PICTURES!

OK, here are a few pictures (OK, maybe more than a few).  I still have to get them uploaded and set up slideshows so you'll have to wait to see all of them (or what you want to see of them).

Terra Cotta Army

Our driver, Mr. Xia, us and Sean, our guide in Xian.

Shaolin Temple

 Practice for balancing area.

 Chinese women getting their picture taken with Westerners.

 People that met on the internet and then decided to meet in person at Shaolin Temple.

Pagoda Forest at Shaolin Temple

GOTCHA DAY!

 First family picture

 Bonding!

 Visit to elementary school.

 Our Holt guide, Echo.

 Tony drinking Chinese Mt. Dew.

 Our own "red couch" picture at the White Swan.

 The little "good luck" thing that the elderly lady gave Dawson.

 A bite of COOOOLD ice cream!

 "Little Dude"

 Content in the chunei (a Korean baby carrier)

 All dressed up and ready for a picture.

 Having an "emporer-sized" fit.

 Our Holt group

 Dawson and Judah (Judah now lives in the Kansas City area)

 The plane that took us to Chicago.

Finally HOME!

Our completed family reunited!

Dawson Lee Smith is HOME!

More later...

However ...

Ladybug Dragon, I can't believe you have a dog named Dawson! We had this name picked out before I found your blog!

Tasha, Isn't it cool we choose the middle name Lee and the coincidence that is with their names?

Heading Home!

I got up at 5:30 this morning, took my shower and got dressed.  Tony wanted to go down to a breakfast in the hotel so he got up.  I fed Le An his bottle and got him dressed.  This breakfast buffet wasn't nearly as extensive as what we've been used to the last 2 weeks.  They didn't even have bananas for Le An.  We got omelets and he had scrambled eggs.  Luckily, with the room service check last night there was a 28% discount available for any restaurant in the hotel good till the end of the month so we saved a little bit with that.

We finished re-packing and were able to work out getting all our luggage pieces down in one trip.  Tony checked us out.  We put our luggage on a cart and walked the LinkBridge to the Departure Terminal.

We found the United area and I went to the ticketing counter to get Le An's ticket.  The agent told Tony to go get into the check-in line and I could join him later.  Good advice!  Le An's ticket only cost $126 as a lap child.  We hoped the seat between us was still available.  We got checked in (and the very nice agent didn't even charge us for our 3rd and 4th bags!), went through Immigration and Security and got on the train to find our gate.  The HKG airport is an actual MALL!  We found our gate and waited.

We got on with family boarding and ... there was someone in our window seat. Hmmmmm....  We sat down and just before we left, he moved to another seat so that we could have all 3 seats.  Thank you, God!

Le An sleeping around noise, light and stimulation is not good.  He probably only slept 3 hours the whole 14-hour flight.  We slept less than that.

We got through Immigration and Customs and Le An became a U.S. Citizen very easily.  Our flight to Omaha was not on the Departures screen yet so we got some sandwiches at Quiznos (pretty good!  I'd never had Quiznos subs before!) and found a gate that had plenty of open seats for us to be able to eat and for Le An to move around a bit.  I called my parents and Dad answered.  Mom and Meighan were taking a nap.  Then Tony called his parents.  We hung out until we knew what gate we would be leaving from.

When we finally got on the very small plane, we got seated and of course Le An decided he didn't want to be confined.  He was apparently kicking (ever so slightly and of course we try to keep our kids from doing this) the seat in front of me.  The guy in the seat asked that he not do that.  So, as we tried to keep him from doing that, he screamed even louder.  I whispered to Tony, "Serves that guy right.  Would he rather have kicking or screaming?" (I would rather have the kicking than this screaming!)  So, even before we left the gate, Le An fell asleep. He slept the entire flight (just like Meighan did!) and woke up when we landed in Omaha.

We knew we would be "composing ourselves" before we went out to greet our family and friends.  We also had to change a diaper, too.

We rounded the corner and again there was a wonderful group of people there to welcome us home!  Meighan came running to hug us and it was so good to see her!!!

