Hong Kong Disneyland

Hong Kong Disney was lovely. I still don't feel like we've arrived in China yet though. When we drove onto Disney property, Allie noticed the Disney logo. She was happy, but she was soooo tired. We decided to try and push on through the day Thursday, instead of collapsing in bed. We all showered and changed clothes, and hit the hotel breakfast buffet before heading to the park. John was very happy with the yummy buffet. They had an array of Chinese breakfast foods and Western breakfast foods. John was happy to see sushi. Allie was happy to see dumplings. She had shrimp and pork dumplings for her breakfast, along with watermelon and a Mickey waffle. We headed to the park after that. Buses from the resort to the park, just like in Florida. The park was very much like Magic Kingdom, except a bit smaller. That first day we saw the Lion King show, Philharmagic and the Dumbo ride, then went back to the hotel for a short nap. Allie could have slept for hours, but we wanted to try and get her back on a normal schedule, so we hauled her out of bed and dragged her back to the park for a bit. She wanted to drive the cars, we did the Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, a game/ride where you shoot targets with a Z for Zurg. Allie really didn't want to do the Buzz thing the first time, but from then on, she loved it. We probably rode the Buzz ride 10 times over the next two days. We watched the fireworks, then dragged or exhausted, sleeping child back to the hotel. VERY LONG DAY.

Hong Kong

Tuesday was the longest day of my life. We got up at our normal time, did some final packing, ran some errands, etc. The vet had called Monday to remind us that Sunny had a follow-up visit on Tuesday, so while Allie went to a tea party at a friend's house (thank you Lori and Aubrey!) I took Sunny to the vet and chased down a notary public. I picked Allie up and took her home, John went and got his mom, and the shuttle was at our door as I made sandwiches to tak to the airport. We got the Austin airport in plenty of time. Got on our LA flight and settled in.

Coach is not nearly as much fun as business class, in case anyone had their doubts. Allie watched Wall-E, then took a short nap. We landed in LA around 10 pm (CST). There were ambulances and police cars all over one of the United terminals, but we never found out what had happened. Allie had a second dinner (McDonalds) while we waited for our Hong Kong flight. We boarded the plane for Hong Kong just before midnight central time. The rows on our plane (Cathay) were very tight. No room to bend down and get stuff out of your carry on luggage. We settled in as best we could for the 14 hour flight. Allie watched Mary Poppins (I think), then I tried to get her to nap. She napped for about half an hour at the most. For the whole flight. It really did seem to last forever. At one point, a flight attendant called a medical emergency and asked for any trained medical personnel to come help. We never found out what that was either. At least they didn't turn the plane around. John and I watched Batman Begins, then tried to doze, with off and on success.

When Allie woke from her cat nap crying because she had to go potty, I leaped over John with her in my arms and rushed to the bathroom. Where there was a line. Apparently someone was sick in the bathroom. I tried the bathroom in the back, longer line. Finally I realized Allie didn't have to go quite as badly as I had thought. We went back up to the first potty we had tried, and a very nice lady let us cut in front of her when the sick person finally came out.

We landed in Hong Kong at 5:45 am local time (3:45 pm CST). At this point Allie had slept about 2 hours total in the past 48 hours. Fun!

We took a cab to Hong Kong Disneyland and happily checked into our hotel at 7am. I'll tell you about our Disney adventures in my next post. : )

20 hours and counting

It's almost time to go. Wow time flew by these last few days. We're almost completely packed... just a few toiletries, the paperwork, and any last minute things we think of. Otherwise we're good to go. My purse, a backpack for John and a backpack for Allie, a duffle for on the plane, and two checked suitcases. Pretty good I think.

Allie is pretty goofy. Tired, excited, nervous, what you'd expect from a 4 yr old who is about to get on a transoceanic flight, and what you'd expect from a 4 yr old who is about to be a big sister for the first time. She's such a good traveler, I'm hoping she'll do well on the flights. Disney is still a surprise, and that should be a nice "last few days as a family of three" treat for her. [and John : ) ]

I am, of course, already fighting off my travel cold. How does my body know I'm getting ready to get on a plane? I'm taking Cold Eze and Airborne. I'll report back on how well they really work.

Wonder if Joshua has any idea yet that something in his life is going to be changing soon...

