qian
wei
First Post From China · September 15, 2010
Last day as a family of three.  As big as this is, it seems very uneventful.  We flew to Zengzhou.  Then Sol took Sun swimming.  She had a great time but they made everyone wear a swim cap and she didn't like that.  I went to the bank to change money for some fees we have to pay for our paperwork, then I went to wal mart for some supplies and snacks for the family.   Now Sol and Sun are asleep and I am online.  Sun has been enjoying being back in China, she is walking around like she is the expert on all things Chinese.  She liked the Great Wall but mostly she is loving having other children in our travel group.  I had my first emotional moment as we were on the bus leaving Beijing I got a little teary knowing that we were onto the real part of our trip.  When we got her everything got real when we were handed our cards with our names and our childrens' names as well as a few pages of updates on our kiddos.  Tomorrow our world and poor little Aftan's world are going to be turned upside down.  I hope Aftan isn't too scared when we meet him.
2010-09-15 05:06:12.0
Well we have been in China for three days now.  We spent two great days touring Beijing.  We saw the Forbiden City, took a rickshaw tour of the Houtong (old style Beijing homes) and an un planned walking tour of the back side of the Forbiden City.  We somehow learned by default that taxies will not pick you up on the back side of the city, we never figured out what was going on but with a long line of taxis they all laughed at us and said no, then we tried to wave a taxi down on the street and they just drove past.  A long hot walk later we found a rogue taxi to take us back to the hotel. 

Yesterday most of our group arrived and we went to the Great Wall and got our work out.  We went to a part of the wall that is very steep and we literally used hands and feet to climb a few parts.  Sun was a real trooper and climbed all the way up to the top of the hill so we could get to the "princess tower."  She went further than most of the adults in our group.  After the wall we went to the obligatory government jade store where we made a little purchase and then we saw the "Birds Nest" at Olympic park, which was very cool!  In the evening we went to an acrobat show that Sun would have loved if she hadn't been passed out in my lap.

Up to this point there have been five children and two teens with our group and today two more children joined our group.  Sun is in heaven with so many play  mates.  She has been the bell of the ball and loving every moment of all of the attention.  Her world is going to get rocked in the morning.

We flew to Zengzhou today and were given some updates on our children.  We learned that Aftan is just starting to walk but mostly still walks furniture.  Apparetnly he gets along with others, is active and lively (I think he might fit in, although I was secretly thinking that mellow and laid back would be nice).  We were also told he has a sweet dimple when he smiles.  He likes to investigate everything and putting things in his mouth. 

Aftan is still eating formula as well as some solid food, so I had to go to Wal Mart this afternoon and buy supplies.  I wasn't expecting to need bottles or formula but apparently he is more of a baby than I thought. 

Ready or not, tomorrow is the big day.  Sun is very excited about little brother but I am a little worried about how she is going to do. 

Sol is a little sick tonight, hopefully some rest will help him feel charged for tomorrow.