After we all walked up to greet everyone else, Tony asked them "Any guesses?" No one wanted to guess so he said, "We want to introduce Dawson Lee Smith." We had to move around the corner to get out of the way. There were posters and cards and even a balloon that got put on my backpack!

We eventually got all 4 of us together and there were 4-5 cameras taking pictures of us!  The topper of the evening was when someone wanted to take a picture and said "1, 2, 3..." and Meighan said "4, 5, 6." She brought the house down.  My mom got a picture of all of our big smiles after that.

We got our luggage and pulled our winter coats out and moved on out to our car.  Dawson didn't seem to mind the car seat (at first).  We drove home and pretty soon my parents arrived with Meighan's things and a few groceries for us.  Later on my brother's family stopped by after Tyler's game so they could meet Dawson.

We eventually got everyone to bed and we even got to sleep some!  Yeah!

Visa Pickup Day and Goodbye Guangzhou

We slept "in" today because we didn't have to be anywhere today.  Le An had a major fit last night and we couldn't calm him down to go to sleep for a very LONG hour!  So sleeping in was a good thing.  We also found out last night that the other families that had been interested in going to the Six Banyan Temple had bailed because they were afraid of the crowds that would be there due to the beginning of the lunar month.  The cost of the van was also apparently very high.  I asked about a taxi and Joyce said we could take a taxi there but getting one away from there would be difficult.  She said that we will be doing a group picture at 10:30 instead.  OK, I was disappointed we couldn't have Le An blessed but I was glad we could do a group picture because nothing had been said about that yet.

So we went down to breakfast and ate with my blogging friend Bridget and her family and saw others of the CCAI group from Zhengzhou.  We've met so many nice friends on this trip!  I hope we can stay somewhat in touch!

I then continued to pack while Tony watched Le An.  Right before 10:30 we put a traditional outfit on him.  Not everyone had them this time so, again, we were unusual!  (Last time Meighan was the only one WITHOUT a traditional outfit!). This was truly a GROUP picture.  All of the families stood on the steps and we all gave our cameras to Phoebe and the guy (we never caught his name).  They took pictures with all cameras then Phoebe took some with her camera.  Le An's head only partially showed in all the pictures we have.  They did not do a picture with just the adopted kids.  That would have been nice.

We went back up to the room and I finished packing about 12:30 or 1:00.  Holt had told us we could check out at noon but stay in the room till 4:00 or so.  Tony went down to check out and was told to check out at 4:00.  OK!  So the waiting began.  We had to entertain Le An without toys (they were packed already).  We also had to figure out something to eat.  We decided to walk back to the restaurant where Catherine and Phoebe had taken the group the other night.

Hmmm...  The waitress did not speak English but the menu had pictures and some English on it.  We ordered rice (had to draw a picture), seasonal steamed vegetables and bread with BBQ pork something with honey.  Also cold bottled water (instead of the hot water in a glass that they'd already given us).  The rice came just right and the bottled water came, too (had to draw a picture of that, too).  The vegetables were actually good.  I liked whatever sauce was on them.  The "bread with BBQ pork something with honey" was really different.  It looked like perfectly browned dinner rolls.  Inside was the "meat" (I think there was more fat than meat).  We ate the bread, veggies and rice.  Le An wanted all of it and got mad when we weren't feeding him.  (Can't wait to work on his food issues.  It's orphanage behavior.)  We gave up after a while and left the restaurant.  Probably everyone in the restaurant was glad we left!

We walked back to the hotel and waited some more.  I called the room of the CCAI family who had adopted the 12-year-old girl because I wanted to get their family picture.  The mom knows a couple of board members of Show Hope so she took our picture and was going to send it to them.  We will also send a picture to Show Hope after we get home.  They don't get to come home until Saturday.

Finally, 3:30 came and we put our luggage out into the hall for the bellman to pick up and take downstairs for us.  We hung out in the room just a little longer and then went down to check out.  At 4:30 Catherine, Joyce and Phoebe came down with our visa packages and brown envelopes.  We said goodbye to Phoebe and Joyce (Catherine earlier) and got on the bus.  Eight families!  The families that weren't leaving today were outside waving goodbye.

