Update with Photos

Hello everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting recently...seems like we're all back to normal (or close) after our bouts with the Colds & Flu. Kyle & I had it bad, and Lisa got the bug about a week after us.

Kyle continues to make progress. He really enjoys his Goddard School experience and has made a lot of new friends. Since it's warmer now, he goes with us on our after-dinner walks with Murphy. He enjoys being outside - that's good because that's all we'll be doimng this summer!

Tomorrow is a momentous day - Kyle will be 18 months old! (And it's Lisa's Birthday!)

It's hard to believe that it's already been 3 months since we were blessed with Kyle. Every day's a gift and he melts your heart every time he smiles.

New Idea - If you want to send me an e-mail at CharlieL3@aol.com, I'll add you to a notification list for updates to this blog. That way you'll know when fresh material is posted.

We've been continuing to add to our Kyle album, here are a few new ones - ENJOY!!

St. Patrick's Day Post-Parade Party



Kyle, Spiderman & Dad - WalMart Spidey Picture Day



Kyle eating/wearing Dinner



Kyle and his cousin Sean Andrew



That's it for now...

Don't forget about sending us an e-mail.

C

Thank Goodness THAT Week's Over...!

Sorry for the lack of new stuff...we've been down & out for almost the entire week.

Kyle was at the Doctor's on Monday and Wednesday trying to shake a nasty virus and touch of ear infection; while I (Dad) was knocked out with the Flu/Virus of my own.

We finally seem to be coming out of the woods. Kyle's made a turn for the better today, and is showing an appetite for the first time this week. He's much more active today and much less fussy, as well.

Through it all, Mom's been doing her best to take care of us...not as easy as it sounds!

Thanks to Aunt Meg & Aunt Rita for all their advice and counsel in talking us in off the ledge.
Kyle's our first and so we're still very new at what to expect, while they've already seen it all - twice.

I hope to post more news and photos next week after what seems will be a nice weekend.

Thanks for following along.
Good evening.
C

Another Good Day...

Hi all,

Just a quick post...it's getting late.

Special-K had a great day at School today - this morning was the first day that he didn't seem upset at all. He saw me head toward the door as I said goodbye, and calmly turned his attention to the piece of toast (the last remainder of his breakfast) he had in front of him. It was a great feeling!

And then this afternoon, he did not break into crocodile tears when I came in to pick him up. Again, first time since he started school!

To cap off the day, he got a lot of walking practice behind his Sesame Street Car Toy. He walks behind it holding onto the back bar for support. He's doing really well - getting more confident every day!

Here are a few pictures:








And finally...a close-up of Kyle, just after eating a lunch of hard boiled eggs.



I guess you could say "The Yolk's on Him!"

I can't even tell you how long I've been waiting to use that!!

Getting late, Kyle's up EARLY, so gotta run.

C

What a Difference 2 Months Makes - Gotcha Day was just Dec. 24!!

Hi all,

Just a few moments of reflection...

Two months ago, to the day - as you can read in this very blog - we were blessed with Kyle.
We thought we were prepared, but deep down it was really difficult to watch Kyle that day.

He got up that morning just like every other day in his life, up to that point. He must have though something was a little off, since he probably didn't ride in cars much - and here he was taking an hour ride into the city. And he was dressed in an outfit that was probably a little odd for him.

Then he rode in the elevator, which was probably something new for him. But something just wasn't right.

Then in the Gotcha Room, things got very stressful very quickly. For some reason, his caretaker kept pointing to 2 people he had never seen before and saying Mama & Dada. Then, just like that, it was over. What the heck just happened???

He was in the now arms of these 2 people - "Who are they and what are they going to do to me?" Why can't I just get back into the car and go back to my crib, and my walker and all of my little friends?

Everything he ever knew was gone.

We felt so bad for him as he frantically searched over our shoulders for the familiar faces of the caretaker that rode in the car with him and also for the Assistant Director, who drove them from the Fengcheng SWI to Nanchang. They were not there. He was utterly inconsolable.

We forced a lot of pictures and videos that day - and Kyle wanted no parts of us or these pictures.
In fact, it was about a week before he laughed for the first time (I'll remember that moment always.) It was about 8 days before he even began to bond with Lisa - the picture we have of this is priceless.

I've tried to tell his story here in words...how he's been getting better every single day, all the things he's accomplished, and all the good times we've shared as a family already. Today we went to the Chinese New Year celebration at the Philadelphia Seaport Museum. Kyle had another great day, he participated in some dancing activities, and he made a Dragon mask.

Today is exactly the sort of day that we are so happy and thankful to have these Gotcha Day photos, as stressful as they were to take.


Only because we can so easily see the transformation that Kyle has made.


