The Day After

Aubree at breakfast

It's official

(The Director of Adoption Affairs)

Daddy and Aubree wiped out

(She would not be happy if she knew I was this close)

Aubree hanging out at lunch

This was the first and last time we got her to sit in a high chair

First bath

She likes bathes unlike our son Caden

Too cute!

What do you mean I have brothers?

As I mentioned before we all got a good nights rest but Lila and I were starving because we had missed dinner. We headed down to the hotel's morning breakfast buffet and prepared to chow down. Aubree was ready to eat as well, so we scored her some congee (a rice type porridge). I don't think I mentioned this before but what is funny about eating in the main dining room at our hotel is that they pipe in Christmas music most of the time. I find that to be odd given it is March and we are in a part of the world that doesn't much celebrate Christmas. Another oddity I have discovered is that your hotel room as a doorbell. This was the case in Beijing but it wasn't until we found that to be the case here that I felt confident reporting it as the apparent norm.

We had to head back to the Guizhou Center for Adoption Affairs, so Michael picked us up again in the lobby. We had to complete all the final adoption paperwork, which did not take too long. We provided gifts for everyone involved as this was customary. We took our celebratory photo with the manager of the center before heading back to the hotel. While I was filling out the paperwork, Lila was able to get acquainted with the lady from Colorado we had met the day before. Her new son had made quite the transition in 24 hours as he was very shy and a little reclusive the day before, but today he was having a great time playing with his new hot wheel cars. Aubree continued to be very clingy to Lila and would spend a little more time checking me out but still wanted little to do with me. On the way back to the hotel she fell asleep in Lila's arms and I was able to place my finger in her little hand. In her sleep she gripped my finger and I was very happy to hold my arm in a very awkward position for the duration of the ride just so I could have this moment (even if she had no idea).

We returned to the hotel and had the rest of the day to ourselves but really didn't have much planned. Aubree was a sleep on the bed so I laid down with her. If she had known I was that close I am sure she would have thrown a fit. When we woke up we dressed her up a little bit and decided to venture our of the hotel for a late lunch. We were growing tired of the hotel food and wanted something different. We went to a restaurant around the corner called the Seaport, which our guide Michael said was safe to eat at and decent. When we arrived we found it to nice and clean, but none of the staff spoke English. They sat us down and 3 or 4 wait staff jumped in and started to set the table. I was handed the menu, which had pictures and some English descriptions so I perused it looking for something we might like...most of the choices were not very appealing but I did find two chicken dishes. I guess I was taking too long to decide so they brought me another menu, which I am assuming had their high end specialties. There were pictures in this menu as well and English descriptions, but the food was very exotic. I saw chicken feet, deep fried duck heads and sauteed bulls tally whacker (they used the actual word to describe the appendage but this is a family blog.) The food arrived and it looked pretty good but we found one dish to be quite spicy and the other was not good because each deep fried chicken piece contained pieces of gristle. This clued me in to what the menu meant when it said chicken soft bone in the description. We managed to get our feel between the vegetables and the normal chicken on the spicy dish. Aubree sat up in a booster chair and played very quietly during the meal which was nice. On the way back to our hotel Lila and I are were starting to become paranoid that we may have just eaten our first meal that was going to cause us some stomach issues. I am happy to report we were both fine but we decided we would stick with the hotel food as there really were no other options other than authentic Chinese cuisine in the city and we did not want to push our luck.

Once back to the hotel we decided to give Aubree her first bath as she was not the cleanest little princess. The hotel had provided a baby tub so we sat her in it and we found that she loved being in the tub. She did not cry one bit and she did lots of splashing. It was so good to get her cleaned up but we could tell it was going to take two or three bathes to get her little fingers and toes completely clean. We decided to abandon the three ponytail look she was sporting when we met her and opted for a bow in her hair. We put on one of her other new outfits and headed down for an evening meal in the hotel. Aubree was absolutely adorable and starting to show signs of being a little more accepting of me. She would let me give her kisses on her head and talk to her over the dinner table. We went back to the room and I started in on catching up the blog posting while Aubree and Lila crashed. However, Aubree woke up and so Lila just placed her on the bed next to her and gave her some toys to occupy her with so Lila could rest. Aubree just sat quietly and played looking over at me once in a while at the desk to make sure I was keeping my distance. Eventually, she started scratching her head and rubbing her eyes a lot and even started doing some head bobs. Lila woke up and held her until she was fast asleep and put her down for the night in the crib.

