Day 16 - July 29 Examination!

On the flight yesterday, Max was visibly sad and the Purser said he told him that his misses his foster Mom a lot! He has grieved the hardest in some ways but then other times he is all rambunctious boy! I am just glad he can vocalize it.

When we got to Guangzhou our guide let us know how much RMB we would be needing for the medical and Visa photo so I went across the street to the bank to make sure I had the right amount. I decided to use the ATM to get RMB out. This was a new experience for me. I had to try 3 times before I figured out what I was doing wrong. I would get through all the screens OK and put in the amount of RMB I needed and then it said correct or a couple other things, I thought it meant correct amount, yes! Instead it meant do you need to correct the amount! Once I figured out it was a breeze and beats the lines and everything else required to convert money.

We got to meet up with the rest of our group from MAA, it was nice to put faces with the names. We met up in the lobby and walked to the place for the visa photo and then off to the medical exam.

Marc weighs 18 Kg and 108 cm tall and Max weighs 23.5 Kg and 117 cm tall.

When they did the eye exam, they have hands on the chart and the child Max in the photo below is supposed to say which way the hands are going. Well if you look closely to the picture Marc is making his hands go the same direction.

The doctor that examined the boys! He has a white lab coat on and then like sport shorts on under it. I wondered how he could have all those cloths on, we were hottttt!

For those of you that have been here before, Lucy's is still here. I took the boys there for dinner, they both like grilled cheese sandwiches and french fries. We also got stir fried broccoli which was the first thing to the table, Max loved and and Marc started crying and refused it. I think he thought that was all we were going to eat. After the sandwiches got there he did eat one piece of broccoli.

Day 16 - July 29 Off to Guangzhou!!!

Well we finally made it to Guangzhou!!!

I took these photos on the way to the airport. This looks like a market for used bicycle carts. The second picture the guys had a big thing that looked like a huge griddle and it looked like their cart was full of eggs and they were cooking them for people coming up to their cart. It was breakfast time. I just thought the third picture was interesting since there were several bicycle riders on the side street.

Our flight was early which was nice since they were saying a typhoon was headed towards Guangdong Province. It was a fairly easy flight. We were 5 rows back in the plane right behind the purser who spoke Mandarin and English. He would talk to the boys and then translate it to me.

Day 15 - July 28 Last day in Dalian

We have been together as a family (part of the family) for two weeks today!

Our last day in Dalian!!! Tomorrow we get up and leave by 6:30 AM for Guangzhou!!! I just received the boys passports, YEAH!!!!! CLOSER TO HOME AND THE REST OF MY FAMILY!!!

I want to REALLY THANK EVERYONE that has left comments, sometimes that is the only email I can get and I feel like it is a lifeline!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!! I have had real weird internet reception but the comments that are left have been getting through pretty consistantly (I set it up to email me each comment before I left) and those seem to get through when nothing else does! I guess God knew I needed them!!!

Today was a very laid back day! Nice to have, the boys played, we went out a couple times, I worked on packing and most of the stuff is packed at this point. We did not take many pictures but we are ready to go!

This is right across the street from our hotel! Marc and his kung fu moves!

My sleeping angels!?!

The boys have definitely settled in with me. They did not have any problems packing up today! I keep a running dialogue going about getting on a plane tomorrow and we are going to Guangzhou for a few days then we will fly home. I have no idea how much they understand but they are not alarmed like they were when I starting packing in Shenyang. The first thing we packed were their backpacks and laid out their cloths for the plane, then I packed the rest of the stuff while they played together.

Our guide dropped the passports off tonight! As I was checking things over to make sure they were correct I noticed that they were issued on July 21! This is suppose to be what we were waiting for and they were issued a week ago! All I can say is I am glad I have them now!!!!!!

On a lighter note, when I was checking to make sure I had packed everything I found this box tucked way back in the back of the night stand. I pulled it out wondering what it was. It said Emergency kit on it.

Then on the top it says we will get charged if the seal is broken?!? Wondering what it was I turned it over some more and on the other side is an explanation.

Emergency Kit! I guess it would be a good thing to have if you have an emergency!

Can you tell I am ready to come home?!?! It has been fun with the boys but I miss my husband and my other children as well! Next Saturday we will be home at noon!!!!

Day 14 - July 27

Every morning for breakfast they seat us as far as you can get from the food. We have this low table which means the boys are always spilling things. I usually get them a plate with fried rice and whatever meat they have for the day, usually chicken skewers every day plus one or two others and eggs. Then we eat a full plate of watermelon and follow that with yogurt and juice.

Out the window by Marc you can see part of a street market and the arch that was in the pictures yesterday. The market right behind Marc is great to get some things at, the fruit is good but cheaper other places. I got dish soap there and batteries for the boys' toys, they also have water and soda if you want it. So far I have not bought any soda. The boys asked for soda the first few days but I could not tell how much sugar was in it and did not feel they needed to be loaded up on sugar, so we either drink water or fruit juice. (Mostly water)

This is one of the shops in the underground market place, technically you are not supposed to take pictures down there but this shop owner did not mind. Each shop seems to specialize in just a few types of items. The interesting thing is there are a whole lot of little shops that all have the same thing and are in the same area. For example, all the shoe shops are almost all on one floor and all grouped together in the same area. About the third floor down is a cell phone market place and there are at least 50 little shops with cell phones.