The words in this story try to paint a picture...but I won't even clutter the (2) pictures below with words, because I'm not that good of a writer. The one on the left is Gotcha Day; the one on the right is today.

What a difference two months makes!








Gotcha Indeed!!!

More soon...
C

"Steady As He Goes..."

Hi everybody,

Thanks for checking in again.

Kyle continues to thrive here in Harleysville. He's a hit at his Goddard School...chicks dig him. Seriously, he's doing really well. He still gets a little upset when I drop him off in the morning, but his teachers say that he settles down very shortly thereafter. I stopped by this week around lunchtime to spy on him and was very happy to see that he was happily participating in a class activity. In the afternoon, he still cries a little bit when I pick him up. But as soon as I pick him up and hold him he shuts off the crying like flipping a switch!

We're really blessed that he's such a great sleeper. He goes to bed between 7:30 & 8 after his bath. After we leave him in his bedroom we just leave the door open. (He no longer cries when we leave the room.) We have a monitor and hear him taking to himself for 10-15 minutes and then he conks out. All this time we can go about our business, picking up his toys, doing the laundry downstairs, watching TV in the Family Room (with the volume at normal settings!) whatever - he hardly ever fusses. He sometimes coughs a little if he's not feeling well, but even then he usually goes right back to sleep on his own. (He does have a bit of a mischievous streak - he sometimes coughs purposely, knowing that we'll probably come in to see that he's OK; then as soon as we lean into the crib, he lets out a little giggle.) We're very lucky.

He continues to enjoy his bath time:



More to follow soon...
C

School Days!!

Hi Everyone...sorry for the posting lag.
We're all doing really well here in Kyleville.

Thanks to those who have posted comments, keep 'em coming!

Since our last posting, there have been several developments.

Noel & Joanne have returned to Michigan and are getting back into their routines after becoming such a welcome part of ours for the past few weeks. I just wanted to say Thanks to them for all they've done for use to help us acclimate Kyle to his new home. I get the idea that Kyle missses them, since the only "home" he's known up to this point has included them. (Noel, I hope the rib is healing up well.)

Kyle continues to make progress every day - getting stronger and more confident - learninbg that he can make more noises that make people laugh. He's gotten right into the swing of things around here, accompanying us on our amny trips & errands around town. He's very good in restaurants and in stores - he enjoys shopping!

He's taking more & more steps in his quest to string more than 5 steps together before literally falling into the receiver's arms. His routine had been to lean with his back against our family room couch, and reach out as far as he could so that he could take your hand for support before pushing off. He now confidently shoves off himself after gauging the distance and judging that you'll catch him sometime after step#4, but before a faceplant!

We've finally started to make prints from our digital photos. We took nearly 1,000 of them!

Here is a photo some of you have seen - it's our adoption announcement:



As of last week, Kyle has started at the Goddard School. He went 2 days last weeks (1/2 Days only) to get used to it. He did great!

This week he starts full days. Today was Day #1. Again, he got excellent reports from his teachers. As I picked him up today, I hung just outside the door to peek in. He seemed right at home, reading a small book and interacting with a few of his new little friends while waiting for me. As I walked in, he saw me and burst into tears!!! I'm not sure why, because as soon as I picked him up, and started to get him ready to head out, he began telling me about his day! He seemed a lot more vocal and quite happy on the ride home. He didn't fall asleep and managed to get all the way through the Baby Einstein "Baby Beethoven" DVD I played for him.

It's all good since he chowed on snacks on the ride home, ate a good dinner, got a bath (absolutely loves bath time and gets sort of giddy when he hears the tub faucet running) and went down to sleep almost immediately.

In conjunction with Kyle's school days, Lisa has returned to work. She seemed to have a good day - no dirty diapers would make anyone's days more enjoyable, work or not!

Again, thanks for all of your kind wishes here on the weblog, we look forward to the comments.

Here are a few more photos...



Enjoy - Talk to y'all soon!

C

A Wonderful Event!!!

Hi again everyone,

We're coming off a great weekend! Kyle's doing really well and continues to make great progress.

He's learning that he can make different noises and sounds...sometimes however, at inopportune times!!

Kyle's getting stronger every day and is getting more adventurous with his attempts at walking on his own. But it always seems that the last 2 steps into our arms is more of a controlled fall!

The wonderful event that I mentioned earlier was a GREAT party thrown by the families in our neighborhood as a "Welcome Home Party" for Kyle (and us). It was Sunday at 2PM and we'll never forget it.

Lisa, Kyle and I would like to thank everyone who came to welcome us home, and to thank everyone for their very generous gifts! We'd especially like to thank the Pughs for opening their home to us and to everyone. And thanks also to Katie Duffy for all of her work in helping pull it off. The food was great, and the Cake is STILL really good - there's a piece or 2 left on our kitchen counter - which I'll try to polish off later tonight.

