There were a lot of pictures that didn’t get posted from the beginning of the week, so this blog will get those all posted in one place!

Here is were things started for us … in Newark Airport.  Eating with American’s for the last time!

After a 14 1/2 hour trip over the North Pole, we arrived in Shanghai!  I don’t think we look too bad for such a journey!

Dinner in the Shanghai airport was pretty much whatever you could find in your bag or this:

While it wasn’t so bad, it WAS the worst Chinese food I have had on this trip so far.  We had an eight hour layover in this airport so it became like home!

I said earlier in the week I would post the picture of Abby snoozing on a bench and here it is:

She said it was the best sleep she had had for the last two days!

The airport did have interesting architecture and I wanted to make sure I grabbed a shot before we headed out.

We have spent all week in this hotel and have yet to show it to you, so here it is.  This is a five star hotel, one of the few in Hefei.  They have just recently built a Westin, which is a SIX star hotel, not far from our hotel.  But, the area doesn’t seem quite as nice for things to do as the are around our hotel.

Our first morning breakfast in the rotating restaurant!

I posted some pictures from Britt’s iTouch when we received Ali on Monday, but wanted to follow up with a few from my own phone.  Remember that Ali was VERY sick when she arrived, so the dour look on her face is because of that, not because of a lack of desire!  Cherry gives us an update on how the day will go.

Then we got to see our little Ali for the first time in person!

Poor thing.  You can see how miserable she was, but at the time Kelly and I didn’t know that.  The lady on the right is Kathy, who was the music teacher that came with Ali and stayed that first night in our hotel with us.

Kelly and I both had paperwork to fill out and to sign.

And Cherry gave Kelly Ali’s immunization records.

Ali had brought some of her school books with her in her backpack, so she showed them to all of us, including Cherry’s manager who had showed up at the government center.

Ali also got out the picture album that we had sent her with pictures of all our family in it.

That afternoon, again not realizing that Ali wasn’t feeling well, we went out to a local park and walked around.

We stopped at a local restaurant and ordered food, but Ali, Kelly, and Kathy ended up going back to the hotel and Ali didn’t eat anything.  Brittany jumped right in and decided SHE would eat Ali’s meal!  No sense it going to waste!

On our way back to the home was when we stumbled upon the DQ!  It was the only time this week we had it, but we made sure to tell Cherry that she needed to inform new families of its existence!  It isn’t easy to find, but it was SO nice!

We got back to the room and this is pretty much what Ali did for the next three hours!

When she woke up, she seemed better and showed her two bracelets that we had brought with us.  One said “Sisters” and the other said “Forever.”  Brittany let Ali pick which one she wanted (“Sisters”) and Brittany took the other.

That afternoon the girls made flip flops with some material that we had brought with us.

That night, the girls brushed their teeth.  Maybe another first for Ali???  Not sure!

That pretty much brings everything up to date.  Sorry for the confusion!

Cameron