Easter 2012

More firsts for our newest addition! Easter weekend turned out to be our first real Spring weather. It was so beautiful all weekend. On Saturday we worked in the garden. Pengfei knows his way around the garden. He helped mom plant seeds.
After lunch on Saturday we colored Easter eggs. It was lots of fun for all 3 kids, but especially for Pengfei. This was his first Easter and he really enjoyed all of the activities.
On Sunday we first looked to see where the Easter bunny had hidden each of the baskets. Once they were found, we had a little time to look at all the treats and treasures. Then it was off to church for Easter Sunday service. Another first for our oldest. He was not so sure about the dressing up but reluctantly gave up his jeans and tshirt for the morning. Mom was also able to get a few pics of the kids and the family before all three went back to their comfortable clothes.
We enjoyed Easter dinner with Grandma Donna, Uncle Danny, Austin, Brynna, Uncle Travis, Aunt Diana, and Rachel as well as the Hammond family. A wonderful day of celebration.
Now we are officially on Spring break. Sara had a sleepover at her Grandma’s house while mom and the boys enjoyed some relaxing at home in the sun.
Wednesday we are off on a little adventure to the beach and then to our cousins’ house in Oregon. We are all very excited.

A Great Weekend

This past weekend we had a portion of the Gaudette clan here for a visit. It was so wonderful to see them again. We haven’t seen each other since early September, right before school started last Fall.
We usually get together on Thanksgiving but the Gaudettes were just home with their two newest additions from China. Then we headed to China in February, so we have been missing each other terribly, especially Sara and Zhu and Jake and Pez.
Also, their newest son, Hai or Dash, is a friend of Pengfei’s and they haven’t seen each other since Hai left China in November. So, this was a wonderful reunion! Plus, this mom really needed to see her friend, Jacque, too!
Jacque ventured up on her own with the 3 kids on Saturday morning. We were all so excited to see each other. The great thing is the kids always pick up right where they left off. Pez and Jake were off with their ninja costumes to fight the bad guys. Sara and Zhu headed to her room to hang out, and Pengfei and Hai played basketball, pingpong and just enjoyed being able to speak Chinese and be understood! It was awesome. The only downside was that it was way too short of a visit.
The good news is that next week is Spring break for our kids so we are heading down to Oregon. We will spend a few days at Seaside, then we will be off to the Gaudettes! It should be fun. There will be 11 kids and 4 adults! We can hardly wait to see all of them again.

One month home

Wow, it has already been one month home all together. It has gone by fast which I guess is good. I took a break from picture taking for awhile at the request of the rest of the family! They finally let me take a few this weekend.

We have been trying to do more family activities to help Pengfei adjust to family life. He really has no clue as to what a family is or how one functions. It has been an interesting and sometimes frustrating time for all of us. Most of all, it is hard on our new son. Everything he knew is gone and everything around him is new and foreign. He is doing well in so many ways. He loves school and has already made a couple of good friends. He loves basketball and would have loved to play on the team this season, but he just doesn’t have enough English. By the time 7th and 8th grade basketball starts he will be ready to go.

On Saturday we went to the Museum of Flight to spend some family time together. As it turned out, the only one of the kids who really enjoyed his visit was Jacob. He had a great time and I took most of the pictures of him. The other two weren’t in to it for different reasons. We did buy a season pass so we will go back again. There is a lot to see there and hopefully Pengfei will start to slow down and actually look at things. Right now he is always in a hurry. We are not sure for what, but he is a boy on the move.

Meanwhile Sara is almost through with her basketball season. She is loving it but I think she will be glad for a break when it is done.

We are waiting for Spring to show up here in the Northwest. For those of you living elsewhere, please send some of your nice weather our way. We could really use it! We are getting tired of the ongoing snow that keeps showing up. I am ready to get my garden planted and to feel some sun once again.

We are experiencing lots of firsts with Pengfei and know that there are a lot more to come. We are looking forward to taking him to the beach during Spring break. Right now he is excited about seeing his friend from China. He will be coming up with part of his family to visit in less than 2 weeks. We are all excited.

As you can see from the pictures below, Jake was the only one who really got into the trip to the Museum of Flight so he got more camera time!

Jacob flying a fighter jet

look at the concentration

Museum of Flight

My cute astronaut

In front of Air Force One

Jake made a one point landing, on the nose of the plane!

We are home!

