If there is one word…..

that new adoptive parents of a child from China need to learn, it is
shuìjiào, the word whose translation into Mandarin is “Sleep, Sleep”, the
first a verb and the second a noun. This one has come in handy with Aiden
who at almost 3 and knows a lot of Mandarin and can really follow these
directions….when he wants too!

This will be a short post as we leave for the Guangzhou Airport and our
flight to Beijing at 6:20 in the morning and it’s getting close to midnight
now!  Thursday was a free day and Ann Marie and I had Lilly, our guides
friend take us out for pearl shopping in the market.  Ann Marie had a blast
and the kids and I played on the elevators and escalators for free, while
Mommy shopped which sadly was not! After shopping we grabbed the kids a bite
at McDonalds and hurried back to the hotel to meet our guide Judy to pick up
Aiden’s Chinese Passport and Visa as well as the infamous “Brown Envelope”
that must not be opened until you get to the United States Immigration
Office upon landing. We signed all the papers, made all the transfer
arrangements, settled all the financials, exchanged hugs with Judy and then
we were off for a nap.

We overslept due to a lack of sleep the night before (long story for another
time) and missed our friends Tim, Shelly and Caleb who we wanted to meet in
the playroom here at the hotel before they left.  Sorry guys!  We promise to
keep in touch through emails!  What a great family!  We started packing for
home a short time later and then took a break for some last minute shopping
at Sherry’s and Jordan’s, grabbed the laundry and dropped off the stroller
at Jennifer’s, picked up some take out at Lucy’s (mmmm, beer!) and then
headed back to the room to finish off the night.  After dinner we did take
time to get some photos of the kids on the also infamous “Red Couch” here at
the White Swan Hotel. I will post a couple for your enjoyment!  We then came
back in, finished the majority of the packing, started the kids to bed, then
I headed downstairs to get some travel Yuan and snap some last photos of the
hotel at night.  That brings us to the Mandarin word shuìjiào, which
phonetically sounds like “Shree-Jowu”.

Aiden has the tendency to play while getting to sleep and this word is a big
reinforcement to what he should be doing instead.  We have found that this
word, combined with me standing at the end of the bed as the enforcer will
bring about a little more compliance at naptime as well as bedtime.  I think
he knows I mean business when he pops back up and sees I am still there.  I
kind of giggle under my breath when he does it, but it works!

Tomorrow we leave for Beijing and the beginning of the journey home!!  We
have enjoyed our stay in China, but even so two weeks is a long time to be
away from home and our puppies, family and friends so we are very happy to
be on our way! I will let you all know how Aiden’s trip to Beijing goes
tomorrow night! So, till then……

Michael (Did you say wake up at 5:00 am?), Ann Marie (Please let me have one
nights sleep greater than 4 hours!), Savannah (What do you mean he copies
everything I do?) and Aiden (Did anyone pack some of those White Swan
Chocolate Chip Muffins?) Kennedy

 Oh my...we are in trouble!

Savannah made a purchase with money Nana gave her.

 

 

 

Yes, six floors of a mall with nothing but jewelry!

A little playtime between Big Sis and Little Brother!

Out for an evening stroll.

Our Princess!

Savannah and Aiden!

Our little Prince is quite the ham!

Just remember the word..... Shuìjiào!!!

There are good days, bad days…..

and going half mad days!  I think we have experienced them all over the past
couple of weeks leading up to and while in China to complete Aidens
adoption!  I would compare the adoption process to climbing Mount Everest in
Nepal. In the beginning it’s just a dream, then you decide that you will
undertake the challenge of climbing a peak that many fear, let along
attempt. You prepare as best you can then set about the task at hand,
scaling the peak to satisfy that dream of standing at the top of the World.
Today we reached the peak of the mountain and now we have to descend back to
our own base camp in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

