Shop 'Til You Drop

We have a diverse and interesting group of readers of our blog, but I bet none of you can say you started your day by putting tights on a monkey....but I can."hmm, I bet these would go on that monkey"...and with some help from Daddy

He's smiling, but I think it's because he's embarrassed

Before we get to the day's activities, a quick side story:

Yesterday, Becci bought Aubrey four super sweet little dresses to wear. She also picked her up a pair of "squeaky shoes" as an alternative to her beloved red boots. These are the boots that she was given to wear on Gotcha Day, and she has barely taken them off since. The squeaky shoes, in addition to being pretty and more comfortable for the weather here, also offer an incentive to walk since they make noise.

We've also made the conscience effort to let Aubrey's left arm out, which can be a bit startling for people at first. As she has very little control over it, it tends to just move around as she moves. There's no sense being shy about it, and if she is to learn to use her arm, it has to be out. The combined effect of the squeaky shoes and her arm has to be seen to be fully appreciated.. It's hard not to smile at this:

Today was a scheduled sightseeing day, mostly steered towards shopping for souveniers..which was fine as we really weren't able to shop for momentos and gifts in Shiajiazhung. Becci, always the thoughtful shopper took care of most of our planned items today, as well as some special surprises.

We started our day with a visit to the Chen Family (no relation) Temple and Arts Center in Guongzhou. The temple is awesome and one of the few historical sights in the city to escape the Cultural Revolution during Mao's rule of China. At that, it's only just over 100 years old, but it is stunning.squeak, squeak, squeak

He's carving Aubrey's chop, a stamp with her name in Chinese characters

The view behind the temple

After the Temple, we visited a local Jade market for some shopping. Aubrey and Aaron enjoyed the fish in the little pond more than shopping.

Aaron was also quite intrigued by the "Snake Wine"

Don't worry, I didn't make him drink it

Then it was on to the Pearl Market, really kind of a mall with endless pearl dealers. Becci found some beautiful pearls for Aubrey as a gift when she gets older and the prices were amazingly inexpensive.

Dinner was low key, we went for leftovers in our room from our Italian last night and Chinese lunch today, creating a "Chi-talian" feast.Ravioli with chopsticks? Now that's Chitalian!

This evening we took a stroll around the island, stopping off for a quick (at least an hour) peak in one of the shops, then on to Starbucks for coffee for us and cookies for the kids.The island at nightCookie Monsters

At bedtime, the kids were so good tonight, Aaron asking to sleep in Aubrey's bed, and her being into the idea. We had a fantastic day with her today and Aaron has been patient well beyond his years...We are so blessed.

Finally, a quick look around the hotel lobby:

Let's Get Physicaled

The view out our window

Our first full day in Guongzhou was a great one. We had a wonderful day with some required activities in the morning then free time to explore all afternoon.


We started with our first trip to the legendary White Swan Breakfast Buffet and it was all it's cracked up to be. Mostly real western food like scrambled eggs and bacon, with enough eastern flavor thrown in to make it interesting, like the ever present noodles and the very interesting Fried Milk...prove positive that you can fry anything.

As we headed out, our guide asked if we'd like to pick up a stroller. They are offered for free by several of the local shops, so we figured why not try it, expecting that Aubrey would hate it...well, she didn't. In fact, she immediatley wanted the seat belt on and was thrilled to be strolled around like the Queen of the Rose Bowl Parade all day. Nobody was happier than me to have a day off from carrying her.

Aubrey's new wheels

Our first scheduled activity was to get Aubrey's passport photo taken. This is like the fourth time she's been photographed since we've been here, but whatever, she best get used to it.

"you know, my daddy is a photographer, too."

Following the photos, we walked a few hundred feet to the Physical Examination Center where they performed...you guessed it, a physical exam of sorts. Aubrey was super brave all the way through, putting up with quite a bit of poking and prodding at her left arm.

Not even this scared her

While we were waiting around for some paperwork, I snapped a few shots of Aaron.. I really liked this one: Aaron..international man of mystery

The Island is like the home of wedding photography in Guongzhou, with a huge studio called Famous Photo located here. I saw about 5 photo sessions going on today. Aaron's was the best.

We headed to Lucy's for lunch, a Chinese version of an American restaurant with outdoor seating and some nice views. On the way there Aaron took over driving duties.
Nobody was into my suggestion for lunch...

