January 25th - Chimelong Safari/Zoo

Today was another "off " day so the agency arranged a group trip to the Chimelong Safari Park. This was one of the highlights of our trip in 2012 so we were eager to return.  Our major concern - the weather.  This is a full-day outside event.  Per the forecast?  51 degrees and sun.  We wore multiple layers to keep warm. We even had Drew's original clothing laundered so he could wear them today to ensure he stayed warm.

Before our day began, we enjoyed the wake-up call at 2:30 am from our Bernards Township Board of Ed to let us know that school was closed!  Luckily I fell asleep to be awakened to Derek watching the Broncos and Patriots.  He's so loving being able to watch these games.  We feel very lucky to not be forced to watch James Bond movies.  As a Colts fan, I was very happy for Denver.  This also put Derek in a good mood for the day.

We boarded a bus with fellow Holt families for the day.  On the 40ish minute ride, our guide (Raymond) shared some interesting tidbits about Guangzho.  First topic:  weather.  He shared that yesterday's snow in Guangzhou was record-worthy:  it was only the 9th time in the city's history to record snow.  1st snow was 1246.  Prior to yesterday, the latest snow was in 1929.  Wanted to share since we are missing the NJ blizzard - we didn't full escape cold weather....and it keeps reminding us of our family at home.

Here's a picture of a TV tower.  It is a striking structure.  If you look towards the top, it is sloped slightly.  That is apparently a roller coaster.  Can you imagine?

He also shared that Guangzhou has 15 million people but 2 million cars.  The government wants to limit cars because of the traffic jams.

We arrived to the park that was such a hit when we where here in 2012.  (sorry for the bad photo but I couldn't get a great one because I was shooting into the sun.)

One of the first things we did was wait forever for the "train" ride.  When we finally boarded the tram, she said "this is it?"  :)  You know, when you say train, she assumes train.  She had a point.

I won't bore you with all the pictures of the animals we took.  I'll share only a few highlights.  Most of the best animal shots were on Derek's side of the tram...so he took those.

Fan favorites included:  The sunning kangaroos

and giraffe licking a tree (not sure why)

Unlike our first time to this park when we went by ourselves, we had a guide (Raymond).  Here we are playing "follow the leader" where the leader is holding a red China flag.  If that wasn't obvious that we were tourists, the fact that we were Caucasian was.  We stood out very easily and received many stares (as usual).

Other highlighted animals included the white tiger....

 and of course, the panda.  Where not sure where they all were, as they boasted of 14 pandas, but those that we saw were very cute.  They are most proud of the panda mom and her now 1.5 year old triplet cubs.  They are the only ones in the world.  Here's a panda kicking back chewing on a bamboo stick.

In some exhibits, you had to "look alive" - meaning look above you and stay alert.  This was especially important in the big bird area and monkey area where the animals might give you a little gift from above if you walk under them at the right time.  

For this long walking way, we rented a stroller for Elise to give our backs and arms a break.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  For the time when he was awake, he seemed happy and taking it all it.  He was a hungry guy.  My back was killing me as I spent most of the park bent over feeding him like a little bird.  We had a late lunch...and this little guy gets cross when he's hungry.

Miss no nap started winding up at the end of they day while the little guy crashed.

He woke up when we boarded the bus.  Here he is modeling his panda hat.  He wasn't much of a fan.

The bus ride back to the hotel took longer because of the traffic, but we finally made it.  This is a picture of the side of our hotel, near the metro station entrance.

For dinner tonight we feasted like kings:  Pappa John's delivered to the hotel.  It was the best meal we've eaten in China.  I hope you can see how much we look forward to healthy non-fast food when we return.  

One funny story:  we grabbed some fruit and drinks at the executive lounge tonight.  We chatted with some nice adopting families. One guy seemed really impressed with Elise's language skills.  He was confused how she learned English so quickly in almost 2 weeks.  He thought we adopted 2 children on this trip.  Earlier in the day, our guide kept speaking Mandarin and Cantonese to Elise.  I explained to him that she doesn't know Chinese - she's been with us since she was 7 months old.  Derek then joked to me later that we should just go along with it - and offer to take their kids for a short boot camp to catch them up to Elise.  :)

January 24th - Shopping & Cold

Disclaimer:  Apologies for typos.  I will go back and proofread my posts when I get home.  The jet lag was more difficult to get over (mostly because Elise has had issues, therefore we had issues) than anticipated.  I have just started to feel human again and just in time to leave on Thursday! 

Sunday was technically an "off-day" meaning that we didn't have anything necessary for the adoption processing.  It was very cold here (around freezing) so we didn't want to spend a long time in the elements especially without our winter coats.  

We spent the morning at the hotel followed by a couple of shopping excursions.

Starting off the morning right!  The little guy LOVES pancakes and can really put them away.  He also enjoys peaches and plain yogurt.  I share these details because we are truly amazing by his openness for western food.  Many other families are not experiencing this - their kids reject Western food for the Chinese food that they are familiar with. We are REALLY lucky!  He's eating like a typical American kid so his food transition appears to be great!  I look forward to hearing from the pediatrician and CHOP regarding his nutrition as we prep for the palate surgery.

