Happy and Healthy. Health benefits department at work should be happy too.
Empress Amelia at Rest. Just the visit to the Medical Center wore her out. She was convinced they were going to grab her and start examining her. I don't think she believed they weren't going to until we left the facility!
Well, we made it!
Today is Graham's first birthday, the Big Zero One, Wednesday, May 14. This is Tom. Everyone is taking their 2 pm naps. It is warm, say 90 degrees, a bit humid (enough to get you perspiring), with a slight breeze.
Wuhan traffic was pretty snarly, so it took us a while to get from the hotel to the airport. Christy is the suitcase packing queen ... we were able to cram all the stuff she bought on her numerous forays to the shopping areas into the 3 suitcases that were to be checked at the airport. Over here your checked bags cannot exceed 20 kilos which is about 44 lbs. For 3 bags that is 60 kilos (your grand total can't go over 60). Well, we made it at 59 kilos! The flight from Hong Kong to the USA is back to the 50 lb limit so we should be good to go. This assumes Christy is not going to shop ... which is a bad assumption.
We are staying at the White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island in the heart of Guangzhou along the Pearl River. Our initial room was on the 9th floor with a city view -- just like our last visit here. But when we walked in the last tenant was a cigar smoker. Christy didn't even go into the room. So we asked for a non-smoking room and are on the 12th floor with a view of the Pearl River. What a beautiful setting. There is lots of river traffic. Barges, tugs, sightseeing, and other small boats go by all the time. Just like the auto traffic, I can't see any boat navigation logic, like passing on one side or the other. Just a lot of sounding the ships' horns.
Amelia and I went down to the Swan Room. This is a special play area that Mattel has provisioned down on the first floor of the hotel. There are play toys, stuffed animals, balls, a TV, and other fun things to do. I remember Christmas Eve three years ago when we picked up Amelia, we camped out in the Swan Room for a short time while we were checking in because The White Swan Hotel was mobbed by people wanting to see the Christmas decorations and this room was the only quiet spot for our traveling families back then. Well it looks much the same today -- but fewer people.
We also went to the swimming pool and played in the water. There is a huge waterfall and Amelia and I would swim under the falls and come up on the back side. She really liked that. Graham got into the pool for a short time too. The water was coolish, so he took a quick dip in Christy's arms.
There are quite a few families here with adopted children. I would have to estimate more than 75% of the families already have an Asian child and are here for little brothers or sisters. The breakfast buffet is still quite a scrumptious spread, and this is the place to see all the families. That being said, the number of adoptions is way down and some of the families now stay over at the Marriott (which is closer to the Consulate office) or the Victory Hotel down the street. As a result, many of the shops we remember are now closed. The noodle shop (with its menu that had many humorously incorrect English words) is now a clothes shop. The park with the small carousel and roller coaster is just a plaza.
The White Swan still is a nice hotel. The mattresses are semi-hard which is okay with me, but the pillows are hard as a rock. I might as well use my jacket folded up as a pillow, but I didn't bring one. The river view rooms allow us to see a fantastic laser light show both sides of the river. Even the huge city bridge across the way is outfitted with the lights. We were thinking of taking a cruise tonight, but Christy just said that the view from our room is good enough for her.
We had a medical exam for Graham this morning and he passed. As you can see from the pictures, he was happy and smiling the whole time! Those of you who remember, Amelia screamed the whole time. (She still hates to go to the Dr. - sorry Dr. Hu!) Graham couldn't have been sweeter. He was laughing and smiling the whole time. He's just so easy! Of course the Dr's all adored him too. What's not to love about a happy, smiling baby! We also took a photo for his US Visa that will get him into the country on Saturday. We will pickup the visa on Friday afternoon before we head by train to Hong Kong.
Oops, Christy just woke up. But, instead of taking over the typing, she is heading out .... shopping.
Later this afternoon...Tom finished this post, and I just added a few descriptive details. We'll write again later when we have some more fun pictures!
Love ya,
Grahamm and Amelia are getting along a lot better now. This is a picture of the two of them digging for rollie-pollie bugs in the backyard this week...they stay busy playing now that Amelia has figured out (most days) that he's here to stay.
And here's his famous grin. He's such a happy baby! This was when we were celebrating my Mother's birthday last month...he loves being out and about.
He has settled in and is doing so well! After we'd been home about 6 weeks I started to see him really respond to English. The biggest clue he was really catching on came one morning when I couldn't find him - and was looking all over the house for him. I found him in the Living Room over in the corner. When he turned and started walking towards me his mouth looked full! "What's in your mouth?" I asked...and he opened his mouth and out fell Amelia's "My little pony" tiny, tiny horse shoes...several of them! ha. As of today I would say his current English comprehension is about 90%...of course, he is only 15 months old!
