The Catching Up post

The girls are wearing us out, not to mention every time we get out of the hotel, it's back to sweatsville. So, let me catch everyone up on the past three days of activities.

Tuesday was a travel day from Guilin to Guangzhou. It took most of the day since we were traveling as a big group. The girls did great for their first flight. Our guide Samson, even took Sydney off my hands for a few mintues and she was treated to the VIP area of the airport. Already spoiling the kid and she hasn't even made it to the States yet.

On Wednesday, we walked down to a small side shop to have all the girls pictures taken for their US Passports. This happened so fast it was like a moving conveyor belt. Then we walked down half a block to complete the medical exam. This hospital was air conditioned and sterile. It was nothing like the hospital I visited while in Yulin, which was one of the baby abandonment sights. The medical exam took us maybe 30 minutes to complete. Honestly, it was sort of a joke. They weighed each kid. Ours each weighed in at 16 lbs. each. Then the length of each kid was taken, along with their temperature. We then moved over to see the ENT. The doctor checked the girls for hearing and looked up their noses. And let me mention that the hearing test is not what you were thinking. It consisted of the doctor using a child's play keyboard and a squeaky toy. As long as the kid looked toward the sound, you were good to go. The last part of the exam was to see another doctor that basically looked over their body, for what, I'm not really sure. That was it. Another item checked off our list.

Us waiting to see the Doctor. These strollers were borrowed.

The afternoon was spent doing some shopping. We luckily found a shop that had a double stroller (seating front to back) for sale. Since everything in this area is negotiable, we ended up getting this stroller for about $47 US Dollars. We thought we got a pretty good deal. We have just reached the point where carrying around both of the girls all the time, especially with the heat and sweat, that we needed something. Plus, we'll need it in the airports on our way back home. Jan and Mimi also did some shopping without Parrish and the twins. Jan was able to pickup some Chinese outfits and some squeaky shoes for the girls. The squeaky shoes are all the rage. They have this air-filled bladder in the soles so when they stomp their feet they squeak. They're pretty cute. Mimi also found some silk fabric for her collection.
Out in the new stroller.


Alex trying the squeaky shoes out.

The evening ending with almost all of our traveling Gladney Families eating at a local Cantonese Seafood Restaurant. Once again, it was warm and sweaty for us. However, this restaurant specializes in fresh seafood. So fresh, that you walk through an area of water tanks and pick out the seafood right from the tank that you want to eat. The pictures below were taken at the restaurant. We had shrimp, flounder, and scallops, plus some additional non-seafood items such as pork ribs, beef strips and chicken. Of course there was rice too. Overall, the food was good but a little overcooked compared to the seafood we get at home. For example, the pork ribs are not tenderized prior to cooking and were very tough and chewy. The shrimp was grilled, but also over-cooked. The best item of the night was the flounder. It was very tender and flaky and had a great taste to it. The scary item of the night was the eel. Jan and I stayed clear of it, but our guide Samson convinced Mimi to try it. The picture below is of her eating the eel. As far as the girls go, Alex slept through the majority of the dinner, but Sydney was up and ready to eat. Besides the Cherrios and fruit puffs that her mother fed her prior to dinner arriving, she dined on the rice noodles that came with the scallops.

The outside of the restaurant.


Taking our shrimp out of the tank.


Alex is in back asleep and Sydney is feeding on rice noodles in their new stroller.


Mimi eating the eel.

So that brings us up to today. The morning began with us traveling to a Buddhist Temple. While we were there, a Buddhist Monk preformed a "Blessing" Ceremony for us and our children. The Ceremony itself only lasted maybe 1o minutes, but it was very nice. Inside the temple where the Ceremony was performed, there were three giant Buddhas. These are the biggest Buddhas I have ever sceen. They must have been 30 feet high. Pictures are forth coming on this event.

Tonight is the night we take our group photo and all the adopted babies are grouped together for a photo too. It's another tradition that is a part of The White Swan Hotel and the whole China adoption process. We'll post these pictures as soon as we can.

We have two more nights at The White Swan Hotel and then we begin our trek back to Dallas.