Goodbye Zhengzhou.....Hello Guangzhou!

I know I'm a little behind in posting. We've been busy and on the go so haven't had a lot of time to type.  I get things written down as soon as I can, though, so I don't forget anything. Sorry to mess up your morning coffee time reading sessions!  I just posted the 16th and 17th posts so make sure to scroll down!

----------

I got up before 6 today so I could get an early start on packing.  Tony got up after I was done with my shower and we worked on packing before Le An woke up.  Tony got him up after 7 and I kept packing while he gave him his bottle.

We went down to breakfast.  Hallelujah, the elevator is up and running again!  We got down to the lobby and were told the regular restaurant was full but the same buffet was up in the Mama Mia restaurant--up the stairs.  Oh, my legs!  (Quads more like it!). We ate breakfast, sans cereal (I wanted Rice Krispies again!) and went back to our room to finish getting ready and finish packing.

At 9:30 I called for a bellman to get our luggage.  He came right away.  We got checked out and waited for Echo.  She came and I had her write down her address so we can send her some Nutrigrain Bars.  We gave her a blueberry one yesterday and she really liked it.  We'll send her several.

We got in the van and Mr. Liu drive us to the airport.  We took a picture with him and Echo helped us check in for our flight and get us to security.  We said goodbye and thank you.  I beeped when I went through with Le An in the chunei.  I had to take it off so they could wand me.  They also wanded him!  Wish we could have taken a picture of that!  We got the chunei back on and walked to our gate.

Tony decided that he wanted a Nutrigrain Bar.  He gave Le An a taste.  He like it and wanted more!  Then I had one and gave him some bites.  Then, I opened an apple cinnamon one and he ate THE WHOLE THING!

Eventually they called for boarding our flight.  We got on and were in the middle and aisle with someone sleeping almost the entire flight (or trying to sleep) at the window.  We took off and Le An decided to be hungry.  When he's hungry, he's HUNGRY!  He cries and writhes (sp?) until he gets a bottle.  I finally called for a flight attendant and asked for some water.  She brought it and I mixed the formula and he downed it in no time flat!  He was happy then, for a while.

It was really nap time and he had fallen asleep on the way to the airport so he didn't want to take a nap.  He cried MOST of the fight--at least 3/4 of the time, I think.  We think everyone on that flight hated us and thought we were bad parents for letting our kid cry that much.  Oh, and across the aisle was a "grandma and grandpa"!  The grandma kept looking over at us.  We didn't stare back but I know she watched us most of the time.  And our poor seat mate who was trying to sleep!  Oy!

They brought us food, too, and Le An would have nothing of us eating and him not!  He got small bites of my chicken and rice (easy to eat) and a couple small noodles from Tony (but his was harder for someone with just 8 teeth to eat).

By the time we landed Tony and I were exhausted!  We hope the Hong Kong-Chicago flight isn't like today's flight!

We got off the plane and I noticed that Tony didn't have our coats.  I asked him if he had our coats.  Nope!  He put everything down and Le An and I waited on the jetway while he went back to get the coats.  I had to endure the looks--looks of curiosity (an American holding a Chinese baby?), looks of disgust (why can't you keep your kid quiet?), and whatever else they might be thinking.  Tony came back with our coats and we were off again.

We got our bags and found our guide who took us to a van.  She said it would be about a 30-40 minute drive but it took way longer due to accidents.  She said they had already changed the route and then we got behind another accident!

We finally reached the hotel and Jocelyn helped us get checked in.  We got up to the room. (By the way, anyone coming in the future, if you have a Marriott Rewards card, you can get free wi-fi in your room--but you have to have the card with you!).  We got our schedule for our time in Guangzhou, too.  Tomorrow is the visa picture and medical exam.  That means...SHAMIAN ISLAND!

We hung out in the room a while.  Le An is getting more and more brave about standing up and trying to take a step or two!  So neat to see!  He also gets bored with toys fast.  I got out a "new" toy--the stacking cups we bought when we were here for Meighan.  Oooh!  A new toy!  He played with them while I wrote posts.

We ventured out to a 7-11 for some water since there's only 2 bottles in the bathroom.  Tony also found some Mt. Dew.  Later on we wanted something for supper so he went across the street to McDonald's.  Le An was HUNGRY again so I made him a bottle.  Tony brought back chicken nuggets, fries and 2 hot fudge sundaes!  I never thought I'd say this about McDonald's but it actually tasted good!  Especially the sundae.  Le An, of course, wanted fries and he wants more ice cream!  He scrunched is face with the cold but he doesn't spit it out like Meighan did at first.

Tony got Le An to bed while I wrote posts.

To Shamian tomorrow!