We are in Guangzhou!

Yesterday was a travel day. We left our wonderful hotel in Shenyang and flew to Beijing for one night. The hotel there wasn't great at all - pretty yucky - and they didn't have internet. Jerry didn't do well on the flight from Shenyang to Beijing. His cold affected his ears and he was in pain. Luckily the flight attendants noticed and really helped him. She told him to sneeze and then brought him kleenexes and told him to blow. Finally his ears popped and he got some relief. We flew again today from Beijing to Guangzhou. He took medicine and his ears didn't bother him near as much. They still popped, but that is to be expected.
Hanna did well on the flights. Yesterday she just played with playdough or colored. She barely noticed we were in the air. Today she got a little mad that they made her sit in a seatbelt (just wait until we try to put her in a carseat!), but after a few minutes if even that long, she was fine. She played and then took a nap. We were glad for her to take a nap. We had to get up this morning at 5:30 to make breakfast and our flight.
Guangzhou is wonderful. Finally we have shorts weather. Sorry about all of you freezing in Indiana, but it was 85 here today and very humid. You sweat just walking outside! We are loving it. When we arrived in the hotel, we immediately went to see the family waterfall and fish pond on the inside! Pictures won't do it justice. It is awesome. My dad would have loved seeing it! The fish are just like the big one we had in our pond so many years ago, but there are probably 20 or 30 that size! I've got to figure out if and what we can feed them. We had Hanna's visa picture taken today - of course it was cute and went to her medical exam. Everything was fine. She was 14.5 something metric and I forget how tall. It is written down somewhere. I weighed her on our scales in the room and I believe she was right at 32 pounds like they told us. The people are amazed at how tall she is and the local stores don't carry shoes big enough for her! We are having to go to a department store tomorrow to buy her some shoes. She is going to wear a dress to the consoluate (which may get to be tomorrow) and she just can't wear tennis shoes! We went out to dinner tonight with our entire group. We've all met back up now. It is so wonderful seeing everyone again and now with their children. They are all wonderful. We went to Lucy's (a place where you can get American food). Jerry had sweet and sour pork and I had a chicken sandwich. Hanna had chicken congee. She loves that stuff. I've got to research on the internet how to make it at home! Sorry boys, but you're going to have to try something new for your sister! Then we went shopping. We got something for Reese and things for Hanna. We got her traditional outfit and another outfit to wear to Southmont basketball games! I can't wait to show that one off! It would also work for Wabash, but not football (not warm enough).
Thank you Miss Mingus and Mrs. Hoard for allowing the boys to talk with us after class. We've really missed talking with them the last couple of mornings. We should be fine for tomorrow - I'll email if our dinner plans are for too late though.
We are in the home stretch. Tomorrow is probably our consulate appointment, Friday will then be a free day, and Saturday we fly home! Ready or not, we're coming home!
Boys, we love you more than your sister loves congee! Have fun trick or treating. Don't forget to have someone take pictures of you in your outfits!
Mrs. Long's first grade and the rest of Ladoga - have a great time on grandparents day. Don't scare them too much - they're old! I'll see you when I get back. Hanna and I will come to visit.
I hear we have something new in our classroom! I can't wait to play with it!
A note for Mr. Irwin - Our Mountie Powercard didn't work at Pizza Hut or McDonalds!