We took the ride to the train station and our guide gave us instructions on what to do, where to go, etc.  She collected the tips and checked bags fees from everyone.  She was only able to go so far and then we were on our own. We were all on the same car--took up about 1/2 of the car!  We were sitting near the Amish family so we got to visit with them more.

Two hours and 15 minutes later we arrived in Hong Kong.  We went through Immigration (we seem to go through Immigration when we leave AND when we arrive!) and our bags were all there.  We found out we had to pay another 10 Yuan per bag for the porters to take it all to the truck.

We found our guide and he took roll call and then we all went to the hotel.  A 30-minute bus ride later we arrived at the hotel.  He said only one person per family come with him to check in.  The rest of us stayed on the ground floor waiting for the luggage truck to unload.  Soon Tony came back down from the 2nd level reception area.  He took us up to the room.  We found our room number range and headed down the hall.  We had to make a turn and there was ANOTHER long hallway!  I just started laughing!  I couldn't do anything else!  Our room was in this hallway, though.

There was no crib.  We were hungry.  We ordered room service--a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and potato chips.  Le An was mostly asleep but saw us eating and started crying.  We ate fast.  Tony called for the crib again at 10:30.  They said it was on its way.  He called again at 11:00.

Le An was asleep and Tony laid him on our bed.  I laid down for bed and Tony went in to take his shower and then went to bed.  At 11:45 the phone rang.  Tony answered and I heard him say "It's too late now.  He's asleep on our bed." The bed was HARD.  It would be a long short night!

Consulate Day!

We slept pretty well again last night.  Got to breakfast and then came back up to brush teeth, change a poopy diaper (he's pretty regular with that!) and get ready to go to the Consulate.  No cameras, cell phones, strollers, toys with batteries, etc. are allowed so we just left all that stuff at the hotel.  We took a bottle of water for Le An and cereal and diaper stuff ... and our passports.

The Consulate is in downtown Guangzhou and it took 20-25 minutes to get there.  It was on the same floor as last time but in a different, smaller room than before.  We waited for our names to be called and went up to the window one family at a time.  They took the paperwork they needed and gave us back a couple of things.  We waited for all families to get done and then we got back on the bus.  Tony and Le An fell asleep on the ride back.

While we waited for the other families, we asked our guide about what the grandma at the White Swan might have been saying yesterday.  He thought she was just wishing him good luck throughout his life.

We let Le An sleep for an hour or so.  Then we decided to check out the park across the street.  The best way to get there is to go into the subway station and back out on that side of the street.  The Chinese people LOVE their parks!  They have very nice parks.  We walked UP and then decided to walk back down the way we came.  A few weeks ago the New Year decorations would have been up and it would have looked really cool!  Now, all the decorations and red lanterns are piled up on the side of the paths needing to be picked up and trashed it looks like.  I would have liked to grab a lantern but they were pretty big and there were security guards all over the park.

We discovered today that Le An has another (3rd) molar coming in. Maybe that's why he cries for "no reason".  I didn't bring any baby Tylenol so we'll have to deal with it until we get home.

At 3 pm I went to the exit meeting and Catherine told us details about how we will leave Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  I knew I didn't want to take the train!  It seems like such a hassle!  Plus there are 8 families (one has 11 people in their group!) so we will be having to move together.  One good thing is we can all help each other out.

We hung out for a while in the room and then Tony went down to 7-11 and McDonald's.  He got more chicken nuggets, fries and hot fudge sundaes (I'm gonna miss hot fudge sundaes!).  Le An had had a bottle earlier and ate some fries and a couple tastes of ice cream.  Then to get more nutrients in him and maybe a different taste, I got out a jar of baby food vegetables that we had gotten at Walmart in Zhengzhou.  He tasted it and did not spit it out.  He ate the whole jar in no time!  We'll have to try that again when we get home, especially if he doesn't eat other things yet.  We'll try peas and carrots on the plane 'cause I brought a couple of Gerber Graduates meals that he should be able to eat.

Since we've expressed interest in going to the Six Banyan Buddhist Temple tomorrow to have him blessed like we did Meighan, I started packing tonight.  I have most of the day tomorrow to get it all packed.  Tony gave Le An a bath while I worked at getting things organized to pack.