Instead of boring everyone with our endless stream of photos, we decided to make a short video montage of some of our most favorite pictures (with a really cute background song). We showed it at the party and I think it went pretty well. The photos follow our progress before, during and after we got the gift of Kyle! (I just wish that I could somehow let everyone else see it - you will NOT see it on YouTube!!)

As I said at the party, after 7 years in Hidden Creek, we truly think of our neighbors as our extended family. We are grateful for having had the chance to get to know all of you and to watch our families grow up together. We thank you for this gift.

When creating entries for this blog while we were in China, we felt a special need to let everyone know what was going on. But, because I knew so many people would be reading along, it was important that the words were not "just the facts" - day, times, activities, etc. The typical prep for blogging went like this:

Lisa: "I'm exhausted, let's get some sleep."

Charlie: "Great idea. Kyle's out like a light. But, we should probably post something. What did we do today anyway...it's a bit of a blur?"

Lisa would then use hotel stationery to list out a page of bullet points for me to use as reference. We'd laugh at all of the great stuff that had happenend that day, and I'd be on my way to the Hotel Business Center or a Net Bar/Cafe to upload.

As I read through Lisa's notes, the day usually came back to me very clearly. As I wrote, I tried to give you all a sense of not just what was happening, but how it affected us; how we felt about things, good and bad... With every word, there was an overwhelming feeling that in a few hours, everyone at home would be reading along - the pressure was actually a great motivator!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the party:


















Thanks again to everyone!
Good evening...
C

An Quick Update...

Hi all,

I'm not sure who's still reading this or checking in, but if you are please continue...

We'll be posting periodic items about Kyle's progress and his activities.

So keep checking. (This post is an accumulation of recent typings, but I'll post it now...)

Lisa and I were were so happy to hear that so many people had been following along with our travels. Sometimes it was tough to find the time to post something, but since we knew that y'all were waiting on news, we tried to post regularly. We truly hope you enjoyed being there with us, we enjoyed having you along. For those who posted comments - Thanks for the encouragement!

It's been a week and a half or so since our last update, and there's lots to tell.

Kyle's doing really well here in Harleysville, and we hope all of the other kids in our travel group are doing well also.

It's amazing to see how he's really developing his personality. He loves to play alone or with others. He eats ANYTHING - Food, I mean. He's been sleeping really well, and has only had 1 "bad" night in the last 2 weeks.

He's been out and about a lot. He's been to the King of Prussia Mall, Market Fair Mall (in Princeton, NJ) and on numerous neighborhood walks with Mom & Dad and our dog, Murphy. He doesn't seem to mind the cold and loves to ride in the car.

He's also samples the local restaurant cuisine, and seems to like eating (out or in). This past weekend he went to the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA. He had a boatload of fun but was just a bit young for the exhibits and activities - but try them he did! We also visited Grandmom & Pop-Pop Lockhead for Dinner in Philadelphia on Saturday night. Kyle had a lot of fun with Sean Andrew and Alyx, his cousins, and showed off by testing out his walking (with some help still) skills. (It's also comforting to know that just like Dad, Uncle Sean, and Pop-Pop Kyle likes soft pretzels!)

He's gotten a clean bill of health from his new Doctor - all of his tests came back just as they should have.

Last week Kyle also visited his new school (Goddard School) for a test drive. Once again, he came up aces - got along well with the teachers and other kids in the class. We're sure he'll do really well there.

I hope this is not too disjointed, but I hope to post some more photos shortly.
Please, keep checking back.

Thanks.
C

Latest Pictures...

These are not in chronological sequence, and for that I apologize.
It's late, I'm exhausted and I'm going to bed. Right Now.
Good Night.
C

Kyle at the Aquarium



Kyle at the Aquarium



Grandma, Poppa, Mom, Dad & Kyle at the Aquarium



The Welcoming Committee at the Airport
(Aunt Mary, Aunt Rita, Grandmom & Pop-Pop



Kyle, Grandmom Lockhead & Aunt Rita




Mt Fuji, Japan from the Plane



Mom & Kyle ready to leave HK for Tokyo.



Kyle getting ready for the Disney Parade.



Mom & Kyle stake out prime curb space for the Parade



Kyle (Waving as you can see!) & Mom checking out the Racecars



Kyle being Kyle



Kyle being Kyle, again



Pooh Picture (Kyle's in the Green Sweater)



Fun on the Carousel



Kyle & Mom at the Castle

Update for Thursday Night (Part 2)...

