Last night I was NOT feeling well.  I don’t know if it was something I ate, but my stomach was pretty upset.  However, the girls were hungry so we stepped out to find some food.  Luckily, we found a street vendor not far from our hotel who made the bread we have become so fond of eating!

I wasn’t feeling up to eating yet, but Kelly and Riley more than ready for a little nourishment!

They enjoyed their snack on the way back to the hotel.

Later in the evening we went down to the noodle shop in the hotel for a little dinner.

I still wasn’t up for eating, but everyone else enjoyed their meal.  I’m not really sure what Jessie was trying to do in this picture!  Is that a smile?  A grimace?  I have no clue!

This morning I was feeling much better as we drove to the government center to pick up the girls.  While we waited for them to arrive from two different orphanages, Kelly and I did some paperwork.

And then Peyton was the first to arrive!

She did not seem too sure about this situation!

But she warmed up pretty quickly once the plastic tractor was brought out!

And then Madison came rolling in!

She didn’t seem to have the same concerns that Peyton had!

Peyton and I worked on the basics of survival in America … the first bump.  She doesn’t quite get it, but she is getting better.

And Kelly received instructions, translated through Riley, on how to best take care of Madison.

Kelly took a picture with Madison and her China mom along with another lady that came with her.

It was very obvious that this “china mom” was more than just a caregiver.  She loved Madison very much.  This day was going to be a difficult one for her also.

Riley stepped right back into her relationship with Peyton!

We had to take the required family pictures that become part of the official file.

Then it was time to say “good bye.”  It was a pretty emotional time.

Kelly always feels such a great sense of gratitude to these ladies that take on the responsibility for caring for these orphans until we can adopt them.  She spent a few minutes telling Madison’s how much she appreciated all her love and care.

Loading Madison into the van for the first time was a little challenging, especially since she wanted Kelly to carry her and not me.

But we got everyone loaded up and happy before too long!

At the hotel we gave the girls some presents.

The rain pretty much kept us indoors, playing games…

… and painting nails!

Cameron

 

Today was an unusual day for us.  A “free day” so to speak with nothing to do before the new girls arrive tomorrow.  After a wonderful first night of sleep (Riley and Jessie said that they woke up at 4am, but Kelly and I slept until 7am) and a delicious breakfast, we went for a walk. As this is our third visit to Hefei, staying at the same hotel, it was a little surprising that we had never walked the tree-lined paths along the Nanfel River.  We had spent time on previous trips at Xiaoyaojin Park which is across the street (including the infamous carnival ride that Ali and I went on and the more tame bumper car rides that Brittany, Riley, and Jessie went on … you have to read the previous blogs to catch up) but had never walked up the river.  We traveld for a couple miles, racking up lots of Fitbit steps, until we finally decided to turn around and head back.

Before the walk in the park, we tried to figure out our phone situation.  Riley was tasked with getting us to the China Mobile store.

She got us there and the nice gentlemen behind the counter tried to help us out.

We almost thought we were in the wrong place when we walked in as it looked more like a cigarette store!

In the end, we were not able to get our in-country phone working.  It appears that since we were last here 18-months ago there are new restrictions on activating a cell phone.  The government requires either a Chinese ID card or a copy of your passport.  As this was just a little street-side shop, they didn’t know how to activate a line with a passport, so we are still without a phone!

To get around traffic we had to head over to the river on the pedestrian parkway, with Riley asking why China people don’t follow the rules and just cross the street wherever they choose?

I am not sure what exactly this shop is selling, but they have plenty of it!

We were joined with many other families enjoying a sunny, 70-degree day in November!

Some chose to dance in the warmth!

Not only did the path go along road, but at points it went down along the banks of the river.

It was almost tropical at times, which would not be surprising in Guangzhou, but seemed a little unusual in Hefei.

We stumbled across what appeared to be a squatters village underneath one of the bridges.  This looked like it housed a fairly large number of people and was a little out of place along such beautiful pathway.  Kelly thinks maybe it was just an area to play games.

As I said, it is sunny and warm today.  And yet, as it typical, people want to stay warm over here!  They were all bundled up on their scooters, everyone wearing heavy jackets and gloves with some wearing hats or even warm blankets to protect them from the chill!

No reason for this picture beyond the fact that she was combing her dogs fur and it caught my attention!

This guy didn’t complain too much when I took his picture!

Some of the statues in the park were surrounded by beautiful scenery!

We passed an open air market on the way down and decided to walk through it on the way back to our hotel.  We are becoming pros at this travel thing in that we brave places like this, even considering trying some of the food!  If you know Kelly, you know that is a big step!

Fish anyone?

It was reminiscent of the large Tab Binh market in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.  There was meat hanging everywhere, including sausage curing in the warm sun.

There were vegetables …

… spices and nuts …

… and prepared foods.

I am CERTAIN there is a health inspector somewhere!  And although his hand made the picture blurry, he is cutting up pigs feet!

There were just so many great little areas where people were making many interesting food items, including Chinese pancakes.

A mom takes a little break in selling to attend to her own little one.

We had to cut back through several side streets to get back to the hotel, but in all it was a very enjoyable morning!

Cameron

 

Just a quick update to let everyone know we arrived in China safe and sound.  We had very short lay-overs (thankfully!) and so have been on the move all day long!

The girls began their first flight out to Chicago together:

We had to have our usual “Chili’s” lunch stop, which has been a tradition on our first layover for the last several trips.

The sun was just streaming into the terminal at O’Hare.

A few clouds didn’t dampen our travel plans!

Above the clouds it was nothing but blue skies!!

When we got to Beijing, it was pretty socked in with smog and fog.  It was like pea soup out there!  (I would have posted some pictures, but our flight was delayed coming into Beijing and our lay-over was already short so we were moving along pretty well to get through immigration, customs, and get to our next flight!)  Earlier in the day MANY flights were cancelled, but thankfully ours was only delayed by about an hour and we actually made it to Hefei not long after our scheduled arrival date.)

It is 1:30 in the morning local (1:30 PM at home) and everyone is trying to bed down for the night.  We were all pretty tired so am hoping that we can get our internal clocks adjusted quickly.

Tomorrow is a free day of enjoying the city, then we get the girls on Monday, complete paperwork on Tuesday, go to Peyton’s orphanage Wednesday and Madison’s on Thursday, and then head to the airport on Friday!  On top of all that, my niece arrives tomorrow evening!  It will be a wild ride this week.  Stay tuned!

Cameron