 Couldn't post a picture about eating without sharing one of Elise eating her pancake.  She's doing better, especially when she gets her afternoon nap.  The feeding situation - Drew DOES eat more than her.  We need her to continue to eat so she can put some meat on her 27 lb frame.

Had to snap this quick picture outside of the hotel restaurant.  Drew is rocking his dinosaur-inspired hoodie.  He didn't seem to mind the hood being up.  I think it has something to do with how his foster mom kept him bundled.  We put it up for the meal because it is uncomfortably cold in the restaurant.  

Elise has enjoyed the lack of competition with other siblings to push all the elevator buttons and open the hotel doors.  She really enjoys staying in hotel - says it's the best thing about the trip.

While we've been gone, we've stayed in touch with family via Facetime and skype.  It's been a lot of fun to share Drew with them.  Here's a picture of us face-timing Brett.  Drew will imitiate what he sees in the phone, especially when you wave at him or cover your mouth with your hand.  A couple of times we've face-timed both Brett and Regan at the same time so our entire family was all "together."  

We headed out briefly to pick up a couple of items that we needed.  We took the awesome subway to the China Plaza underground mall.  Here are the kids on the train.  Even though the cars were full, people were very kind to stand up so Elise had a seat.  

While in the mall, we took a few shots while Derek ran to get the baby wipes. Drew had so much fun he fell asleep while Elise enjoyed looking at these plaster creatures in the middle of the mall walkways.  

 We had to snap a quick picture of this store.  Reminded us of friends back home.  I wonder if they are related?

Here we are heading back to the hotel.  These are shots of the entrance and platform.  This is truly the nicest subway we've ever ridden.  So clean, safe (glass doors ensure no accidental track falls), and easy to maneuver. 

In the mid-afternoon, we joined other Holt families in a trip to the pearl market and nearby jade market.  Our memory of the pearl market was very positive - a clean and well lit mall.  When we arrived, we were shocked - I'm not sure they've cleaned it since the last time we were there.  We were eager to leave.  

We then headed outside to the jade market around the corner.  It was all outdoor.  Of course, Elise fell asleep so I had the privilege to carry her everywhere.  

We walked past a Buddhist temple.  We wanted to go inside but there was a big step that I didn't want to have to deal with the stroller and sleeping child...so I took a quick picture of it.  

It was so cold outside that we sought refuge in the dirty pearl market until it was time for the shuttle.  

We had dinner in the hotel restaurant again.  We are getting very tired of buffet meals.  At this dining experience, we finally noticed something odd:  the adults dining in the restaurant wore their winter coats at the dinner table.  We took a picture of Elise smiling with her ice cream (yes, ice cream - I asked her if she really wanted it because it was so cold inside) so it was less conspicuous that we were taking a picture of the restaurant.   

After dinner we usually retire to our hotel room to catch up on the happenings back home, thanks to the 13 hour time difference.  Below is a picture of the CNN report of Jonas.  We feel terrible we are not at home to help with this snow.  We are SO ready to come home.

January 23rd - Medical Exam and thinking about the NJ blizzard

It was a short night and a hurried breakfast (20 minutes) to get to the lobby for the group departure. We were pleasantly greeted by the Holt staff including John, our guide when we adopted Elise.  He recently started working for Holt.  We liked him very much during Elise's adoption and feel very comfortable with him helping our group this time.

We are in transit to Medical Clinic.  John is one of our favorite guides.

Here's the entrance to the medical clinic.  Our guides prepared us to how chaotic it would be.  They were right.

Upon arrival to the building, Drew had his photo taken for his US visa. He was not happy because we had to interrupt his bottle for the picture.

We needed all 11 Holt families to complete before we could leave so we all worked together to help each other.  Elise did a great job being patient.  She even shared her educational games on her ipad with one of the 3.5 year olds we met in Nanning. 

Drew needed to visit 3 stations.  Luckily he is under 2 so he didn't have to have a venipuncture for the TB test.  

Here's a shot of all 3 stations we visited.  The door closest in this picture is of the medical examination.  The doctor did physical examination (stethoscope to listen to heart, push on his abdomen, etc).  He cried almost as soon as the doctor touched him.

The next room is the ENT room.  I think it was the same guy who did Elise's exam.  His equipment appeared updated with the exception of squeak toys.  He had a peanut shape and a vegetable shape vs the animals a few years ago.  As soon as the doctor examined his ears, he started crying.  

The final station was a vitals check.  It included his weight and height.  We had great anticipation to see the number on the scale.  We swear he feels almost 30 lbs.  Since he LOVES to be carried, we do a lot.  He doesn't hang on or help in anyway.  Carrying him truly feels like dead weight.  He especially feels heavier after a meal.  To our surprise, the scale said only 11kg.  You can see below how much he enjoyed this experience.   Makes me look very forward to our pediatrician visit when we return and the surgical consult at CHOP for his upcoming palate surgery. (can you detect the sarcasm?) 

Catherine, our lead guide, said she was pleasantly surprised that our 11 families completed this task in a very short time.

Here's a picture of one section of the waiting room.  Tight quarters for many people.

