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Ninhao (Hello),

Sorry we lost touch after Hong Kong, all of the families blog websites were blocked in our hotel in Nanning, China. It's been a crazy and exciting week and a half for us!

We left off that we were going on a tour of Hong Kong on Monday, June 25th. There are 9 families in our group. We are all spread out over the US, Wyoming, Utah, 3 families from Colorado, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Georgia. 4 families brought their children ranging from 3 yrs.- 16. They have all been so much fun, such troopers and an asset to their new sisters. A couple of families have left children back at home with relatives. 2 families scheduled a trip to Bejing a couple of days before arriving in Hong Kong. We are excorted around in a nice big air conditioned coach bus, with the same driver and a CCAI representative to guide us everywhere in all 3 of our destinations. Our reps also stay on our floor, all representatives in HK, Nanning and Guangzhou are great.

On Monday, June 25

We went on a tour of Hong Kong. We went to Victoria Peak, Alberdeen Jewelry Factory, A Fisherman's Village, Stanley Market and a Dim Sum lunch. Victoria Peak is like San Francisco, we saw houses and buildings that the ultra famous and wealthy own, such as Jackie Chan. We had a beautiful view of the hills and water. The Jewelry Factory was a wonder to see the jewelers making the jewelry. I really enjoyed it because I picked out a couple of pieces that I love. Linley got a jade ring for when she gets older (high school age). The Fisherman's Village was an experience, we took boat rides around an harbour area. The fishermen live on their houseboats, they do not look like the cleanest living environment, some of the boats have little gardens on top of their boat. They fishermen have home boats and work boats. Our guide on the boat (we call him Skipper) was so cute, even without his teeth. He showed us a couple of boats that had television and air conditioner, he got so excited telling us about it. We included a photo of our vacation home that we purchased while we were in Hong Kong, I love to garden and the information we previously received about Linley, says she loves to play in the garden. Tony and Skipper became good friends. Stanley Market was a section of outdoor shops to buy Chinese items. Our Dim Sum lunch was great, most of our dinners in Nanning, were shared with other people in our group. There is a big "Lazy Susan" in the middle of the table that all the entree's are on, everyone shares their meal. There has to be some system on when you want your turn, while someone else wants to choose At all of the restaurants on this trip, you receive a small plate. You can fill it up as much as you wish. We have noticed with sharing our meals, small plates and feeding Linley first, our clothes are fitting looser, thank goodness!

Tony and I thought Hong Kong was very clean, cosmopolitan and a higher percenatage of people spoke English then in Dallas.

Tuesday, June 26

Nanning, China is beautiful and very tropical. Our hotel is more like 6 star than 5! It is beautiful. We have another beautiful view from our room. It is extremely hot and humid here. The humidity is unbearable, sometimes nauseating and you may find yourself sweating much more than normal. We had a transformer/converter for my curling iron in Hong Kong. This hotel does not have them, nor can we buy one and we have been looking. My hair is a major issue with me right now. 8 more days of looking like heck in the pictures. We received our daughter's after 8:00 PM on Tuesday night after a long day of traveling by bus to the airport, checking in 9 families luggage, flying from Hong Kong to Nanning and another bus trip to our hotel. We checked in, ate dinner, filled out paper work and BAM, there they were walking into a conference room with their Nannies holding them with a bunch of strangers all excited to get them. Tony and I were the first ones to receive our daughter. One after another they handed the families the babies and they all started crying in a domino effect. We had to have a family photo for our adoption certificates, LOVELY, when you have been traveling all day and your hair has fallen and your daughter just went to the bathroom through her clothes and it gets on your top, at least the photo's were from the chest up. We had Linley fed and in bed by 9:45 that night, she was exhausted. Linley is a great sleeper, she sleeps all night, she thrashes a lot, we hear a majority of the babies do that also. In our group, all of the babies lived in foster homes, since around December 2006. I felt so sorry for her and the other babies that night What a traumatic experience for them.

Wednesday, June 27

Today we had to take our daughters to the registration office and notary. Linley, Tony and I did fine on that day. We were able to meet the orphanage director. We found out Linley's name is pronounced Yi (Yee) Jun (June or Joon), Yi means "To depend or rely on" and June or Joon means "Princess". We were told by our agency that her name was pronounced Yi ("E") Jun (which means Shire (Fields). There are different translations between Cantonese and Mandarin. We like "Princess" much better than Shire. She will be treated like a Princess.

Thursday, June 28

At around 3:00 AM I woke up sick @ in both directions of my body, until around 5:15 PM. I could not keep anything down. We have not been drinking the water, only bottled water and we brush our teeth with it also. It could have been fatigue, humidity and nerves(which I did not think I felt nervous). Linley is starting to get a cold. Tony changed his first diaper 6 times that day and 3 of them were the kind he anticipated never having to change. Tony and Linley went to breakfast, lunch and dinner together and a couple of strolls. They had a lot of bonding time together, he did a great job! After 15 years of marriage, I have seen a different side of him. Linley took to Tony more so on Wednesday and especially on Thursday. Tony is a natural with fatherhood. He gets it from his mom whom was a nurse and his dad who took care of 3 boys at night while their mom worked at a hospital. That day everyone went on a shopping tour to Walmart, a department store and lunch at PIZZA HUT. I wanted Tony and Linley to go, but he chose to stay here while I was miserable. I don't think we missed that much, we took a taxi to the Walmart the next day, walked around for 30 minutes and came back with nothing, it was a zoo. The Walmart was 3 stories.

Friday, June 29

Linley woke up with a cold! Sneezing runny nose. I felt better but a little sqeumish at times. That day, we went on a tour with our group to a Buddhist's Temple and Pagoda. The temple was beautiful, lots of insense! Our guide said we could bless the babies, no one in the group did that, it was interesting to watch the natives bringing their gifts of fruit and candy as offerings. There were flowers everywhere. The Pagoda and tower were a highlight, there were many pagoda's on the grounds, beautiful landscaping, a river where families could take a amall boat ride. Lot's of stairs and hills that day, stairs and strollers can be challenging. I know Tony and I are building up our arm muscles! Michael our representative took us to a really great chinese restaurant with dancing and entertainment, it was very crowded! That day Linley did OK on the tour, she was a little cranky and not feeling well, she really wanted Tony. That night back at the hotel, we went downstairs to the "Western" restaurant where we all eat breakfast every morning, it is really nice, great buffet! We did not make it past our appetizers, the little Princess started acting up a little, due to not feeling well, so Tony and I did not make it past or even through our appetizers. Tony went to bed at 8:00 PM, he was still exhausted from the day before when I was sick and tired from that day touring when Linley wanted him the majority of the day. Around 8:30 some of the families met by the elevators on our floor for a playgroup. Linley lasted about 5 minutes and called it quits, she was sneezing and crying. I fed her and she was out by 9:20.

Saturday, June 30

Tony woke up not feeling well and was sick with same thing I had, he managed to go on a tour with the group to a Provincial Museum, I don't know how he did it, he could not keep anything down. Linley was still sick with sneezing, runny nose, etc. She still wanted Tony most of the day. The grounds of the museum were the highlight of our tours (to me) since we have been in Nanning. Nanning really takes care of their Green Space, trees and bushes are uniquely groomed. There are motor scooters and bicycles everywhere in Nanning, we did not see as many in the part of Hong Kong where we were staying. The Chinese men and women are so fit and trim biking, scooting and walking, everywhere. There is a river and river walk outside our hotel. Each night hundreds of people walk along the river. There is a neat waterfall with lights running below a bridge, very calming and soothing to walk by and look out our window at.