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Our Itinerary

 

October 17 to 18

      We left Dayton, Ohio at 10:19am on a Saab jet.  That is a TINY 2 prop plane that holds about 20 people including the pilot, co-pilot and the stewards.  I felt like I was on a plane from the 1930's.  We landed in Detroit, Michigan at 11:30am.  We then took off at 12:40pm on Oct 17th on a large 747 and arrived 14 hours later in Beijing, China at 2:20pm on Oct 18th.  We flew over Alaska and I was able to take one picture of something that looked like snow-capped mountains.  We had to keep the window shades down so people could sleep and we only opened them between the movies to look out.  It is nothing like daylight for 24 plus hours.

      Peter met us at the airport and apparently 4 families were on the same flight.  I had met Heidi and Michelle during the flight but found out that LuAnn was also on it.  Diane had arrived the day earlier and Shaye was not going to meet us until we get to Nanjing.  We stayed at the Peace Hotel for 3 nights to tour the area.  The first night we saw the China Acrobatics at the China Beijing Chao Yang Opera Plaza, I have seen them on TV but really enjoyed them in person - they are awesome.

October 19

      In the morning, we took a short 2-mile walk to Tian'anmen Square.  It is so big.  I knew that it was big but not THAT big.  We were told that about a million people could fit in the square and now I understand how.

      We then walked across the street to the Forbidden City.  The city is about 1km long and 700 meters wide.  There are a lot of temples/rooms to explore but we didn't have that much time.  I think that we could have spent 3 or 4 days and still not have seen every room.  At one point we had to put on special orange slippers to walk on some special "Gold" stones that are about 1200 years old.  The place was just amazing.

       Across the way is a temple that sits up on a hill that you have to climb.  Took my out of shape body about 30 min to climb the thousand or so steps straight up!  I had to stop 4 times.  The view would have been great if the pollution and smog was not so bad.  We could only see about half of the Forbidden City and surrounding area.  The trip down was much easier and faster.  Only had to stop once to let some people pass.

      We then went to a Pearl and Jade market to do some buying.  I bought way too much but could have bought more.  Heidi was very good at bartering so I stuck close to her.

      That night Michelle, Allen, Shaye, Peter, Diane and myself went to the Peking Opera.  They had the words in both Chinese and English so we could follow along.

October 20 Mary’s first birthday!

      Up at 6am for a trip to the Great Wall.  I went almost all the way to the top of this section but my knees finally gave out.  A lot of the steps, nearer to the top, were almost vertical, where a comfortable step was only one or two stones high, these were getting 3 and a lot of 4 stones high and narrow.  At one point I had to use my hands to crawl up a few steps.  Also it is at an altitude and of course the air was very polluted so I had to stop a lot.  Bob only made it to the first tower and I am glad that he had stopped - there was no way he could have made it.

      Peter then took us to a friendship store where we had lunch at a lazy Susan buffet type table and then some shopping of course.

      The next stop was the Ming Tombs through the Sacred Way of stone animals and statues.  The stone carvings were magnificent.  At the end was our pre-new family photo opportunity.

October 21

      David Pan and Cathy met us in the Hotel lobby and we had to say goodbye to Peter.

      We took off from a little airport in Beijing (not the same one we landed in) at 8:25am and arrived in Nanjing at 9:50am.  We stayed at the Central Hotel for 6 nights.  We were told to go to our rooms, relax and eat something for the babies were to be at the Hotel sometime around 3pm.

      The call came at 3:36pm and I got Mary in my arms at 3:42pm.  She is just beautiful, very quiet and looking around at everyone.  We then went up to a large reception area on the Second Floor, with chairs and a few couches so we can start some paperwork.  When I started to get into my folder of important papers, Mary found the one form that had to be notarized in the States and started to play with it.  Luckily she did not tear it.

      That night she got her first bath from me and I found a birthmark on her right shoulder.  Didn't know about it but that is OK, she still is just beautiful.  She doesn't cry unless I am more than an arms reach away.  She didn't want anything until 11pm when she took 8 ounces of formula and went right off to sleep.

October 22

      Went to get our family photo and then off for some shopping for food and other supplies at the local department store.  Poor Bob had to carry the food around the store for about 1 hour.  I had taken a snuggly to carry Mary but it was too hot to use it so I bought one that is lightweight and cooler for both her and me.  I found out that Mary loves to be carried sideways over my right hip looking down at the floor.

      We then took a bus ride to the local police department to get the papers that stated that I have full custody of Mary and that she is mine!!!! I took the COPY of the original approval for adoption as the letter stated but I should have taken the ORIGINAL copy of this form.  Sometimes the wording can get confusing if someone is trying to write English when the person is Chinese but everything worked out after a lot of conversation between the police official and the orphanage director.  When it was all said and done, I had to swear that the next time I would bring the right papers and of course I did enthusiastically.  How did they know that I wanted to this again in a few years??

