Dec. 15 & 16

Most of our travel group kids and their daddy's

AnnaClaire and Sarah Lu!

AnnaClaire, Claire, Kenzie, and Sarah Lu

Claire, Sarah Lu and Anna Claire

Kenzie, Sarah Lu, Claire and AnnaClaire

Sarah Lu at the playground

Slides are fun!

Beautiful "park" at our hotel by the playground

Sarah Lu on the red couch

The White Swan Hotel

Me and Sarah Lu

Mom and Sarah Lu at the medical exam

There are so many more adoptive families there

On our flight to Guangzhou

We're here in Guangzhou! Our flight got in around 10:30 pm and Sarah Lu seemed to like it for the most part. The flight attendants were completely in love with her and she was the star! We finally got to our hotel, The China Hotel, at about midnight. This morning we had to get up fairly early so that we could eat breakfast and go to have Sarah Lu's medical exam. Breakfast was so much fun, we got to meet up with most of our travel group and their new babies/kids! Too fun!! The medical exam was interesting. It was cool to see all the adoptive families with their new babies, I never realized just how many families are there at one time, there are SO many! Of course, the medical exam isn't all fun... I guess all the kids think it is a requirement to scream and cry once they get there, Sarah Lu started screaming before the exam even started. But, she did it!(And she weighs 31lbs!) After the exam, it was time for shopping on Shamian Island! We first went to The White Swan Hotel, and took a red couch photo of Sarah Lu (for those of you that do not know, it is a "tradition" for the adoptive families to take the children to a red couch in this particular hotel and take their picture). Then it was time to shop! We ordered chops (personalized hand-carved stamps), one for Sarah Lu, and one each for me and my other two sisters. We get to pick them up tomorrow-exciting! We also found some chinese silk dresses for Sarah Lu that are super cute! After our fun shopping experience, we went back to our hotel, which was a very good thing, cause on the drive back, Sarah Lu crashed and slept for about 2 hours this afternoon! Considering we didn't get to much sleep last night because of our late arrival, and then Sarah Lu also screamed for a few hours during the night, it was a very good thing that she got some sleep! Then a little later we had to have the "Paperwork Party"(where the parents get together to complete more paperwork)...Mom stayed and did that while Dad and I took Sarah Lu and went to the playground here at our hotel. When we first got there, Sarah Lu didn't know what to do... we are pretty sure this was her first time at a playground because of how she reacted to everything. But, after a little while, and with "JieJie"(me) helping her, she was thrilled with the slides and everything and running around and playing like she had always done that. It was awesome to see how happy and excited she got by the playground, we will definitely have to go back there again to play!
Tonight we walked down the road a little bit and found a little shopping center. There was a store inside that was children's silk dresses and squeaky shoes (they are shoes that have squeakers in them, so whenever the child walks, they squeak!). We had to get some! We found another adorable chinese silk dress and two warm silk outfits, very cute, and we also got Sarah a pair of bright pink squeaky shoes with a flower on them! Sarah Lu absolutely adores them and on the way back to the hotel, she wouldn't even ride in her beloved stroller because she wanted to hear her shoes squeak!
When we got back to the hotel a little later, most of the families(including us) just kind of hung out in the hallway for a little while and all the kids
were playing together. It was so much fun and too cute!
Well, today has been another fun day. I will update again soon.
~Staci
(and Jonathan, Caroline, and Sarah Lu)