Consulate Appointment! Monday July 29th

This morning, Mark, Arrayah, and I had to get up early to go to our consulate appointment. Arayah was NOT ready to get up and has reminded us all day that she is tired. Once she got moving, she was all smiles and sang lots of cute songs this morning, all in Mandarin. When we were at the very important consulate appointment, Arrayah belted out the tune for all to hear. As I was holding her looking out the window, she clearly repeated "people walking" "car" and "trees." Her English is coming along. Also coming along is her volume! She is getting louder and louder, especially now if she is upset. During one of several pouting sessions today, after throwing things on the floor when she was mad, I moved her to sit on a spot on the floor. She screamed and cried and screamed some more! Up to this point, we have been more forgiving of some of her behaviors and redirected her. Today I decided that was enough and she was getting removed from the situation. She was still in the room of course with us, but I wanted her to know her behavior was not appropriate. I must say I am feeling a bit concerned about how she will do on the 15 hour flight from Hong Kong to Chicago. The good news is, she turns it around fairly quickly.

Our consulate appointment like I mentioned yesterday is really no big deal, as much as it is a big deal! We are not allowed to take any electronics, cameras, or even our watches, so you won't see any pictures from there today. We took a sippy cup for Arrayah and security made Mark take the lid off and take a drink. When you walk up, there are long lines of many Chinese people waiting to apply for Visas to go to the United States, whether it is just for a visit, to go to school, or to live. We walked straight past everyone to the "American Citizen" entry. So many people looked at us and for some reason it felt different than before. I couldn't help but think how these people want what we take for granted. They want to experience the United States and we get to have it and all it offers, simply because that is where we were born. I feel very fortunate and as hectic as our lives are, it still is much easier than what many others face in other countries. So after we got inside, we took the oath, led by an American consulate worker and then we waited our turn. We met up with a few other families that were not with our adoption agency, but that I have met on the facebook travel groups. It was neat to meet them in person as well as seeing their little ones. We ended up being the very last family through, but still was done around 10am.

After the consulate appointment, I was getting ansty, so I started packing what I could. Tomorrow will be another full day of activities, so I felt like I needed to get a jump on things since we leave at 6am on Wednesday. We then went to lunch in the hotel restaurant. It was quite the experience. Lots of fancy foods. Beth and I sampled several different sushi as well as many other dishes. The dessert bar was HUGE. I was excited to try creme brulee and souffle. I am glad we went and tried it, but once is enough as far as we are concerned.

This afternoon we took Arrayah swimming for the last time on this trip. I thought she would have a fantastic time, but she wanted out of the pool and pointed up to our hotel room. She was so tired. She finally fell asleep and slept several hours. As soon as she woke up, she was smiling and laughing. Ahhhh. Unfortunately, we all napped and woke up late, so it will now be a later bedtime. We ordered Papa John's Pizza and now Arrayah is doing another thing she loves, playing in the bathtub! She saves up bottles and fills all of them with these little finger bathtub puppets we have. It is a slow process, but she loves it. She was up to 10 saved bottles in Zhengzhou. She has 11 here along with 4 cups. She plays in the tub about an hour, giggling the entire time!

Tomorrow we will take a taxi to Shamian Island, where we stayed last time. There are little shops, a restaurant that serves American food and we can also walk along the river. We are looking forward to going back, although many of the shops have closed since most adoptive families no longer stay on the Island. The main hotel has been closed almost 2 years for renovations and the adoption offices have moved off the island, so there really isn't a reason to be there anymore. It really is a shame, the buildings are beautiful and it is such a slower, more relaxing pace. It is hard to believe that tomorrow is our very last full day here in China. I just wish there was a way to get home without enduring a 15 hour plane ride. Sigh. Oh well, soon it will be over and we will all be back together again.

Here are a few pictures of the day.