The gelato shop would not let me take a picture but we have been there twice. They will give you a sample with little spoons. Max has had Mango both times even though he had other samples and Marc had strawberry both times even though he had other samples. They are getting much better about sharing and do offer each other a couple tastes and Mom a couple tastes. I must say both flavors are refreshing in the heat!


This is the main entrance to the underground Victory Shopping Center between the Saxophone and the Guitar. The green glass covered escalators go down and if you go down to the second floor and then walk in to the middle escalators you will find the gelato shop right by the next escalator down to the third level.

On the right is a KFC and on the left is McDonald's. They actually have a lot more KFC's in China than McDonald's. If you were to keep going straight and into the building directly in front of us and down a story you would get to the really good bakery that is in Dalian New World Market. The prices are great also.

And today is another blue sky day!!! There was a nice breeze out, but it was still
very humid and after walking just a little way it felt like I had just gotten
out of the shower (only much stickier and smelly!)

I just thought it was interesting to see appliances and some of the brands we have at home.

This is a little cake we got at the bakery! Max picked it out, unfortunately he thought he was going to eat the whole thing by himself and got very upset when he found out he was sharing it with Mama and Marc! The frosting tasted sort of like cool whip and it had a couple layers in the middle, one was the frosting and I think the other was raspberry or something similar,
it was really quite good.

Day 13 - July 26

The train station. See the hills in the background that you could not see in the earlier pictures!

These first three photos were taken out of our hotel window this morning! It is a beautiful day!!!!! It was absolutely gorgeous!!! We did our normal morning routine and then went out for a walk around! We came to our favorite bookstore which happens to be right next to a McDonald's so I decided to get the boys something special since they have been so good today! I got a container of the corn you see in the picture below and the boys both got chocolate sundaes! They loved them and they were very good about sharing with me and each other! It was very cute! I gave them bites of the corn also but they were not as thrilled with it as I was. I really enjoyed it!

If you look over the umbrella's and to the right ish of this picture the tall skinny red sign on the building is for the bookstore. To the right of it is the McDonald's. This is the street markets! You have to be very careful as there are a lot of pickpockets here.

This big brother and little sister belong to the store owner of the fruit stand that we like. She has split pants and earlier she had a cute little hat on. The brother was watching her while Mom and Dad ran the fruit stand.

The Dalian New World Shopping Center is the building behind these bins of cloths. This is a sidewalk sale they are having. It is really kind of expensive to buy anything inside. We went and looked and most of the children's cloths were 250-300 Yuan each piece. Which for China is kind of expensive.

This is our hotel across from it on the Victory Shopping Plaza! We went outside and walked around this evening. The weather was wonderful. Earlier in the day when we walked it was very hot. I would be just dripping very quickly but this evening was very balmy with a gentle breeze and it felt wonderful! I wish it was like this all the time! I started a new game with the boys, they can go a little ahead of me but then when I say stop they must stop until I say go. It seems to be working very well most of the time!

This saxophone is on one corner of the Victory shopping Plaza. If you look in the third picture from the top the saxophone is in about the middle of the left hand side of the picture. The arch in the picture below is beside our hotel. It leads back by a whole street of vendors. The hotel is the red brick building on the left of the picture below.

Day 12 - July 25

Another day closer to home!!! Only eight more nights in China!

I have a huge praise today! A few days ago I woke up with a swollen jaw and cheek, and a lot of pain in my jaw. Not sure of the reason but it was either smog causing a sinus infection (I am very allergic to smog) or an infection from a tooth that broke just before I left for China. Last night I prayed and asked God to heal it as there is no way for me to fix it here and I did not bring any antibiotics to save on expenses. This morning I woke up and it is gone!!! No swelling, no pain nothing! Praise God!!!

I stuck to our routine today! Up to breakfast back to the room to play for a while while Mom washed the cloths out and out to walk around for a while and back to the room to have lunch and out again for a walk and supper.
I gave the boys some new stickers today and they love to put them in their little notebooks I gave them. This is one of their favorite quiet activities.

This is a Holiday Inn Express. You can see it in the picture below. It is not very far from the train station and it is a beautiful newer building. The interesting thing is going over a street and looking back through the other buildings it is such a contrast to the buildings around it. If you are walking you go down the street from our hotel and when you get to the Holiday Inn Express you turn left and you can walk down to Russian Street.

This is my favorite fruit stand. Their mangoes are delicious!!! Also the best price I have found around town. This is on the way to the Holiday Inn Express from the Ramada.

I had to throw this picture in!!! It is the first time I have been in China and seen beautiful BLUE SKY!!! It is not overcast and NO SMOG!!!!!!!!!!

This is where we had dinner tonight, we were going to go to the Thia place that Regina and Bobbie went to but when we got there they were closed to redecorate. This still had good food. They have the best fresh mango juice! Then we were back to our room and ready for bed with hardly any fussing and of to sleep by 7:30!