A day in real China
With all the glamour of this ritzy hotel its easy to forget the people of this country who's children we are blessed to now call ours. After our 12 course breakfast and a quick change into romping clothes we met in the lobby at a very early 9am. For most people that isn't real early but to GET that far with three little ones you first have to get them to BED on time! RIGHT! I've gotten them spoiled rotten at bathtime. We fill the soaking tub with really warm water then turn on the rain shower head in the middle of the room to get it really steamy. Since they bring us a bottle of bath gel plus shampoo plus lotion plus one of condition and lastly, blue bath salts…we can't let them all go to waste! And with our suitcase only being allowed to weigh 44# there is a limit to what can be toted home. So this ever frugal mama lets them dump a whole bottle of bathgel in the tub while letting Chase dump the bathsalts all over the shower floor to keep him busy until the water is ready. It keeps him quite intrigued at the color and texture then all the bubbles catch his eye. He loves to pour from one container to the other so I kept the last three water bottles for him to use plus the dipping cup we use to rinse their hair. Of course I didn't stop there. With all three of them in the tub we made water bombs. Chase can now count to three then I drop a filled bottle of water at arms length between them to splash as high as it can. Aus could hear the giggles in the next room. I love how all three have such funny belly laughs. I guess I shouldn't be teaching my kids "bad things"!
So, it was late, real late by the time I got them ready for bed and to sleep. The girls crash quite well but Chase is still being a bit hypervigilant. He bounces around on the bed and I do my best not to tickle him or get him wound up but its just so darn hard. With the light down he will lay next to me if I ask him but he's back to wiggling around again. He is a real snuggle bug when he takes his bottle and I plan to keep him on one just a couple times a day for the special snuggle time but when he's using his cup we'll let him decide if he wants a snuggle or not. Braelyn was still wanting to snuggle when she took juice or milk right up until our trip but on the road she hasn't insisted. I've still offered and tried to hold her by herself then with Chase at times so she still gets her special time.
Getting up at 7am was ugly. None of the kids wanted to be up at that hour. Brianna is usually cheerful when she gets up but for her to want to go back to bed…we know we wore them out. We made the 9am meeting time to head to the Old Village tour and went in spite of it being the first rainy day. It was only a light drizzle, we took the umbrella from our closet and ponchos for insurance. Today we used the Greyhound type bus with a step up to the seats but some of the little ones miss that step. Its ugly let alone noisy when that happens. About 15 minutes of stop, start, swerve, don't look now but some van is coming our way in our lane against traffic then turning left on red across three lanes of traffic and we are there. No seatbelts, no car seats and no way to contain this very precious child you just traveled across the World to adopt. We got there just fine. Its not as depressing as the trip we took in Beijing two years ago to the WhuTong but close. The people were friendly and you can view the pictures but they do lead a simple life. Several locals would be walking along carrying a bag with fresh vegetables protruding and no where did we see anyone consuming junk food. I did hand out several pieces of wrapped candies to the children we came across and they dove for any that dropped to the floor which I hated to see.
A few of the doorways off the alley's we walked were decorated for being newly married or for the NEW YEAR with mean looking men in costume to scare away any bad spirits. One house was built of sea shells. Most did not mind their picture taken but one woman was hiding behind a book or something across the moat as the cameras were clicking. In a chair near the tiny grocery was a lady announcing she was over 100 years old!
With a trip back to the hotel to rest we went to the American Consulate for our swearing in Ceremony and were given a paper that will allow our guide to pick up our Visa for Chase tomorrow. Several of us hoped to get a bit more formula so we all took a stop at the near by Justco store. Most items are written in Chinese so it's a wonderful help to have our guides able to help us with our choice of purchases.
Eating pizza in our room for a simple dinner we bathed with bubbles and crashed with hopes of sleeping well. Tomorrow we pack, head over to Shaiman Island for the items friends have requested just hoping we are not over in weight. We should have sent something large for him but there is still time to get one more case if we need. I hear Aus's razor humming and Chase's breathing getting more regular so I'd better sign off before my fingers fall off.
Marie Ausdenmoore
http://ausfamily.blogspot.com
http://chasecomeshome.blogspot.com
