Day 19 - Tuesday

(Well, this post may be really short because I only wrote down three little sentences about it while I was in China and now my brain is mush and can't remember yesterday let alone 3 weeks ago! I do remember it being a pretty killer day so that probably has something to do with my lack of notes.)  

We got up early again for our Consulate appointment.  I made sure we had all of our passports and we met our guide around 8:30 or 9 and piled into the van yet again.  We were dropped off at the medical clinic we went to the other day so that Aron could go get the reports.  She had all the paperwork we had put together a few days before and gave all of that to me.  We waited for Aron to get the reports in the lobby and then walked over to the brand spanking new Consulate across the street.  I expected some big grand building but it really wasn't anything spectacular.  As we rounded to the corner to the front of the building we saw all the Chinese citizens that were there to apply for their own visas that day.  Lines and lines and lines of them.  Thankfully we were able to bypass the huge lines (not sure if it's an adoption thing or that we're American citizens thing) and got inside easily.  Aron had warned us ahead of time that we couldn't take anything inside except a few diapers, wipes and water bottles for the babies and that everything had to fit into a clear plastic bag.  That meant no phones or iPads to entertain the big kids, no cameras (sob!) and not even watches were allowed.  No strollers either so I brought one of the Ergo's and we let E walk as much as she would.  Our guide couldn't even come in with us!  So we said goodbye to Aron but not before she snapped a picture of us outside the Consulate.  

She actually had to run back over the hotel and get the other family for their appointment so she wouldn't have come in with us even if she could. We made it through the security checkpoint without any problems and walked across the courtyard to the main building.  We entered and walked up the stairs to a big room that was very similar to the new social security office here in our town - rows of chairs and several windows (kind of like at a bank). There was a Chinese citizen side of the room and an American citizen side of the room.  We went to the middle window first and got our number.  Thankfully there was a play area for the kids so the big kids ran off to play and the little girls and Josh and I found some seats.  G had fallen asleep in the carrier so I perched carefully on the edge of my chair and waited very uncomfortably for our turn.  E started having a hard time too and I was eventually walking around carrying her in front and G on my back. Good times.  :-|

We waited for about 20 minutes before a man finally came to the last window and asked all of the adoptive parents and kids to gather as close as we could together in front of his window.  Seriously dude?  There were at least 7 families there and his window was not that big.  He was talking through some sort of speaker system and it wasn't very loud, however there were TONS of kids in the room and that was very loud.  Not a good combination.  A lot of the parents kept looking at each other asking if they knew what he was saying.  We eventually got most of the kids quiet enough so that we understood he wanted us to take an oath.  I held up my right hand and swore to whatever he said, but what that was exactly I couldn't tell you!  Hopefully it was all good things.  :)

Then we waited some more.  We were one of the first families in the room and you'd think they would go in order of the numbers they gave you, right?  Not so much.  We ended up being the second to last family to leave.  We actually passed the other family Aron had gone back to the hotel to get on our way out.  Their appointment was set an hour and a half after ours.  Not fun.  We got all our paperwork handed in and everything was in order so we were free to go after that.  We spent so much time there Josh ended up helping some Chinese guy fill out all his paperwork and that was not a quick process.   

We found our way back to where the van would take us back to the hotel easily and we were on our way again.  We had some free time and planned to take the kids swimming but it started raining again, of course.  Bummed out kids again.  

We had something fun planned for that evening though - the Pearl River Cruise!  I had heard about this through other adoptive families and I was actually really excited about this.  I'd also heard that the food was awful but the cruise itself and the sights were awesome so it was worth suffering through the dinner part.  Aron pretty much confirmed that but said the food wasn't awful as much as it was very authentic Chinese food and lots of people were turned off by that.  We decided to take our chances with it.  And we had some leftovers from our visit to Paddy Field from the night before so we took that with us to feed the kids in case they couldn't find any food they liked.  

We loaded everybody up in the van again and headed off to the river.  Our guide bought our tickets and we waited to board the ship for a little while.  We met a few other families but mostly we just tried to keep E from freaking out too majorly.  She was letting everyone in the room know she wasn't happy and the wait seemed to take for.e.ver.  We were finally able to board the ship and we found our seats easily.  The ship was pretty nice but the tables were so freakin small!  Definitely not made for a family of 8.  We were able to take the strollers on board since they didn't have any high chairs.  