Today was another very good day but now that we have Aubree we just want to come home. We think this trip is going to get extremely long from this point forward, especially our remaining days in Guiyang. Wednesday we are heading out for a visit to a famous park on the outskirts of the city, so that should be a nice distraction.

Gotcha Day

Honey let's have bull frogs for dinner

they are on sale.

Hmmm....Hmmm Chicken Feet

(Don't forget to spit out the toenails)

Guizhou Center of Adoption Affairs

Lila with our guide Michael

Not Happy!

From left to right: Adoption Affairs Office Manager,

Orphanage Director, Aubree and Foster Mother

Official Adoption Photo

Emotionally and physically exhausted

The first smile

Enjoying her Disney princess cell phone

Everything is going to be fine

The Internet connection is not the best in Guiyang so some of the pictures didn't upload very well, but hopefully you can get the picture. :)

It was Monday 29^th and we awoke knowing the big day had arrived. We had to wait for our guide Michael to pick us up at 2pm, so we decided to do a little exploring. We stopped in a very nice baby shop on the same block as our hotel and then made our way to a multi-level department store. It was very modern and resembled a large department store in the US. We noticed there was a grocery store in the basement of the building so we made our way down there. This grocery store was very clean and very nice, which served as a stark contrast to our experience at Wal-Mart the day before. We wandered through the store to become familiar with what they had to offer. We saw some very interesting things offered like live bullfrogs, entire pig legs and a variety of chicken feet. Lila took some pictures but she was finally scolded by one of the ladies behind the counter so we felt we had worn out our welcome and decided to head back to the hotel.

At 2pm we met Michael and a driver who drove us to the Guizhou Center for Adoption Affairs. It was a small office and we entered and took a seat on a sofa and anxiously waited for Michael to tell us what would happen next. We were a little early for our appointment so we completed a few documents including one which was basically a 24 hour temporary custody agreement that would allow us to take Aubree with us overnight as we had to return to complete the permanent adoption paperwork the next day. Michael let us know that Aubree was in the building and the foster parents along with the orphanage director were with her. There was also a small boy waiting with a Chinese woman in the office and shortly after we arrived an American woman entered the office with her guide. She was there to adopt the little boy and we later learned she was from Loveland Colorado and this was her second adoption. I prepared the camcorder so I could capture Aubree’s arrival. The moment arrived and she entered the office and Aubree immediately began crying as she could sense some major change was about to happen. The foster mother sat on the sofa between Lila and me while holding Aubree on her lap. Her foster mother was very nice and Michael helped interpret for us so we could ask questions regarding Aubree and her schedule, habits and preferences. The foster mother had brought some items such as a photo album of some of the other children that were in her home that Aubree had grown to know. She provided a bottle and explained this was the only bottle Aubree would drink from (something we later learned was not so) as well as a bag of formula and rice cereal she said was preferred. The foster mother slipped me a note quite discreetly and I just quietly tucked it in my pocket. I suspected it was her address or contact information and later confirmed that it was. She had to be discreet because the law and the rules of the orphanage do not allow for the adoptive parents and foster parents to remain in direct contact. Aubree pretty much cried (very loudly at times) for most of the time but eventually the foster mother was instructed to leave and she handed Aubree to Lila. It was obvious the foster mother was attached to Aubree and vice versa. She was shedding a few tears on her way out. Within a few minutes of her leaving Aubree stopped crying and it was obvious she found comfort in Lila’s arms. Michael then said it was time to go back to the hotel so we climbed in our van and headed back. Aubree fell asleep during the ride back so getting her back to our room was peaceful.