After lunch, we checked out the children's play area in the hotel (sponsored by Mattel..seriously) and it was great. It's just a huge, clean room with loads of toys and a tv/dvd set up and the kids went nuts for a few hours.

well...not just the kids For dinner, we checked out the also famous La Dolce Vida, the Italian restaurant that everyone raves about, and it was excellent. Unfortunately, we had pushed Aubrey past her tired point, so dinner was a little rough, as was bath time, but that happens. The walk home was beautiful.Tomorrow, we get off the island to visit the giant outdoor market in the city. Stay tuned...

Hello Guangzhou..Hello Sunshine

We arrived safely in Guangzhou (pronouned Gong Jo) around 4pm this afternoon and it literally felt like we stepped into a new world. After a week and a half in cold, grey Shiajiazhung, it was like the part in The Wizard of Oz when it turns all Technicolor.

We were pretty nervous about the flight today, given Ms. Aubrey's dislike of seat belts, but the morning started off great. Everyone was up and ready to go, Aubrey was excited about the "Faygee" (airplane) and was in pretty good spirits, goofing around with the other kids at the airport.Once on the plane, she was doing alright sitting next to me until seat belt time. As expected, she threw a fit, enough to bring over a flight attendant with every snack she could grab to try to pacify her. Just when it was looking like it was going to go very, very badly an angel arrived. Becci was seated next to a young woman that spoke some English who offered to help out, so with some seat switching, we got Aubrey in between Becci and our new friend "Apple". This girl was amazing, she talked and played with Aubrey for the entire 2.5 hour flight, soothing her and interperating some of it back to Becci. It made the flight so enjoyable for everyone, including Aubrey. When we landed, she told Apple, "I wasn't even scared". She must have enjoyed it because she has been miming the airplane story ever since we landed. She'll "whoosh" and pretend her hand is a plane.

That left Aaron and I some much needed boy time to play some checkers..(he whooped me fair and square) and to enjoy our airplane lunch of pork balls (try to say that without giggling) and a package of "delicious pickles".

His enthusiam disappeared when he actually tasted the "delicious pickles"

Once we hit the ground, we were immediately met by our awesome new guide, Kelley. She got us to the hotel, which is unbelievable. The White Swan hotel:(http://www.sinohotel.com/english/hotelinfo/guangzhou_white_swan_hotel.html)

It's located on an island on the pearl river in one of the most beautiful spots in China. Most of the buildings on the island were built by Western nations more than a hundred years ago as Embassies, etc., so the whole island has the feel of Savannah or New Orleans. There are tons of shops and restaurants, many of which cater to all of the adoptive parents staying at the White Swan. Every international adoption has to pass through Guangzhou to visit the U.S. Consulate, and most stay at the White Swan...so many in fact that it has the nickname the White Stork. We'll be taking lots of photos here. We finally feel like we can relax a bit and actually enjoy this portion of the trip.

For dinner we did the local Thai place..very good, pricier than we got used to in the last city, but everything here is.

That blur headed towards Starbucks is me

After dessert at Starbucks it was back to the room for bath and bed. Tomorrow is Aubreys physical exam and then some shopping. Bye for now.

Last Day in Shiajiazhung

We're all packed and ready to head out to Guongzhou first thing in the morning. It's been 10 days in Shiajiazhung and we are so ready to go. We had a free day today, so after breakfast we strolled to the park with Allison and Bo. (btw, if you enjoy our blog, you can check out their blog as well. We've been together in Shiajiazhung and it's been great to share the experience with them. Their blog is: http://www.bohawkins.blogspot.com/ ) Aubrey is like two different kids inside our hotel room and out. Inside, she is becoming more animated and outgoing daily, but outside, she withdraws and becomes super clingy and irritable. We assume that she just doesn't know what to make of it all, but we keep working on it. We are very interested to see how she does in a new location. Up to this point, I think she thinks that we live in this hotel.

Bo loaned Aubrey a toy that requires walking, so she actually let her prized red boots touch the ground for a while.

In the park, Becci and Aubrey joined in with the dancers and attracted the usual attention.

Becci and Aubrey trying to blend in

"Say, you're not from around here, are you?"

Meanwhile, Aaron continued his quest to climb every piece of playground equipment in the park. Afterwards, we spent a fun afternoon at the hotel...Aaron spent several hours on homework..(Hi, Sister Anne if you're reading!) while Aubrey and I played in the other room.


For dinner, we went for the street vendor buffet. A few blocks from the hotel, I found a bigger, crazier Food Alley. Tonight we had these really tasty wrap things from this lady:
As I walked on, I saw something with tentacles being cooked, so I ran over and grabbed a few on a stick..Becci is a sucker for food with suckers. It turned out to be octopus and it was awesome.