Hi again,

Now that we've been home for 2 nights, Kyle's been having a tougher than expected adjustment. In the hotels, he always had a clear view of our bed and seems much more at ease when we put him in his crib. Now here at home he has his own room, so it is much different for him. If we could only know what was going on in that little noggin, we'd be able to help...

Anyway, we've both been up most of the past 2 nights alternating attending to him, changing/feeding him. His normal schedule's pretty much out the window now, so we're really just trying to establish new routines, schedules and environments. Progress is slow but I know he'll be fine. He's made great progress so far, that we're confident he'll overcome this. In the meantime, Lisa and I are both sleep-deprived already!!

His first DAY home for Kyle was fairly simple, lots of playtime, some doctor's appointments and some lab/blood work (This was not pretty, but I'll spare everyone the details.) As I mentioned in a recent post, we had a nice dinner with both of our families - and Kyle was just fine.

Today, Kyle, his Mom & Dad, and Grandma & Pop-Pop went to the Adventure Aquarium (in Camden, NJ - just across the river from Philadelphia). Kyle saw a lot of neat fish, sharks, eels, stingrays and he was the subject of a number of great pictures - soon to come.

That's really all for now - I'll post some pictures shortly.

Good night,
C

Update for Thursday Night...

Hi all,

Thanks for checking in.

I see that the last "real" post was from Monday, the night before we left to come home.

We've been home for 2 full days now.

Our Journey on Tuesday was long, challenging and a little bit unnerving at times.

We left HK for Tokyo just fine, and the Business Class seating made a huge difference. We were able to board much easier (giving more time to settle into our seats), and the service was of course much better. It was more expensive, but wort the investment. I would recommend it to anyone considering a trip like this. We were the only family in BC but there seemed to be a number of families on the rest of the plane.

At this point, I'd like to digress a little bit and take you back to our trip from Guangzhou to HongKong. We had had a long night before and I was pretty tired, and probably not thinking straight. Regardless, I forgot to make allowance for our Breakfast on the morning of our departure. I didn't have ANY Chinese yuan/RMB with which to get even a cup of coffee or tea at the airport for Lisa, who still wasn't feeling well. Thank God for the goodness of strangers (well, sort of strangers). I recalled meeting a really nice couple in Guangzhou, and we shared a really nice conversation about Kyle and about how he came to us. They were very nice and very complimentary to Kyle. I know now that their names are Paul and Dorothy Lacy. How, you ask?

This is where the kindness comes in. We also walked past the Lacys on the way to our gate in the GZ airport. Shortly after reaching our gate, I knew that we both could really benefit from even a small breakfast. I had only $US and there was no place to change money from $US to Chinese RMB. I then remembered again seeing Paul waiting for his flight at a gate near ours. I approached him and asked him if we might borrow enough Chinese money for a small breakfast. I told him that if he could lend us a small hand, I would mail him a check immediately upon our return. I was hardly able to finish my request before Paul was already digging for his wallet. I want to acknowledge Paul and Dorothy for their kindness and say a heartfelt thank you for their gesture. He suggested that we not send a check, which might be difficult to cash at a Chinese bank. However, he did give me his card so that I'd know who he and his wife were. They have a small company that offers hand-made, hand-embroidered, and hand dyed fabrics, batiks and tapestries. Everything is made by the Miao women, a little known minority ethnic group that has its own language and customs dating back thousands of years, yet whose exquisite embroidery skills are relatively unknown outside their own people. They can be found at www.shenaini.com. Please visit their website. We have and we'll be returning the favor in our own way. Again, many thanks to Paul and Dorothy, and all the best from the Lockheads and Kyle.

Back to our story...
Once we hit the ground in Tokyo, for some reason we needed to pass through another security checkpoint. This was an absolute mess. Our flight landed concurrently with 2 other 747s from other originating cities, but this entire mass of people needed to squeeze through only 4 (FOUR!) single-file metal detectors. It took nearly an hour and it clearly didn't matter that we were pushing a 15-month old in a stroller. In fact, it seemed like some of the other people in line used this to THEIR advantage. People were generally well behaved but there was definitely some jockeying and jostling for position. Kyle's head was at about mid-thigh height, so it was on a collision path with every shoulder bag in the line. I spent most of the time shoving bags out of his way so he wouldn't get dinged. Props must go to Kyle at this point for he didn't budge from his stroller - he did not make any fuss or noise, and never came close to losing his cool. (He was a shining example for both of us.) It was one of the worst line/queue management experiences I've ever seen!

We made it through the line and headed to our gate. The flight from Tokyo to Detroit went fine. It was on-time, and comfortable. Kyle was a little challenging toward the end but he finally settled down. He was a bit of a disruption in the BC cabin, but only for a few moments, probably due to ear problems. Again, you can than the Raisins!

