Taking a "Two Block Walk" to the Tiannamen Square

We are leaving China tomorrow, but will hopefully return for Giavanna sometime this winter. We have been told that Annabella, Mia and Gia are all un-adoptable... but, we THINK we can get Gia's file soon. The others we will wait for until their files are ready. Interestingly, they are all in the Guangxi province... we haven't spoke much about them just because in the natural, it seems unlikely their files will be ready for years. Mia has been in our heart since May 18, 2011... Annabella since November 25, 2011 and Gia since November 25, 2011 with a confirmation in April 2012.

Today we walked "two blocks" to the Tiannamen Square... it took us over an hour... but, Jason doesn't seem to realize either the time or distance. Again... he is probably just wearing his Superman underwear.

The Catholic Church our Great Wall wedding couple was at.

Tyanna making bad choices... feeding the littlest princess wheat, chemicals... and possibly dairy.

Here's the smiles Baba has been waiting for... the are finally here!

Tyanna was attempting to be a soldier... it took several times to photograph her because she kept cracking up.

While Tyanna was trying to look over the thousands of people, Gabriella and Amaris were getting the two-feet away stares... and, photo ops.

It was late... the ceremony was in the 7 PM hour... but, it felt like midnight. We had already walked The Great Wall for hours... and then walked another hour to the square... and, then waited an hour... so, Jason put us all in a little motorized car... while he carried the 25 pound backpack and Gabriella's walker the two blocks back. Ha! It took him I think 45 minutes to walk it... because it wasn't really two blocks. He finally figured out why we were so tired.

Meanwhile, Tyanna and I were taking the girls back to the hotel for 20 yuan... and I started to FREAK OUT... this beautiful driver made me fear nothing... until I didn't recognize ANTYHING.

What if she was going to Human Traffick us? Holy Crap... we might really be in trouble. So, we started to look fervently... and make a plan to bust out. But, just as we planned it all, prayed out loud, and got ready to jump... we saw something we recognized. She dropped us off at the corner of our hotel... we handed her the 20 yuan and she started yelling... "No, no 20 yuan" and pointing to both of us. I took Tyanna's arm and said... they do this all the time. Just walk. The sweet driver drove off.

You can't fool me!

Baba made it back to the hotel, but forgot the one thing we REALLY wanted. Hagen Daz. So, he trecked back a few blocks to get it. $7 ice cream bars... I can't believe he bought each of the babies one... he spent more on ice cream tonight than he had ever done in his life... I think it was like $42 US dollars. But, he is a good Baba and a great husband. He knew his princesses would love it! And, we did!

Amaris is HOME!

Our flight home was quick... less than 11 hours.

As I write this, we have been home for about 30 hours... the first night we slept 14 hours... ALL OF US... but, tonight, it is 3:30 AM and I am writing with two WIDE-AWAKE kiddos playing in the office. But, this is MY TIME to either sleep or write... and, so, since I am way behind in writing, I am choosing writing. The girls are playing nicely together... talking up a storm.

When we arrived home... we got to go in line for the US Citizens at customs... and, then, we got in the "short" line there. Two years ago, we were last and bumped to FIRST. It was AWESOME!

We handed our brown envelope over. Amaris has landed and become an automatic US Citizen because both Jason and I traveled together to get her.

We were the last ones off the plane... as usual. But, it was so nice to see that Gabriella's walker was actually waiting for us.

I don't remember what I was doing while Jason and Tyanna grabbed all the bags, but we all ended up ready to walk out since we had nothing to claim. I had pulled out the beef jerkey from Costco so that we wouldn't be searched. BUT, the bag wasn't tossed as we walked out... so, all of our bags were scanned. Three were found to be of concern. The soup was tossed, the beef jerkey was tossed, but Tyanna got to keep her chicken feet she bought for a friend because apparently it isn't contraband.

We walked a few feet, and then the 3 carts were taken from us and all of our luggage was again put on another conveyer belt and we had to walk to another area of the airport. We grabbed the luggage this time... without the carts... it took 3 trips to shuttle. Up the elevator, across the walk... and to the shuttle expressway.

By the time Jason and Tyanna brought the last load, the girls and I, and all the luggage, had already been loaded. Jason was relieved. We were tired and so happy to finally be HOME.

When we arrived to our home, this is what we saw...

Veronica and Corban each made us a sign on the door.

Corban is referring to Gabriella and Amaris already having been adopted...

and our paper-chasing to Giavanna, Annabella and Amelia.

This was our luggage that came home... despite the fact that we gave two suitcases of clothes to Amaris' orphanage.

