, so after going over a small bridge we all hopped on Rickshaws to ride through the streets. We were able to visit with a local family in their home. A retired couple that proudly showed us around their small but very cozy home. They told us that the government gave them 3,000 Yuan to live on per month- equivalent to about $400 USD. Because of their simple life, they are able to save half of it each month, living off of less than $200 per month. The had three birds, one talking bird- funny to hear a bird speaking mandaring- and a pet chipmunk in a cage. Thought it was a hampster, but nope, a Chipmunk with a little wheel to run on and all! Went to a tea room, where we sampled for different kinds of tea- all wonderful. For dinner we ate at a incredible restaurant that serves the best imperial cuisine in China we were told. It was situated in a local park that was closed to nighttime traffic, so we had to park outside and walk through the park along a lake to get to the restaurant. We were greated at a cement walkway lit by two red lanterns lit with candles, and a woman dressed in traditional imperial dress who escorted us further along this lake to an absolutely beautful restaurant. We did feel a bit like royalty. The food was amazing. Patrick again, tried everything and has continued to be surprised with how much he likes the food! I am sure I am missing so many details I would love to share with all of you, but we are so very tired and ready to come home. Not sure if Megan Su Xue Wei has any idea of the significance that tomorrow holds for her. When we enter the US in Chicago she becomes an American citizen, but looses her Chinese citizenship. From then forward she will need to request a visa to enter the country that has been her home all her life. I am sure we will be back here with her in the future, but I cant help feeling sad for all that she is loosing. Tomorrow we head for home at 5:30 pm Sunday China time arriving in the Rochester airport just "four hours" later at 9:30 pm. If only our trip was that short! We are off to bed- our next post will be from home- with more pictures from our last day in China-

Love to all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best to all of our family and friends at home for a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were really missing home today. Made it safely to Beijing, we are at the Holiday Inn downtown, nice but NOT the White Swan! They are doing major construction on the hotel in anticipation of the olympics, so the view out our window is of another wall! Our flight was smooth when we finally got off the ground sat for an hour on the plane waiting for air traffic control to give us clearance. Seemed like forever with the kids. The flight was three hours, made it to our hotel at 3pm. We were going to go to the zoo today but opted to do it on sunday as our flight leaves at 5:30pm. Just too tired and hungry after traveling all day.
Had a great buffet dinner here at the hotel, actually had turkey! Not quite like home, but we were happy. they also had really good mashed potatoes, that we heard another American cheering about at the buffet!
Sorry this is such an uneventful post, no pictures today either- but we are touring all day tomorrow, so I am sure there will be lots of great pictures. It is cold here- Megan says "too cold" when we exited the airport- about 30 degrees F. So we will be touring with our hats and mittens on!
More tomorrow-
Love to all of you- eat some apple pie for us!

Last day in Guangzhou

Our last day in Guangzhou- we wake at 5am, to get all of us down to breakfast and on the bus to the airport by 7am. We had a great last day here, the weather ended up being wonderful. Did some last day shopping this morning, Megan actually picked up a dress and admired it. She wanted to try it on- chose a beautiful pink one. Looked wonderful on her! This afternoon headed to the consulate for the anticlimactic oath taking. I got emotional anyway- a big shock I know. We had dinner at the hotel tonight. they have a barbecue buffet each night right on the river. The weather was perfect, the view was wonderful. Many boats went by all lit up with beautiful lights. Food was wonderful. Great way to end our time here.
I am feeling very sentimental as we prepare to leave here. We passed through here as we added each of our girls to our families. Not sure if we will ever be back here in Guangzhou, although I am sure we will find ourselves in China again as our girls grow. Guangzhou is a special place, almost like a maternity ward of a hospital. New parents proudly carrying their new little ones in their arms. Some bigger than others of course- I think we won the award this week for biggest "baby". We have been joking with her all week about her being our new baby- she thinks it is very funny and plays along.
Tomorrow we head to Beijing, and as much as we want to come home we are looking forward to our time there. Our three days will fly by and we will soon be on the plane home-
Link to pictues is here!
Love to all of you-

