Summer fun

It's been a while since I have been on my blog! This summer is just flying by. We have seen a pediatric dermatologist this summer, to find out more about Brodie's birthmarks. She said he has port wine stain birthmarks. We also have seen a pediatric opthamologist, since the port wine stain can affect the eyes. She said he is fine and has no problem, since the stain isn't covering the eye and eyelid. Also, the dermatologist ordered a MRI for Brodie, the port wine stain can also affect the brain. Thank goodness the MRI showed that everything is normal! He is a very healthy little boy! Also, we have seen our pediatrician, and he had 4 immunizations that day. Amie had her kindergarten check up that day too, and she had 5 immunizations in her little legs. I am so glad that is all over with!! They were realy troopers, and we went out for mexican food after all that was over! The other dr. we saw, was a pediatric surgeon, to see if he has any idea about the scars on Brodies tummy. He thinks that he had to have been born premature in a hospital, and had a drain put in for his bowels to empty and maybe had some type of surgery on his intestine when he was born, and probably wasn't fully developed. He did not want to do any tests on him, since he is growing and very healthy. Seems like all of the dr. visits has taken up a lot of the summer, and a lot of worrying on my part, which I worried for nothing!! Thank God he is a very healthy and happy little boy!!
We have some blackberries this summer, I need to make some jelly. Abbie is growing some pumpkins this summer too. They are doing very well. We also have sweet corn which is very yummy!
We go swimming about everyday too. Brodie likes the pool, almost as much as his sisters.
Abbie turned 7 on July 5, and she had a swimming party with some friends and family.
There's just a few weeks left of summer vacation now. Hopefully I will get back to posting on here more!! Keep checking in!!

Trip to the zoo

We went to the Kansas City Zoo last weekend. Abbie is a Daisy Scout, and it was scout day at the zoo. Here is a picture of us with cousins Jenna and Hallie. We got to watch the sea lions put on a show. Abbie liked the Discovery Barn. It was a nice day, we did a lot of walking. The walk to Africa was long, but we got to see tigers, elephants, a gorilla, some monkeys.

Thursday April 23

We have been outside enjoying this nice weather, Brodie likes to swing, and sit in the little tikes "Flintsones car". He is hilarious to watch, he just goes backwards and then spins around really fast. He's starting to go forwards in it alittle bit. Tonight he started climbing up the ladder of the slide all by himself and he goes down the slide. He really was having fun. This weekend we are going to the Kansas City Zoo, it is girl scout day at the zoo. Abbie is a Daisy Scout this year. We will take lots of pictures at the zoo! Will post more then!

home for 2 weeks now

We have been home for 2 weeks now. Brodie is doing just great! He loves his big sisters, and his mama and baba! We are sure crazy about him too! We finally have our days and nights straightened out now. It was rough getting switched back to our time the first week we were home. We are finally getting in a routine now, and doing good. This morning was Garnett's city-wide garage sale day, I found this work bench for Brodie! He rides along with us on the bus everyday, he doesn't seem to mind it. He likes looking out the window and seeing the cows I think. He likes playing outside now, today is a rainy day so we are stuck in the house. He has changed so much in just a few weeks with us. What a blessing he is to us1

FIRST DAY HOME WITH SISTERS!!!

Yesterday had to be the longest day ever, 3 airplane rides in a row. The one from Hong Kong to Chicago was 14 hours. Then our plane left 2 hours late from Chicago to Kansas city. That was the one plane that I didn't want to be late, we were so excited to get back to the girls. We got back to our house about 11:00 last night. Brodie have been having a lot of fun with his sisters today! I don't think they have stopped playing all day. He is already so spoiled! and very honorey! It is so good to finally be home and all together again!!!

this is our last day in guangzhou, its very pretty here on shamian island, alot of statues and french architecture, we found a catholic church here that was built by the french in 1895 called our lady of the lourdes, we have not seen anyone use it. alot of young couples get married in the park, the chinese brides are beautiful. We spent the afternoon at the american consulate, taking our oath and experiencing good old american beauracracy at its best, no matter how bad the beauracracy, i cant wait to get back to the good ole usa. everyone should experience china, it makes you appreciate wait you have. We leave here tommorrow at 5 am to hong kong, then a 13 hour flight to chigago and on to kc, we should arrive in kc around 7pm kc time

Wednesday in Guangzhou

This morning we did the famous "red couch" picture of all of the babies adopted in our group. The White Swan Hotel is famous for the red couch picture, parents set all of the little ones in their pretty chinese dresses and outfits together on the red couch and everyone starts taking pictures really fast because all of the little ones are usually crying! It is really kinda funny to see. Brodie was in his overalls, the little girls in their pretty silk dresses! There was another boy in his regular clothes too! When that picture was done, then we did a group picture with all of the families from Holt in our group. We have met some very nice people here.
After breakfast we went down to the hotel playroom, it's very nice with a lot of toys. There were a few other little ones in their playing also.
I decided today was the day we were going to get Brodie in a stroller. He has only wanted to be held when we are outside of our hotel room. So we borrowed a stroller from one of the shops close to the hotel. I put him in it, this time I meant business! He cried and screamed and tried to crawl out of it. We walked around for what seemed to be hours, but wasn't all that long, and got so many different looks from the local people! But I would just smile and keep walking! We ended up at the
7-11 store, and I got him some juice and then we sat outside , he calmed down finally. Now we can't get him out of the stroller!!! He is still sitting in it this afternoon! At least my back feels better today! I offer to take him out and he refuses! We met up with the family we met in Fuzhou today, Brodie was happy to see his friends again! We went to lunch with them and they came back to our hotel to swim. The pool is outdoor, the water was pretty cold but they got in for a little bit. Their 9 year old son was so excited to get into a swimming pool, he didn't care how cold it was! We are going to meet them for dinner tonight and try the Italian restaurant. Tomorrow is our last day here, can't wait to start packing and head for home!!

