Tuesday, 7/22/07

Hello everyone! Sorry I didn't get a chance to blog yesterday! We had a very busy and full day! After breakfast we did a little shopping. Then we had to go back to our hotel room and be available for our guide to get a hold of us just in case the US consulate had any questions about our paperwork. So, I used that time to start packing and cleaning up our room a bit. Then, in the afternoon we went to the Guangzhou Zoo. It was really fun but EXTREMELY HOT & HUMID!!! We got some video of two bears wrestling and jumping in their water hole! It was so fun to watch! Gracie and I also walked down into one of the monkey exhibits and got to feed them out of our hands! One of them even jumped on the back of my shoulder! We got back to our hotel and had a little bit of time to freshen up before we went on a dinner cruise. The inside of the boat was somewhat air-conditioned but it was still pretty warm and the food was pretty ummm... interesting. After dinner we went up to the top of the boat, which was open, and got to enjoy the views! The lights on the buildings off the river were so beautiful!! Again, we would have been able to enjoy it for longer but since it only cools down about 5 degrees at night and the humidity is the same, we headed back inside to enjoy the views with a little bit of A/C. I had tried Benedryl on Gracie in the afternoon and obviously it doesn't have the "drowsy effect" on her because she only took about a 15 minute nap all day! So, she was really tired the whole Cruise and being really loopy/delerious/restless. She finally fell asleep about the last five minutes of our cruise --of course. But it was a lot of fun. But we definitely will not be giving it to her for the plane ride home! We did some more bartering this morning and then this afternoon we boarded one of three buses full of Americans headed to the US Consulate to be sworn in and receive our children's Visas. I thought she became a US Citizen today but I guess she will when we pass through customs & immigrations in Portland on Wednesday. No one is allowed to bring cameras to the US Consulate so we have no pictures of that. The rest of the day we did some walking around and then packed up to head home! It is about 11 pm Tuesdau night here in GZ and we have to be up at 5 am so we can leave the hotel by 5:45 am. I am sure hoping for some shut eye on the plane! We have a ton of pictures but I need to get to bed so that's why you're just getting a few for now. :) We are so ready and excited to get back to our other three children and see all our family and friends! Of course we know that everyone is really wanting only one thing---TO SEE & MEET GRACIE IN PERSON! We love you all and will see you soon!