Wow am I behind on my posts!

So we're at the White Swan and I'm giving up on adding pictures to my posts now. I've not been updating because I wanted to add pictures. I think I'll send them somewhere & have Bill post them later.

So, going back to Friday when we were still in Hefei. We had a visit from our guide, Jane, with our paperwork from Hefei and she helped us work on the paperwork for Guangzhou. The girls had headed out, walking to a bakery Jane had taken us to earlier in the week. Alex had really liked a blueberry danish (lacking a better term) from there and was determined to get another. So, they walked up and found the store dismantled! Great was her dismay and angst. They took a taxi back and went to a closer bakery that did not have the desirable danishes. We headed out that evening for dinner and had a fresh made pita with an egg baked into it. Boy were they yummy. Our ice cream exploits that evening were not quite so fortunate, we somehow ended up with butter flavored icecream. The other two ate it, but not me, I barely put butter on my potato, this was way too much for me.

Saturday we got packed up and waited for Jane to take us to the airport. Jane got the girls each a great gift, a calligraphy version of their name, on handmade paper, done by a real artist. She also told Alex she'd get her a job teaching English anytime she wanted. We flew out and thankfully I had a much better trip than the one from Beijing to Anhui. When we got to our room we discovered that we were once again on the 18th floor. That seems to be a theme this trip, the 18th floor. We'll see what we get to in Beijing! OH yes, Mr Wu, our driver in Hefei, succeeded in getting me a flip flap, a solar powered flapping flower pot. We'd tried earlier, but I'd scared away the vendors because I had my video camera out. Mr Wu made sure I got one, buying it when I wasn't there to scare them.

Sunday we went to the pearl and jade mart, we looked around for a couple hours and didn't buy anything. Alex looked in many clothing stores for herself and we tried to buy both a dress and a pair of shoes for Calliandra, but she was having none of that. There seemed to be a lot fewer vendors there too. We'd already noticed that there were a lot for vendors here around the White Swan but I was surprised to see it hit the vendors at the jade and pearl mart too. Not sure why. That evening we went swimming, I found a cute bathing suit for Calliandra, it was two pieces, but it was a tankini with a skirt so she is covered. I brought three suits, but they were all too small. One was passable, but this is better. This was also Mother's day, and Bill and Acer called to wish me a Happy Mother's day. I was really pleased to get that greeting from the Little Man. He also said he wanted to send Rugby and Lobelia to China to get me. I think that means he really misses me. I also got me first I love you from Calliandra. What a great Day!

Today we had to go get our medical exam. What a difference from 2 years ago when there was a room filled with adoptive families. There was only one other family there when we got there and they were done soon after. We were sometimes in the room with the other people at the Dr's and sometimes we were back in the room where we'd done the exam years ago. Oddly enough, the tile in the room looked new. It was pink, with teddy bear picnic type pictures and it said Happy Birthday. A whole floor tiled just in this.

While we were walking, Elsie, our guide, kept getting calls from someone named Mike, who was lost. Finally after we were done with the exam and back in the room, she told him where we were and our room number. Elsie and I finished up our paperwork, she left and then Mike, and American form Vermont, arrived. It turns out that he was looking for her because she was looking for us to interview us for an article about the adoption process. After Mike and Elsie finally met in our room, they headed out to lunch and we did the same before coming back here to meet with Mike for the interview. He is currently freelance, but if he sells the article somewhere, he'll let us know.

Today I was able to do fancy hair for the first time on Calliandra, and I was able to get her into a lovely damask dress I'd brought, so we just came back from taking our Red Couch Photo. Think i managed to get one with both a smile and a head up. I'll have to see when I download them. You'd think that with just one child, it would be easy to get a good photo, for me, the non photo pro, not so much.

Well that catches me up. I have another scheme for posting pictures, it involves Bill, so I'll have to see if our inter marriage communication can handle it.