Day 9 and 10: To Guangzhou!

We've left Harbin (northeast ) and have arrived in Guangzhou (south). This shot is our last meal Thursday night in Harbin. It was at the restaurant in the hotel where we ate most of our meals. We spent a lot of time with the staff and they spoiled Tommy!

And we're off! Friday morning, leaving the hotel for the airport. Tommy (just like Danny and Aidan) loved pulling his own suitcase.

On the plane. We had just sat down and the "fun" was about to start.

The flight was a nightmare. Tommy had never been on a plane before and was terrified of the seatbelt.  When I tried to put his seatbelt on at take off he started SCREAMING (no one in China uses car seats or seatbelts in the cars). He screamed for about 10 minutes and even though everyone at the back of the plane was trying to help us, he wouldn't stop. The plane hadn't even taken off yet! The stewardess eventually came over with a glass of apple juice for him, talked to him in Chinese for a little bit and told us we could hold him instead of using the seatbelt. That helped until our 30 minute layover that required us to get off and on the same plane. This ride was better until Tommy got tired and needed his nap. (At the orphanage he napped every day from 12:00 'til 2:00. We can always tell when its noon because he gets really tired, sucks his thumb and gets VERY crabby.) On the plane he was absolutely exhausted but the poor little guy just didn't know how to fall asleep in his seat. He was incredibly frustrated and kicked the seat in front of him and screamed some more. I am not looking forward to getting on another plane. As Tom says, one week to recover!
Look at our little guy! Off the plane and happy again. He looks like he's on a little mission: out of this airport and done with these planes.



The weather in Guangzhou is beautiful, with temperatures in the 60s. This is a park and playground around the corner from where we're staying. It's nice to walk around and eat someplace other than our hotel.

We're here to finalize the adoption, finish paperwork and have Tommy cleared by a clinic. Saturday morning, first thing, we made our way there.

Everyone who adopts has to come through here, so there are a lot of other families. Even for us its kind of strange to see so many white parents with all these tiny Chinese children. Many of them have special needs. It is taking so long to adopt a healthy child that many parents are choosing special needs babies. Severely disabled children are still not available, but most of them have a cleft palate or club foot, etc. We are still in the minority with a boy. We met one older couple with a little girl who had a cleft palate. She is their 7th child from China - they have 10 total (!) There were several others waiting with us at the clinic.

Seeing the doctor.

On the walk through the park back home.

Playing at the playground before dinner.

Who will I play with?

Me and Baba.

Me and Mama.


This is inside the White Swan Hotel. It's very nice and much more expensive to stay in but only a block away from us, with an easy walk over.

Tommy looks so much like Aidan here, snacking on an apple.

The river is behind the White Swan Hotel.

Walking by the river.


We went to a Thai restaurant after the playground this afternoon. It was one of our first meals without Bill to translate and it went well! We have more clinic visits and paperwork ahead...