Wednesday was the day that we go to the United States Consulate Office in
Guangzhou.  We know this well from when we adopted Savannah, but it’s still
emotional. After breakfast a few of us met as a group to visit the local
jade market to pick up some items to remember our trip to China and
Guangzhou! Our intent was to get something for Savannah and Aiden to tie
them to their birth country, something for Ann Marie and myself as
remembrances to the trips that we took to complete our family and a couple
of other items for friends.  The walk over through the markets was again so
eye opening and fun, but the real treat lied about 30 minutes walk from the
hotel. What the locals refer to as the jade market is really a 6 story
shopping mall style building that houses hundreds of wholesale jewelry
makers offering items that range from low cost beaded necklaces to items
well out of our budget, and what was just what I saw in by brief stroll
through the maze of isles and hallways.  After selecting our items we
settled with the proprietor and headed back out for the hotel.  A quick
in-room lunch from Lucy’s and we were shortly downstairs again for the bus
ride to the consulate!

The ride to the consulate was short and we were hurried inside to complete
our final steps for making Aiden a permanent part of our family in the eyes
of the United States Government.  After clearing into the office through
security (we packed nothing as we already new the drill!) we were taken to
the first holding area while Judy our guide arranged all the paperwork she
had been working on all morning.  After a short sit we were moved to a
second holding area where a consulate officer soon approached us.  She
advised us due to the small group we would just complete the oath in the
same area and process out very quickly!  Great news indeed!  A few minutes
later we raised our right hand, completed the oath, signed our paperwork and
we were headed out the door as a completed family! After a ride back to the
hotel all the families met in the playroom and shared stories as the kids
played and the adults contemplated how we could get back to the United
States any quicker than we had planned!  It was surreal and such a
comforting time, all four of us sitting with the other families as “The
Kennedys”!

Later we met our friends Tim and Shelly from Minnesota and their son Caleb
for dinner at a local restaurant suggested to us by another family in our
group.  It was quite the adventure and will no doubt be retold many times as
we had an entertaining time!  When we first arrived we were aware that very
few people in the restaurant spoke English and we were what looked to be the
only “tourist” in the place, but we felt comfortable as our friends had told
us there was a really good picture menu!  After seating we were first
surprised when the servers came out with prepared appetizers without us even
ordering them!  What looked like sautéed peanuts (we think), marinated
cucumbers and a vegetable looking dish with some type of noodle.  There were
no utensils other than two sets of color coded chop sticks which we would
later deduce were intended to be one for serving and one for eating.  This
was tricky for Tim and Shelly who were chopstick novices, but not for their
son Caleb! The tea was a welcome site that we could all enjoy, but then we
moved on to the menu!  Very detailed photos were a welcome site, but the
large menu selection was narrowed to a delicate few items that we felt we
could with an open mind trust! We settled for beef with peppers, pork
dumplings in soup, pan fried noodles with chicken and shrimp, beef and
noodles as well as some egg custards torts.  We made these choices over
several possible selections such as Horse Sashimi, Corn Worm Soup, and Fried
Diced Snake with Nuts.  Oh yea, that only touches the basics we could select
from as the menu was really packed with items I could only imagine would
push our taste buds and digestive tracks into overdrive.  We chose the safe
options and enjoyed a really good meal with only the occasional joke about
what “meat” really meant and if we would pay the price come morning time!
The highlight to the meal was the egg custard torts as they were
surprisingly tasty and brought a final smile to everyone’s face!  Bill paid,
we departed the restaurant into the Shamian Island night for a brief stroll
around the neighborhood before returning to the hotel to being the process
of shutting down for the night.  A special thanks goes out to Tim, Shelly
and Caleb for sharing an entertaining evening with us!

Tomorrow Ann Marie has secured a visit to the pearl market in the morning
and we will meet with Judy one more time to receive our final paperwork that
will use for the trip home!  It’s so close we can almost taste it!  An early
evening tomorrow may mean a shortened Blog entry, but rest assured there
will be an entry!  So, till then……

Michael (Did someone order me the Corn Worm Soup?), Ann Marie (Please tell
me that is Yuan and not American Dollars!), Savannah (Can I have the White
Swan Barbie since Aiden is a boy?) and Aiden (Do we get a breakfast buffet
like this at home?) Kennedy

Fish, Fish and more Fish!

Tim and Shelly survey the damage from dinner

Snakes in a bag?  Why not!

