Suckers are a girls best friend

Yesterday morning (3/27) we went to our American Consulate appointment to get her visa so she can be legit in the US of A :)

I was fearing the appointment would be much like the medical exam.... wild, crazy and hot.  It was wild and crazy, but thankfully not hot.  Or at least, not as bad.  Our group all filed in a single line to have security guard "Jerry"(obviously his English name) look over our passports before allowing us to enter for the security check.  Once Jerry approved us, we walked thru to the security line.  It's a lot like the security check at the airport, except instead of the big ugly grey bins to put your things in, they had big ugly white bins someone purchased from Ikea.... they still had the sticker on them.  haha!

We weren't allowed to bring anything in... cameras, cell phones, strollers, etc, so I don't have any photos to document it.  Oh well.  Just think dingy DMV, and you've got it.  They did have a 'play area' (if you can call it that) and that was in the same room we were all in.  Our boys, plus their friends, and every other kid was 'playing' in the play area.  All the noise made it a bit manic and made me want to hurry and get this business over with.

Since it was the American Consulate, I was so looking forward to speaking to some Americans behind the desk.  Wrong.  There was one American there, a guy, and he was the one in charge of the oath we had to repeat.

After taking the oath, we were called one by one to the bullet proof glass window with the slot to slide all the documents back and forth (think gas station attendant window in the 'hood).  This should have been the American boy's job as well, because when they called each family's name out, no one knew what the Chinese lady was saying.  It was much like Charlie Brown's teacher's voice...... Chinese version.  It added to the mania.

All of our group was done and we were out the door and back to the hotel by 10:30.  Harper had lost her little Chinese mind when we were back on the bus.  She slept horribly the night before, and we - including everyone else on the bus - were paying for it.

We were supposed to meet up with another family to go eat Mexican for lunch.  I didn't care if it was good Mexican or not..... I was craving it badly.  Well, because of Harper's meltdown, she was put directly to bed, and I stayed with her and ordered room service.  Not the Mexican I was hoping for.  Ugh.

She had a very long nap, thankfully, and she was just waking up as the boys and Scott walked in the room from lunch.  She had chips and guac for a snack thanks to her dad and brothers bringing it back.

  The boys had planned on going swimming with their buddies, so they stayed at the hotel with that family while Scott took me and Harper on a shopping trip for some pearls!

She loves to push the buttons!

In the cab

Our guide went with us..... thankfully!!  We were taken to the section that seriously looked like you would think China would look like.  We turned off the highway and it was just row after row of little shops on this overcrowded dark street where it looked like the sun never reached.  That is, if the sun ever came out in China.  We were still looking for it.  Dirt and grime ruled this area, and wig shops looked like they dominated as well.  Every other store was a wig shop.  Very strange.

Michael led us into what looked somewhat like a mall, and took us directly to the pearl market.  

We chose a strand of pearls we liked, and the girl took them off the temporary string, and restrung them, knotting it after each pearl.  She was so quick, we were in and out in no time.  I think our cab ride was longer than the whole shopping trip.

We walked out of the mall like building and waited for a cab.  And waited.  As we were waiting, Harper spotted a vendor with suckers.  She conned Scott in to buying her one.  Who's the sucker now!  She was more thrilled with that treat than her new shiny pearl necklace.

We waited some more for a cab......

Finally, Michael was able to flag one down, and we were off back to the hotel.  

Harper's view in the cab

Just us three on this ride

Our cab driver drove like he had just gotten off the Indy 500 race track.  He took the curves like no one else.  We all hung on for our lives..... even Harper

We arrived back at hotel in record time, thanked Michael for taking us, and went to go find the boys at the pool.

This sign on the right is the main reason why I would NOT get in the pool.  You know if they had to post a sign like this, someone had spit or cleared their nose in the pool once before.  Not to mention signs like this are always an "I dare you to try it" prompting for some people.

Harper LOVED the water.  I can't wait to get her in our pool!

The boys had gotten some snacks delivered from the bar, and Harper made herself right at home by clearing out all the peanuts and raisins that were left.  She also had no problem making herself at home right in the middle of all the boys.

The boys thought they were hot stuff with their 7-Ups being delivered from the bar

Harper was in a trance watching the swimmers go by

Time for a snack break..... again

The number of bowl of peanuts and raisins they had gone through.  You would think we didn't feed any of them!

Twinkies

She was soaked from splashing on the side of the pool.  So, we had a quick wardrobe change and were off to eat some dinner.

We've come to find that Harper is not one to share her toys..... or her friends toys for that matter.  She took Sydney's bear and threw a classic 2 year old fit when we gave it back to Sydney.  Arched back and everything.    

We didn't have anywhere to go this morning, so we slept in a little later - for once - and then started packing our bags.  Next stop..... Hong Kong!