In Detroit, the smoothness of our entry into the US (through Homeland Security / Immigration) can be largely attributed to Cathy, our Guide. Hopefully, you remember her? We needed to stand in 3 lines, but all the waits were quite short, and the agents were very professional and even helpful. Thanks to Cathy, all of Kyle's and our documents were in order and correctly filled out. We sailed through. (Unlike the 15 or so "ne'erdowells" we saw sitting on the floor of one of the secondary screening room - clearly, they were having some difficulties and might be there a while. Black cable ties are usually not good news.)

We claimed our bags and got them cleared back onto our LAST FLIGHT from Detroit to Philadelphia. This last flight was pretty much a blur. But I guess it went OK, since we made it home safely, as I said in a recent message. I think Kyle got a little uncomfortable again on this flight, but nothing too unbearable.

Once we landed in Philadelphia, we were met at the Airport by Grandmom & Pop-Pop Lockhead, Aunt Mary, and Aunt Rita. What a great surprise! Everyone was so excited to see Kyle and us and it was great to see such a welcoming committee since we were so exhausted. (Kyle would like to say a big Thank You for the Welcome Home signs to his cousin Alyx - They are really great!!!) They came to bring us our car, outfitted of course with Kyle's new Car Seat for the ride home. So we drove home.

At home, we (and Kyle) got almost as big a surprise when we were welcomed into our home by Grandma & Poppa Wedder!!! Thanks to Grandma for making us dinner so we could eat some real food once we made it home.

We didn't last too long before we all crashed for the night.

More soon...
C

More tomorow...

Hi,

We didn't get a chance to touch up/crop the photos today. Sorry.
We had a nice small dinner & visit with Grandmom & Pop-Pop Lockhead.
Thanks for all the great gifts!!

Please bear with us, we will do the best we can to let everyone know what's going on, and how Kyle's adjusting.

Thanks.
C

We're Home Safely!!

Hi all,

We've made it home safely. We're exhausted so I'll post much more tomorrow.

Good night.
C

Sorry, No Last PICTURES from the Road...

UPLOADING from here at the Business Centre is not working.

I apologize, but I'll try to post some more as soon as I can.

Good night.
C

LAST Update from the Road

Greetings all.

We're safely tucking into the Regal Airport Hotel in HK for the night.

We fly out homeward-bound tomorrow morning. Reveille is at 0500.
Kyle was settling into his crib for the night and Lisa and I just finished pre-packing our 4 suitcases. (If you're following along with the home game, that 100% more than we started with!!)

Anyway, lots to report since my last update. Lisa was kind enough to write up some bullet points for me to go by, so since it's late and I'm tired, I'll just follow alobg with them, as long as no one objects. I didn't hear any objections so here we go...

Yesterday we hit HK Disneyland - and how! We were there form 9:30 AM to 6:15 PM. It was a reasonable taxi ride from our hotel, so we cabbed it. We are very proud to report that Kyle made it through the day with FLYING COLORS! No meltdowns and he seemed to be having fun all day long. We got some great photos which I hope to post shortly. The park has only been open 1 year and we're essentially in the off season, so we had the run of the place. We had ZERO wait on most rides, and suffered our longest wait on the Jungle River Cruise - an excrutiating 10 minutes! There were very few westerners in the Park and even fewer Americans (seemed like lots of Brits & Aussies again.)

Once again the boy was the star of the show, getting compliments at every turn. He rode the kids Pooh ride 3x and seemed to enjoy it (and get it) more each time. We also did Buzz Lightyear 2x (To all of our neices and nephews: Aunt Lisa wanted to ride it again, so she could try to beat Uncle Charlie, sine he smoked her good the first time. But, it made no difference, she got whooped even worse the 2nd time!!!!), Flying Dumbo 3x, The Orbitron 2x, and the Carousel. To give Kyle a break, we saw the Lion KIng Show at around nap time. True to form Kyle stayed awake for all but the last 5 minutes and the Finale (the loudest and most exciting parts). He also got tons of stickers - too many to mention. We was great with all of the characters - this was a bit curious to us, given his anxiety on Gotcha Day. But he did not seem afraid at all, nor did he shy away from any of them, or cringe when then reached out to touch him. We got a lot of great photos of these, too.

Kyle needed some shade from the sun, since it was such a perfect day (warm and comfortable for January). So we got him a little Tigger hat - he looked just super in it - when he left it on!!! Again, got some pictures.

The night before we went to Disney, Kyle and I had a "boys night out". We had a couple of beers, got foot massages and went to a few clubs... - just kidding!!! I did take him (solo) to a Dan Ryan's Steakhouse, where I dined on real meat for the first time in a couple of weeks while Kyle dined on Mixed Vegtebles, crakers, goldfish and of course, Cheerios. Lisa needed the rest to get ready for Disneyland. The meal was so good that I was able to talk Lisa into going there last night, too.