Okay, so this post is a bit tardy! We have now been home for about 2 1/2 weeks. We are getting used to being a family of five. Truthfully, though there have been a few hiccups along the way, we have done fairly well, I think.
Peter, who currently prefers his middle name of Pengfei, is really starting to blossom. We started him right in to school when we got back. It was a bit stressful for him, but we wanted to get him in to a routine right a way. Plus, he is in class with Sara, so that is good for both of them. (Though I think Sara would beg to differ at times!)
He is making friends and loves, loves basketball! We would have put him on the boys team but he has so little English that we felt like it would have been frustrating all around. He is starting to pick up some words and understands more then he speaks.
Our goal for him for the remainder of the school year is for him to socialize and start to pick up English, and hopefully start to read a little bit.
The kids in Sara and Pengfei’s class have been so awesome to him. They have been so warm and welcoming. That is definitely another benefit of a private Christian school.
Sara tells me that one of the boys in her class told her that Pengfei wants to go out for track. How he figured that out, I don’t know. We will talk to him this weekend and see if that is something he wants to do. Google translate is a wonderful thing!
Pengfei is very athletic and quick. He is also quite competitive and stubborn! I think those are traits that have served him well up until now. Last week it was so cold one morning and I tried to get him to wear his winter coat. He was having nothing to do with it. Without a word of English he argued with me and told me that he was going to play basketball at recess and would be warm enough. Apparently he was right as he did not freeze to death!
He is also quite the artist. He takes art as an elective at school. This is an area where he definitely shines! He loves to draw and listen to music. He came with an MP4 player with some Chinese music on it. We found that it plugged in to the clock radio we got him so everyday he plugs it in and plays his music in his room. He is a true American teenager already!
David is already the most amazing dad to a teenager a boy could want. He and Pengfei have really bonded. They have started going to the YMCA and working out together while Jacob is in Tae Kwondo. I can tell that Pengfei really opens up a lot more with David. I am okay with that. I am just so happy that they have hit it off. Our time will come. I am being patient.
Sara and Jacob are doing well, too. Sara started basketball right after we returned. She is a great basketball player and her skills have really progressed since last season. She is adjusting to having to share her class with her brother. She is so kind hearted and is really being gracious about it.
Jacob is still thrilled to have a big brother. He loves spending time with him. As the weather improves, I think they will be spending a lot more time playing outside together. Pengfei discovered his new bike. He was not too happy when he couldn’t just get on and ride. After all, his younger brother can ride just fine! I think he will get it quickly.
We also took him swimming this past weekend. Another first! He really pushes himself to try things even if he isn’t sure. He kept dunking his head in and holding his breath. You could tell he really didn’t like it, but he wanted to do it. We are such a water loving family, that I think that is good. We will start him in swim lessons when he has a little more English under his belt.
All in all, we are doing well. We feel blessed to have another son, another gift from God.
I will try to post some new pictures this weekend. Truthfully, I have not taken too many since coming home. I think the rest of the family is happy about that!

Shenzen SWI and Shamain Island

Yesterday was a long day for Sara and I. We headed out early to take a van to Shenzen to visit Peter’s orphanage. It was a long ride, especially since we had to visit two orphanages in one day. First we headed to Baoan to visit the Eggers daughter’s orphanage. That place was very amazing. There were two Americans working there with the teachers for the preschool and kindergarten. The driver got lost taking us to Baoan. Apparently the GPS led him astray. Much like at home!

There are actually three orphanages in Shenzen. It is an absolutely enormous city. Peter’s orphanage is in the city while the other two are actually in what would be considered the suburbs in America, though it all looked like city to me. However, they are very far apart.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed to Peter’s orphanage. I think both Sara and I were glad we went though it was a bit hard for both of us. We got to see all around the orphanage and were allowed to take all the pictures we wanted to but none of the children. The little ones were just precious at both orphanages. There was a little boy at Baoan that I could have taken home in a heart beat. He was definitely  from a minority ethnic group in China and was just gorgeous. Then at Shenzen there was a little one in the baby room probably around 2 yrs old with little pigtails. She walked up to me, smiled and held my finger. So sweet! Sara also was taken by a little baby boy who decided to walk for the first time to follow her. She was thrilled.

All of the older children were at school so we were not able to meet any of Peter’s friends but were able to deliver gifts for a friend of Peter’s whose family is waiting to bring him home. I was able to get an email address so that they can send pictures of their son to them. I had wished we could meet him but at least he now knows who his family is and that they will come as soon as they can. His nanny was happy to see pictures of his family. It appears that he lives in the same dorm room that Peter was in.

We had thought that our son was in a group home but found out that he lived the entire time at the orphanage. He lived in a dorm room with 8 other boys from age 6 to 13.

The orphanage has about 300 kids, but only about 100 live at the orphanage. The others are in group or foster homes. However, they all go to school in town and that is how Peter became friends with his buddy who now lives in Oregon. He was able to Skype with him today.

We also found out that Peter was left in a village a long way outside the actual city. We have his first picture now, from when he was sent to the orphanage at about age six. He was so small and had such a sweet little face. I cannot imagine why they had to give him up. That breaks my heart. But he now has a family who loves him. He knows and is ready to head home with us. We are making steady progress every day.