Lazy Rainy Day

Last night Harper and the boys were goofing around before going to bed.  Griffin was laying on the ground with a pillow, so Harper grabbed one more and sat next to him.  She then grabbed Brannen's hand and made him sit down.  It's so funny to see her get her way without saying a word.  Brannen put his glasses on her, and she really hammed it up.  We were all rolling which made her start to giggle.

We were up early again this morning to meet everyone in the lobby.  Before meeting up with them, we had breakfast downstairs at the breakfast buffet.  The boys love it because they can eat all the pancakes/waffles they can shove in.  This morning I put fried rice on Harper's plate.  Not what I would consider breakfast food, but she loves it. I also don't consider corn on the cob or salad breakfast food, but it was also lined up on the buffet.  Ugh.

We are at the point where we are REALLY missing food from home.  Actually, we have been for some time.   The other night we went to dinner across the street that has what we would consider American food.  On the menu they had "milkshake" listed.  It was five bucks, but we thought we'd treat each of the boys after dinner.... and more importantly, steal a bite from them for ourselves!  They bring it out, and it was just a glorified chocolate milk.  We were all disappointed, but we made the boys drink it.  We can't waste $10!!  

Anyway, back to this morning, I tried to feed Harper her fried rice, but she's pretty independent, and grabbed the spoon to feed herself.  Rice was flying everywhere.  Barney is going to love her when we get home!

After breakfast our group was supposed to go to a park for the day, but we had told a couple people we  were going to head over to Shamian Island to do some shopping.   Everyone else decided they would rather do that, so our guide changed the plans so we all could go.  That saved us a cab ride (and money)..... score!!

Harper grabbed Scott's Starbucks cup.  Luckily he had already drank it..... she's not the type that needs caffeine!

Shamian Island is surrounded by the Pearl River and had a ton of gorgeous trees and pretty landscaping.  We saw a couple photo shoots while were there today.

There was a guy in one of the shops who would write your name in Chinese characters, so I had him write all three kids names.....

He also wrote out the meanings, or rough meaning,  of each name.  The last character of Brannen's means "Buddhist nun"??  Nice.  

Here is a pic of the White Swan hotel where normally all the adoptive families stay when they are in Guangzhou.   How convenient..... close to all the souvenier shopping!  Anyway, it's been under construction for some time and still wasn't ready by the time we came over.  

We certainly did some damage when it came to buying souvenirs.   Daddy bought Harper a purse, and one very obnoxious play cell phone, which she loves to put in and take out of her purse.

Brannen chose a Chinese chess set, and Griff chose this beanie, complete with long braided tail, and wooden knife.  Griff said he can't wait to wear the beanie to Crazy Hat Day at school!  

This afternoon, we were walking by a McDonald's and saw Ronald sitting there.  We tried to put Harper on his lap, but she wasn't having it.  I guess I can't blame her.... he's pretty creepy!

Also on the walk we saw these cool looking trees with a ton of flowers on them....

Harper was really intrigued by them.  It is so fun seeing her observing and discovering new things.  Or what we think is new to her.  

The boys sat down on the sidewalk, and she wiggled her way in between them.  She just LOVES her brothers!

Our newest Cardinal fan

This afternoon after we got back from roaming around town, Harper went down for a nap, and Scott took the boys swimming with their new friends. I turned on the tv to hopefully find some sort of something to watch.  I hit the jackpot on ESPN!!  Although it wasn't the Cardinals playing (it was Boston and Baltimore....ugh), it still was baseball!  Not cricket or soccer that seems to be dominating the channel.  And... it was in ENGLISH!!!!!  However, they did have a Chinese interpreter interpreting everything after the American announcer.  It was pretty hilarious whenever someone would hit a home run, the Chinese guy would yell "Gone!!!  Ho-run!!!  See ya!!"

What I noticed most about this game?  The BLUE sky in the background!  I sure hope Dallas isn't cloudy when we get there Friday.  This two weeks of cloud/fog/pollution is not doing anything good for my mental health.  

The rest of the afternoon was really rainy, so we just stayed inside for dinner.  Harper really loves riding in the elevator and LOVES to push the buttons.  She also wanted to stand next to Griffin while we rode up to the 17th floor instead of being held.

A little milk for her 'happy hour'

A view from our room after the rain had passed.  If you look closely, you can see an ever so slight sliver of clearing sky. Just as soon as it cleared, it was filled again with the usual cloud/fog/pollution.  Oh, AND we actually SAW an airplane instead of hearing one.  Haha!  It's the little things that help pass the time.  

Tomorrow we have our appointment at the US Consulate.  It's going to be an early morning because we have to leave the hotel at 8:00 a.m. with our group.  So.... looks like we'll be going to bed soon!