It is still very cold here.  Because of this, we stayed the rest of the day at the hotel, and usually in our room.  This also allowed us time to review the weather forecast throughout the day showing the blizzard hitting our family and friends.  :( 

Drew was enjoying his bottle.  

Elise posed for this picture on our bed so I could send it to Tiffy.  

Here they are playing with each other.  Drew watches closely and tries to imitate.  It was cute to hear them both laugh.

Drew showing off his squatting ability.  His quads are quite impressive.

After bath, he was hangin' with dad.  He's got a funny little laugh.

Before they both went to sleep, we turned on the Lego movie.  

I'm not necessarily a big fan of this movie...but it is very nice that there are options of tv shows in English beyond original James Bond movies (like last time).

January 22nd - Meeting the foster mom and traveling to Guangzhou

It was a cold and rainy day - all day.  It seemed to last forever.

We continued the streak of 3 or 4 am wake ups (with Drew sleeping in til 6).  Our activity for the day didn't begin until 12 noon so we spent the morning at the hotel and running a few quick errands in the mall.  Since it is SO cold here, I needed to pick up a couple of typical warm Chinese outfits for Drew and a sweatshirt for Elise.  We've been told the weather is even cooler in Guangzhou (the coldest it has been in 8 years).  We're really regretting not bringing our winter coats.

It felt like we spent the entire day stuck in various buses, stuck in traffic.  They typically weren't very warm and the windows were steamed such that you couldn't really see much outside.  We left the hotel at noon to take a trip to the orphanage to meet Drew's foster mom in person.  Here's a picture of the Nanning Expo Center.  It's room is in the shape of a hibiscus flower, the city flower.  It is a terrible picture but typical of our view so I didn't take many shots in transit.

We felt very lucky for the opportunity to go to the orphanage and meet the foster mom -  not everyone is offered the chance.  As we learned, it is actually discouraged.  The only issue with this trip is that is was scheduled right during the kids' naps....so we were prepared for crabby little people.

Here we are at the beginning of the trip - everyone's awake and happy!

Here's a nice shot of some of the traffic.

When we arrived the orphanage, in an older section of the city, we went across the street to the orphanage medical center to meet the foster mom and orphanage staff.  Glen was very kind to translate for us.  We were able to get additional information about Drew's life that will help us tell him his story when he is older.

His foster mom is a grandmother of a daughter who was an adult.  She fostered another boy who was older than Drew.  She told us about how he likes to eat and likes moving his arms to music.  She also gave us advice about not giving him too much fried foods, like fried rice (one of his loves that we've found). 

We also learned that the orphanage director (next to Drew) flew him to Beijing to stay in Peace House before his cleft lip surgery.

We felt very fortunate to get to meet the foster mom.  Since he was so young, he did not appear to be traumatized to see her again.  We understand she wanted to meet us in person.  I showed her pictures of Regan and Brett and the dogs so she could see more about Drew's family.  She seemed like a nice and caring person.

I originally planned to video this event however Elise decided to fall asleep (remember the earlier missed nap thing?).  She refused to be placed on the bench inside so I had to hold the sleeping child while trying to take snip-its of video and photos.  My arms and back continue to build strength during this trip due to carrying either 23 or 27 lbs of weight - all the time.  I guess we should have brought the double stroller.  

Here's an outside picture of the orphanage in Nanning.  We learned that Drew stayed there from time of finding until he departed for Peace House in March 2015.

We boarded the mini-bus for the long trip back to the hotel to check out and begin the next part of our journey.  Everyone was awake and happy again.  Elise in the stroller...

and Drew walking in the hotel lobby. 

While waiting for all families to check-out, I snapped a quick picture of the outside of the hotel.

We all boarded a minibus for a VERY long trip (approx departure 2:30).  First stop - police station (for Glen to get Chinese passports for children).  Traffic was absolutely terrible.  Due to the weather, traffic didn't move.

We waited on the cold, windows-steamed-up bus for almost 40 minutes.  Once he boarded, we were off to the airport.  It seemed like an eternity.  We finally arrived airport by 6:30 pm for the 7:30 pm flight.  

Here's a shot of the scooter lane.  Elise especially liked seeing the colorful scooters in their designated transit lane.

Once inside the airport, someone continued her preference of being carried vs walking.

Once we made it through security, we learned our flight was delayed 40 minutes.  I was able to convince Elise that the best way to warm up was to walk around as "exercise."  It worked for a while.

I'm not exactly sure when the flight departed since Drew was asleep and I didn't want to wake him. He slept only for about half of the flight so I had to entertain him and keep him from crying too loudly.  Poor kid - no real nap and really off schedule. 

 

The airline took our stroller (no such thing as gate-check i guess) so I had to lug a very crabby and sleepy Elise all the way to baggage claim, since she refused to walk - another moment when I questioned if it was the right thing to bring her on this trip.  We walked 10 -15 minutes with our luggage to yet another steamed window bus for a 40 minute ride to the hotel.  We finally made it to our hotel room a little after midnight.  I was not happy to request a crib 3 times from the hotel especially since we noted the crib request in our original reservation in December and the fact that we had to leave the next day for the medical exam at 8:15 am.