Day 21- Thursday

Before I get to today's post I have to post this picture of R from yesterday.  After we got back from Shaiman Island we were just hanging out for a while and R came in and asked us if he could wear one of the hotel robes.  We didn't think much of it and told him that was fine.  He came in a short while later like this:

Apparently he'd been planning this little outfit for quite a while and even bought his souvenirs accordingly.  We cracked up and took lots of pictures. He's supposed to be some guy from Ninjago?  Too funny.  He even added a little to it later.  Some towels as his beard.  What a kid!

So back to our travel day!!!  We were so excited to leave (one step closer to home) but getting up at 5:30 a.m. to leave hotel by 7:30 a.m. was NOT fun.  Ug.  We had our last breakfast at the amazing Garden Hotel, got all our bags downstairs, got checked out, and met our guide for the last time.  

I took a few pictures of the hotel before we left.  There was a huge waterfall outside in the courtyard that could be seen from the lobby.  There was a little path out in the courtyard that we walked out to one day.  I wanted to get some pictures but my camera immediately fogged up and got a ton of condensation all over it because it's so flipping humid and hot here.  Grrr.  

I was able to wipe it down and get a couple of shots though.  I stayed back by the door with the babies in the strollers while Josh took the other kids to explore a little.  

 This is the amazing lobby.

There was this HUGE floral arrangement in the middle of the lobby.  Very interesting. 

The murals are so huge and awesome. 

This is where we went to eat breakfast every day. 

This staircase and tea room were just opposite the restaurant.  That staircase is unbelievable!  The pictures don't do the size of it justice.

Our room:  This is the view from the doorway.  There is a little half bath directly to my right in the picture.  There aren't usually two beds in the living room.  That's just what happens when your larger than average family comes to stay.  :)

A little farther in and you can see the door to the master.

 

The master.  (I don't remember what was going on in this picture but I suspect Josh had just woken S up.  That's about the only time he's still enough to be snuggly.)

 Directly to my right in this picture was the office/babies' room. 

Through the door to the babies' room is the entrance to the walk-in closet and bathroom.  Closet is on the right and bathroom is on the left.  

The closet.  Seriously.  What hotel rooms have walk in closets?

The bathroom entrance.

The one and only shower (the biggest downside to this room for sure!)

The view from our floor (26th? Dang my horrible memory!) The fogginess is partially the humidity and partially the pollution.  A typhoon was about to move through the day we left.  

 

The Guangzhou airport was very nice.  The kids and I parked by a store while Daddy and Aron got our tickets and checked the bags.  The big kids were singing "Flea, Fly, Mosquito" - as if we needed more attention drawn to us!  :)  Notice S has a pink and purple backpack he's hugging.  That's the backpack E brought with all her stuff in it.  She has no idea it's 'hers' and S has decided it's his backpack.  He has no idea that it's a princess backpack - he just wants to carry around a backpack like his big brothers and sister.  He's pretty stinkin' cute in it!  

We got all our bags checked and found our boarding gate without a problem.  I was so grateful that we didn't have to catch a bus to get on the plane finally!  The kids had lots of room to run around and play before our flight.  There weren't many people waiting with us either so that made the wait much more enjoyable.  The boys found some empty seats in a fairly deserted area close to our gate and happily played on their flutes for quite a while.  I'm sure they bugged the heck out of all the other waiting people but at least they were far away from me.  I was about to go crazy with the sound of those things in the closed-in space of the hotel room!  Josh had the two wild ones (S and E) running up and down the aisle for quite a while in hopes on getting them nice and tired.  I ran to the bathroom with M before we boarded the plane and this was what I saw when I came back.  Daddy holding his two girls and trying to corral the three boys at the same time.  Equal parts comical and precious!

 

G stayed pretty close to me but I let her walk around holding on to the chairs and she crawled around a little too.  A few other adoptive families showed up at the gate and E walked right over to one of the men and climbed up on his lap.  That was pretty disconcerting but not shocking. Not the first time it's happened and not the last either, unfortunately.  Luckily he was a very nice man that we could actually communicate with.  

E was much better on this flight.  She grabbed hold of Josh's arm at take off and then fell asleep almost immediately.  She woke up with about 1-1 1/2 hours left in the flight and spent the rest of the time snacking.  She grabbed hold of Josh's arms again at landing but those were the only times she showed that she was afraid.  G fell asleep for a little bit but was mostly awake the entire flight.  While she was asleep I noticed a rash popping up on the back of her ear and neck.  She also started to have a little bit of a fever.  S did well too.  He sat next to me and watched some movies and had lots of snacks.  

We got off the plane and got our bags without a problem and met our guide, Helen, Helen.  She is very tall for a Chinese woman and super fun!  All our guides were very nice and helpful but I think Helen was the friendliest.  She sat in the back of the van with us all the time and was just super friendly.  

We got to our hotel - the Inner Mongolia Grand and it was a BIG disappointment.  Anything probably would have been considering we'd just been in the nicest place EVER!  But even leaving that out of the equation, it was the worst hotel of the trip in every way.  The rooms were very small, old, didn't have adjoining rooms, there were no bathtubs, no wifi, and the cribs were crazy old and rickety.  One was even broken and we had to call them to come and replace it.  They also put bath towels in the cribs for the baby blankets. ???  

After we got to the hotel Josh immediately left with the guide to go get us some food.  We were all exhausted from getting up so early and starving after not eating lunch.  We finally ate dinner around 5:30 and everyone was on edge - especially Mama.  G had a full blown fever by this time and was obviously not feeling good but I couldn't give her any medicine until we could get some food in her.  I was able to give her some ibuprofen after eating and the fever came down.  All the kids showered - including S, who did great despite never having showered before, and E who did not do well but we didn't have any other choice.  G got a bath in the sink as we couldn't get her to stand up but it was not a big sink and she's not a small girl so I'm not really sure how effective it was.  She thought it was awesome though!  She is definitely not hard to please.  R, S, G and I went in one room to go to sleep and Josh stayed with M, C and E in the other.  After the kids were all settled Josh gave me a blessing because I was way stressed out and having a breakdown!  Everything had just been compounded today - getting up early, stress of traveling with everyone, not eating all day, being SO ready to leave China, and then the disappointment of the hotel and not being in connected rooms.  I am so thankful for him.  He's always been sane and thinking clearly when I was not and vice versa, although the former happens much more often than the latter.  He's a keeper.  I was able to go sleep easily after that.  Actually we were all in bed and asleep by 8 pm!  Long days will do that to you!

Tomorrow - the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Hutong tour on rickshaws!