Well, this will probably be the last post from China unless I get a chance to post from Hong Kong tomorrow night.  I'll write the post and publish it when we get home.  We are very ready to come home!  This has been an awesome trip but we're glad it's almost over.  We're ready to get into our new routine!

We arrive in Omaha Thursday night the 23rd on United from Chicago at 7 pm.  Anyone is welcome to come to the airport!  We can't wait to see familiar faces!  Last time there were like 40 people there to meet us!  We couldn't believe it!

We can't wait to see everyone!

Free Day

I don't think I've ever slept so hard for so long as I did last night!  Wow!  It was nice!  Le An woke up around 6:30 and I gave him his bottle while Tony took a shower.  Then I took mine and we went down to breakfast.

While I was getting my food someone came up to Tony and said "Hi Tony!". He was wracking his brain trying to figure out if he knew her.  She told him she blogs with his wife.  When I got back he told me I needed to go over and talk to them.  They were getting their 2nd son today and he's been in the same orphanage Meighan was in.  We met through the Yahoo Group for that orphanage and then we've been watching each other's blog and emailing.  We figured out we'd be here at the same time so made plans to meet.  It's so cool when people meet online and then meet in person on the other side of the world, just because of a common purpose!

We finished our breakfast (Le An had more banana and watermelon today.  We tried grape pieces but that wasn't too popular) and we realized it was time to Skype.  We tried calling Tony's mom but she wasn't answering.  Then we noticed our friend Bruce trying to call us.  We answered and they were able to see Le An!  Then we tried Tony's mom again and still no answer.  So we tried my family.  The computer answered automatically and I said "Hello!" and they came to the computer.  We were able to see and talk to Meighan again.  While we were talking we had my mom call Tony's mom and have her go up to her computer.  We told her to have her wait for our call and NOT call us but she tried calling us 3 times and we had to have my mom call her back and tell her again to let us call her when we were ready.

While we were talking my mom told us that in church Meighan went up for the children's sermon and wasn't shy at all.  Then when they asked for prayer requests, Mom requested prayers for our safe travel home later this week.  Then Meighan shouted out "and my baby brother!" So cute!

We said goodbye to Meighan and my parents and called Tony's mom.  We actually could see her this time, too!  We showed her Le An walking with help.  We chatted a bit and then had to say goodbye so we could go to the lobby and go on the bus to Shamian.

We got off the bus and went straight to shopping.  We got Le An a couple more Chinese outfits, one for when he's older and it's really pretty!  We also found some other things I wanted to get and we went to a shop at the end that has handmade items and they donate 10% of the profits to orphanages.  We bought a few items there, too.

At one point we went into the White Swan.  The restaurant is still open and we walked around the waterfall area and took some pictures.  We were on a bridge and an elderly lady came up to us and was cooing over Le An.  She did not tell us he wasn't dressed warm enough, though.  She took something out of her pocket and untangled it and gave it to Le An (who promptly put it in his mouth).  She was speaking Chinese but telling us something from her heart and putting her hand on her heart.  She wanted Le An to have this thing.  It is a rooster with some beads and leaves hanging underneath it.  I'll try to post a picture of it when we get home.  We told her "xie xie" and she walked away.

For lunch we ate at Lucy's again.  While we waited for our food, I videoed 2 groups of people playing the "hacky sack" game with the "feather thing".  They were really good.  We bought some last time but have never taken time to try it much.  I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and ... a chocolate shake!  Tony had a club sandwich and ... a chocolate shake!  I substituted onion rings for the fries this time.  Nice change!

We went to Michael's last to pick up our laundry.  The price is SO much better there!  We waited for 2 other moms and we all (4 adults and 3 kids) took a taxi to the hotel.

Le An had only a short nap this morning and had not fallen asleep for a longer nap yet.  We all took about an hour nap when we got back to the hotel. We didn't make it to the park across the street yet.  I guess the forecast for the next couple of days is rainy so we may not make it, but we'll see.

