Lounging in the hotel.
Glass window in the bath/shower to the hotel room.
View from the other side.
Playing at the playground at the China Hotel in Guangzhou.
Playing walk the plank with Daddy.
With Grandma.
At Jordan's shop getting our complimentary calligraphy names. I bought several little gifts at this shop for Abbie's 2nd-18th birthdays. Some of the things are nicer and some are just little tchotchkies, but the point is that she will get something on every birthday until she's 18 that we bought on this trip.
Jenny's shop picking out shoes (~ $5 per pair for leather squeaky shoes).
On the Dragon Boat for the Pearl River cruise in Guangzhou.
Playing with our friend Charlie's cousins.
Pearl shopping in Guangzhou with Ann from Red Thread. She is amazing. If you're traveling to GZ and want an insider's guide, book Ann. I bought a strand of high quality fresh water pearls in a necklace and earrings for Abbie to give her for her wedding. We also bought silk fabric and a couple of jade pendants at amazing prices.
Too much shopping wiped Abbie out.
For the ride from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to catch our international flight, we opted to take a private van. Most families take the train, but I wanted super easy, door-to-door transportation at this point in the journey. It was just under three hours from the time we left the China Hotel in Guangzhou until we were at the check-in counter at the Sky City Marriott at the Hong Kong airport. At the mainland/Hong Kong border, the driver handled everything. We didn't even get out of the van - they just opened the sliding doors for us to peek out at the immigration officials. The vans were pristine and so, so comfortable. It was wonderful. We took two, seven-seater vans (think a bit larger than a Honda Odyssey) since we had four adults, three children, and 14 suitcases. Oy. I think it was slightly more expensive than the train option for all of us, but by the time you pay for transportation to the GZ train station, porters and checked bag fees for your luggage on the train, transportation from the HK train station to your hotel, not to mention the total convenience, vans are definitely the way to go in my book. Feel free to leave a comment if you'd like the contact information for the service we used - I highly recommend them.
This is a picture of our van my mom took along the way.
Playing at the Hong Kong airport.
Bye bye, China!
Beginning our 14 hour flight to Chicago.
Let's go ahead and skip everything from here until we land. Like, how about we not post pictures of Gavin hanging out without pants since he spilled apple juice on himself an hour into the flight. Supermom here didn't bring extra pants for her two older children, just an extra shirt and pair of underwear. So, he got to just be in his undies for hours 2-13 while his rinsed out pants dried over the seat back.
And how about we not post pictures of Abbie's restless squirming for all but 3 or 4 hours of the flight, or her tired parents tag-teaming walking, rocking, bouncing, and singing her into semi-contentment.
Let's just jump straight to this - here's our proud new American citizen at O'Hare!
The Boyd/Mallin limousine service has arrived!!
A welcome home sign on our door from our friends and neighbors.
We are very glad to be home. Abbie is settling in nicely. We need to get the sleep situation figured out - between adjusting to her new home and the time difference, none of us got much rest last night. Here's hoping for some improvement on night #2!
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