Kyle's getting more engaged in his surroundings, and has taken to entertaining people he sees - he waves, and shakes his head "No" (I think he thinks it means "Yes" so we've got some work to do here...).

Today we went to the other side of HKI (HK Island), and visited Stanley Market. We took a ferry across the harbor and caught the "Number 6" bus (Double-Decker) for the 40 minute ride to the market. Aunt Lisa got a little queasy because the ride was a bit of a thrill, with lots of steep drop-offs on the side of the road. There was never any danger, but we almost had to have Aunt Lisa hand surgically removed from the safety hand grip! Kyle shopped all day with us like a champ. We visited a Buddhist Temple and lit some incense and said a few prayers for our safe passage home. We passed Repulse Bay on the way to Stanlley and the views were breathtaking - they reminded us somewhat of Hawaii.

Kyle is in his last Hotel Room for a while. We had a nice dinner here at the hotel. We're really looking forward to coming home and settling our family into the simple routines of being a family. We're as ready as we can be for the big trip back home to the USA and are really fortunate to be able to have business class seats.

I know that everyone is excited to finally meet Kyle. But I don't think you're as excited as we are to introduce him to you.

It's really hard to believe that our journey has come to an end - it's been the experience of a lifetime and we've been lucky to have all of you along with us for the ride.

Thanks for reading our posts, we hope they've given you a flavor for what we've been doing and where we've been.

That's it for now. I'll post pictures in a moment.

Good night.

(To Grandmom and Pop-Pop Lockhead, we'll call probably call you from Detroit, when we know more about our arrival details - don't forget to put in the car seat!!!)

C

Catching Up - Part 3 - Pictures

Here are the pictures I promised...

Kyle and Dad at the "Last Supper", at the Italian Restaurant in the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou. (No high chairs!!!!)



As reported earlier...Feng Ai Tao has left and Kyle Lockhead has arrived!!
Lisa and Mom sharing tickles and giggles in Guangzhou on the night before we left...
Its great to see how Lisa's broken through to him!!!



Kyle trying on Dad's shoes - and having fun doing it!!!




At the Kowloon Park yesterday.




At the Zoo playground this morning!



At the Zoo this morning...




At the top of Victoria Peak (inside)...today.

The Star Ferry, as take from the Star Ferry.

Gotta run...Lisa and Kyle are probably worried that I'm not back yet...

C

Catching Up - Part 2

OK, so it will be 3 Posts!

Anyway, we were up early this morning. Lisa was feeling even worse, so I went out to Starbucks (where else did you think I would go?) for some coffee and muffins while Lisa fed Kyle. This helped a little, and she suited up like a trooper to head out. I was able to get some maps from the concierge and we set out today to see HK Island.

The MPH is really nice - we have a large room, with lots of floor space for all of our junk and lots of play space for the K-man. He has a great crib - roomy and comfortable. (He did not wake up once.)

I forgot to mention that the night before we left, all the packing, the sight of the suitcases, and all of the commotion must have triggered some thing in Kyle's brain. He woke up screaming and crying 3 times (10PM, 12, and 3AM). He was absolutely inconsolable. We felt so bad, but know he might have nights like this. We did what we could to comfort him, and fed him a little bit (some juice and a biscuit/cracker) each time. It helped a little bit - but we all got very little sleep. Iam certain that this is a cause for Lisa feeling ill as well.

Where was I...oh yeah...the hotel.
Top shelf accomodations, attentive staff (except for the failure to come through with an early - before noon - check-in yesterday), great location - 100 yards from the ferry terminal. I'm sure Bob and Carolyn know where it is.

This morning after breakfast, we took the world-famous Star Ferry over to HKI (Hong Kong Island) to go to the Zoo and to Victoria Peak. Lisa toughed it out, and we covered the zoo after a short taxi ride from the ferry terminal. It was nice - some of it was under construction, and so not available to visitors. It's also on a bit of a hillside - so it was a little challenging. Inside we found a little children's playground, and gave Kyle this first taste of playgrounds. He seemed to like some things - one of the pictures I'll post show Lisa and Kyle on a little rocking seat). He had some throuble on the swings and on the slide - his core strength needs some work so he didn't have the strength (or confidence) for these. We did try them though.

We walked from the Zoo to the Victoria Peak Tram station. This was after we got into a taxi - only to have the driver point out that the terminal was about 2 blocks away!! The tram ride was really cool and gave great views of the harbor skylines all the way up. It's basically a cable car (2 Passenger cars) that rises on railroad tracks up 1200 feet in about 10 minutes. For those of you who've been there - it's a lot like the Incline up to Mount Washington in Pittsburgh.