October 23

      Mary would not sleep in the crib last night, she would only sleep with Mommy and on her chest sitting up and at only 45 min to 1-hour spurts.  I guess she is having some separation issues.  I can only hope that this doesn't last long.  Good news is that she crawled for the first time on my bed this morning and started to smile.

      Gail, LuAnn, Bob, and I went to the Nanjing Massacre Site Museum for a few hours.  Very, very sad place but we all love history and yes this is a bad one but it is true and it did happen.  The photos showed unimaginable acts of cruelty.  I am glad that they were in Black and White and most were fuzzy but they still showed what happened to the people of Nanjing during those terrible months in 1937.  300,000 soles were lost!

      We then went to the Confucius temple along the Qinhuai River.  Nice little temple in the middle of a shopping market so we had a lot of "Come and look. Nice things..." in broken English.  A lot of bargaining going on.  Went back as a group that night to see the place all lit up.  Started to sprinkle but we needed a bath anyhow.

October 24

      Took a bus ride to Yangzhou that was about 2 hours long.  Nice countryside and saw a lot of how the local people really live and farm.  First stop was at the notary office to make sure the papers are in order.  I found out that they left out an "I" in my middle name.  The officials here are able to correct it but the OFFICIAL paper still needs to be change when we get back to Nanjing.

      We then went to a beautiful park for a walking tour and a boat trip for about 2 hours.  I don't remember the name of the park but the city is very proud of it and I don't blame them.  There was no garbage, no street people, and everyone was very nice.  We encountered some "clothing police" that were mostly elderly women that made sure our daughters were dressed properly and all skin was covered.  Most gave us the thumbs up about adopting their girls and giving them a new home in the States.  I just wish that I could have talked to them to understand their feelings better but the smile on their faces said enough for now.

      We then climbed back on the bus for a 'short' trip to the Orphanage but the driver got lost and tried to go down a narrow street and at the other end the street was blocked.  So the driver had to either back down the almost mile long road or turn around.  So the drive started to nudge the bus in and out between a store front and a row of packed bikes.  Finally after about 5 min and not hitting anything, we were on our way so we gave the driver a big hand of applause.

      We arrived at the Yangzhou Children's Welfare Institute about 2:30 in the afternoon and were escorted to a building/room up on a hill over looking a beautiful river.  Apparently this room is only used for adoption purposes.  We received some papers stating that Mary is mine and thanking me for adopting her.  I also received a Chop with Mary's Chinese name on it (Yang, Run Fang).  We then paid our Orphanage Donation and were allowed to visit the nursery rooms.

      There were 4 crib rooms that held about 12 cribs each.  Between every other room is a small playroom that held walkers.  At the end of the hall was the large playroom with the foam floor pads.  We did not see many toys but I was assured that they did have some but were put up for the visit.

      I saw the crib that Mary called home for the first year of her life.  It makes me cry thinking that she lived in a 2 foot by 3-foot crib and only came out to play twice a day.  She now has a whole house to explore and the crib that she sleeps in is twice as big.  No wonder she likes to sleep on the edge of the pad with either her leg or arm hanging out.  I took a photo of one of Mary's nannies but she had bonded with me too much and started to cry as soon as I handed her to the woman.  We finally took a group photo of all the families in front of the Orphanage.

      The last stop was back to the notary’s office to pick up our papers.  We were all so thirsty and hungry that everyone went to McDonalds and had hamburgers and ice drinks.  About half way through the drink I realized that we were drinking with ICE but I just kept going because it was sooo good.  (No problems later).

      On the ride home, Mary screamed for 1 1/2 hrs of the 2-hour ride.  She was starving, thirsty, hot, and tired.  I had only taken enough for only one meal.  We did not get back to the hotel until 7pm.

October 25

      After breakfast, I took Mary out into the entrance of the hotel and put her down on the floor on her feet and she took hold of my fingers and began to walk.  Unsteady at first but she got better.  Look out world, here she comes!

      We ventured out to the Purple Cloud area.  We had to climb another set of steps to the top to see Dr. Sun Yet-Sen Mausoleum.  There were a lot of steps (maybe about 200) and since Bob and I were refreshed, we all made it to the top!!!  The air was a little clearer so we were able to see about 3 miles but there was still a haze.

      We then took a short walk over to another site - the Beamless hall.  This is a structure that is made only of bricks with a rounded ceiling.  No beams were used to hold the structure up hence the name.

      That afternoon, LuAnn and I had to return to the Police station to get the Passports corrected.  Mine was the "I" in my middle name and LuAnn's was her street was misspelled.  We thought that it would be a lot of trouble but all the guy had to do was pull the disk out, place it in the computer, fix the mistake and reprint the paper - No Problem!

      We had the rest of the day off so we stayed in our room and played.  Mary finally laughed with a big open mouth when she was tickled.

