Ga Ga for Guangzhou!

We love Guangzhou! Shamian Island is such a quaint little place tucked between the shores of the Pearl River. It has old ties to the British throne and therefore the architecture is neo-classical, not chinese. We got up this morning and took Lily to her medical exam, which she passed with flying colors. The doctor asked me to sign a form and Lily dazzled him with her remarkable penmanship when she insisted on affixing her signature to the form in chinese! The weather is lovely...in the 60's with a nice breeze. We ate lunch at a little joint called Lucy's, which is popular with adopting families. What I loved was being able to sit outside in the sun! (Can't do that at home...it's snowing! Thanks for the weather report, Stephanie!) I do have to admit that I'm starting to miss iced tea, salad and milk. We've been fairly careful with what we've eaten and so far our strategy has paid off...knock on wood. Tonight we're having Papa John's so we'll let you know.

Lily's first plane ride went well...she was a little irritated that I insisted she wear her seat belt so she should be real fun when I strap her into a car seat! We were served an authentic chinese box lunch on the plane, which Lily devoured. (The rest of us only picked at it.) Her favorite part was the little packet of hot pepper relish. Mom, you would have loved it! We had to hide our packets from her because I wasn't entirely sure what it was. She made the universal sign for "I've got to pee" so she and I made our way to the back of the plane. She went potty and proceeded to touch every surface in the bathroom including the toilet! I told our guide to tell her how gross that is and she told her she never touched the toilet...hmmmm. She finally fell asleep about two minutes before we landed!

We are staying at the Victory Hotel here in Guangzhou. We are in a Japanese suite, which means the bed is on the floor...a big hit with both girls. Pete took the girls to the park while I did paper work with our guide, Helen. She informed me that she got a phone call from the US Consulate and they have not recieved our updated approval from the INS yet. Imagine that! She took one of our copies of the approval and will drop it off tomorrow so we'll see if that is sufficient enough for the US government.

Pete bought each of the girls a slightly creepy looking chinese doll with a little baby on her back...Sophie is lovingly mothering hers and Lily is absolutely beating the trash out of hers. I wonder what that means.....

Only two more days until we fly the (un)friendly skies on Northwest Airlines. Hopefully my seating stategy will work and we'll have a whole row of seats to ourselves. Otherwise, I feel really sorry for the poor sucker crazy enough to put himself between us and the chinese tasmanian devil!!!