VIEWS IN AND AROUND HOTEL

Here are some photos of views in and around the hotel,the White Swan. The hotel guidebook shows that Nixon stayed here and the Queen visited. Big stuff.

GUANGZHOU

We arrived in Guangzhou and have been sightseeing here. Guangzhou is on the Pearl River. We are staying at the White Swan hotel which is beautiful. The lobby has a waterfall in it. The weather here is tropical, very very hot and humid. Walking on the street involves dodging cars, people on bicycles, and street vendors. Selling is serious business. It is sometimes very hard to get away. Guangzhou is where all the families ultimately end up when they adopt. The final paperwork and the appointment with the U.S. Consulate occurs here. Babies and adoptive families are everywhere here. The adoption guide here in Guangzhou is Lee. She took Tea and I on a short tour today of a museum, The Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, and the Guangzhou Park of the Five Rams. The museum is the tomb of the Nanyue King which was discovered purely by chance in 1988. We saw the actual tomb, the remains, eek, and many relics found in the tomb. Very interesting. The Park of the Five Rams was beautiful. Guangzhou is known as the City of the Five Rams. The Five Rams is a folk tale wherein five rams basically saved the people of Guangzhou from famine after a great flood. In the afternoon Tea decided she wanted a massage for some pain she was having in her back. She had some kind of freaky massage involving heated cups. The cups were place on her back and twisted. The pain is gone, but now her back is covered in these big purple circles. She looks like she was abducted by aliens or given hickeys by and octopus. Very strange. No more massages in China for Tea. When Tea was being assaulted by heated cups I just walked around and took pictures. I passed a couple who were getting their wedding photos taken. I was able to snap their picture just before they walked away.

LEAVING FOR GUANGZHOU

We left Beijing on Tuesday for Guangzhou. Guangzhou is in the Guangdong province of China. There we will meet our daughters. Here is a picture of my travel group and our Beijing guide at the Beijing airport. He went by the name Simms. He was great.

THE GREAT WALL

Here are pictures taken at The Great Wall.

BEIJING

Had a great day today touring Beijing. We went to Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City, a jade factory, and the Great Wall. I can't view my blog but I can post. Hopefully you can see these pictures I'm posting. Tianamen Square was really neat. I was able to get some pictures of the guard in training. The Forbidden City was beautiful. Our Beijing guide is a former history teacher and had written biographical papers on several of the emperors. He was very knowledgeable about the Forbidden City and the emperors who once lived there. The Great Wall was daunting. We climbed a little over an hour up before we decided we had enough and came back down. It was so steep that I felt like I was walking out of the Grand Canyon but at a steeper incline. We have three families in our travel group, myself, a family with their two children and their niece from Salt Lake City, and a couple from Missoula, Montana with a daughter that stayed home. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

BEIJING

FLIGHT DELAYED

Tea and I both made it to the Los Angeles airport, had dinner and were ready to board the plan for Guangzhou at 11:50 p.m. Then came the announcement: Due to some problem in Russia, the plane is delayed 5, yes 5 hours. What fun. It sounded like the announcement said due to a volcanic eruption in Russia. Are there volcanoes in Russia?

Will's baseball team placed 2nd for the season

Will's baseball season is over. His team placed second for the season. The trophies for the season and the tournament were presented on Saturday. Here is a picture of Will and his teammate discussing their trophies, and a picture of the whole team.

TRIP IS PLANNED

My flights are now confirmed. I leave Nashville on June 23 while my travel buddy, Tea, leaves Birmingham on June 23. Tea has a work obligation in Birmingham so we have two different starting points. We'll meet up in Los Angeles and we're off to China. We will have a couple of days to tour Beijing and then we fly to Guangzhou. I will meet Miss Eden Clarke shortly thereafter, but I'm not sure of the exact date yet. The remainder of my stay will be to complete the adoption process, but we will have the opportunity to tour in Guangzhou as well. I return to the great state of Tennessee on July 12.

Travel Dates

I have just learned that I leave on the 23rd or 25th of June, yes June. It would certainly help if someone could tell me for sure which date but so far through this process nothing has been definite the first time. Either way I have less than 2 wks to get what I need done at home and at the office before I leave. Can you say panic attack? Okay Julie...........breathe.

Travel Approval

I received my travel approval from China on Thursday, June 7. I am another step closer to travel with this document. I now wait for the date of my consulate appointment which will determine my travel dates. I hope to have this information sometime next week.

Care Package

You can send a care package to your daughter while your waiting to travel. I sent a teddy bear, some chocolates for the nannies that care for her, and a disposable camera with a request that the nannies take some pictures of her while she's there that i can share with her when she gets older. I asked Will to make a card for Eden Clarke, and he made the card you see here. He made up a little rhyme that says roses are red, violets are blue, there are two people here waiting for you.

houseboat trip

Here are some pictures of our Memorial Day houseboat trip on Dale Hollow Lake. Will and his cousins had a large time. We had a visit from their new friend, Grace, too. All the kids enjoyed going down the houseboat slide and landing on the tube. Will and Tim didn't like the bumpy ride on the new tube though. This ride you see here didn't last long. I rode with them the next time, three of us on this tube. I knew how they felt. My ride didn't last long either.