Fun by the River

The river outside the hotel has lots of cool lights at night.  Annabelle really thought it was cool except for the fact that several people had dogs there and she felt we should run away from them.  She really started talking last night, unfortunately, we have no idea what she is saying!


After a very busy day it was time to chill for a bit of TV before bed.  Annabelle was under the impression that she had moved up to the big bed, but alas she was mistaken.  She whimpered a bit about having to get into the crib and go to sleep, but she did it anyway!  Smart girl that she is she has figured out that we aren't newbies at this parenting thing.  You might as well just go ahead and do what they say!

The Trip Back to Guangzhou

We took Annanbelle's first ever plane trip and she did fine. She spent the first part of the trip viewing her favorite photo album (Thompson kids take notice: You will not be strangers to Mei when she gets home because she has stared at your pictures for weeks). She slept through the rest of the flight, including the landing.

We are staying at the White Swan Hotel, a very nice place on a small island geared toward Americans, specifically adoptive parents. For our first meal, we HAD to go to Lucy's, where one can choose from such oriental delicacies as grilled cheese sandwich, burritos, spaghetti, and chicken nuggets and fries (Hey, Sholpan!). It is truly the first place we have eaten where Susan would have eaten anything on the menu. (read there was no donkey, no ox penis, no spicy snake, no throat, no ostrich tendon, no goose tongue, and no eel)  Annabelle had a platter of meat that she created from her beef and noodle dish. She likes the protein.

                                                       Hey, Tyler, check this one out!

Two silly Thompsons waiting for their lunch.

The Last Lazy Day in Changsha

Today we toured an amazing embroidery place where they had unbelievable framed artwork, all embroidered, but looking like beautiful paintings. The had images of nature, including animals like tigers and white cranes. The also did portraits in a way that made the face and eyes turn toward you as you moved through the room. I really liked some of the ones that you can purchase, but I did not have four grand on me at the time. After the tour, we returned to the Dolton (like the Tipton, but without Ashley Tisdale) and wandered around the facilities, including the pool, the tennis courts, the table tennis tables, the snooker tables, the gambling facilities and card tables (Lynsey could deal), the bowling alleys (Lucy and Noah would love it, if only they had gutter guards), the shopping areas, and many other fabulous sites. Sorry, Grace, but we saw no volleyball courts (generally unpopular in Asia). Then we returned to our room to listen to our Little Tikes mp3 player and do a bit of dancing around. Annabelle doesn't really dance much but there is hope.

We had lunch at the Chinese Restaurant on the second floor. It was awesome. Sholpan, Zarina, Hannah and Luke would have loved it. It was better than Peking on the Mechanicsville Turnpike. We had many delicious pork dishes, pancakes, and perhaps the best pan fried dumplings ever (emphasis added for Rinat). James, your parents are getting much better with the old chopsticks. After lunch, we went back to the room to pack and Annabelle seemed excited to see that we were moving on.  I only wish Matt were here to help with the luggage which grows larger with each destination.

More Fun (now with video)

After naptime, we had a cookie snack, strawberry flavored wafers. Yum!


Mine was so tasty, I devoured it in one bite (okay this might be a slight exaggeration).



This is a video at the grocery store so you can see me flitting about with my bag from shoe shopping earlier in the day. Note how I wisely run away from "scary old lady with razor blade".

Shoe Shoppin' Good

Hi! It's me, Annabelle Mingmei. My sandals were in poor condition so mom and dad and Vicky, our local guide, took me to the mall to do some shopping. After trying on virtually every pair of shoes in the store, including some hideous red ones, I decide on some white and pink Miffy sandals, which I carried home in a very cool bag that no one was allowed to touch except for me. We had a good day at the mall.


This is me with my bag, before browsing the DVD collection and finding nothing of interest.


This is me, prancing through the mall with great satisfaction.


Back at the Dolton, I admire my latest purchase, Miffy wear. What a day!