TUESDAY IN GUANGZHOU

We finally made it to Guangzhou last night. The last few days in the hotel at Fuzhou were getting really boring! Now we are here with the families we met in Beijing, and their precious little ones. We are staying at the White Swan Hotel. It is a very fancy hotel, the bathroom is all marble with gold fixtures! When we got in our room last night, they had the bed comforter turned down for us and a pair of slippers next to each bed! The lobby is very pretty and has a beautiful waterfall and big goldfish swimming . All of the beds in China are not big, and very hard. Brodie did not like the flight from Fuzhou to here yesterday. His daddy had to hold him pretty much the entire time, which was nice for me! Hopefully he will do better Friday as we have 3 flights to get home! Any prayers would be greatly appreciated! There will be a few other families flying back to Chicago with us, and one family even back to KC with us. That will help. These are some pictures from Guangzhou. This is how we get our Papa Johns pizza delivered, by bike!! This morning we did the rest of our paperwork, and then had to walk to the medical center for the visa medical check up. That didn't go over so good, I am so glad all that stuff is over! Brodie was ok until the nurse took of his new spiderman shoes. That set him off, he is very fond of his new shoes, and we just don't like to take them off!! It went down hill from there, but we made it through ok!
We saw some school kids out doing some activities as we were walking back to the hotel. I also went into a market to see what kind of fresh food there was. I took a picture and got out of there! The snakes or whatever they were looked way to scarey for me. I sure wouldn't be bringing that home to fry up for supper! I did a little shopping this afternoon while Brodie is napping. That made me feel just so much better, I just love shopping here! Don't know where we will eat tonight, there is a German restaurant that Curt wants to try, and an Italian one too. Only 2 more days here!! We can't wait to get back home to our girls!!!!!

sunday in fuzhou

Today we just stayed around our hotel. We went bowling in the tiny bowling alley in the basement of the hotel. Brodie gets a little more honorey every day! Just wait until he gets home to his 3 sisters! Tomorrow we are finally flying to Guangzhou. The U.S Consulate is there and we will do our final paperwork with the consulate. He will also have a little medical check-up for his U.S. visa also. That won't be fun, I'm sure he will be very scared.
We are so ready to get back home! Won't be long now!!!

shopping in fuzhou today

This morning we went to another big shopping mall in Fuzhou. There were several floors. We bought a few things to remember the Fujian province where Brodie was born.
There were several little shops that sold jade carvings and jewelry. This statue was carved out of jade. We stopped and talked to this cute little girl and her grandma. She had her purse and loves to shop. Brodie likes being around other kids. I can't wait to get to Guangzhou on Monday and meet back up with the other families that we met in Beijing.
It was a rainy day today, and is supposed to rain tomorrow too. We took a taxi to and from the shopping mall. I think the ride back to the hotel was the worst. You wouldn't believe the traffic here and how people drive! It is just amazing that there are not many accidents here or pedestrians run over! If we are walking, we make sure to cross the street with a bunch of the local people, just follow along with them!
Tomorrow we don't have anything planned to do. There is a small bowling alley in the basement of the hotel, we might go bowling if we get really bored! I don't know what we will have for supper tonight, pizza again? We don't have much to choose from here since the hotel is a little walk from the main streets, and there are no "american" kinds of food close by.
This afternon the rain stopped and there were several paddle boats out on the lake here. All of the flowers are so colorful and bright, and everything is so green here.

yes there is a walmart in China!

This morning our guide met us at the hotel, and we took a taxi to Walmart. Yes a 4 story walmart. They have escalators made for shopping carts, so you can take your cart from 1 floor to the next. The meat department had fresh pigs feet. Not just the feet but the whole leg. I saw a lady buy a big eel and they put it into a bag of water and it was squirming around.
Here are pictures of the traffic taken from our taxi. Curt went for a walk this afternoon and almost got ran over by a scooter! We went to get Brodie's passport this afternoon, and took a van to the passport office, but we walked back to the hotel. Along the way there was a performance just in the parking lot of some shops. There was a little stage set up, there were musicians sitting off to the side, they were performing a chinese opera. We didn't have our camera with us. But it was really neat to see.
We will probably order Papa Johns pizza again tonight. We had McDonalds for lunch!

These are more pictures from today. This is a 5 story building, that had 100 carved statues on each floor. Curt went to the top floor and took pictures from the top of the building. We didn't get to take pictures of some of the prettiest things that we saw inside of the temples, as it was disrespectful to take pictures inside of them. There were some very big buddahs, they had different expressions, some were at least 30 feet tall. There was a lot of incense burning too. There are a lot of carvings in the buildings and outside, and they are all very detailed. It was really neat to see.