October 26

      This was basically a free day.  Cathy brought Mary's passport to our room about 9:30am and I checked it throughway for mistakes - there were none.

      That afternoon, Bob, Mary and I went back to the department store for last minute shopping.  I bought Mary the cutest pair of green shoes with a mouse face on it and a few other outfits.

      That night we had to repack all of our things for our next leg of the trip.  We had a lot of stuff but we were able to get it packed - and we still have another few stops to make before we get to come home - I don't know if anything else will fit!

October 27

      Awoke to a drizzly day but we have a long day on a bus ahead of us so we had a big breakfast and headed out.

      First stop was in Suzhou 3 hours after we started.  We stopped at the leaning pagoda site for a short visit and more photographs.

      We then had lunch at a Helton Hotel with real 'western' food and then onto another 4 hours of a bus until we got to Hangzhou.  The drive was nice and scenic but 7 hours is long.  I think every one of the families collapsed when we got to our rooms.  We stayed at the Wanghu Hotel for 2 nights.

October 28

      We took another 20-minute bus ride to "Cave of the Dragon".  This is a hillside with many Buda’s of all different sizes that have been carved into it over the past 1500-2000 years.  I kept looking at the lack of garbage and graffiti.  The people of China are very proud of their country and historical landmarks!

      The next stop was at another Buddhist temple.  The Buda statue here was all in gold and was about 50 feet tall.  Even though I am not Buddhist, I felt that this was a wonderful place of worship.  Peaceful, quiet, and not a lot of people.  There was a building on the grounds that held 1000 Buda’s.  I would love to have taken some photos inside only for my memories but no pictures were allowed so I honored it. The temple is an active worship location and many Faithful were practicing their religion, so photographs were forbidden.

      That afternoon, one parent from each family met for about 3 hours to complete the paperwork.  Once again, all had to be correct and complete.  Afterwards, Diane had bought a birthday cake for Lily since this was her birthday so we had a party for all the babies.  I believe this was the first taste of Chocolate and I know since they will be women that it won't be their last.  We then had the first children's group photo session.  They are from left to right - Mary, Juliana, Lily, Yousha, Zoe, and Jasmine.

October 29

      We took a “2 minute” walk that actually was about 20 minutes, to the West Lake that we can see from the Hotel.  We got on a boat and went to the small island for a quick 10 min look and then onto the large island for about an hour.  This was another beautiful place and peaceful area.  There was a stone structure that looked like a dragon coming out of the water.

      We checked out of the hotel at 1pm and left for the airport shortly after.  Once we got there, we found out that the flight was delayed for 1 hour.  We left at 4:15pm and arrived in Guangzhou at 5:40pm.  We stayed at the White Swan Hotel for 4 nights.  This is just as beautiful as everyone has said.  That night Mary started to blow raspberries to Bob across the room.

October 30

      That morning we went just down the street to Kinko's for the passport photo.  They had a small collection of baby food, toys, shoes, and clothing for sale.

      We then went around the corner and down the street to the Medical Building that just looked like a store front, for the physical.  They weighed Mary with all her clothing on and she was 21 1/2 lbs.  The nurse looked in her ears, took a rattle to one side to see if she will turn her head to the noise, and tried to check her tonsils.  I then put her on the floor for them to see that she can walk with help.  We went across the hall to the doctor that basically squeezed her stomach and listened to her heart.  I took the diaper off long enough for him to say she was a girl.  He measured her height of 29 inches and finally he signed a paper and handed it to me.  That was it plus the 250 Yuan for their services.

      We had the rest of the day off after Shirley came to our room to get the packet that we had completed at the last hotel.  Sherry's and Jennifer's stores are right across the street and down a short ally from the White Swan.  I purchased the 20 meters of fine white silk from Sherry that I had ordered from her over the Internet.  This fabric will be for Mary when she gets married so she can have something from her birth country, this will be her “something old”.

October 31

      We had the morning off so I stayed in the hotel with Mary while Bob ventured out and did some shopping.  When I went out for a little walk with Mary, the staff of the hotel was lining up in the front lobby to greet the President of the Philippines.  I waited around until she came by and I got a few pictures of the group.  I am use to the security that is around our President that I was surprised that I could stand only 10 feet away and no one asked who I was or even checked me for any kind of weapons.  Then again, I did have a baby in my arms!

      That afternoon we walked about a block to the US Consulate.  We waited in a room with a lot of other parents and their children for about 20 minutes then they called us up by groups then by family to receive the pages with a copy of mine and Mary's passport copied on it.  Then as the whole room, we all swore that we would take care of our children.  I could hardly hear what she was saying but I did get the highlights and at the end I said, "I will".