Notice the bunny and the stars, richly ornamented, probably hand-carved, with dragons, lions and tigers engraved on the soles and inlaid with gold and jewels (not shown)...

Confucius say,"...

Today we visited an old university of Confucianism which is now a museum. This is the entrance to the place and the entire place was beautifully ornamented.


Protected by crouching lions and not so hidden dragons, this building was once the site of great teaching on the pillars of Confucianism, like filial piety, integrity, loyalty, and the like.


This little dude is Confucius. He never wrote anything down, but his students remember what Confucius say, a common variable in major world religions...


This is just a hint at the serene beauty of the university grounds. There were many gardens and shady places and a generally good vibe, probably since fortune tellers had come in and recommended a slight angulation of the main path through the school in order to correct an apparent imbalance in the feng shui (wind and water) of the place.

Fun at Lunch in Yueyang City

The orphanage staff took us out to a lovely lunch in a private dining room at a nearby hotel.  Annabelle ate her weight in watermelon!  We were joined by the other family adopting from the same orphanage.  Their new son is eight years old and a bundle of energy



Sights along the way on our two and a half hour drive.  It poured rain all the way back to the city.  Thankfully, Annabelle was able to curl up in Mom's lap and sleep most of the way.

The Nearby Vegetable Market

We were able to walk to the market where Annabelle was found as an infant.

Let's hope she wasn't too close to this vat of live eels!

It is a very colorful place.

They had beautiful produce!

A Visit to Yueyang

Here we are in Annabelle's classroom.  She handled the visit to her orphanage very well with the exception of crying when put down in this room.  Once she was told that we were only visiting she was willing to get down for a few minutes.  She waved goodbye happily to all her little friends.

This is a picture that decorates the wall.  Red must have been color of the day!


She showed us her bed.  I just thought the bed at the hotel was firm!  Annabelle had a corner bed with a view out the window.
The front of the orphanage was very impressive.

So was the lobby!  Had we gone no farther, we would have remained impressed.

What better place to put a McDonald's than at the Hypermarket?

Wednesday morning we took a wild ride (which every ride in the city to some extent is) to the city museum of history.  It is probably hard to tell from the view out of the windshield, but we are driving down the sidewalk to try to get a good parking spot!  The museum is a real tourist attraction drawing people from all over the country.  People stand in line for hours to get in.  We somehow scored some special tickets and walked right in.  Where else can you see an actual corpse of a woman who died 2100 years ago with 138 1/2 muskmelon seeds still in her stomach?  You can see how impressed our daughter is with Chinese history!  American children be thankful you live in a country that only has a couple hundred years worth of history.  These people have to learn thousands of years worth of historical facts!  Annabelle takes a family photo album with her almost everywhere she goes.  Sometimes she even lets other people look at it!  We were given a real treasure from the orphanage that our guide is working on translating.  It is a scrapbook type album of Ming Mei's development complete with photographs from her years there.  She was a student in the Little Sisters program of Half the Sky Organization.  They provide this "baby book" for their students, most of whom will never find families, realizing  how important it will be for them as they mature.  We know it will be very special for Annabelle when she is older and full of questions about her past.

Her routine involves starting and ending the day with a warm cup of formula per orphanage instructions.  It's sort of like having a cup of coffee I guess.  Especially when you serve it in a coffee mug!  Someone asked how tall Annabelle is so here is a perspective shot with Dad.  Let's just say tall doesn't come up often when describing her!  The top photo shows her typical breakfast.  Yes, Luke those are potstickers and she does love them!  The next photo is the famous congee.  It is a rice based cereal similar to cream of wheat.  It is available at every meal and she always polishes off a bowl or two.  Perhaps she can transition to grits easily enough.

At dinner on Tuesday Annabelle discovered chocolate ice cream!  How many three year olds do you know that can pull off devouring that dessert in a white dress and not spill a drop??

Her artistic nature is coming out in her desire to where a floppy hat and draw on the magna doodle.