The selection tanks at the restaurant were wild!

They all look happy after dinner, but what about in the morning??

A true "shopaholic" caught in action!

Savannah and Caleb became fast friends despite the language
barrier!

The Fountain on Shamian Island at night.....beautiful!

Mom leads us through the market towards the jade prize!

wǒ lèile, wǒmen zǒu le ba jiā…..

on the first plane to Raleigh!  I hope everyone back home can translate that
one somehow, but seeing how long we have been over here you can probably
pretty much tell what it must stand for!  I apologize for not getting a post
out to you all last night, but due to technical difficulties (yea right, I
fell asleep!) we were delayed until to tonight!

Monday was the day we got the TB test read at the medical office on Shamian
Island. After breakfast we met as a group for the short walk over to the
office and a quick ready of the test location, which as negative for
everyone in our group!  After getting the good news so of our group ventured
out for some local sightseeing just off the island which others, Ann Marie
and Aiden included, headed back to the hotel so that the young ones in the
group would not miss their nap which we all know is super important to
keeping a child (and their associated family!) happy!  Savannah and I went
with others for a walk through the local herb and medicinal markets where
vendors offered wares such as the benign seeds, roots and vegetables used in
many Chinese soups to the exotic items such as scorpions, seahorses and
bats. It was truly amazing and something to behold! A little further in we
went through a section that dedicated to pets such as puppies, kittens,
turtles, and fish.  Anything you wanted from fish tanks to pet clothing was
available for purchase!  Pet Smart has nothing on this street!  To finish
off the walk we went into one of the oldest shopping districts in Guangzhou
where the city was actually started.  As it was close to lunch one of the
other families asked if there was some place to get pizza nearby. We were
totally in luck as I led them to the exact Pizza Hut that my friend and
fellow Deadhead Paul Marcus partook in when we were here in 2006!  It was
like déjà vu as we sat down to enjoy our meal and made for a great story to
share with Savannah!  After finishing our meal we headed back to White Swan
for some rest before our friends visited from their hotel in downtown
Guangzhou. Around 4:00 Mary Alice and her beautiful daughter Helen visited
us for some playtime and shopping on the island before enjoying dinner at
Lucy’s.  A great time was had by all sharing stories and laughs and before
you knew it we had passed 3 hours and it was well past the kids bedtime!  We
whisked Mary Alice and Helen back to their hotel and scurried to get the
kids to bed before we endured a meltdown of epic proportion as Ann Marie had
already enjoyed a little of Aiden’s stubborn side during the afternoon nap!
Besides having the request of playing with a shopping bag while going to
sleep we all went right to sleep with the sounds of the Beijing Angelic
Choir playing in the background.  I awoke around 1:30 am local time to hear
the sounds of Beatles I had totally dozed off and missed by time to Blog!
Oh well I thought, there is always tomorrow night and I shutdown the Mac and
pulled the covers back up over my head!

On Tuesday we had plans to visit to local zoo.  After rising and enjoying
breakfast, Savannah and I made our way downstairs to meet with some of the
others to leave for the Guangzhou Zoo and Safari. The zoo is outside the
city and is really a neat place to spend the day.  We did a fabulous safari
ride where we were able to see close up many animals such as deer, giraffe,
zebras, bears and lions from the comfortable confines of a trolley.  After
this we visited many other exhibits and shows that allowed us to see
elephants, white tigers, koalas and the main attraction, the Chinese pandas!
It was a spectacular visit and should not be missed if you are in the area!
Upon our return to the White Swan we whisked off to downtown for a visit
with Mary Alice and her daughter Helen.  They are staying at the Garden
Hotel so after the cab ride and a short visit in the hotel we were off to
enjoy a wonderful Italian meal at Buongiorno’s where we all enjoyed the fine
fare and a great bottle of Chianti! After that we hit the local Häagen-Dazs
for a celebratory scoop or two before returning home after a long evening.
A quick bath and a little bedtime coaxing brings us to the current time that
is just after midnight!

