Today was a cold, wet, rainy day, which means it was pretty boring! On the positive side, we had our meeting with the U.S. Consulate, took the oath, and got all the paperwork done for Ali’s VISA to be picked up tomorrow. We have worked things out that we are leaving early, tomorrow, instead of waiting until Thursday, and flying into NYC Thursday afternoon. This allows Ali to be seen by the specialist on Thursday afternoon and have the granuloma on her gum line removed at the hospital on Friday morning. We talked to Ali about this tonight and if she wanted to do that right away or if she wanted to wait and get accustomed to life in the U.S. first. She said she wanted it off, so off we go! The guide who talked to her about it tonight told me that Ali is so brave. She was so impressed!
This evening we went on a dinner boat cruise up the Pearl River in Guangzhou. I have to say, this is a MUST and it is something that we didn’t do last year with Caleb. Guangzhou is an amazingly beautiful city at night and it is worth you time to take this cruise if possible. It is an hour and a half, but we really enjoyed it as did the other families that went on it with us.
The girls spent part of the afternoon “primping” for the big night on the town!
Here are two of my four beautiful girls! I’m missing my little peanut, Mia!!
We arrived at the “ship port” and took a quick family shot while we waited to board our cruise.
Ali seems to have taken a liking to our guide, Grace, and likes to talk with her. Grace is 13 weeks pregnant and went to the doctor this afternoon and heard the heart beat. Everyone enjoys being a part of Graces life!
While waiting, Ali takes a few minutes to do Eva (or, as I like to call her, Helen’s) hair.
Finally, our boat arrives! The boats are almost as pretty as the city’s buildings and scenery.
Everyone heads down the gangway to load aboard!
A quick shot of Kelly and Ali before they board. That is the Lee’s, Bob and Heidi, on the left. They have been our companions for most of the week and we really have enjoyed their company, even if they are from Minnesota.
All Aboard!
Because of space, Abby sat with Grace and the Lee’s. She is always getting the short end of the stick!
A couple of quick shots before the boat pulled away from the dock.
This is how the buffet looked BEFORE they opened it up and the mad rush of people began. It was something to behold and I am not quite sure WHY I didn’t take a picture of the people crowding up there. People were pushing and shoving and to get food you basically had to push you way to the food. It was an experience!
Brittany brought glow bracelets for Ali and the kids to play with on the boat.
I guess Abby is one of the kids, also?
Ali and Brittany show off their bracelets.
I believe I have already told you that Ali can eat. Here are the two platefuls of food that she STARTED with. She ate more later. She was like an eating machine tonight!
Let’s talk about the food for a minute. It was traditional Chinese, which isn’t what you and I would consider Chinese food. There was enough to eat, but it was a little challenging to find things that were appetizing. However, Ali LOVED it and enjoyed the food very much.
(Editor’s Note: Koreen, just roll past the next couple of pictures. You will NOT appreciate them!)
One of the things that Ali really likes is chicken’s feet, and they had them available on the buffet tonight. She had several on her plate, along with sea weed noodles.
Now, I’m not posting the next picture to make fun of Ali. She is welcome to like what she wants. Her mother likes Goose-liver, so who am I to complain. I only post it so that you can see that she did, in fact, eat them. Brittany might have a hankering for duck neck on occasion, but she isn’t touching the chicken’s feet!
The very BEST part of the buffet is yet to come! Even Ali wouldn’t eat this, but I’m not sure if that was because she wouldn’t, or she was just full from all the food she was eating!
Yup! That is a cooked chicken’s head! Along with his pal, the fully cooked shrimp. If that doesn’t make you want to run out and have a three-way at Sky Line, I don’t know what does! I tried to keep from bringing this back to the table, but just couldn’t control myself. I thought Kelly was going to gag. THEN, I made her had it over to the table next to us! She about freaked out! I’m told that the best part is the thing on top of the head. Whatever. I’ll take their word for it!!
Now that we are past the gross part, how about we look at the some of the prettier things of the evening … besides my girls. Below are the pictures taken from the boat as we went up the river. I’m going to just post the pictures with little comment because they are nice enough to look at on their own!
The cloudy and rainy sky’s really made the pictures have some unique qualities. Here is Brittany out on the railing with me taking pictures.
This is the new TV tower in Guangzhou. I have been told it is the tallest TV tower in the world. There is an elevator that goes to an observation deck at the top and an obscenely expensive restaurant up there. We did neither, but the tower sure is pretty to look at! I tried to narrow it down to just one picture of the tower, but couldn’t do it!
Both of the girls out on the deck. Although Ali started getting cold and went inside not long after this.
Abby taking shots from the side of the boat.
When you are on a dinner cruise and it is raining outside, what should you do? Why, you should dance in the rain! Brittany and Ava (Helen) Lee dance on the top deck of the boat.
Bob Lee holds his new baby daughter, Ellie. I don’t have any special names for her…
I’m not sure how much more I will post on here. We take the train to Hong Kong tomorrow, so I will probably have some pictures from that. Other than that, it is NYC on Thursday enjoying being in the States. Then home Friday night to see the kiddos. We sure miss them all. Our internet went down for a couple of days and we didn’t get to see them on Skype for a little while. That wasn’t fun, but Jake was able to fix things up and we talked with them this evening.
The adventure is almost over … or just starting, depending on how you look at it. Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. They have been felt!
Cameron