Today we all slept in a bit and had a leisurely morning. We then took a taxi to Shaiman island to do some shopping. It was not Peter’s favorite as I can already tell he is not a shopper. He hung in there, though. We also got the red couch picture at the White Swan. The hotel is closed for a year of renovations but the shops and some of the restaurants are still open and the red couch is still there. The play room where I first met Sara is no longer open and was all dark and locked up. I think Sara was sad about that. I have a lot of wonderful memories of our time there 10 and 1/2 yrs ago.

Peter does not like his picture being taken but will let me on occassion. He really doesn’t like it when I just take one of him alone. He is like his father! I told him that mama likes to take pictures and he will just have to get used to it!

Tomorrow is a big day. We have our US Consulate appt. tomorrow morning. We are getting close to heading home! We are ready. America here we come in only 2 more days! Saturday early we take off. I am not sure if I will post anything more until after we are home. We are not allowed to take any electronics to the US Consulate, so no pictures from there. Friday we wait for his visa and finish packing up, then very early Saturday we head to Hong Kong and from there fly home.

Safari Park

Today was a great day, not only the weather but the visit to the park. It was finally sunny and tshirt weather. Very nice! We headed to the Safari park today. It was so much fun. All three kids had a great day. The highlights were: Sara feeding the baby tiger, Peter feeding raw chicken to the big tigers and all three feeding the giraffes. There was so much to see and all the animals were so close. We took over 400 pictures so only a small portion of these will be here.

Tonight we headed back to the Chinese place that was first recommended to us and this time we went with a family from Long Island, Liz, John and their new 7 yr. old son, Matthew. We had a wonderful day all around.

Tomorrow Sara and I head down to Shenzen to visit Peter’s orphanage. Originally we were all going to go but our guide talked with Peter today and he does not want to go back. He said there is nothing for him there now. He is right. We will respect his request and he will stay here with David and Jacob.

There is another family going down to visit another orphanage in Shenzen with their 4 1/2 yr. old daughter and two older sons. So, we will not be alone. We have gifts to take and also have gifts from Zane, a friend of Peter’s waiting for his parents. We hope to get some pictures of him for them if possible.

Sara has had some up and down moments the past few days. She is very ready to go home, but being here stirs up a lot of emotions for her. It is different for the boys, I think.

We are now on the countdown. Only 4 more days before we head home on Saturday morning. We are all ready to move forward. It has been a good trip but it is time to get back into our routine.

Lotus Mountain

Today we ventured without a guide, just a Chinese speaking driver, to Lotus Mountain. It actually worked out quite well. The driver brought his daughter, too, who spoke pretty good English. They have never been before. Lotus Mountain is about an hour outside of Guangzhou. It is a beautiful park. The top of the mountain is mainly dedicated to Buddhism as there is a huge gold statue of Kwan yi, and lotus temple. There was a lot of incense burning and it was very smokey. There were lots and lots of Chinese walking up the hill with their incense and these bright lantern looking things that we never did figure out what they were! After we walked around that part, we headed down the hill to walk through the ancient rock quarry. That was very cool. All three kids really liked it. Peter actually took time and looked and looked around at the views. That is the first time in the week that we have had him that he has taken time and not raced ahead.

After we got back to the hotel we headed out to a dumpling house that our guide had pointed out earlier in the week. It was good but even with the pictures, we didn’t get exactly what we ordered. Oh well, it was another adventure and the food was good.
Tonight we all need a little comfort food so we will head to McDonalds. (When all else fails, eat some food that reminds you of home!)

We have been spending the afternoon having the kids work on some homework as the next two days will be very full with the Safari Park tomorrow and then the trip to Shenzen to visit the orphanages on Tuesday. We visit both Peter’s SWI and Natalie’s. Natalie is the beautiful little 4 1/2 yr old daughter of the other family that has been with us the whole time we have been in Guangzhou. There are three large SWIs (orphanages)  in Shenzen. That should be a very interesting day. Hopefully it won’t be too traumatic for either child. This will be our first orphanage visit. When we were here 10 plus years ago, Sara’s SWI was 5 hrs by train. At that time, there was not a highway between Guangzhou and Gaozhou. Apparently there is now so one day we will come back and make the trip to visit there. We also did not go to Jacob’s SWI either as he had just started to really bond with us and seemed so traumatized that we decided not to visit his at the time. This will be a new family adventure and hopefully a good one!

I should have a lot of great pictures after tomorrow’s visit to Safari Park. Today’s pics were pretty good, too, I think. Enjoy

Nanyue King Museum

Well, today we spent the morning meeting the other families that came in from the other provinces. There are now 5 families here with our adoption agency. We filled out and gathered the US consulate papers today with our guide. Then we went to lunch on the island with the other family staying at the Garden Hotel.

