Copied from Travel Blog, 2010

Last day in Guiyang – flight to Guangzhou

We had our last buffet breakfast at our Chinese Ramada this morning – we all got our usual items – the kids had plenty of yogurt and orange juice! 

Daddy loving on two of his girls

We thought our guide, Vicki, was supposed to meet us at 10:00 with Lyric’s passport and other paperwork but after Kevin waited in the lobby for her for about 20 minutes he came back to the room and gave her a call.  Turns out the paperwork wasn’t done yet.  So we stayed in the room and everyone entertained Lyric while I packed up all of our stuff. 

Vickie came to the room at about 12:00 with the passport and other paperwork.  We looked it over and everything was in order so she headed out to lunch – we would see her again at 3:00 so we could head to the airport.

I meant to get all of our packing done so that we could take one last walk outside, but it took me the rest of the time to get it all done.  Down in the lobby we were disappointed that our regular driver wasn’t taking us to the airport (because we wanted to say goodbye), but we still got there in good time.  Vicki held Lyric for a bit on her lap in the front seat (no law about wearing seatbelts here!), but then she wanted to come back to me, and I was glad to have her.  Later, Vickie said that she really likes Lyric.  She said she was very pretty and a very good girl.  I could tell she would miss her a lot.

Hanging out in the hotel room

At the airport we had gotten out of our van and were heading inside when we saw our regular driver walking towards us!  He had a big grin on his face and was happy to see us – we were happy to see him too!  We had never gotten to say goodbye to him before or told him "thank you".  I had bought some old-fashioned root beer barrels with me for gifts that had been made in Indiana and I gave him a package of them.  Uh oh!  The bag I gave him was already opened!  Well, that was kind-of embarrassing!  I had to think quick and remembered the other bags were safe in my backpack so I quickly pulled out an unopened bag and exchanged it for the other.  He is a good man and just smiled and laughed.  It was nice to say goodbye to him.

Vicki made sure we got in the airport and waited for us while we passed through security.  While we waited a lady who stood behind us asked Vicki what we were doing with a Chinese baby.  Vicki says to me, “Should I tell her what you told me to say the other day?”  She was laughing and said, “I am just kidding!”  We had someone ask before what we were doing with a Chinese baby.  I told her to tell them that I had two husbands!  :)

At the airport we were happy to meet another adopting family who we had met earlier.  They had their biological son with them, their previously adopted daughter, and their new daughter.  Their new daughter has a cleft lip but what a beautiful smile – and she sure does like to eat - the mama had to be careful of her fingers sometimes (the moms, not the babies)!  Their son did wonderful with both of his sisters – very impressed!

We had about a 3 hour wait for our plane so we all sat together.  There were a bunch of Chinese men and one woman sitting next to us.  One of the gentlemen could speak a little English so Kevin spoke with them some.  One man seemed very impressed that I had 4 children – his look of surprise was very funny!  Our family is small compared to some of the ones we know back home :) and I still think we are a small family!

Peanut butter on a chop stick!  Yummy!

Eventually the men asked if they could take pictures with us.  Kevin smiled and said, “Sure – only 100 RMB” (about $15.00).  The guy smiled and translated and they all burst out laughing.  Before we knew it, they were taking turns sitting between Tyler and me on the seats while someone else took a picture.  The other family sat across from us and had their picture taken as well.  I wonder what they said about us later...

Our lunch earlier consisted of peanut butter on a chop-stick for each of us (didn’t want to bring the peanut butter with us so we had to finish up the jar!) and oranges so we were still hungry.  Kevin and Lyric took a walk to look for something for us to eat while we waited for the boarding call.  Boy, was I surprised when he came back!  He had bought ice cream for each of us – and even Lyric had her own that was shaped like a snowman’s head and his hat!