We got out at the top and toured the shopping areas. There are about 5 floors of shops and an outside observation deck. For those of you keeping track, Kyle does not fancy strong winds in his hair!! The Deck had great views of both sides of HKI, but between Lisa vertigo and Kyles aversion to high wind - unfortunately, we could not stay outside. Lisa and Kyle went inside and I got some shots from the deck. I also snapped (and will post shortly) a shot of L&K safely inside with the skyline in the background.

We had a nice lunch at the Bubba Gump at the Peak, and headed back down shortly after. We grabbed a taxi back to the Ferry and took the Ferry back to Kowloon. On thr trip back, Lisa nearly passed out while Kyle slept in his shiny new stroller. I snapped a few pictures - and will post 1.

All of which brings me back to right now in Kowloon...

Lisa and Kyle are sleeping in the room, and I am in another Internet Cafe (two doors down from the Starbucks). This place is NOTHING like the other "Net Bar" I used in Nanchang. It's actually a nice little well spaced (I'm not rubbing shoulders with some gamer!!) collection of what look to be newer PCs, in a nice well lit well ventillated room with maybe 60 spaces. English seems to be as common as Chinese in here, with lots of Aussies and Brits. There are 2 cruise ships in town so I've seen/overheard passengers and crew catching up with their e-mail / blogs. I'm sure it's much cheaper here than on board.

So that's it - up to the minute.

I'm headed back to the room to wake the rest of the team and head out for chow.

So cheers for now and I'll post pictures right after - provided the connection is quick enough.
C

Catching up from Thursday Night...Hopefully I remember it all!!! (Part 1)

Just some advance warning, I will likely do this in 2 posts - words then pictures.

I'm coming to you from Kowloon, Hong Kong - more on that later...

As of our last post, (I hope...) we were about to get cleaned up to head for for Kyle's Swearing-In Ceremony.
We loaded the Bus for one last-time all together as a travel group under Cathy's leadership. I don't think that the significance of this was lost on anyone. Since our first day in Bejing, we had essentially done almost everything as a group. And here we were, all together for the last time, only two-weeks later, but changed forever.

The trip cross town to the American consulate was a sight for the eyes - apartment high-rise after apartment high-rise, office building after office building. There was so much new construction (due largely I suppose to the rise of private property rights) it looked like a crane farm - they were everywhere! We got to the American consulate offices (on the 5th Floor of an office tower) right on time and rendezvoused (?) with 2 other travel groups of about the same size. We all marched up the escalators to the offices - and I can't really describe the feeling I think we all had seeing the Stars & Stripes for the first time in weeks!!! It was a slice of home - and just at the right time. I had a bit of a lump in my throat as we recited the oath which basically made our son an American. The actual words - essentially that Lisa and I had told the truth on all of our documents - were much less important than the symbolism. It was a small act but, still a very big deal.

Afterward is when Cathy reminded us that this was our last ride, and she thanked us and said we were the best group she'd ever had in all of her years...OK maybe she didn't say that part. Anyway she gave us her heartfelt thanks for all that we'd done with and for here. We didn't lose anyone - and didn't leave anyone behind anywhere!! (Thanks also to Reagan for spotting Mark & Frederica running for the bus as it pulled away - it was close but they made it.) Seriously, Thanks to Cathy our whole experience went better than most had expected. The trips and tours were very informative, and without her help in the restaurants, we'd still be waiting for our meals!! For most of our group meals, she worked much harder that the restaurant wait staff - translating, pushing, and fighting for us while making it all look easy!

After we got back, we met up with several other families (thanks to Rick for organizing this) and had a really enjoyable meal at the hotel's Italian Restaurant. We'd been there for a number of days but didn't even know there was an Italian Restaurant - we all wished we'd found it earlier. And no mice!!!

We toasted our success, enjoyed our dinners, and wished each other safe travels for the last time. (I don't have my cheat sheet with me so I'll have to post the names of the families that we dined with because it was really special.) With the exception of Rob & Shelly, we would not be seeing these families again.

We woke up REALLY early yesterday (Friday) morning for our ride to the airport which was peaceful - if you don't count almost rear ending a car that got in front of our bus on the highway and essentially stopped!!! Big wake-up call - no contact, though (and it was not our driver's fault)! We rode with several other families that also had early morning flights (most left 8AM - 8:30AM). Once again, Cathy came through with Breakfast
Boxes for the ride!

We met up with our luggage and said the rest of our good byes to everyone at the Guangzhou airport. We flew on the same flight to Hong Kong as Frederica and Mark, who were connecting back through to Chicago, then on to Atlanta. Most everyone else was connecting from Guangzhou to Tokyo then stateside. Kyle was sad to say goodbye to Sophia, but we had to - and we made our way to the taxis.

