Travel to Guangzhou

On Thursday, we went to a park in Taiyuan. The park was huge, encircled a lake, and was filled with people in the middle of the afternoon. There were people playing instruments, taking music lessons, singing, playing hackey sack, playing a card game that looked like dominoes, and sitting around in groups talking. We seldom see a person alone anywhere; there is definitely a great sense of community--all over China--and we have been treated with kindness and consideration throughout our trip.

At one point at the park a gentlemen asked us about Zachary which brought others over to hear what was being said. Our guide was with us and translated everything. They said he was a lucky boy and gave us the 'thumbs up' which we've received several times now. This happened twice at the park.

Today (Friday) we traveled from Taiyuan to Guangzhou. It was about a three hour plane ride and Zachary's first (and our first w/ a two year old). He squawked a few times, but really did very well. We were able to provide entertainment (aka Cheerios and tearing a barf bag to shreds) and he played his standard game of loading blocks into a bag and taking them out again. The two cities vary a lot from one another. Taiyuan (population 3 million) is an industrial city where as Guangzhou (population 10 million) is a city thriving on trade. We are staying at the White Swan Hotel which is separated from the mainland by a water way, so it's sort of on an island. There is little traffic and nice places to walk. Much quieter than Taiyuan which was a lot like New York City in terms of traffic and honking horns. The White Swam is a famous for housing people adopting in China due to its proximity to the American Consulate where we will be doing more paperwork for what will ultimately be his visa.

Zachary continues to blossom each day, showing us more and more personality. Tonight momma received the best gift ever---a kiss smack on her lips from her son!