Pretty sure this was dead before he started cooking it

Then, I hit this guy doing a Middle Eastern style meat on a stick thing that was one of the most delicious things I've ever had.

Add to that some roasted sweet corn, some noodles from the store and dinner is served...I'm really going to miss the food here.

Insert corny caption here

This has been an emotional week for us, full of lots of highs and lows. We are all anxious to get home so we can begin to establish some sense of a normal routine, but we'll always treasure this first week with our new little girl.


Next post is from Guongzhou..we're nervous about the flight, Aubrey has put up a real fight over any kind of seat belt. So far that hasn't been a big deal since seat belts are rarely found and even more rarely used in cars, but on the plane she'll have no choice. Wish us luck!

Stir Crazy in Shiajiazhung

Well, we've been in this provence for about a week now and I think we're all about ready for a change of pace. We are definitely grateful for the time to bond as a family, but everyone is getting a little bored of hotel life.

Today, we got out for a few hours to the Hebei Provence Museum, which was unfortunately under construction, so mostly it had photos of the stuff you'd see if you came back later. Also, nothing fails to attact a small childs attention much less than pictures of stuff. Aubrey was on excellent behaviour, as was Aaron which was great. She was a little restless and played the Mommy carry me for 2 minutes..now Daddy...now Mommy game, but otherwise did great.

Aaron thought some of the stuff was pretty cool. He had a really good question about this one:

"Why do these guys have frying pans on their heads?"

"Museum? Let's run!"

Main Entrance to the Museum, under construction but cool

The rest of the day was just spent hanging around the room. Thank God we went for a room with extra space. The kids have some room to run, which I couldn't imagine life without. Aubrey had a good day and did a lot of independent play and interaction with Aaron. In true Aubrey fashion, it's interaction on her terms, but it's great to see. She will occasionally get one of us to sit on her lap, which is always funny and a challenge since she's so tiny:

We had our best bed time yet! The kids had a few hours to just play and be goofy and Aubrey has finally come to view the bed as an exceptable place to hang out, so she spread all of her toys out and went to town.

A quick primer for this video...Mei Mei is little sister and Giu Giu is big brother.

After a while, we just all got in bed and turned out the lights. Aubrey offered up a round of goodnight kisses to everyone and after a little while of tossing and turning, she konked out.

Tomorrow is our last full day here, then on Thursday we fly out to Guongzhou. The weather there is more like Florida since it's south China, and it's a more Westernized city. That can be good (Starbucks!) and bad (pricey), but we're ready for the change. Shiajiazhung has be pretty good to us. It's huge..something like 9 million people, yet considered a small city. One of our favorite things has been the local park, which we love. On our first visit there, I felt like we had stepped into a China themed Disney park. It has kids and Tai Chi, a guy playing beautiful music on a violin and a group of people dancing and singing.

My other favorite is what I'm calling the food alley. At night, it's like a scene out of the movie Bladerunner, just cart after cart after stand of amazing foods. I'm not entirely sure what a lot of it is, nor would I eat the majority of it for obvious health reasons, but what we've sampled has been fantastic. I look forward to going over there and grabbing a few things. Plus, that's where the world's greatest Wonton Soup comes from. Now when I walk in, the young guy behind the counter smiles real big and holds up 2 fingers, as my usual is two big jugs of shrimp and pork Wontons. Check out this link if you want to see what I'm talking about:

http://www.likealocal.cn/archives/11

We'll post a final time from Shiajiazhung tomorrow, then we're off to Guongzhou

Aubrey Chen Loves Yogurt

The Park Dance- by Aaron Smith

Aaron is taking care of today's blog post..take it away Aaron:

About 600 people were dancing on a flat surface to hip hop Chinese style.

Aubrey was warm as a little lady bug and I was froze to the bone! Mostly Daddy and Mommy carried Aubrey the whole time because she would not walk. There was about 70 people surrounding us because they wanted to know why we were carrying a Chinese baby around.

The market was so busy and I got really cold. I saw about 3 million people selling and buying food. I saw celery, baseball olympic socks, potatoes, chicken heads, one hundred bikes, and about 30 cars, and 10 markets selling noodles.

We ate noodles from the market and mommy and Daddy got me KFC for dinner. (begrudgingly!!!!!! says mom). I took a bath with Aubrey and she made a tornado out of the water throwing it in my face! I watched Mulan While Aubrey checked everyone's bellybuttons to see who had the deepest.

Then I talked to Grandma and Grandpa on Skype. Now I'm going to bed.