After a 45 minute taxi ride to the Marco... Polo...Marco...Polo... (some jokes just don't translate that well in writing) Hotel from the airport, we couldn't even check in because we'd gotten there so early! Lisa was starting to fell quite sick and Kyle had the sniffles as well, so we found some lunch in the shopping mall attached to the Hotel. Despite her deteriorating health, Lisa also managed to find a TCBY for some desert. News Flash - Kyle likes TCBY!! After lunch, Lisa and "Special K" crashed.

I, on the other hand, ventured out to see if I could find a cheap stroller on the streets, perhaps in a shop or street market- there are lots of these. One would think, that in a city the size of Hong Kong, a cheap stroller would be a gimme. I would venture that I walked 3 miles, all the way up Nathan Road, over to Temple and Shanghai streets, and through at least 4 street markets. I assure you that you can find almost ANYTHING on the streets of Hong Kong (I was stopped by so many guys trying to fit me for suits that I lost count...) , except, that is, a stroller.

I sulked back to the room and woke Lisa and Kyle. We walked for a while up to Kowloon Park, and then searched for dinner. We found the place that USED TO be the home of a California Pizza Kitchen, and then finally settled for a nice meal at the Hard Rock Cafe a few blocks up Canton Road from the hotel. The meal was fine and staff friendly. We ate, and then we crashed...So ended Friday night in HK. I forgot to mention that we had to go back to the Toys-R-U to buy a stroller, some "Biter Biscuits" for the boy (these are like GOLD - I'm glad Lisa found them...) and some food.

More soon...

Thursday afternoon here in Guangzhou

I will try and type fast. We are in the coffee shop and Charlie is feeding Kyle. We are going to the American Consulate in about 1.5 hrs. to get all of the final, final paperwork done (the swearing in). We went to the Pearl Market this a.m. and got "good deal" and then we walked thru the Spice Market where we saw those gross tiger paws, tiger teeth, sea dragons, deer tails and lots of mushrooms and ginseng. Supposedly they are all for "men's health." The man with the tiger paws said "no" when I tried to take his picture; probably because he knew it was illegal. I told another woman "bad" when she held up a tiger tooth for us to buy and she started laughing.

Last night, we had quite the dining experience. It was Fear Factor TV show + a little entertainment. Going into the place, you could pick your own big fat juicy worm from the "dining tank" area. Back in our room, we are eating and someone screams "mouse" so the waiter comes over and stomps it to death behind a tree behind our table and then says "shhhh." He then came back about 10 min. later to check for the final signs of life "none." We were all laughing and screaming. We then told our guide to negotiate for the "mouse dining discount" when we paid, which she did!!!!! On the way out of the restaurant, I saw a man eating a plate of huge beetles. It was so disgusting. We all ran for ice cream shortly afterward!! I think that this will be an American dining evening tonight!!!

Kyle is doing really well each day. Last night, he didn't hit bed until 9 and then he talked for 1/2 hr. until he fell asleep. He does wake up very cranky around 7-7:30 each morning. He needs his morning breakfast of french toast!!

As Chal said, the net is really, really slow so we are working on the pictures and fixing the sideways shots. We'll try and do more before we leave today. We leave for HK at the crack of dawn tomorrow. The off for more sight-seeing.

Must run, cranky is here and he has to get ready for his big debut.

Mom/Dad - okay on visiting -- We'll try and call you later today or from HK tomorrow.

Talk to you all later. Hope that everyone is feeling better and healthier.

More Pictures...

Here are a few more shots...we tried earlier today (see last Post) from a coffee shop but the connection was dreadfully slow. I'm in the business center tonight - here's hoping it's better.

It's NOT - it's taken me nearly 45 minutes to upload these - so this will have to hold you over until next time...
(Sorry about the sideways shot - I forgot to rotate it - and it's taking way too long.)

C

Lisa and Kyle at the Park



Here we are getting our blessing from the Monk at the Buddhist Temple.

Here we are moments after the photos on the famous "Red Couch" at the White Swan Hotel.

(Kyle did the best of all the babies - credit must go to the Raisins - look closely at Kyle's hands!

Here is a shot of Kyle with Ethan and Evan, the othe boys/twins in our travel group.

(Someone in our group called them the 3 Wise Men...it's more like the 3 Wise Guys!!)

Here Kyle entertains a few of his lady-friends (Sophia on your left and Emma on your right), while we were all anxiously awaiting word from Cathy at the consulate. We got the call that our paperwork was all in order at about 11:55AM!!!!

Here's Lisa and Kyle at the Quing Family Academy (I think Lisa may have written about this in another post.)

That's it for now...

C