I've asked about visiting the orphanage. We didn't have the opportunity to go to Allie's orphanage, although we didn't really fight for the chance. Now I know how important it is for Joshua to get a chance to say goodbye, to see me talking with his caregivers and teachers, so he'll know they know what's going on and they think it's a good thing. I'm really going to fight for the chance to go. It's much closer to our hotel than Allie's was, so that may help too. (Allie's orphanage was about a 5 hour bus ride from our hotel. Joshua's is only about 70 miles.)

It's been weird walking through the house, imagining that the next time I'm hear, there will be another little person running around here too. I keep trying to picture him in the kitchen, in the living room... Can't imagine what an information overload this poor child is in for.

We'll miss all of you, and can't wait to introduce you to Joshua!

Four days and counting

This week sure went fast! It was so nice to have Allie back in school for a couple of days, so I could run errands. Wednesday I dropped her off, went walking with a friend, ran off to do errands, and then went straight back to school to pick her up in the afternoon. I didn't get to do anything at the house. So Thursday, tons of housework...
Allie's starting to realize what having a sibling will mean. She was looking at a book that I had put away. When I told her I had gotten it back out for Joshua, she got a bit upset. What do you mean I'm going to have to share my things? Poor baby. Just imagine the first time Joshua wanders into a room holding Dolly.
We've got a little more packing to do (mainly clothes and toiletries), a little more house cleaning and preparing to do, one document to get notorized and we're off. I still can't quite believe it's finally happening.

Getting Ready

I can't quite believe that this time next week, I'll be sitting on a plane headed for Hong Kong. I wonder if Joshua has any inkling about what's going to happen. Has the orphanage staff started to tell him or will the whole thing come as a complete shock? We sent a care package, and I know it arrived in China, there's no telling when or if Joshua will see any of the items we sent...

It's so funny to sit here and imagine one more person roaming around the house.

Allie is starting to realize that we're getting closer to traveling to meet her baby brother. Yesterday she helped me pack Joshua's clothes and his backpack. Each morning she asks, are we leaving today? We're counting down, but we don't want to make too big a deal of it. I'd love her to get a good night's sleep Monday night.

Speaking of sleep... I should head for bed.
Good night baby Joshua. We'll see you soon!

Travel Approval

On Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 10, GW sent us an e-mail telling us that our Gotcha Day would be March 2, our consulate appt. on March 10, and that we had 36 hours to make our flight arrangements. Ahhhhrg! No problem. After consulting two travel agents, John found he could do it cheaper himself on-line.

So we have confirmed the following schedule:
Feb. 24th at 6:55pm depart for LAX (American flight 427)
at 10:20pm we depart for Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific flight CX883)
We arrive in Hong Kong early on the 26th.
We'll have the 26th and 27th at Hong Kong Disneyland (was there any doubt?). Then we'll head for Guangzhou on Mainland China to meet up with our guide, and hopefully some travel mates.

We'll arrive back in Austin on March 14th at 12:05am.

Make new friends, but keep the old

I had a wonderful dinner today with two of my dearest friends from my life before children. (All that to avoid saying "old" friends, because one of my friends insists I can't call her that!) They reminded me how much I love them, and why! We laughed and talked, ate and caught up a bit on what we've been doing the past few months. Wish I had more time for things like that.

I feel very blessed, to have the long-term : ) and new friends that I have. How can one person be so lucky?

You Raise Me Up

When we adopted Allie, we had wonderful friends... Our "old" friends. People we had known since high school or college. People we had met at work... Wonderful people, but for the most part, people unfamiliar with China or adoption. When we got home with her, we were overwhelmed, exhausted, stressed, suffering from a minor case of PADS, and scared. Thanks to visits and help from our family (Really, Thank you Mom and Janet!), we got through that and gradually began to enter the general world of families with children, and the more cozy world of families with adopted children. Through Allie we have met some UNBELIEVEABLY fantastic, amazing, wonderful people. We now have a community of other parents around us, and an extended family consisting of the families in our playgroup. (I guess that would be our fourth family. We have my family, John's family, and the families who traveled with us to Nanning in June 2004.)
This time around, as we wait to hear our travel dates, I feel so supported. Our new friends have been through what we're going through. They understand what we're feeling, and what we're facing. And knowing that, knowing that we're going to come home to this world of love and support, makes this journey so much easier. Even as I wonder how Allie is going to handle getting less Mommy and Daddy attention. Even as I wonder if Joshua is going to have huge attachment issues. Even as I wonder if Allie will EVER sleep in her own room again. Even as I wonder how we're going to pay for this.
Thank you all for your love, support, humor, advice, encouragement, and wisdom. These are the best gifts we could have ever asked for.