Day 13 J's first Louis Vuitton!

All that we did today was shop, take pictures, and shop some more! The tradition at the White Swan is when all the little kids that were adopted sit on the red couch, and get their pictures taken. When we went shopping, J was in a bad mood. J was going to stay with a different family because J was not in the mood to shop. J was forced to come anyway so that is the reason of the 'tude! Then we walked into a store that sold North Face, Louis Vuitton, and Coach. Then, J got all happy. J got a Louis Vuitton wallet that only cost about $10 (USA money), and J got a Coach for about $15 (USA money). I was very happy. The Coach is not real but the wallet looks real because it was made in France!! We also had a great Italian dinner! It was a great day and J hopes that tomorrow is just as good!

While Aunt K was getting C's visa picture and medical exam, G took some time to journal and practice hacky sack. We went shopping for C's first pair of shoes, well second really but the first pair she likes! G is trying to find a North Face jacket to buy but having troubles with sizes. G and D (a friend from another family) made a bet. A hard bet for G. If G could go 24 hours without playing a video game, D would pay G 100 Yuan. That is about $15 in USD. TV and computer did not count! It was hard but G prevailed!! G is now 100 Yuan richer!

Guangzhou is almost parallel to Miami. That means it is supposed to be warm but lately it has not been warm which is disappointing. There are many shops near our hotel. It is very, very beautiful. And that is all G can think of. G misses home but is really enjoying his time in China!

Day 12 Fun in Guangzhou

Today all the families went to the Chen family temple in Guangzhou. The temple is a sacred place to the Chinese people. Our guide, Michael, led us through the temple. They had many valuable things, like nice "China" plates. They also had nice things from elephant tusks. There were bricks in the temple were really fun. They were slippery enough to slide on, so J, G, D, and A were sliding around. G fell down after a while, but he was okay. After we left the temple, the families went to a "mall", which was more like a shop. There were many fans there that were really cool. Then we all went to the hotel, the White Swan. J and her mom, G and his mom, and D and his dad went to drop off laundry and saw hackeysack-type things for 5 yuan. J got one, G got one, and D got 4! Then we went to Subway, but they were out of bread! D and his dad split up with us. So we went to "Lucy's Cafe and Bar" for lunch. What was so ironic is that we saw D and his dad in Lucy's. After that, we went back to the hotel and hung out. Later, all the families went to a Thai restaurant. After that, J, G, D, and A had ice cream. Then we all went back to the hotel. J, G, and D were playing tag in the hall. We kept playing till 9:00 Chinese Time. Overall, it was a great day.

Day 10-11 our last in Hefei

Today, we went shopping with all the families in our free day in Hefei. We got C's first pair of shoes, got some real American food, and had loads of fun with our two new friends: Abbey and Dominic. First, we got a pair of white shoes with black polka dots for C. Then, we went into a Nike store to look for a pair of sneakers for me. All four(J, G, A, and D) of us kids went into the store and J was juggling a soccer ball and lots of people were watching me. D and G were dribbling the basketballs and trying to jump up and hit the signs that told you were things were. D and G only hit it about twice!! J didn't find any sneakers but that is okay. Then we went to lunch at Pizza Hut. It was really good. Then we went to Dairy Queen and that was really good too!!! We went back to our hotel and had fun on our last day in Hefei.

We got up early to go to the airport. Michelle our guide had to tell C what was going on and that it was going to be okay. We had to say bye to Michelle too and that was pretty hard. We were traveling in China without a guide!! C did great on the plane ride. When we got to our hotel, C started running around and J had to catch her!! We had a great dinner and we took D with us and met A there. We were very excited to be in another part of China!!

Day 8-9 Out and About in Hefei

On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, we took a bus to the Hefei Zoo. J and G fought over who got to push C in the stroller. She LOVES the stroller and likes to be bumped around ALOT. J's favorite animal that we saw there was the Giant Panda and the smaller Red Panda. There was a loud howling monkey that almost broke our eardrums. It was very different because there was an amusement park in the middle and we went on the bumper cars! J, G and a few of our friends in our group were running into each other and having a blast!