Tomorrow we are headed to the jade market in the morning (hide your credit
cards!) and then we are off to the United States Consulate to being the
process of brining Aiden home as an official citizen!  Wish us luck and once
again, stay tuned to see what happens next on our great adventure! Also, I
will post lots more photos on our family website when we get home, so check
there for more on our trip in early 2011!

Till then……

Michael (Did I just see a dog in sneakers?), Ann Marie (should I take the
couch medicine that has no English directions or dosing instructions?),
Savannah (I only need one more stuffed animal Daddy!) and Aiden (Every day
the little orange bowl in the hotel room has more chocolate! Awesome!)
Kennedy

Savannah loves shopping in Guangzhou!

Savannah poses in the park on Shamian Island

Lots of goodies in the market place!

Aiden enjoys his vanilla ice-cream at Häagen-Dazs!

The Christmas Tree at night in the White Swan

One of many beautiful Giant Panda's at the Zoo!

Dinner with Mary Alice and Helen at Lucy's!

Savannah feeds the giraffes at the Guangzhou Zoo!

Negative test results bring a smile!

Hey Paul, remember this place! Fruity drinks anyone?

The elephant show brought smiles to everyone!

Snow way…..

we missed the first snowfall of the year in Raleigh!  I hope everyone back
home was able to enjoy the visit by Old Man Winter and is home warm and cozy
by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate watching a bowl game on TV!  Here in
Guangzhou it is unseasonably cool, but nothing like home! Save some snow for
us on New Years Day and I hope my Pirates and Seminoles can add to my
year-end bliss with bowl wins!

Today was an off day here in Guangzhou so we decided to take it easy for
most of the day. We started off with another fabulous breakfast with a
waterside window seat so the kids could watch the boat traffic go up and
down the Pearl River.  After finishing we headed back to the room for a
brief cleanup before heading out to walk around Shamian Island. Before
leaving the hotel we experienced our first injury of the trip!  Yours truly
was playing hide and seek with Aiden in the hallway while the cleaning staff
finished in our room and my oft repaired left knee took a huge blow that
peeled back the skin of the kneecap. Lots of “bleed” as Savannah called it
and a cut that could probably stand some stitches, but the band-aides and
Neosporin we have on hand will have to do for now! Oh well, leave it to me
to get injured in a kid’s game!  After cleaning up my mess we took in the
park just up from the hotel where Aiden got a lesson on sliding from
Savannah and some of the other kids and had a total blast! Its nice seeing
him more in his element with other kids and fitting right in!  After
playtime we hit Lucy’s for lunch then returned to the hotel for a quick nap
before our afternoon tour.

Around 2:00 pm we met several of our group downstairs for our guide Judy to
take us to view the Western Han Dynasty Nanyue King Mausoleum Museum. This
is the oldest and largest Han tomb with the most funerary objects in the
Lingnan (South of the Nanling Mountain) Area. The owner of the tomb is the
second king, Zhao Mei of Nanyue State of the Western Han Dynasty (206
B.C.-24 A.D.). Hidden more than 60 feet underground, the tomb is made up of
750 huge stones with colorful murals. The over 1,000 pieces of cultural
relics, bronze ware and terra cotta ware in particular, feature the Yue
Culture of south China (Nanyue Culture). Highlighting the mausoleum is a
silk-jade garment made up of 2,291 pieces of jade. Though jade garments with
pieces connected by gold, silver, or copper are not uncommon, this garment
with jade pieces connected by silk is the only one of its kind in the world.
In addition, the style of buttons down the front is unique among unearthed
jade garments. This silk-sewn-jade garment shows the early development of
jade garments as well as development of the Nanyue culture. In addition,
three sets of bronze serial bells, thirty-six bronze vessels, thirty-six
bronze mirrors, and three gold seals give visitors a glimpse of the ancient
Nanyue Culture. The oldest and largest folding screen used in China is also
here, as are two of the world's oldest bronze patterns for textile stamping.
Foreign articles excavated in the mausoleum indicate that Guangzhou was an
ancient Marine Silk Road starting point.

