Easy Days in Guangzhou

The past couple days, Sunday and Monday, were pretty easy.  We found some little shops near the hotel and did a bit of shopping.  Mia found a couple of cute dresses and LaoLao got another pair of squeaky shoes.  (In case you've never heard them, the shoes squeak each time the child steps.  Great way to know where your kid is and how fast they are going.)

We looked at some of the pictures and videos given to us by LaoLao's foster mom.  It's a CD full of almost 600 pics and videos from about one year of age on.  Before that LaoLao was in the orphanage, and I don't have any pics from that time other than her small finding ad (an ad placed in the newspaper after a child is abandoned to see if anyone claims them.). Due to technical issues, I can't post any of those pics now, but I will be sure to do so once we are home.

Today we walked to an orchid garden near the hotel.  But first, we had to figure out how to cross the busy street.  They have it all blocked off from pedestrians.  There is a Metro station right there so we finally figured out you can walk down towards the Metro, but not get on, and you are able to come up a different exit.  In fact, the passageway is so big underground there are actually stores down there, including a 7-11.

The orchid garden was very pretty, but unfortunately the orchids were not in bloom.  I can only imagine how nice it would look with them all in bloom.  We also took the traditional adoption pictures in Chinese dresses.  Before, families took pictures on a famous red couch.  The couch wasn't available so we opted for our hotel's lobby and garden.  We'll call it the black bench picture.

Tomorrow morning is our consulate appointment, the last paperwork thing we have to do.  Then Ava LaoLao will have her Chinese passport with an U.S. Visa inside.  And I apologize for the low quality pics on this blog.  If I get higher quality, they are too big and cover up the words on the side.  Nothing that is an easy fix here in China.