Well … it's 9:00 in the PM (at least it was when I started this post) here in Guangzhou and we just got back from Starbucks.  We got a Carmel Macchiatto … No really!!

As Anna mentioned I've either been returning some emails for biz or I've fallen asleep with the girls (mainly fallen asleep with the girls I must admit!) over the last couple of nights/naptimes and I've been overly remise in getting some pics on here.  So here are some more pics wrapped into a recap of the first week that we've spent here in China.

Day 1: Arrived in Beijing at around 11:00 and got to the hotel at 12:00.  Went to bed!!  Exciting enough for ya?

Day 2: Woke up and ate some bfast at the hotel – stayed away from the stuff Anna said to stay away from … pretty much done that all trip and everyone's stayed chipper so far.  Met up with our Wells family guide and driver who wisked us off to a Jade factory where we were sighted and tracked for an hour while we decided on the purchases that we were going to make. At the time of purchase we were quickly released so others could be sought out in similar fashion.  After that we left for one of the most awe inspiring structures that I've ever seen … The Great Wall!!  How this was built during the Chin dynasty rule is really beyond my comprehension.  Appreciation escalates when you are able to see it first hand and see the landscapes that it traverses.  After leaving the Great Wall we had lunch at a lunch/sight and track store and bought a couple more things.  Went from there to the Forbidden City where it was freezing cold, but as mentioned in a prior post, the absolute largest house I've ever been inside.  So large that tens of thousands of the emperor's posse lived there in its heyday.  End of day 2.

Day 3: Gotcha Day!!  Woke up at 4:30 and caught a 7:30 flight to Nanning.  Got settled in … sort of … at the Majestic Hotel, said a quick prayer for our family and then left to get what we came for … JENNA!!  We've already written ad nauseum about this so I'll just leave it with we got her and she's great all around.  The rest of Day 3 entailed Jenna and her new family playing at the hotel, getting to know each other a bit.

Day 4: Got some paperwork done and had some interviews to finalize our adoption.  Gotcha Day (see Day 3) is really just a trial period.  The real deal serious stuff occured on Day 4.  We of course gave her the thumbs up and my best guess is we got the thumbs up as well!!  Went to KFC for lunch and hung at the hotel the rest of the day.  Nap, played in the hotel playroom and dinner.

Day 5: Got up around 6:00 and did the breakfast thing (anyone had Red Dragon fruit?? – really good!!) and then met Amby (our guide) to head to Quinxu Mountain (Green Mountain) Park.  Real quick run down on parks.  China really knows how to pull off a good park and nationally there are scads of them.   All we have been to have been somewhat unique to themselves with similarities such as a good central water feature, some nicely pruned Bonzai and the always prevelant Koi fish.  This park inparticular came outfitted with a working Buddhist temple (see picture), a 9 story Pagoda along with the familiar pond, beautiful tree formations and, of course Koi fish.  I'll probably write a bit more about the temple later but found it beautiful and intriguing, yet quite sad and empty (details to come).  The girls fed about 1,000,000 gold fish at the park pond and Lucy and I climbed a 9 story pagoda with Amby.  After the Mountain we ate lunch at McD's and then headed back to the hotel where we did the nap thing, dinner and then bed.

Come back later for Days 6 & 7!!!  We need to go eat bfast now!!