Well, that’s enough history for today, so after the tour we decided to get
together as a group and go the Thai restaurant just up the block, Cow and
Dragon.  We partnered up with one other family who we have become friends in
our group and then another who we met in the playroom a couple of days ago
to share war stories of adoption and travel as well as some really good Thai
food and beverages!  Before we knew it we had passed 2 hours at dinner and
we called it an evening to get the kids back to the hotel.  Good times make
the days pass faster and we are truly grateful to have met people to share
our time here in Guangzhou with.  With that we want to pass along a “Shout
Out” to Matt and Mary from Pittsburg, PA who are here with Matt’s sister
Suzanne and her son Tony (otherwise known as “Sugar Daddy”) and their newest
family addition Mia who is beautiful and a bubbly little girl! Matt and his
son’s are avid motocross riders and we have totally hit it off!  Another
“Shout” goes to Tim and Shelly from Columbus, MN who are welcoming their
newest family addition Caleb who is a handsome little boy!

Tomorrow we head back to the medical office to check the TB test site, then
a little more touring in the local area and maybe a trip to one of the
shopping areas after that. We are also going to try and meet up with another
good friend who is here in Guangzhou adopting a young lady who is very
special indeed and recently celebrated a birthday!  Look for more on this
one tomorrow night! With that I will say so long partners and tune back in
tomorrow, same BLOG time, same BLOG channel for another days adventure from
here in Southern China!

Till then……

Michael (why can I not find band-aides around here that do not have Hello
Kitty on them?), Ann Marie (just then I thought I over packed I see snow…oh,
that’s a picture from home!), Savannah (when do we get home to open more
presents?) and Aiden (I know that is a snack drawer, so out of my way pal!)
Kennedy

The view overlooking the Zhao Mei tomb.

Jumping on Daddy in the hallway!

Relax Mommy, I can cut my own fruit for breakfast!

Christmas Tree in the White Swan Hotel

Can I eat breakfast away from the camera Dad?

I would say this is one happy little boy! 

Nighttime Shamian Island photo

Zhao Mei's silk-jade garment

After dinner photo!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We are on the final leg of our journey and back to familiar territory! You
will have to forgive me if you logged in last night to see a post as we
traveled to Guangzhou, but the trip, two kids, hectic schedules and the fact
that it was already Christmas Eve here in China made it a grueling day! But
will detail all of that a little further as we proceed forward, so lets go!

Where did I leave off? Oh yea, we finished our stay in Nanning on Saturday
morning with a final breakfast in the hotel restaurant and we were then off
to the room for some packing and taking stock of everything that had
transpired while we had been there!  It has been an amazing few days as we
received our son early in the week and spent the remaining time bonding with
him and becoming more of a family than ever.  We enjoyed our stay, had a
wonderful time with the people, culture and location, but it was now time to
move forward and that meant a trip to Guangzhou. After packing we headed
over to close out the trip with a meal at our favorite restaurant.  After a
quick bite to eat we headed back to the room to let the kids grab a quick
nap, then we headed down to checkout around 3:00 pm.  After checkout we
waited for our driver on the front steps as the hotel was preparing for a
huge Christmas meal inside!  It was so funny to be sitting on the steps as
Bing Crosby sang White Christmas while Chinese people scurried about
preparing for the nights festivities! Around 4:45 we loaded the van, met our
guide Mary at the local ministry office as the had procured Aiden’s Chinese
passport, then we were off to the airport with little time to spare! Add
rush hour traffic and the race was on!  We made it with a little time to
spare, and with Sherpa like precision we guided our 4 checked bags, 2
carry-ons, four backpacks, and two kids through ticketing, security,
boarding (had to take a bus to a tarmac loading!) and onto the plane!
Amazing!  But we were onboard and headed to Guangzhou!

