Day 10 -- Guangzhou, Guangdong - Shopping Day

After grabbing a Subway sandwich last night (not exactly like back in the states!) and getting the kids to bed late last night (they both passed out in Mom and Dad's room as we all ate), it was slow moving this morning!  We had to meet Mr. Zhou down in the lobby at 10:00 AM to get an abbreviated tour of the area and some insight on where to have your laundry done, buy squeaky shoes, and where to get the best deal on freshwater pearls among other things. We all headed off the island (our hotel is on an "island" which is surrounded by a river and canal) through some neighborhoods where there were tons of street vendors selling everything from spices, dried sea horses, fresh fish for eating as well as for pets, puppies, turtles, (some mutant ones with two heads and random feet sticking out the top of it's shell - must mean good luck or longevity if you purchase these! :)) luggage, toys, dried bats, to pearls and various trinkets.  

Walking through the neighborhoods filled with vendors - it's amazing how many people sell the exact same thing - we all keep wondering how they stay in business?! 

Zachary acting silly while checking out the pearls!

Zachary, Caitlin and I in the main walking commercial area.  Notice Fred in the background - apparently he thought it was quite balmy here today!!  Either that or he just wanted to show some leg!!! :)

Dad, Mom and Chloette in the commercial area as well.  Caitlin and I in the background with some other members of our group - notice that she is on the hip - not in the handy stroller!  Zachary is still adjusting (very well I might add) to the idea that there are two children in our family.  Seems like most of the time I pick Caitlin p to carry her, he wants me to pick him up as well, or if I hand her off to Noah, he is immediately asking to be piked up and carried.

For lunch we checked out Papa John's Pizza with two other families.  I was actually pretty good, surprisingly enough!

After lunch we headed back to the hotel and put Caitlin down for a nap - it's incredible how easily she lays down when it's time to sleep, now!  (knock on wood it's that easy in the states!)  I am just so excited as to how things have changed these last two days!  Thank you for your continued prayers!  She is a terrific little girl with a smile that is contagious!!  I just can't imagine life without her!  The interaction between Zachary and Caitlin is precious - you can just see how much they adore each other!  

While she was sleeping, Zach and Noah went down stairs to check out the children's playroom.  Since there was no one in there, they were able to get a fun game of contact basketball in before they had to be back to the room so I could go take care of adoption paper work with Mr. Zhou and the other families. (One of the American Embassies is located in Guangzhou and therefore many families who are adopting stay here and use the playroom. It's nothing fancy, but it's such a great feature!!)  All 11 couples are adopting special needs children which makes this extra special for all of us.  The paperwork session took about 1 1/2 hours during which tons of forms were being filled out to be sent to the Embassy for our children's visas.  Since our I-171H paperwork had expired last year and we were forced to resubmit under the new Hague Treaty regulations (I-800) which requires most of the paperwork to be completed stateside, I sat and watched everyone filling out form after form for at least 75% of the time.  It was definitely a hassle getting it all done before we could leave the US, but it was nice not to have to worry about it!

When I got back up stairs to our floor, I saw Zachary and Caitlin running up and down the hall, and when they saw me they both came running towards me with big smiles - what a great feeling!  I'm a mommy to TWO very special kids!!  I couldn't be any luckier!

We decided to try out an American restaurant called Lucy's for dinner.  It was okay, but I don't need to eat there again this week!  Caitlin was getting antsy so I decided to start walking back to the hotel and Mom joined me.  At one point on our walk, Caitlin was squirming and I thought we'd see if she would go to Nana and she did!!!  

Okay so I didn't have the camera out quick enough to get the shot but it's exciting that she is getting more comfortable with the grandparents!!  (She has started to let the grandparents get near her and touch/hold her briefly which is great! They are enjoying just watching her grow and change before their eyes as well!)

Here's Zachary showing Caitlin how to go down the slide backwards!

After dinner we stopped by the play room to show Caitlin the digs!  It was definitely a hit!! Zachary and Caitlin were the only two in there so it was perfect for them to run around and burn off that last bit of energy before going to bed!

Caitlin riding on the horsey!

Caitlin playing around!

Finally it was off to bed!!  Caitlin liked watching Zachary brush his teeth so we gave her a toothbrush of her own to use, only she used it to brush everything from her belly to her legs to her hair and she thought this was quite funny, as did we all!  So darn cute!  We put her in the crib and she was out within a matter of minutes!  After Caitlin went to bed we spent some quality time with Zachary reading his Magic Tree House book.

Tomorrow we head as a group to the zoo!  Yeah!