J was the first one to make C belly laugh. She did it by hiding her little doll and finding it again. She also laughs so hard at J and G when they burp on purpose!! We will try to publish the video!

Then on Thursday, March 5, 2009, we took a tour of an ancient wizard, judge type ruler. His name was Baogongci. He was the only one in the land who told the truth. He lived 1000 years ago. There were alot of wax figures and gold sculptures about the stories surrounding his life in this temple. J was the one who got to hold C's hand throughout the temple today. Happy! J and G spent some time in the indoor swimming pool with one of their friends from our group.

The funniest part about this whole trip so far was a Chinese phrase that C keeps saying to us when we make tooting noises. We do this all the time to try and make her laugh. We asked our guide Michelle to tell us what C is saying to us and she said C is saying "you fart!" Hilarious!

Day 6-7 Gotcha Day and Adoption Day

Here we are in C's province!! Right now she is taking her nap while we are getting some of our work done. Today is the first official day of J being a big sister. It has been a little rough on all of us but J has been able to make her laugh a whole lot!! She has been a great match for us. All of the families are going to dinner tonight to celebrate our big day!! -J




We flew into Hefei Sunday and got Chelsee Monday. She is SOOOOOOOOOOOO adorable! On Tuesday, she officially became ours. We have had so much fun with her. She is taking her first nap with us. Like J posted, we are going to dinner to celebrate. Have fun! -G

Day 5 - Hefei, Anhui

Today we flew to Anhui province and the city of Hefei. We are staying in a nice Holiday Inn where the beds are alot softer than the ones in Beijing. We went shopping at a huge department store and ate at a 24 hour noodle restaurant. G ordered a spicy meat pasta dish and about burned my taste buds off. And it cleared up my stuffy nose.We checked out the indoor pool at the hotel. It is on the 6th floor.

Hefei is kinda scrappy, like it just looks like it could be refurbished. It is run down a little bit and not as clean as Beijing.

Tomorrow is Gotcha Day! My mom and I will be recording when Karyn and J get Chelsee.

Signed,
G

Day 4

Hey! We woke up at 4 in the morning :( and our beds felt like bricks. They were so hard! Today, we are going to the Great Wall, The Forbidden City, The Bird's Nest (the place where the 2008 Olympics were), and the Tiananmen Square. Very busy. In just two days we will get C. Our guides, Michelle and Grace, are really nice. Michelle is coming with us and the three other families to Anhui tomorrow. We miss all of you.

Day 2-3 ... We made it!!

We arrived in China at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon on China time, which was about 3am in South Carolina! The flight from Chicago was almost 14 hours, that was very long. After we made it through customs, we took a bus to our hotel with our guide named Michelle.

One thing that was so cool was that the sun never went down during the whole trip over. After we took off from Chicago, we flew north over Canada, over the Arctic Ocean, past the North Pole, through Russia and Siberia and then finally in to Beijing, China. We saw big cracks in the ice as we flew over the Arctic Ocean. We also saw snowflakes stuck on the airplane windows. When we were getting close to the Beijing airport, we could see the Great Wall on top of some mountains.

Beijing is really modernized, alot like New York City. J has already had a McDonald's hamburger!
We are sleepy....good night! Oh and don't forget to check out my mom's blog at http://little-china.blogspot.com/ to get more details of this trip.

Day 1

It all starts today. Even though we haven't gotten on a plane yet. We are staying in Savannah cause we have an early flight tomorrow morning. We got to swim in the indoor pool already!

Ok, we will take a total of 7 flights across 2 continents for over 15,000 miles! It is really exciting and kind of cool. The best part so far is being out of school for 2 weeks!

Welcome to our Amazing Adventure to China

We are J and G! We are cousins and best friends (most of the time). J is 13 and G is 12!

We are taking the trip of a lifetime to China to meet J's new little sister and G's new little cousin. We hope you enjoy reading our blog throughout this great experience.