The morning of our second day

Tuesday 5/9/06

Hope has no problem once she falls asleep. The first night was a little rough. Like most kids they want to stay up and play. Plus she had all the sorry from missing her foster family. She is such a wonderful little girl.

SWI

This the official that did the paper work. I don't think many people have asked her to take her picture. When I asked her face lit up and she started to rattle on to the other official in the room. She was very nice.

Blogging

Hope is keeping Baba company while he blogs. She is eating these dried fruit puffs. She is so generous, she eats one and gives me one. That is incredible behavior for where she has came from. This is why the blogs is so hard getting out.

Getting ready

Mama and Hope are getting ready for our appointment with the Social Welfare Insitute to finalize the adoption. This is were we exchange gifts and sign the final papers.

Let's eat

Baby hope loves her spagetti along with her congee.

Let's eat

Baby hope loves her spagetti along with her congee.

Our sleeping little gift from God.

Hope has been with us two days now. She is so sweet. She is very smart and has learned some english already. This is from the second night or the third morning

Let's go swimming

Hope is sporting the California look.

I'm tired of waiting, let's go BaBa

We are having fun now.

Some really good eye contact

Hope and Baba pling in the pool

Hope was a little leery of going in the pool with Kelly. When we first got there she statrted to take of her cloths because she thought it was a big bath tub. She probably had never seen a pool before. After her Baba got her she went in the pool with a little apprehension but soon found out it was fun to splash her Baba with water.

Exploring around the hotel

Even the smallest parks here are so beautiful.

The night before the big melt down...

We took a little walk to a small garden near the hotel. Hope is getting used to the sling...when she isn't in it, she isn't happy or content, but as soon as we hold her very close in the sling, she relaxes and really likes to be held closely to us while she sees all these new sights and people.

Start of a new day

Waking up with Hope

We had a better night last night. I took the night stand out from between the beds and slid them together. Hope fell asleep on Kelly's bed next to her. In the middle of the night I woke and Hope was on my side of the bed sleeping next to me. When we woke up in the morning she was sleeping across the beds with her head on Kelly's pillow and her feet on my neck. She figured out how to be close to both of us. I was so choked up. This picture was taken right after Hope woke up, she was playing like my nose was a horn. She is so precious.

On the road again

We are starting the day off May 11th going to Qingxlushan Park. It is a Four star park and in China that’s the best. It was a wonderful park. It had a Buddhist Temple the drove to but Kelly was not feeling well so we went on to the scenic lake and feed the fish. At first Hope did know what to make out of it. She was a little scared. When I sat down on the edge and showed her that the fish would not hurt you she started to trust that it would be ok. You have to understand, that the racket and the splashing of the water was quite loud and I got wet sitting there but who cared it was 95 degrees. Aren’t my girls beautiful. I am sooo in LOVE.

Hope fishing, sort off

Kelly, Hope and Mary are feeding the fish. They loved it. The fish would actually swim on top of the other fish and come out of the water. SHARK ATTACK

Our Baby Hope

Bogotá

This Bogotá was originally built in 1615. It was demolished in 1945 for fear that it would be a distinguishing landmark of Nanning and the Japanese’s might find the city easier to bomb it. It was rebuilt to the original specs in 1985. It is 10 stories tall and stands on top of a mountain. The view is fantastic. If it was not for the haze you could see for miles and miles, and miles wait that’s a song. All the scenic pictures where taken from it.

Park gazebo

Baba And Hope

Kelly was sore from carrying Hope , so BaBa took the sling and carried Hope all around the park.

Barge traffic on river

Downtown Nanning

It reminds me of the smog around L.A. ,but in the park this was the first time we got to smell China. The tropical rain forest has a wonderful unique wonderful, earthy aroma.

Fish farming

Happy family at the park.

It is a tropical climate here in south China - 95 degrees and 100 percent humity.
This park that we visited has a 4 star rating - which means that it is among the most beautiful. The fragrance here was like insence. Hope had a lot of fun running and playing and soaking up all our love and attention. And we enjoyed giving it all!

End of a long day

Hope had a wonderful time at the park. Of course so did we.

On the way home from the park