Once back to the room we laid her on the bed and let her sleep until she woke up on her own. Lila took off her shoes and socks, which to our surprise had notes in them as well from the foster mother. I told Lila about the note that was slipped to me and she said one was slipped to her as well. We decided we will pass pictures back to the foster mother as Aubree grows up but only through Holt International and not directly. When she woke up she did not cry unless I came close to her. She was very scared of me and only wanted to be held by Lila. I made a run back to Wal-Mart with Michael to pick up some supplies and to find more toys for her. When I returned Lila and her were playing with toys and Aubree was very much enjoying the Gerber puffs that we brought along on the trip. Aubree would cry if I got too close and even would start to pout if I looked at her too long. If you are familiar with the movie Madagascar, it reminded me of when the lemurs threw the little baby lemur out in front of the Lion and his friends in the movie. We found out that none of the clothes we brought fit but not for the reason others and told us. We brought 12 month old clothes and they did not fit…too small…Aubree not only has a round little face but she is a little chunk. We decided to venture out with her to buy a couple of outfits at the baby store we had visited the day before. The ladies in the store were very helpful but they did not speak any English. Aubree would cry if any of them tried to get close to her as well, something that made me feel a little better. We ended up buying two really cute outfits and headed back to the room. We fed Aubree and she dozed off again, so Lila tried to put her in the crib that was provided by the hotel. Aubree woke up and made it clear she wanted Lila to hold her, so the two of them fell asleep on the bed with the baby lying on mom’s chest. Lila and I had not had a chance to eat anything for dinner but we realized our day was done, so we all went to bed. Eventually, we were able to put Aubree in the crib and she slept all night (Yeah!). This was the end of the first day of the rest of her life and all was well.

Guiyang Here We Come

Bruce the giant

The Sheraton in Guiyang

Roughing it in Guiyang

The lobby chandlier

A life of luxury

Lobby fountain and sculpture

Guiyang is no small village

The roundabout in the center of Guiyang

(This was taken from our room)

Sunday morning we met our original guide Laura in the lobby of our hotel and headed to the airport. We arrived there with no worries but then we began to worry as it was obvious that Laura was fairly young and inexperienced. She was unsure where to take us once we were there and asked us for our tickets. She then had a look of panic and started to make a cell phone call. Eventually, kind of by trial and error we made it to the right counter to check in for our flight on China Southern airlines. We made it through security and had some time to kill so we grabbed a cup of coffee and made our way to the gate. We got lots of looks in the gate area we were in because we were the only westerners and I was the only person wearing shorts as it was rather chilly. The gate was not your traditional one as we were all ushered out to a bus and then driven out to our plane on the tarmac. We were happy to see that it was a decent sized plane, actually a Boeing 737 to be exact. It took about 2.5 hours to get to Guiyang, but the flight was pretty uneventful. When we landed we made our way to the luggage claim and out into the terminal area. There we were met by our local guide Michael and a driver who welcomed us and then gave us a ride to our hotel. Guiyang is a big city by our standards with about 3.2 million people. Michael said we were staying at the Sheraton which is hands down the best hotel in the city. When we arrived it was obvious that in any part of the world this would be considered a 5 star hotel. Michael helped us check in and get to our room which had a beautiful view of the city. He then escorted us to a nearby Wal-mart which was only a couple blocks away but underground. It actually was under a beautiful city park and completely hidden to the eye (It would be nice if all Wal-marts were underground). Anyway this was not your typical Wal-mart environment as it was extremely overcrowded and not very clean. We picked up a few items and made a quick exit to our wonderful hotel. That evening the anticipation and some anxiety was beginning to build as we knew we were less than 24 hours from receiving Aubree.

The Forbidden City

North entrance to Forbidden City

Lila in front of the empress' lion

Ahhh to be emperor!!!!

Stone carving...this weighs 200 tons

Lila and Emily our tour guide

Peace from the Forbidden City

Adopting families group photo

Three emperor wannabes crossing

the emperor's bridge

(Jack on the left is the guy who ate the silk worm)

South entrance to the Forbidden City

Tian'anmen Square

(Mao's mausoleum in the background)

Machine that unravels the silk cocoons

Stretching silk fabric to make a comforter

Beijing Hard Rock

Hard Rock's version of a stone carving

Rock On!!!

