Happy Birthday Grandmom! We are thinking of you…

Another early morning for us, and still a bit stiff.  We were warned the beds in China are firm.  It's something like sleeping on a box spring with no mattress.  Breakfast at the hotel with eggs, kiwi juice, and even hot dogs and baked beans.  Crazy mix of foods.  Wil has a few "pet" fish in the Koi pond which he swears he has trained.  When he holds out his hand they come over to him and come to the surface.  Met Charlie, Debi and Ed's son, and he is a doll.  After 45 minutes of crying after his caregiver left, he has been a happy, content little 18 month old cutie.  You should see the looks we get as we "Americans" walk down the street now with a chinese baby BOY.  Alex is still the most requested "photo", but all the boys took more pictures with overly friendly strangers today.

Photos from today

(If you can't see the Flash slideshow above, click here.)

Things are hectic at the hotel still because of the Chinese Government Convention.  The same convention had the entire Tian An Mein Square closed down and guarded by armed guards today.  We saw the square and Chairman Mao's photo as we walked through crowds into the Forbidden City, an amazing complex of open corridors and ornate rooms designed only for the emperor and his wives.  We could also see clearly where much of the gold was scraped off by the British Soldiers during the British Occupation.  Chris can not get over how "cheap" everything is once we convert from Yuan to Dollar, so he is filling our bags up quickly.  The kids are also getting great practice at division as they try to calculate the prices of everything (divide by 7).  On the way out of the city we were mobbed by venders selling everything, and Chris soon became an easy target.

We said goodbye for a few days to Mrs. Li and the other families while they headed to their children's provinces, and happily headed into the hotel for an afternoon "off".  The kids most wanted to hit the indoor tennis court, so we went and played as a family.  Sooo fun.  They also have two squash courts, a bowling alley, billiards/chess rooms, and a professional style ping pong room.  Maybe we find the indoor pool another day.  We decided a simple american style meal in the hotel was the easiest bet tonight, and went to Outback Steak House, where Wil proceeded to fall asleep on the table and eat nothing.  Jet lag is taking a toll and he slept until 4:30 this morning.

We all tried to turn in early today, because the big day is tomorrow.  We head out in our little bus for a 4 1/2 hour drive to the capital of Anna Mei's province.  At 2 PM we have an appointment to meet Anna Mei with her caretaker and the orphanage director.  We hopefully will have some time to talk before we leave them and head to the notary and passport offices to finalize the Chinese side of Anna'a adoption.  We then jump back on that bus with our new little girl for the long 4 1/2 hour drive back to Beijing.  I am more than a bit nervous about how those first hours on that bus ride will go, so we have been preparing and overpacking for the trip.  Hopefully the next entry will have some photos and good news to report.