Our First Airplane Ride

Well we arrived safely in Guangzhou, and we have a lot of thoughts about this place so far. We left this morning bright and early, but we made it! And so did all of mamas purchases. Our luggage was actually 12 kb (25lbs) overweight. oops. But no worries folks, Jenny to the rescue. She told the lady that it took alot of stuff to adopt a 20 mo old, she begged and smiled and the lady let us go without charging us. Way to Go Jenny! We arrived at the airport a bit early, so we walked the little munchkin around for awhile and looked at the airplanes. I guess we tuckered the lil guy out b/c he fell asleep just after take off. And so did his parents. I think we all got a much needed nap. We were armed with all kinds of snacks and toys and didn't need any of them! The best part of the whole day was that when he fell asleep Jason put him in my arms. He slept on me the whole time! Woo Hoo! Mom finally got some much needed snuggle time, and daddy got some much need rest. After he woke up he was in a great mood and let ME carry him all around the airport. My arms were aching, but I didn't care, this was a huge breakthrough for us. Our new guide Lily was at the baggage claim as promised with her GWCA sign, she quickly hurried us to the bus to take us to the hotel. She had to leave us b/c she had a few other families to meet. When we landed in Guanzhou we were happy to see sunshine and warm weather! Yeah. I think it is about 65 here today. The difference between nanchang and this city is amazing. Two totally different places. We kinda felt like we landed in California at first. Warm and sunny. Large 4 lane highways with lots of traffic. Palm trees and lots of pink flowers in the median. A note about the traffic. The highways are 4 lane unless your driver finds in necessary to make it a 5 or 6 lane highway - then that is no problem! The difference here is that there are traffic lanes, where in nanchang it is a free for all. Our hotel is very nice, just as advertised. A bit like Vegas we think. The room service is quite expensive as well as the hotel restaurant. buffet is $35 per person and room service $18 for a burger! Yikes, just like Vegas huh. In nanchang we had room service quite a bit at night, We spent a total of $25 all together at checkout. And we ate some very nice, large meals, with beer each time! Our room overlooks the river, it is very nice. And Tai likes that part alot too. He could spend hours looking out the windows! He immediatley starts talking up a storm when you go to any window. It is soooo cute. So the thing we don't like about this place is how commericialized it is. The hotel is fancy with fancy shops, just like Vegas. When you go outside the hotel to walk around there are rows and rows of shops. The problem is that they are all trying to "haggle" you. It is so annoying. We only walked down the street once and are already annoyed. Plus there are babies and Americans and other foreigners EVERYWHERE! I am telling you it is just like Vegas, a melting pot. We went to Lucy's for dinner, a well known american bar and grill here. It was marginal at best. We would just assume have some chinese food. The best part was the 2 pitchers of beer! Plus we sat on the patio and enjoyed the weather. The patio backs to a nice park so we enjoyed watching all the people. There was an elderly couple playing hacky sack (only with a type of birdie) for a long time. There was also an elderly group of people playing folk music. Some Tai chi and some playing cards. The streets are really nice here, all brick with lots of trees. So we will enjoy walking around. But things are much more expensive here! Still looking for some bargains. After our late lunch, we came back to the hotel and played with our little munchkin. We are just loving him to death. He is so funny and loves to laugh, it is quite contagious. Everyday we see more and more of his personality! We are starting to see the "toddler" in him. And are having a few power struggles. But we don't think they are even that bad. He really is an easy going guy. This hotel room is a bit larger, so that is nice. Plus there is some tile floor, which will help with the noodle eating! So Tai pretty much could live on noodles and rice. We try other foods, but if there is noodles or rice anywhere near the area - Faagett about it!!!!! The orphanage told us he likes tomatoes and oranges. WEll I have tried every form of tomatoe and orange I can get my hands on - cherry, mandarin, large, small, you name it we tried it. Well he likes them great! He likes to play with them, put them in his mouth then spit them out. He loves it! Just ain't eaten it. Tai also has had a very runny nose the past seven days and a horrible loose cough. Today we noticed more ear tugging. So we started the antibiotics today. Hope that helps. I don't like to jump the gun, but don't want him to be sick for our big plane ride either.
OK, so for the good Tai story of the day. Well actually it was yesterday but oh well. This one is for my Kappa girls. So Tai was having a screaming fit as usual b/c dad shut the door for his shower. Well I tried everything in the world to calm him down. Singing, toys, window watching, dancing you name it, he was having none of it though. I sang every song I could think of and danced. Tai loves to watch us dance and make complete idiots out of ourselves. But today it wasn't working. So in desperation I busted out the Kappa chants. He loved, loved, loved, OH KAPPA. He lauged and mimiced the hand waving and everything. I was a bit rusty with the OH Pat part, but after the tenth time I had a version that workded quite well. So there you have it, my son likes Kappa songs!!!!!!!! Needless to say, daddy wansn't too happy about that! But he can't get too upset when he sees that oh so contagious laugh of his.
Well, the boys are asleep so it is my time too. I am hoping for a better night tonight. The crib here is much better. Still not like home. But the slats are closer together and it is taller. So we should rest OK knowing that his head won't get stuck again. We haven't slept good b/c every little movement he makes, we get up b/c we are afraid he is stuck again.
So no pics again. It is such a bummer. Maybe I need to try in the mornings. Maybe blogger is too busy at night. It's too bad b/c I have some really good ones. We love our new camera!
Just in case you were wondering, Uncle Chris and Jason are back! They have been joy riding in there new convertable mercedes..................... punks!
If there are any other silent followers, leave us a note, we would love to hear from you. We get so excited to get up in the morning and see who has written us. We so look forward to it. It makes us feel more connected to home and it keeps us going. Thanks for my Bachelor updates! BTW - some of you wrote me and said you didn't know how to leave a comment. Just click on where it says "little notes for us". It is pretty easy.
Diane - if you are reading, can you please let us know where that good place is to buy the art that you had mentioned.... or if someone at work can ask her that would be great!
Lots of love to you all from China.... We will be home soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!