The ice cream was messy to eat b/c there was that hard chocolate on the outside that breaks as you eat it.  I took a bite and then gave my anxious Lyric a bite – she sure was surprised by how cold it was!  That didn’t stop her though and she soon wanted another - and another!  I knew she had her own ice cream so I didn’t want her eating too much of mine.  When I wouldn’t share with her as much as what she wanted me to, she put on her pouty face once again…and crossed her arms at me… I know she shouldn’t be doing this, but it is just so incredibly cute! 

Lyric's crib at the hotel (we did empty it each night!)

Kevin wanted to feed Lyric her ice cream so he quickly finished up his and got out hers.  When she realized he had ice cream for her she quickly scrambled down my lap and onto his.  Lyric gobbled the whole snowman right up – hat and all! He didn't even have time to melt! Ahh, Kevin did have one bite – he said it tasted like tea – tea-flavored ice cream!  We should have known.

Awhile later one other adoptive family arrived with their blond haired son and new daughter who is 2 years old.  She is very shy right now, but I managed to catch a smile and she sure has a beautiful one – her whole face lights up!

We soon got the boarding call, and Lyric learned a new word when we were going onto the plane.  We had to walk down a long ramp and I would bounce her and say, “bump, bump, bump”.  She would then copy me by bouncing herself and saying the same thing – she is our little mimic.

Lyric's first ice cream!  She loved it!

On the plane we were surprised to see that all three of our families were sitting right next to one another.  Not one Chinese person separated us – now who do you suppose arranged that?  We are all with different agencies :)

Kevin held Lyric on his lap and strapped her in with his seat belt even though she had her own seat.  It is fun to hold her, but this time we were running out of ideas on how to keep her occupied!  After we were airborne I got to hold her, and she soon fell asleep.  I tried to wake her for the meal, but she just wouldn’t wake up – just plain tuckered out!  She slept until we landed.

At the airport we waited for our guide but were met by another guide until ours could get to us.  I really liked this guide and he liked Lyric.  At one point she made her pouty face, and he thought that was really cute. 

We had to wait at the airport for about ½ hour until another adoptive family arrived from our agency.  While we waited, I held Lyric and she would say “hi” to everyone that passed by.  Poor girl, she didn’t really like it when they didn’t respond back, but she kept trying!

Across from us was a little snack store where four very pretty Chinese young ladies were being very entertained by us.  They thought Lyric was adorable how she would wave to everyone.  They would try to get her attention and have her wave to them also.  One soon came over to play with Lyric and then another came over.  They talked with her in English but Lyric couldn’t understand, and I told them to talk in Chinese.  They were surprised.  So many people here don’t understand or know just how many children are adopted into families from other countries.  The girls started talking in Chinese to Lyric and she shyly responded a couple times, but soon our regular guide was there and we had to leave.

We walked quickly with our guide and the new family to our bus, which was surprisingly parked far away!  Our guide was in a hurry and kept us moving.  I now know that he is always in a hurry!

Lyric, Laurel and I went all the way to the back of the bus and were joined by the other adoptive mom and her new daughter, McKenna, who was 6 years old.  Her special need was her age and her lazy eye, which shouldn’t be too hard to get fixed at all!  She was very pretty and didn’t talk a whole lot, but she was brave enough to touch and feel Laurel’s blond hair, which made Lyric want to play with it also.  (Update: Laurel became really good friends with McKenna, and we spent a lot of time with her and her new family: the Bates.  We also later learned that Laurel and McKenna's birthdays were on the same day - October 17th!).

Thankfully, we were soon at our hotel and checked into our room.  We have a junior suite, which is a room with a bed in it and then a room for a sitting area.  There are pocket doors that separate the two rooms.  This is great when we put Lyric to sleep for the night, and it is a little quieter for her.

By the time we blew up the air mattresses and got settled in it was after midnight.  This wasn’t good for Carissa and Tyler.  They hadn’t been feeling well and each had sore throats, stuffy/runny noses and itchy/watery eyes.  I really looked forward to laying down and going to sleep on a nice soft bed, um… did I say soft?  I meant a really hard bed that feels like you are sleeping on box springs :) (I call one of the blow up mattresses tomorrow night!” 

Night everyone!