Sorry for the slackness! By the time I post this most of the people that are reading it to see what is going on with us will already have talked to me! We are home!!! So, so happy to be here!
The last day on Shamian island was spend shopping. Lots of cute shoes that will probably fit Cadence til she is 5 years old as well as many things for friends and family. Just when I thought I was done I figured out something else I needed to buy. I took the girls to a local park and walked the island one last time. It is really so beautiful there that I'd love to go back and visit. We had a final meeting with our guide, Jason, and received The Visa Packet. This is Cadence's ticket to becoming a US citizen. We will hand it over to someone at the security/immigration checkpoint in Chicago and they will hopefully pass it on to all of the right people! Once they stamp it and her passport she'll be an American! I packed and repacked our bags to make sure they were 20 kg or less and found out that at least one would be overweight.
We woke up early Thurday morning to fly from Guangzhou to Beijing. Cadence slept for a bit, but generally she doesn't like to be restrained, so she's not a happy girl when she can't walk around. In Beijing we were back on our own without a guide so we attempted to get a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Three taxis refused to take us to our hotel (too much luggage?) and when we finally found one he wanted 400 Yuan ($60) - for a 5 mile drive!! Brad refused and we were able to get a regular taxi for 1/4 the price. The hotel was beautiful with a soft bed (finally!!) but Brad became VERY sick. So sick that I was afraid they wouldn't let him on the plane the next morning to come home. The girls and I stayed out of the room as much as possible. Cadence loved the swimming pool and we had a long dinner.
The alarm went off at 3:30am on Friday morning. Thankfully Brad was feeling better! We got to the airport early enough to be blessed with bulkhead seating - yippee! We left Beijing at 6:55am on Friday and arrived in Chicago at 6:25am on Friday. Crazy! Cadence actually did beautifully on the flight. A few naps and a few other entertaining babies in the same row and the time went quickly. The layover in Chicago was 5 hours long but there was a great play area for the kids. The last leg had terrible, nauseating, "oh my gosh we might crash" turbulence, but we finally arrived in Richmond! Since all of our immigration stuff was taken care of in Chicago we were able to head right out. As soon as I saw my parents and Laurel I started crying. I felt like I couldn't get to Laurel fast enough. It felt so good to finally hold her in my arms! I think she has grown a few inches since we left! And Laurel couldn't take her eyes (or hands) off Cadence. They had an adorable welcome home poster. It feels so good to finally be home in our own bed, own house, with our whole family.
:) awesome :)
ReplyDeleteCrying at the thought of Cadence becoming an American citizen and you seeing your family for the first time. Can't wait for my turn! Thanks for sharing!
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