Okay, it is 9:30am on Monday and we are expecting to be united with Aubree for the first time at 2:30pm, so I am going to work hard and catch up the blog in the next few hours.

Our last day full day in Beijing was this past Saturday and we were very busy. It began with our adoption orientation and there were a couple of new families added to our group that had just arrived. The orientation was led by Les who heads up the Holt office in Beijing, he walked up through a lot of information and explained many things we would experience. Les and his wife are from Great Britain but have lived in China for the past 20 years, so he is very knowledgeable. At the end of his presentation he had one more slide and one by one an updated photo of our children began to pop up on the screen. This the first time we had seen a very current photo of Aubree as it was taken about a week earlier. He explained to the group that there was only one child who seem to be very upset about having her picture taken as she was crying in all of them, yep and that one child was our Aubree. Next they handed out an album that contained many more current photos and it also had lots of personal information about Aubree. We then all moved to another room for a wonderful Chinese lunch served family style once again. This was the best Chinese food we had experienced so far and everyone got their fill and spent time getting acquainted. Most of the group were actually adopting boys and only one other couple was adopting a little girl. Some children were as old as 5 and a couple of families were back for their second child.

After lunch we headed off for our tour of the Forbidden City. This place was built between 1406 and 1420, during the reign of the Ming emperor Yongle. Its construction was an incredible undertaking, involving one million laborers, 100,000 craftsman, and vast quantities of materials. On completion it was the largest palace complex in the world, covering a total area of 856,800 sq. yards. It was called the Forbidden City because only the emperor, his family, the staff and officials were allowed within the walls. Only the emperor and his family ever left the city and really only to visit the Temple of Heaven or to go and stay at the Summer Palace. Many of the staff and concubines never went outside the walls of the FC during the entire life. There is a moat around the entire city and the earth removed for the moat created a man made hill to the north of the FC (I will try to point it out in one of the pictures in the background). This hill is amazing considering all that earth was moved with shovels and wheel barrels. There was a special stone path which ran down the axis of the city from north to south. The emperor was the only person allowed to walk on this path. Some of the stone carvings that are on the path leading up steps were never walked on by the emperor but when we would come to these points on the path he would be carried over the carvings in a special chair so he could remain on the path. Myself and the other dads in the group enjoyed having our picture taken in many locations in the city while standing on the emperor's path (I am not sure but I may have been an emperor in a previous life...Lila disagrees).

We exited the city on the south end, which is right across the street from Tian'anmen Square. It was interesting to be standing in this place, but many of us had difficulty marveling in it because it definitely had a purpose of glorifying the communist party and the original chairman Mao Zedong's. I could not help but think about the massacre that had taken place here. So we did not stay long and made our way across the square passing Mao's mausoleum where his body still rests inside a crystal coffin.

The last stop of the tour was the Yuan Hou Silk Mall where we were shown how silk is harvested, turned to thread and woven into fabric. I guess I never really took the time to think much about where silk came from but I learned the whole process. It basically begins with two moths that lay eggs, that then become caterpillars, which then spin cocoons made of silk. These cocoons are then taken to a special machine that unravels the cocoon into one thread thousands of meters long. A single silk thread is very weak so they spin several threads together to make a very strong single thread. It is this thread that is used to make fabric. The highlight of this tour was when the lady giving the tour showed us what a cocoon with all the silk removed looked liked and she tore it open to show the larvae inside. She explained it was used to make cosmetics and could be eaten as it was very good for your skin. She offered it to one of the dads to eat not really expecting him to take her up on it, but to the amazement of the group he popped the little silk worm in his mouth and chewed it right before our eyes. We all had great fun teasing him the remainder of the day saying his skin had such a nice sheen to it.