Tonight Le An had issues we didn't know how to handle.  He cried most of the evening and nothing we did seemed to make him happy.  We gave him congee and a bottle.  Then he made a STINKY!  Ah, that might be why he wasn't happy!  Tony went to get hot fudge sundaes (we don't eat this badly at home, trust me!) at about 7.  When we were eating them and Le An saw that we were eating something and he wasn't, the tears came again.  Tony gave him a taste and I had the camera ready to get the "ice cream face".  Got it!  He wanted more so I gave him a bite.  Now he knew I had some too!  I made him walk the few steps to me to get another bite.  Then we had to coax him back to Tony (walk) to get another bite.  He wouldn't walk back to me to get another bite so then it was all gone.

His walking is getting so much better already!  Amazing what a little encouragement will do!

We played a little while longer and then it was bedtime.  I don't think he was tired right away so he didn't go to sleep for me.  Tony sat with him and he finally went to sleep at 9:00.

Now we're reading and writing to kill time before we go to bed.

Tomorrow is the oath-taking ceremony at the US Consulate!  We're almost done!

Free Day & Wholesale Market

I got up early this morning because I couldn't sleep anymore.  I'm not used to going to bed before 10!  I typed and posted yesterday's post and then took my shower.  We went down to breakfast after Le An had his bottle.  As we walked in I saw bananas today so I got one for Le An to see if he'd like it.  I also got him scrambled eggs and watermelon.  The kid likes bananas and watermelon!  I cut pieces of both and he fed himself most of the time, although the bananas were a little hard to pick up so I fed him a lot of those with a spoon.

We then went back to the room and bagged our laundry.  We went down and got a taxi to Shamian.  He dropped us off a block from Michael's Place.  We dropped off the laundry and they said we could pick it up about the same time tomorrow.  We picked out a few things and a suitcase to buy and also picked up Le An's chop.  We paid for everything and left it all there while we did more shopping.  Michael even let us borrow the little stroller his 13-month-old son uses in the shop.  We went around the block to Jordon's shop.  He wasn't there but the girl in the shop called him and he came right over.  He did Le An's new name in Chinese characters and also another Holt family had their son's name done.  I took pictures of him working on it and then posed with him and Le An afterwards, just like I did with Meighan.

We then went to another shop where we knew they had shoes.  We got several pairs of sandals that I hope will fit Meighan (and A. P., too!).  They aren't squeaky shoes because they don't make squeaky shoes to fit the older girls.

Next, it was again time for Lucy's.  This time we were able to sit the whole meal.  We'd given Le An a bottle earlier so by now he was tired.  We ordered congee for him but he fell asleep on my lap before Tony could get it down to a better temperature to feed him.  I had to eat my BLT, fries and chocolate shake(!) with one hand but at least I could take my time!  Tony had chicken-broccoli fettucini alfredo.  It was a LOT of food but really good (I tasted a piece of broccoli).

We paid and then took the stroller back to Michael's and got the things we bought.  Michael's wife helped us get a taxi back to the hotel.  It only costs like $3.50 to go one-way between the hotel and Shamian.

Le An slept a total of 2 hours.  He even slept through a diaper change!  We went down to the lobby at 2:30 to go to the Wholesale Market--Pearl Market and Jade Market.  First Joyce gave us 40 minutes in the Jade Market.  I got another ring for my necklace.  Now I have a jade ring from each trip to China and my necklace is complete, just like our family.  I also got 2 jade -- I call them... -- exercise balls.  Not sure what their proper name is but I wanted to make sure I got them this trip.

Then we went across the street to the Pearl Market and had 40 minutes there, too.  We weren't too interested in things there but I did find a couple really cool beads that weren't too expensive and I hope to do something with them when I get home.  We walked back past many shops and saw many colors of beads--more beads and pearls and other stones than you'd know what to do with!

We met back with the group and Joyce led us all to the bus.  We got back to the hotel and I went and got more water and a Mt. Dew from 7-11.  We weren't really hungry but Le An was so he got a bottle and the congee from lunch which Tony heated in hot water in the sink.  We played with Le An until he got tired and fell asleep.  It was much easier tonight!

Le An went down at 8 pm.  We're super tired but we can't go to bed right now or we'll be up at 3 or 4.  So Tony is reading and I'm writing and typing this post.

Tomorrow is a free day for us as we chose not to go to the safari park.