Second Flight... Amaris is on Her Way Home!

We FINALLY arrived at the Beijing Airport... Terminal 2 (NOT TERMINAL 3... hired driver)... geez... make sure you pay your guide to ride with you to the airport. Our guide told the driver over and over and over that we were to go to Terminal 2. The driver still took us to Terminal 3, door 2.

The entire time Jason tried to speak to him in English... I told him to start pointing to signs... call Adam... do something other than speak to him in English. I kept saying "no" in Chinese, and saying the number 3 in Chinese, but the driver didn't get it... and, neither did Jason... he was freaking out... Finally, I asked Jason to look at me. Then I said, "If he spoke to you in Chinese, would you understand?" The lightbulb went on.

Jason asked to use the driver's phone. The driver wouldn't give it to him... but, after about the fourth time, the driver either finally understood OR decided to listen... and, he called Adam. I said to my sweet hubby... "Honey, you have no idea what he just said... the guy is lost... YOU need to talk to Adam."

Deep breath.

Jason called Adam and was able to straighten things out. Adam talked again to the driver.

Thank the good Lord Adam got us to the airport... even being an hour away... and, thankfully, our guide used his trip advisor programmed NOW to Terminal 2.

While we sat here, I found the "lost" $600 US dollars. I handed the envelope to Jason upon his return with the contraband bag of over-priced drinks he just bought. But, now we can't find the envelope and Jason doesn't remember me giving it to him. Ugh!

Was hoping this picture might give us a clue where it went. But no... I see no clues.

We arrived at the airport much later than we had hoped, but were still able to get on the plane on time.

We boarded the plane... the Chinese line up super fast... in an effort not to spill my Starbucks mocha while getting all our carry-ons and kids loaded, I went to the front with my two littlest sweethearts and asked if the would allow us to board first. We were at the back of the flight, but they so generously let us board. As we were walking in, a couple families had loaded before us... and, their drinks were confiscated. Tyanna was carrying our contraband... Jason had the three of us go... he said it rather abruptly, and I knew something was up... but, I hadn't put two and two together, they had just confiscated my just-purchased $6 Starbucks mocha... I drank three of the biggest drinks ever and we walked quickly. We didn't even have our tickets, but we did have our passports... still, we had no idea what row we were in.

Then, Jason started running towards us. He needed the passports. I looked at him and said, "You just left all of our junk with them?" I wonder if his money was confiscated while they looked in his bag with no one else watching. Hmm! Hopefully we will find it.

The Forbidden City

When I think of the word "Forbidden" in China, I think of my burrito from Qdoba that I brought from our hometown to China... two years ago. It was labeled... FORBIDDEN... and, it was confiscated from me.

Now, we are walking the "two blocks" from our hotel to the Forbidden City... it was a walk that lasted FOREVER... we must have walked a mile or more... because Amaris wasn't strapped to me correctly, I was in excrutiating pain. My hips hurt so bad that I had to hold tears back many times; but, this was something my sweet husband really wanted to do... so, I continued to walk. Fortunately, Adam carried EVERTHING but the kids. He was amazing... even if he didn't know how far two blocks really was.

There it is... yet... still too far for me to walk another step... so, we paid some drivers and loaded up two of these little cars.

Within minutes, Tyanna became a hero again. This little girl's mama started it all... and, then... maybe 15 or 20 people wanted their photos with our biggest princess. As we walked away, I said to her, "Imagine what you would have done to these people had you worn a Cinderella dress." They were so very delighted to have their photo taken with a blonde haired teenager. She was a star...

 
Here is just a snapshot... because there were MANY snapshots taken. Touring the Forbidden City seemed second to photographing our daughter's stardom in China.

While the road was often bumpy, Gabriella LOVES the freedom of the walker and walking "all by myself."

If I could have carried her, I would have... but, I just couldn't... I will get stronger, but becoming instantly strong in a week, hasn't happened yet.

There were many more photo ops with Tyanna throughout our journey.

This stone carving was absolutely amazing.

This is the garden that the Emperors walked.

I think Tyanna has figure out how to draw a croud... she took this photo and then was BOMBARDED by the beautiful Chinese people. Photo after photo after photo... come on Tyanna... it was 90 degrees.

Thank the good Lord that there was just a little bit of humidity.

Heading back to the hotel, I made sure Adam understood that we wouldn't be walking the "two blocks" we walked to get here. So, after walking about four blocks, he was finally able to get us a cab. As we were walking, Amaris lost her shoe but didn't say anything... we were so happy that one of the gals stopped us and made sure we walked back to get her shoe. It was the shoes she came with.