      That evening, I dressed Mary up in her Dragon Halloween suit and went down to the bar with a few other families for the free drink the hotel was offering during our stay.  David and Shirley joined us for a drink.  We stayed and talked for about 2 hours until our daughters were getting tired and hungry.  We then went back to the room to do the finally packing for our trip back to the US.  I had to buy a gym bag to hold all of our purchases.  Somehow, we were able to stuff everything in our luggage with only 2 pockets left in Bob's carry-on for a few things that we will pick up on the way home!

November 1

      We had some time left for the finally shopping and looking around so after breakfast Bob, Mary and I walked to the park next to the Hotel for a stroll.  We of course did some shopping but for tiny things.  That afternoon, we met in the lobby for the famous "Red Couch" photo.  The girls were so cute and even though Zoe had the Chicken Pox, all were in good sprites.

      We boarded a large PINK bus for the trip to Hong Kong.  We had to stop at 2 check points, get off the bus with all of our bags and luggage and attempt to get through with no one that spoke English.  The driver tried but was of little help.  The first stop I think was at the border but I am not sure what the second one was for.  They were only about 1 kilometer apart.  We would just get settled back on the bus and then had to get off again but this time the luggage could stay on the bus but we still had to walk a distance to get through the check point.

      When we finally got to the Regal Hotel in Hong Kong, it was way past sunset and we were all tired and hungry.  On the way in Bob saw someplace that was selling steaks in the lobby so after getting checked in we went down for dinner.  I had a Long Island Ice Tea, it was soooooooo good and then we both had thick steaks that just melted in our mouths.  Mary played on the couch while we ate.  It was nice to just relax and enjoy the evening before our last leg of the trip home.

November 2 - the longest day of my life!

      Up and out of the room by 6am so we can catch the 8:35am flight.  We were the first in line to get checked through but the line quickly grew behind us.  We waited in the seats by the gate until the flight but to get there we had to get through 2 checkpoints.

      I thought that this plane was to be a smaller one but it was a big 747 and we had isle seats for the legroom.  Mary was good on this flight of only about 2 hours.  We landed in Tokyo and got onto a bus to get to the terminal for another 2 checkpoints before getting to the waiting area.  We were there just long enough for Mary to get something to eat and a diaper change.  We were able to pass though the checkpoint without being checked again and because we had babies, we were able to board before the other passengers.

      Once again, this plane was a 747-400 and we once again had isle seats.  We were seated next to a couple with a 6-month-old daughter, their birth child.  I can't remember her name but they live around the Indianapolis area.  Unfortunately this was a bad flight.  Mary would sleep for about 2 hours and then the baby would cry and Mary would wake up and the baby would sleep for 2 hours and then Mary would cry and the baby would wake up while Mary would sleep for 2 hours......  I think I only got about 20 min of sleep the entire flight and when I went go to the bathroom Mary would scream bloody murder until I would get back and then she would not let go of me.  We took off at 2:50pm and arrived in Detroit at 1:30pm the same day.  I love to hold her but a clinging baby for almost 11 hours is a little much.  The window shutters were left up for the trip and it was interesting to see 2 sunrises and 1 sunset in less than 16 hours.

      When we were at Detroit, we had to get off the plane, pass though the immigration checkpoint and wait in a room for the officer to check over Mary's papers.  He finally gave us her passport back and said goodbye.  He kept the brown envelope that I believe he said that I would get back when I get Mary's green card in about 6 months (I think).  I was so tired that I didn't hear all that he had said.  We then went though another checkpoint and boarded a bus to get to the terminal.

      The last leg of the trip was to go through the last checkpoint (8 if you are counting) and take off from Detroit at 3:30pm on the tiny 20 seat plane.  Mary thankfully slept the whole flight and only awoke as we landed in Dayton, Ohio at 4:10pm for a quick look around and then back to sleep.  I wish I could have slept on the flight but by now my back was screaming for a comfortable chair or better yet a soft bed.

      I sat down with our carry-on while Bob went to get our luggage.  Someone came up behind me, said something, and I recognized the voice as Janet from across the street come my Dad's.  I could not figure out why she was there until I saw my Dad.  It was so nice to see someone I knew and they spoke the same language I did.  Mary was starting to wake up so I gave her to Dad and of course, he held her for only a min because he doesn't know what to do with babies.  Bob's Mom came along and saved him by taking Mary and holding her but Mary would only take a few min of her until she wanted to get back to mommy.

      Janet had volunteered to be the chauffeur and as payment, Mary screamed most of the 45 min drive home until the bottle came and she fell asleep just as we were getting off the highway.  Bob's brother Tom had planned a small welcome home party for us so Bob's family and my brother came out that evening.  Mary got to meet all of Bob's family that night (she met my family about a week later).  I had to finally put Mary to bed around 9pm and she slept through the whole night.  Bob and I went to bed about 11pm and that was about 30 hours since the alarm clock had gone off a half a world away.  We were all exhausted and slept well.