Only two families opted to go to the Museum. The boys were not really too excited about it, but it was somewhat interesting.

We came back to the hotel late afternoon and just hung out. It was a pretty unexciting day, but we got to feed the koi fish again which all the kids really enjoy.

We keep eating such large breakfasts and lunches that we are not very hungry at night. Tonight we opted to stay in and have noodles in our room. We have lots of snacks and food in our room so it was just easier.
Last night we ventured out and found a very good local Chinese restaurant that someone here before us recommended. It was interesting as no one there understood English and besides Peter, none of us understands Chinese. If Peter knew more English it might help but although he can talk to them, he can’t interpret. The food was amazing. It was a Sichuan restaurant. We will likely go back there again before we leave. Our guide showed us where a dumpling restaurant is near the hotel so we will try that out, too.

Tomorrow should be interesting as we are going to Lotus mountain. It will be just our family and the driver who does not speak English. He will be our guide as well. It will be an adventure.

Hopefully we will have lots of good pictures to share from it. Our biggest issue with Peter is he would rather turn on the tv then interact with us. We have kind of let him watch it quite a bit even though he watches things that we can’t understand. Tomorrow we will start to limit his tv viewing and try to get him to interact more with us. I know it is hard for him but he is stuck with us and he has to start sometime. ; ) It will be easier if we start to set some limits now so that when we get home it won’t be such a shock to him that he can’t play video games or watch tv anytime he wants. We’ll see how it goes!

Chen Clan Temple and shopping

Today was freezing here! It is not supposed to be this cold in Southern China! Our guide told us that it will last only a few days but the cold is due to the humidity that is always present here. The wind is bitter! So, today we went over first to Shaiman island to pick up the other family traveling with us. They are staying at the Victory. There were police everywhere. Richard told us that the Premiere was coming to Shaiman island today. I asked why and he laughed and said, “to shop!” I don’t think so!

Anyway, we left and headed to the Chen Clan temple which was never really a temple in the regular sense. It was a place for people belonging to the Chen family to study for their board exams. They did pray to their ancestors apparently at one point in the history of this place. It is now a museum.

There were some pretty cool carvings, etc. The jade and bone carvings were pretty amazing. We found that they had some lychee nut carvings from Sara’s home town of Gaozhou.

After leaving the temple, we headed to a shopping area and Richard took us to buy pearls. On our last trip to Sichuan we had purchased many necklaces so I only purchased a few items today. However, Sara found a very pretty, delicate pearl ring and I found a jade necklace.

Last night we wandered out and found an “authentic” Mexican Restaurant. I am not sure how authentic it was as it was quite different from any Mexican place back home, but it was good.

Peter is still sick and I decided to start him on antibiotics as he has been with us 5 days and has made no sign of getting better. I am not sure how many days he was sick before we got him. I am hoping that within the next few days he will turn around. We bought batteries for his translator that we sent him for Christmas. He immediately started playing music on it. Now we know why the batteries wore out! ; ) He doesn’t seem to want to use it to communicate with us, though.

When we were out shopping today we went to a music and video store and Peter picked out some Japanese Anime DVDs. (He will be happy to meet his cousin, Rachel, who has a lot of them!) We picked out a few other dvds that we thought he might like later on. Jake got one too, because he thinks having a dvd in both English and Chinese is pretty cool!

We are taking it easy this afternoon and hoping that it warms up by tomorrow and that Peter starts feeling better, too. Tomorrow we have to take Peter back to have his TB test read. So far it looks good without any reaction. Then we are off to do some more touring and shopping. The hard stuff is done, now. Sunday we head to Lotus Mountain. It is just our family going so our driver will also be our guide. It should be interesting!

Feb 9th

Today was the medical exam. Not my favorite and certainly less now because of the new US rules. Peter had to have 5 shots and a TB  test. He handled it okay. After that we went to tour one of the oldest Buddhist temples in China. It was the starting place of Zen Buddhism. It was funny because our guide said that it is more of a philosophy versus a religion and that many people in China don’t really care about either. I remember going to this same sight when I got Sara. Of course then it was August and about 100 degrees! It was much more pleasant out today. After walking around the area, we went to a vegetarian Chinese restaurant that was amazing. Both Peter and Jake ate like it was going out of style. I can already see our food bill going up!

After lunch our guide took us walking around that part of town which is quite old. It was definitely interesting. Not the cleanest or nicest smelling, for sure, but fun to see more of the “real” China. Tomorrow we have no more paperwork to do and no appointments. We are going touring in the morning while our guide gets our paperwork ready for the US consulate. As far as the paperwork this time, our guide is awesome. We have not had to worry about anything. It certainly is refreshing after our last trip!

Peter likes to lead the way and Jacob is right there with him. This mother gets worried with those two! At least they stick together but I keep having to call them back to wait for the rest of us.