Last day in China

Cannot believe we are already back in the States! I didn't get a chance to post one last time from China so I'm going to post about our last day now before I forget the details. Our last full night in China was spent having a Papa John's pizza party with some friends in our travel group. While the kids played at the hotel playground, we discovered Matthew loves pizza crust and spent most of the dinner talking about all of the things we couldn't wait to do/eat/see when we got home. We all were just ready to get back and be done with hotel living! Soon after we finished eating we headed back to the room to get one last full night sleep before the crazy flights home and jet lag settled in. When we woke up Thursday morning we decided to try the breakfast buffet at the hotel that everyone raved about. Since we booked our hotel stay on marriott points our breakfasts weren't included and we were over eating McDonald's twice a day! The buffet was as good as they said. Tons of western options and I was finally able to try a custard steamed bun (think vanilla pudding flavor in a sugar cookie dough consistency all melted inside a steamed bun)....heaven! We stayed so long it counted as our breakfast and lunch for the day! 

Once back in our room it was packing time. Got a little help from this guy who was feeling pretty good thankfully. We had been giving him tons of medicine for his diarrhea and it seems to have worked! 

Then it was nap time for the little guy and Daddy. Joseph and I hit the pool one last time. The water was still cold...88 degrees, sunny and humid outside but we both were still freezing in that water!

On our way to the pool we ran into another family in our group who told us more about the park across the street. It sounded like a quick walk (Carla H, make sure you guys check it out when you are there! Just go out the hotel and down into the subway station, exit the station on the other side of the street, the exit for yuexiu park) so we went. It was beautiful and I wished we would have gone a few times before that last day. There are paddle boats you can rent and places to feed the fish, I would have loved to explore more but there just wasn't enough time.

Real bamboo growing in the woods

All of the trees we saw in China were amazing. Joseph finally found one he could climb easily :)

And the new champion for sign with best English translation goes to...

We think they meant don't step on the grass or don't pick the flowers...but who the heck knows!

Walking back we got a great view of our hotel.

We washed up one last time for the long trip home, finished packing and headed down to the lobby to checkout and pick up Matthew's visa packet! As we were leaving Joseph was saying how much he would miss Grace, one of our guides in Guangzhou. This kid finds a women to love in every town! 

Our other guide Jocelyn was going to be missed too!

Joseph said one last goodbye to Grace and off we went with Jocelyn to the airport. We got there really early because we were worried about traffic. It ended up being a great thing because the boys were able to run out some energy before getting in the planes. 

By the time we boarded the plane it was past bedtime. We all fell right asleep after the first meal was served and slept for almost 7-8 hours. The flight home was so much easier...only 12 hours compared to the 14.5 hours it took to go the same distance getting to China! Matthew and Joseph did great. I am so thankful we chose to fly China Southern. Their food is pretty bad but the new Airbus made up for it! And being able to get our visa packet and head straight to the airport was priceless!! We just wanted to get home as soon as possible by that point and see our girls!

We landed in LAX on time and went thru immigration with no problem. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to get thru the line, go to the new immigrants center to make Matthew a legit American citizen, get our bags thru customs and us thru security again in a different terminal so we could pick up our last flight to DC! We had heard of some horror stories from families coming in thru LAX but it all went so smoothly!  

When we got settled in near our gate we were all starving so we headed to a sandwich shop and picked the greenest items on their menu! Oh lettuce, we missed you! Our flight out of LAX was right on time. We asked if the pilots would mind filling out Joseph's log book on this one and they ended up inviting him into the cockpit for a quick flying lesson! 

And then he started touching buttons he wasn't supposed too!

So they let him talk on the intercom instead :)

The last flight the boys practically slept thru too. Ronnie and I only got a small bit of sleep because we were so excited to get there and see the girls! 

Before we left for China we had asked Ronnie's Aunt Val if she would mind meeting us at the airport to take pictures of our arrival and Matthew meeting his sisters for the first time. She is a professional photographer so I knew she would be amazing at capturing the important stuff during all of the crazy! And she did. Look at this sweet pic of Matthew meeting Lucy!