We returned to the hotel know we needed to back for our 6am departure to the airport the next morning but could not refuse the invitation by one of the couple's to join them for dinner at the Beijing Hard Rock. I had a cheeseburger and fries that made me miss home a little as it was the first food of our trip that was actually what you can get back home. They even put ice in my coke. We enjoyed getting to know this couple a little more and were excited for them as they were adopting a son and this was their first child. They had two domestic adoptions previously fall through, so their story made our 4 year wait seem rather painless in comparison. The drive across the city at night was pretty special as well because of the way the Chinese light up their buildings and the architecture was amazing. We returned to the hotel and packed up so we would be ready for our flight to Guiyang the next morning.

The Great Wall and Hutongs

The Great Wall

About to carry Lila up the Great Wall

Truly Amazing!

Entrance to this section of the Great Wall

I will spare you all the picture of me

showing my Budda belly

Traveling in style through a Hutong

neighborhood in a rickshaw

Our rickshaw driver

Rickshaw convoy!!!

Our Hutong tour guide

The nice family who invited us

into their Hutong home

Our second day in Beijing was a very full day of touring. We met in the lobby of the hotel with the other adopting families and jumped on a bus and headed north of the city into the mountains to one of several Great Wall observation points. The group was led by our guide Emily, who had taken Lila and me around on our tour the day before. Emily is very well educated in Chinese history and culture, so the ride turned into a classroom on wheels. One topic which resonated with all of us was the “One Child” policy. In summary she explained this was still the policy throughout China in general but different provinces and communities may have their own variations. She explained in general if you are of the majority ethnic group, Han, which makes up approximately 93% of all the people then you can only have one child. The one exception would be if both husband and wife were only children then they are allowed to have two children. If you are from one of the over 50 minority ethnic groups (the other 7% of the population) you are allowed to have two children.

On the way to the GW we passed the future site of a Disney theme park being built. You could see the skeleton of Cinderella’s Castle but in general the site almost looked like it had been abandoned, so we were unsure if this project is moving forward. We arrived at the GW and were told we had about 1.5 hours to go explore (this was not enough and we wished we could have stayed longer). Lila and I quickly went to the entrance and began climbing. Lila’s ascension up the wall was impressive and she quickly jumped out ahead of me. It didn’t take us long to hit our physical endurance wall (pardon the pun) but we still made it further than anyone in our group. On the last guard tower we made it to we actually climbed up a small stairwell from within to get on top and the view was amazing. It is incredible to think construction began on this massive structure over 2000 years ago in the 3^rd century BC and continued on through the 16^th century. It’s main purpose was to provide a line of defense against the Mongolians to the north as they were constantly invading. Millions of workers perished working on the GW and most were buried under the section they were working on at the time. Coming down this section of the wall was easier than going up but equally treacherous as the height, depth and shape of the steps was very uneven. I am convinced the inventor of the Stairmaster received their inspiration while climbing the Great Wall.

From there we headed back toward Beijing and stopped along the way for lunch at the Yu Long Friendship Store. We all sat down together at a large table with a lazy Susan in the middle. They brought out dish after dish after dish and we all spent time getting to know one another better over lunch. This lunch was much better than the one we received the day before as there were several options that were appealing. After lunch we then were set loose in the store for a little shopping and we found some nice gifts for friends and family, including a very cool cross pendant made of jade for Lila.

The next stop was one of the many Hutong communities in Beijing. These communal lifestyles consist of very densely packed homes with very narrow alley ways. Some of the dwellings share an inner courtyard that serves as a common area for the families. These homes are very modest but we had the pleasure of being invited into one of them where a young family was living so we could get a feel for their lifestyle. This family was fortunate as they had their own wash room as most families shared public washrooms. The family was very proud and happy; they offered us all Jasmine tea, sunflower seeds and peanuts. Through our tour guide we were able to ask many questions and you could not help but realize these folks existed on very little. One of the highlights of this tour was being transported by rickshaw (see picture above) through all the narrow streets and alley ways. The Hutong neighborhoods were on their way to extinction as many were being torn down to make way for high-rise apartment buildings. Fortunately, the government realized the cultural value of preserving some of them.

It was a great day all around, but we were exhausted and wanted to rest up for Saturday as we would be going to our orientation session in the morning and then touring the Forbidden City, Tian’anmen Square and the Yuan Hou Silk Mall in the afternoon.