The flight was very uneventful and Aiden did really well, but the funniest
part came when they served a snack on a 50-minute flight!  We each received
a box that contained a snack mix, a sponge cake with crème, a roll and a
bottled water!  Take that you frugal U.S. airlines!  Aiden polished off two
cakes, a roll, and part of another roll and had to be convinced he did not
need more!  Upon landing we once again went into Sherpa mode and moved
through the Guangzhou airport to meet our guide to head for the White Swan
hotel in downtown Guangzhou.  The ride in was amazing as the city had just
hosted the Pan-Asian Games and there were beautiful flowers everywhere!  We
could see signs that the city had really changed since our last visit in
2006; it was truly spectacular at night with lots of neon lighting and video
displays everywhere.  When we grew closer to Shamian Island we could make
out the hotel in the distance and it was truly exciting!  As we made our way
onto the island the traffic was total gridlock!  Our guide stated that the
hotels were all booked due to Christmas falling on a weekend and the crowds
were a testament to that!  People were everywhere, thousands of them, coming
to the island as it is the focal point for celebrating Christmas in
Guangzhou.  It was almost festival like!  As we were beat down with the
travel, we rushed to our room for a quick bite to eat from room service and
then bedded down for the night.

Sunday morning we rose early to find that Santa had delivered a couple of
presents to our room in the hotel and left a note that he had also visited
the house in Holly Springs!  Savannah as elated to find a new movie and DSI
game and Aiden has a new movie and Talking Thomas to keep him company!
After getting dressed it was time to partake in the beautiful breakfast
buffet in the downstairs dining room, which is in itself a festival!
Adoptive families were everywhere and it was really neat to be back here
after 5 years and have those same emotions flood back in!  The waterfall,
the red couch, the jade sculptures….it was all surreal!  After breakfast we
headed up to freshen up before meeting our local guide Judy downstairs to
being the medical checkups and TB tests.  We met some wonderful families
from the United States that we will detail more later, but there were tests
to be done! Aiden did really well for all the tests and only cried a little
when he had the TB test done.  He is a real trooper!  It was fun to explain
to Savannah about her experiences here as she is reliving it through Aiden.
After the test we all headed back to the hotel and a lunch at Lucy’s! After
a delicious lunch that included burgers, broccoli, grilled cheese, fruit
salad, beef noodles and more, we all head out to shop and take care of
laundry. We did our shopping at a couple of our normal stops, Jennifer’s and
Sherry’s and will probably hit them a few more times before we leave for
souvenirs and other neat items.  After that we headed back to the hotel for
a restful evening and dinner in our room. Savannah made a new friend and
spent the evening in her parent’s room watching movies and eating pizza and
Ann Marie and I played with Aiden and had some more food from Lucy’s.  A
night of rest was very good after a hard day of travel. Now everyone is
asleep in their beds and I am working to close out the evening in just a few
more paragraphs.

Tomorrow we have a light morning planned and then a local tour in the
afternoon.  The weather here is a bit on the cool side and rainy, but it is
supposed to warm up as the week goes along.  Only a 5 more days until we
start our journey home and we are more than ready!  So with that I will be
you adieu from here in Guangzhou and will get back on my BLOG bandwagon
again tomorrow.

Till then……

Michael (I love breakfast buffets!), Ann Marie (Thank goodness Aiden likes
the stroller!), Savannah (Can I have a hotel room sleepover?) and Aiden
(this stroller thing is pretty cool!) Kennedy

Merry Christmas from Nanning, China!

Ordering is tough, but the food is great!

 Christmas Morning in the White Swan Hotel

 Our group mills about the medical office

Marie and Aiden outside the Guangdong International Travel Healthcare Center

 Walking back from Jennifer's Place on Shamian Island

 Shoe shopping at Sherry's Place!

A view of parts of Guangzhou from the 18h floor

 

Savannah and her new friend having a Papa Johns Pizza!

 The writer enjoys a Lucy's Burger and Tsingtao for dinner!

I just wanted to share…

a couple of photos before I sign off for the night.  At one point today Ann
Marie was standing in the room with Aiden staring out of the window and I
had a small flashback to a moment a little over 4 years ago when I saw this
same pose in Guangzhou, China.  We had just received Savannah at the
Adoption Registry Center for Guangdong Province and Ann Marie was standing
at the window with Savannah staring out over the cityscape and it made the
most amazing photo.  This exact photo adorns my office at home, and now it
has a companion.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I have and will.

Till then……

Michael (even the toughest of men can be sentimental) Kennedy

 Aiden Yang Yang Kennedy 2010

 Savannah Ming Quan Kennedy 2005