Day 10 - Guangzhou - October 20

Greetings from the White Swan! We were up early yesterday morning to catch our flight to Guangzhou, which was much nicer than the one to Nanjing. China Eastern seems to be a nice airline. The only problem we had was that Kate didn't have her own seat, and she couldn't get comfy on Daddy's lap. Her favorite part of the plane was when she spilled a whole cup of water on Daddy's lap. She thought that was hilarious!

Our guide met us at the airport and got us checked in to the White Swan along with Bob and Casey and their beautiful new daughter. Our first stop was lunch at Lucy's. Lucy's is an American restaurant, where we were happy to have a non-Chinese meal. I mean, we love Chinese food and all, but there is a breaking point with anything, right? It wasn't the best meal we have ever had, but it was good.

I should probably take a second to explain here, that we are staying in Guangzhou which is a huge, bustling city. But we are on Shamian Island, which is this peaceful little corner of the city. The architecture is colonial British, and the whole thing seems to be geared towards businessmen and American adopting families. The traffic is light, and since it is small we just walk everywhere. Patty and family arrived shortly later, and we took the kids for their visa photos and medical exam. This was a pretty simple thing. The doctors took her measurements, looked in her ears and mouth, looked at her body parts, and that was it. The only question they asked was if I had her on an antibiotic for her cough and fever. I answered yes, she gave me the thumbs up, and we were done. Kate, however, did not think it was simple. She screamed from the minute she saw a white coat until we left. That should make doctor appointments in the future fun.We had some free time after that, so Kate and Daddy took a nap while the rest of us took some laundry to the Home of Love laundry service and did some shopping around the island. When we left, Kate actually didn't want me to go without her! This made me very happy, but she was in desparate need of a nap, so she wasn't allowed a vote. I know, I am a bad, mean mommy.

By this time, Bette and Mike were here, so at five, we met with our guide to complete the American paperwork to bring Kate into the country, which was much more complicated than it should be. For example, they are picky about the order of month, day, year, and whether you use dashes or slashes. But they want different things in different places ON THE SAME FORM! Pick a system people!! The four of us parents filling out forms just about went through an entire bottle of white out.

Then we walked down to the end of the island to eat at La Dolce Vita, an Italian restaurant that was probably more Italian than American-Italian places. It wasn't amazing, but it was quite good. I had the gnocchi, and the boys and Kate had spaghetti (thanks, Emily, for sharing!). When we got back, we all crashed hard.

Today everyone has a cold except for Tim, and we are all on edge. Well, let me revise that. Will and I are on edge. Will just finished a temper tantrum, and I kicked everybody out of the room so I could have some peace and quiet. I love togetherness, but too much of a good thing can get to you. I am going to join them at the playground in a few minutes. Kate is still doing well. She is testing her limits, and Daddy is meeting the challenge beautifully.

I am hoping that today I can just relax and enjoy our last few days in China. I am already enjoying meeting all of the beautiful children.

I am also hoping I can leave my runny nose here too. Yuck.

Tim has the camera, but I will try to return later and post pictures. I know that is really why you all are here:)