Our Boy and His Cricket

Our day started with a fabulous breakfast at our hotel, China Hotel which is a Marriott and it is pure luxury, there is even a convertible New Beetle in the lobby so you know I’m in love!!  Our travel group is in HEAVEN and Jacob is ready to move in and make this his home forever.  

Soon we headed to Shamian Island to do medical exams and take visa photos for the babies.  The island was inhabited by the French and British for a while so it is a very different place completely.  The streets are very much like being in New Orleans and there are people exercising everywhere as well as brides wondering the streets to be photographed in front of a beautiful steepled church.   It is a world in it’s self there.  Although there is lots of construction happening, it is still just beautiful.

The medical examination building was again a place of unexpected emotion for me and I found myself once again in tears over what we were doing and where I was standing.  The space was overflowing with families and their children, children of all ages.  It was surreal.  We were quickly ushered through the process of heart check, ear check and weight and height check.  Our little cricket weighed in at 13.5 pounds with her clothes on, a much different weight from the almost 18 we were told in December.  The entire process took almost an hour then we were on our own to explore the island.

Being outside was fabulous!  The four of us just strolled along the streets and along the river just talking, laughing and being a family, the time together has been so rewarding.  I am still getting used to the fact that I have this beautiful child in my arms and I just find myself staring at her as she takes in everything around her.  The world is completely new to her and you can see her just absorbing everything, from the trees to the wind blowing through her hair.  It’s a very magical thing to watch.  The outdoors is most definitely Jennifer’s favorite time, she just squeals in delight and of course “clicks” her way along, our little cricket.

Our first full day in Guangzhou ended with an entertaining dinner at a Cantonese restaurant where we were greeted with rabbits, snakes, fish and what ever else you wanted to choose for your meal that night.  Of course Jacob was going nuts taking pictures of everything as I quickly looked the other way at the cute bunnies and pretended that I did not just see them smiling at me.  Dinner though was fab and I’m happy to report we had no rabbit or snake nor did we choose what animal we wanted to enjoy.  To end a perfect day we had a wonderful walk back to the hotel and enjoyed our first night of more than 5 hours of sleep!!  WhaaaaHOOOOOOOO!!!  

Much love and joy!
Mike and Kayce


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The post from this day seems to have been a continuation to the previous day.  Re-reading it I am reminded of our dinner mostly.  It was actually a fun night.  The only thing was that we all didn't get to sit together and all of us so badly wanted to.  There were several large round tables for all of us and we chatted across the tables and raised our glasses to each other.  There has not been a day since our time with our travel group that I haven't thought about them.  We were so blessed to have walked this journey with all of them.  Someday I hope our group can reconnect in person and rejoice in all of our accomplishments since China.