We were not only greeted by the girls and Grammy but Aunt Stacie, Uncle Mike, our nieces and nephew, Ronnie's Uncle Lynn who came in from NY, his Aunt Val and Uncle Wayne. All of them made it even though we landed at 630AM on Friday morning!! They had balloons and signs. Auntie Val even got her videographer friend to come out and capture the moment too. We are so thankful for all they have done to support us! 

Finally all together!

When we got home to Grammy's the chaos kicked in to full gear! Matthew has done awesome so far adjusting to it all. All of the familiar sights, sounds and smells in his world have completely shifted. I know being in China was a huge change for us, and it was only temporary. Matthew will be here forever so we are trying our best to be understanding about it for him. The girls have really taken to him. Anna keeps calling him her "baby boy" and Lucy is working really hard to be mama's helper. There are more hands on Matthew's bottles during feeding time than there is room for but he doesn't seem to mind! And my crazy plan to make these two best friends is coming together nicely ;) 

Looking back over the last few weeks it all is very much a blur. It's strange how surreal most of it seems to us. Adding to the blurriness is how Matthew feels like he has been with us forever, not at all like we just met him under 2 weeks ago. We have to keep reminding ourselves of that! He is amazing and such a huge blessing to our family. We are so thankful God has chosen him to be our son!

We will finally be home home tomorrow. One more change for Matthew but this time we can finally concentrate on getting him fully settled. As much fun as everyone has had during this last 3 weeks it will be so nice to no longer live out of suitcases and get back into our normal routines! 

Thankful for all of you who have followed along and supported us along the way. Thank you for all of the emails, texts and Facebook messages as we traveled. We can feel your love for Matthew and know he will look at all of this someday and be able to feel it too! 

Day 5 in Guangzhou

Well the tooth fairy found Joseph in China! Even left him RMB instead if American cash. He was so excited when he found it. We had to promise to take him to 7-eleven so he could buy something special with his money!

As we finished getting ready for Matthew's consulate appointment Joseph wiggled his other loose tooth right out!

He showed everyone we saw yesterday his growing toothless grin and his money from the tooth fairy!

Matthew's consulate appointment went well. Minus the sirens blaring and overhead speakers announcing, "duck and cover" "move away from windows" "we are on lockdown" "seek shelter immediately"...all the parents and kids in our group are hiding under the help desk windows in the center of the room and we realize all of the workers are just going about their normal day. Not a care in the world! So we finally found someone who spoke enough English to ask what was going on. Apparently they run an emergency drill weekly and we just caught one. No need to be concerned! 

When we got back from his appointment we grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to meet our guides who were taking us to the outdoor shopping mall and pearl market. Joseph finally got his taxi ride! He has been asking since we told him he was coming to China if he could ride in a taxi. Today was his day!

The outdoor mall was 8 blocks long. There was a central plaza area with a stage Joseph found entertaining!

We found Joseph wheeling and dealing in the pearl market ;)

Back at the hotel for more fun and resting

Just as Matthew fell asleep for a nap our friends knocked on our door to ask if we wanted to go to Shamian Island with them. The island is where most adoptive families stayed before the White Swan hotel started major renovations. The US consulate building, medical exams and passport pictures were all there before moving into new buildings in town the last few years. It is very tourist friendly with lots of shops and western restaurants.

The White Swan hotel...still a long way away from opening.

There is a beautiful waterfront there as well overlooking the pearl river. 

There were fish tanks at one of the restaurants we ate at a few nights ago. Matthew was loving it. We got to the waterfront here and he got so excited again. Apparently he loves water and fish! 

The island was really pretty. As touristy as it was we had more people staring at us and sneaking pictures of us there than anywhere else on this trip. Getting home from the island was also a challenge. The other day when I went out shopping we had trouble getting a cab. On the island it was the same. We only had one cab stop and then he refused to take us. So we had a shop owner walk us to the subway station so we could go back to the hotel. The subway stations are surprisingly clean and very easy to navigate. Once you enter the station you feed out into a shopping mall area. This one had a Hello Kitty store. Joseph wanted to get a picture with her for Anna!