Last Day - Shamian Island

Our last full day in China was Tuesday. Calli's visa was arriving that afternoon and then we would be free to leave. 

First, here are a few pictures I meant to post earlier:

Randy and Calli at the zoo - love this! 

And our whole group having lunch after our trip to the zoo on Monday. This was a crazy lunch. 8 adults, 8 kids, one table. It was nuts! We all just laughed - everyone understands everyone else and we were just all in this together. Really like one big family! So thankful for these three families. I told someone I think one of my favorite parts about China were the families we were with - two in Fuzhou and three in Guangzhou. Hearing their stories, seeing their faith, and just knowing that they understood and were in this with us was so encouraging and helpful. I told them they made me feel normal!

Oh - and this random picture. Who knew Michelle Obama bought her pearls from this little shop next to our hotel?! If I had known that, I would have waited and bought the girls' pearls there. Crazy.

 So, Tuesday. That day we went to Shamian Island, still in Guangzhou. This is a beautiful little island, just like 3 or 4 blocks long that has a lot of European history and influence. You can't drive on all the streets, the buildings are beautiful and so are the gardens. The US consulate used to be located out here on the island, so families adopting from the US would all stay at a famous hotel here, the White Swan, and complete their child's adoption on the island. The consulate has moved now and the White Swan is under renovations, but it was so nice to get to see the island and do more shopping!

We got a picture with our guide, Grace. She was wonderful and took great care of us in GZ.

Just some pictures around the island... 

 There are also a lot of bronze statues. I think this is their view of what adoptive parents from the US look like: older, carrying multiple cameras, pushing a baby, wearing a backpack. So funny! 

 We did a little more shopping here. I wanted to find a gift to give Calli on each anniversary of her Gotcha Day until she turns 18. We found several neat items and then lots of other small things, but I think it will be neat to have something to give her from China each year.

After a long day we met our friends for Mexican food...again! This made the third time in 4 days. Then, Randy went with some of the families to the store for some groceries for the plane ride and I took Calli up to the room to give her a bath and start packing. We were alone together for about an hour and it went so well! She enjoyed her bath and didn't fuss the whole time, even when she realized Randy wasn't with us anymore. It was great. We packed and went to bed - we had to wake up at 4 the next morning to check out and start our three hour drive to Hong Kong where our first plane trip started.

And then the 24 hour long day of travel began...