Guangzhou day 4

The beautiful Guangzhou weather has ended- it rained almost all day today, and will tomorrow as well. Never made it to the pool (except for Kellan that is) but still enjoying our time here very much. Today was the all important consulate appointment. Not an appointment we attend, our facilitator delivered our paperwork to the consulate, where they review it and decide if all is acceptable. This is when they decide to issue a visa or not. We needed to wait in our room from 9:45- 10:45am until our guide called us to say all was ok. We were sweating it out a bit, as our guide in Shanghai told us one of her documents was not really up to the standards the consulate likes, but that she received pre approval from someone, and was sure it would be ok. She could not remember the persons name that she spoke to at the consulate- soooo we were a bit nervous- but it all worked out, she will have her visa! Tomorrow we all go to the consulate to take an oath that all that we have attested to in our paperwork is true. Sounds important, but really a non-event, although always cool to visit the consulate.
After we got the all ok, we headed with our group to the pearl market. My intent was to buy pearls for a friend that asked for them, but got there, and ended up buying a full set for all three girls. They were just beautiful, and a full set with necklace, bracelet, and earings cost just $100 USD. Megan really liked hers, got to pick her own clasp to put on it- Of course she did not like the one I picked- I took one picture inside the mall this pearl market was in, hard to see in the picture, but this mall is about 4 stories high, each store sells just pearls or jade.
From there we went to the DVD market, a small store that sells DVDs and CDs for rediculously cheap. We walked out with 30 DVDs- Megan thought we were a bit nuts I think. Laughed at our stack of DVDs. She has no idea how much these cost at home.
Had lunch at Pizza Hut, it was right next door to the DVD store, and we were starving. Pizza tasted the same, not quite as much sauce as we are used to at home, but still reminded us of home. Megan is not thrilled with pizza, so ordered spaghetti.
It started to rain pretty heavy as we were leaving the market, so we caught a cab home and hung around our room a bit. Jim and I headed to the playroom in the hotel with the girls. I decided to give the hotel massage a try. We were told the place down the street from the hotel was also very good, and much cheaper, but with the heavy rain was not worth the $12 extra dollars it cost me to stay at the hotel. Massage was great- although different from ones at home. The chinese woman actually got up on the table and stood on my back! Thank goodness she was small! Felt great, and much needed after the long week we have had. This 45 minute massage cost a total of $20 for 45 minutes. Down the street it is $8 for one hour! If only I had asked the question about this at the beginning of the week! Many of the families have been going, and have loved it.
For dinner, we went back to Lucy's. Asked about the buffet in the hotel, but is really expensive. So got some umbrellas and headed over. Kristen- our free Lucy's bags for spending over 200 yuan are starting to pile up! Jim ordered a baked potato, which Megan perked right up and asked "whats that??" She ended up eating half of it. She agreed to try Katie's quesadilla tonight, with salsa, loved that too! Other things we are learning about her- she loves brocolli, pork, any kind of noodle, KFC, McDonalds, anything chocolate! She does not like ice cream (go figure) but does love chocolate milk shakes. When she laughs, she laughs with gusto- loves to tease and joke. She is lighthearted and takes things in stride. She is full of energy and gets bored easily- we now know how to say "bored" in mandarin, we hear it a lot. She is pretty wonderful, we feel very lucky! We have just four pictures from today- sorry to dissapoint you- not much to take pictures of in our room! They are here.
Love from Guangzhou!

Guangzhou day 3

Today started way too early for all of us. Now that the kids are adjusted to the time difference we are finding it hard to get them settled down at night all being in the same room. It was after 10pm before the little ones were asleep, I soon followed but ended up sick most of the night. Another stomach upset of some sort. I think I am just sensitive to whatever is in the water here. I really dont want to know what it is. Anyway, with how miserable I felt all night I thought today I would not be up to doing much, but after some breakfast, and various medications I was feeling alright. At 9am we headed to have all of the childrens visa photos taken, then to the medical clinic. Megan did not need a physical, as this was done the week before we arrived in Shanghai, but she did need three immunization boosters, since she is older. Poor kid must feel like a pin cushion this week. She took it all in stride, and headed back to the hotel. I needed to meet with our guide and one parent from all of the families to complete the paperwork for the American Consulate to apply for her visa and to classify her as an immediate relative which will allow her to become an automatic citizen upon our arrival in Chicago.
After lunch I was on a mission to take her to two shops, one that was selling down winter jackets for very cheap, another had some two piece jogging type outfits. We bought a couple of pairs of jeans for her in Shanghai, but they are all way too long. Just need something to get us by until we get home. We never made it to the jacket shop, after 45 minutes in the clothing store she was done. We purchased a 2 piece outfit, the saleslady said we got another piece for free, she just couldnt decide. She is not a shopper I think. Maybe this will change, she certainly is not used to shopping.
We stopped in a shop that we ordered granite etchings of the kids from and they were working on ours. The kids got a kick out of watching them work on it. Kellan, Patrick and Megan headed up to the room, and Jim and I with Katie asleep in the stroller enjoyed some time poking around in the shops by ourselves. Got a beautiful traditional dress for Katie which she insisted on wearing to dinner- now needs cleaning. But she loved it-
Went to the Cow and Bridge for dinner for all of you out there that have been here. Great Thai restaurant with some exotic entrees, all delicious. Jim's dinner came in a pineapple, Megan's came in a coconut. Kellan ordered a crab- the whole crab, which came with plastic gloves and a tool to pry it open with. On the walk home a little boy about Katie's age came up to her and gave her a flower he had picked, I grabbed the camera, she proceeded to sit right next to him and put her arm around him. Too cute!
So here we are, it is 10pm, Grace, Kellan, Patrick and Jim are all sound asleep in the next room. Katie, our energizer bunny is wide awake showing no sign of being tired. Megan is telling me she is not tired either. I am exhausted. So I am off to try and get them to think about sleeping!
Tomorrow we visit the pearl and DVD market!
For pictures from today- visit here!