There was also a very big window seat that a couple of kids were able to sit on.  

The waitresses came around once stewardess-style with some drinks.  Mmmm, warm soda.  So ready for some ICE!

There are lots of dinner cruise ships on this river even though it doesn't seem like a big river.  The ships are huge too.  This one turned completely around right next to us as we were setting off.  It was a pretty cool looking ship and had a huge dragon on the front that the boys thought was pretty awesome.

Once we set off the buffet was opened and the mad rush began.  It was insane!  We waited for it to die done a little bit before going up to check it out ourselves.  We gave the little kids some of the pizza to tide them over until we could get over to the buffet.  Josh took the kids up first while I stayed with the little ones.  He brought back some food for the girls and himself and then I went to check it out.  There was not much that I really wanted to eat but I found a few things to at least try.  I got some noodles and some fried rice for the little girls.  It's a good thing my hubs has some mad chopsticks skills.  

Both girls LOVE noodles.  G has obviously eaten quite a few noodles in her short little life.  She slurps them right up like a pro.  E likes them but isn't quite as proficient but she manages just fine.  You can see how she prefers to shove the noodles in by herself even though Daddy is perfectly capable of doing it. 

The kids didn't eat much of the Chinese food but they made their way to this stand of rolls quite a few times.  

R came back to his seat with this gem.  Yuck!  He didn't eat it; he just wanted to see my reaction.  Stinker.  He also thought this was pineapple and was so excited to eat it.  Not so much.  We have no idea what it was but it definitely wasn't pineapple.  Not even sure it was a fruit.  

And then my dear husband brings this lovely plate back to his seat.  GAG!

Yes, folks, that is a full on and wholly intact chicken head.  He, too, just wanted to see my reaction.  Can't imagine where R gets it from?

I made him pretend to eat for a picture.  He was totally grossed out though.  That's saying a lot because he'll eat just about anything!

Once it started getting dark all the buildings started lighting up.  Lots of the buildings along the river have awesome light displays.  

There was an observation deck on the back of the boat that we could go out onto and get a better view of everything.  Maddie and I went out to get a few pictures.  It was SO windy out there and of course this is the one day I chose to wear my skirt.  Not a good combination.  I made it out the door and turned right back around as soon as I felt like Marilyn Monroe.  Haha.  

This was definitely the favorite building.  It's a television tower.  I made Josh come out to the deck with me and stand behind me holding down my skirt so I could get a good picture of it!

The rest of the pictures I had to take from inside.  This building is a huge stadium they built for some major event.  It's completely floating on the water.  Our guide said it's a bit of a sore spot to the locals.  Apparently it was used for the event and hasn't been touched much since then.  

After dinner was cleared away the entertainment came out.  It was not what I expected at all!  An older lady dressed sort of like a clown doing lots of juggling.  She was pretty good though.

 

 

 

She handed out a bunch of balloon animals right when she came out.  C was thrilled with his pink bear.  Can't you tell?

After the juggling she started doing some tricks with a ball spinning on her finger and then she had a few people from the audience do it.  The crowd went NUTS!  They thought it was the greatest thing ever.  I can see the kids getting excited about having a ball spinning on their finger for a second but the adults?  They were crowding the kids and pointing their fingers at the lady like nothing else I have ever seen.  Quite strange.  The lady went around the entire room and helped every single person that wanted a turn too.  Every.  Single.  One.  She must have been exhausted!  All our kids got in on it and I even got a little video of them.  

The ship docked and we all made it off the ship.  It was a cool experience and even though we left hungry I'm glad we went!

Back at the hotel it was bath time for the littles.  I couldn't resist a picture of my 'triplets' in this hugmongo tub! (Try not to be jealous of my awesome husband.  He has always done all the bathing whenever possible and it still continues today.  He is great!) 

E is tolerating the bath now.  She still flips out when he washes her hair but she is definitely doing better!  G thinks it's so fun and loves to splash S, who thinks getting splashed is pretty fun too thankfully. 

Then it was super late and time for bed!