The Red Couch

It's a tradition to put all the babies/kids who were in your group on the red couch at the White Swan Hotel. That's quite a task with all those little ones to do.

The hotel was very nice and had a beautiful waterfall and koi fish. It's on an island that was heavly influenced by the french and has some very neat old bulidings and landscaping.

We leave out of Hong Kong in the morning. That's your Wed. night. We leave here Thursday at 11:30am and arrive in San Francisco at 8:30am on Thursday.....wow what a 12 hour time difference makes! It will seem like the longest Thursday in history to us. We have a 5 hour layover in San Francisco and will arrive in St. Louis at 6:30pm. I'm so excited to go home!!!!!!!!!! I have missed Brian and Carter so bad, let's just say I'll never travel without them again.

Sorry this blog got behind. We had some rough days and I was just not able to get it done. Thanks for following along, and I'll post a few more after I get home. Plus I'll be back on Facebook....woo hoo!

Tea in China

Today we visited a tea house and sampled a selection of teas. It was intresting to see how they make their tea here. They only use loose tea and don't do tea bags at all.

We also went to the pearl market where there are hundreds of pearl vendors. Not sure how anyone could possible decide with all those vedors.

Personality Peeking Out

Well today we saw a little bit of her personality. She lead us by the hand all over the museum and pointed to objects and wanted us to say what they were. And she smiled a lot more. On her paperwork it said she was not a picky eater.....I think they meant to say she WAS a picky eater. Oh my.....we are having a really hard time getting her to eat anything but cracker type snacks. And she can't have anything touching if they are not the same thing. She will not try any type of fruit or veggie Chinese or american style. I believe we will have a big hurdle with food.

Today we went to the Henan History Museum. It was a really nice place and had some amazing artifacts. The Chinese culture is 5,000 years old and they had pieces that dated 2000 to 700 b.c. truly amazing!

A Day at the Zoo

We decided to go to the local zoo today. It was so hot we only stayed about an hour but we saw some very interesting things. The panda's were so cute and were playing around with their bamboo. Then we saw something I have never seen nor will ever see again and that's common house cats caged at the zoo. I had to take a photo so everyone would believe me!! We also saw puppies, wolfs, raccoons (which they called raccoon dogs??) turkeys and seagulls. They had your everyday animals such as lions, tigers, and bears but oh my....some of the animals were on the bizarre side.

We have one and a half more days in this city then go on to the final leg of the race. Only 7 more days till we come home. We are really going to have to watch how much time Blair spends outside on hot days. Not only do we need to worry about her skin but she's a little hot box and gets really hot really fast. She's not quite sure what to think about all the outings. She had never been out of the orphanage other than to play on the playground there. For the most part she's adjusting well. She seems a little sad at times and does not want to speak in any language. But she does smile at us a lot so that's a good sign. She also won't go to anyone but Ellen or I so we are getting somewhere!

Gotcha!

Today was Gotcha day!! We arrived at the Civial Affiars office and she was already inside. She only cried 2 tears and was smiling at us before we left. She is a very smart little girl, she was using Grams ipad within minutes. As you can see they have started to let her hair grow out, she's for sure a platinum blonde. We found out she is double jointed and a thumb sucker. She loves to draw and play with blocks. She really likes items that are bright, it's easier for her to see them.

We went shopping after we picked her up for some clothing and she did great until the sales lady tried to take off some pink sandles with shiny flowers on the and she started to cry. We put them back on and she imediately stopped! She also really loves some braclets we brought for her, she wont' take them off either. I do believe we have a girly girl on our hands. We came back to the hotel and she ate lunch and drank her formula (yes I said formula) then had a nap and woke up happy and ready to play.

Gotcha Day!

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Fried Pork Mouth anyone?

Traveled to Zhengzhou today, we got up at 4am and to get ready and get on the bus for the airport. Our flight was very smooth and quick and most important on time! After Chicago and the 9 hour delay we were a little worried.

We met our guide Emma for this leg and she got us checked into the Holiday Inn and then took us to McDonald's to eat lunch.It was one of most interesting dinning experiences of my life that had nothing to do with the food. I'll save that story for later. It tasted almost the same as home but after some of the food we have eaten in the past few days it tasted really good! I did not think that the food differences would be as difficult as they are. We have been really leery...let me give you a sample of the menu next to me:
R
Fried Young Pigeon with Lettuce Fried Preserved Meat with Dried Soy Bean Steamed Fish Head with Chopped Pepper Wok-Fried EEL Braised Duck Blood Curd with Chili Fried Pork Mouth with Hai Chili Toasted Bitter Gourd with Ginger Sauce

So now you know why were were thrilled to get McDonalds!! Don't worry to all my kiddo's at school. I will not be asking for these recipes :)

So tomorrow is the BIG day!!!!!!!!!!! It's Gotcha Day and we are so excited. We are the only ones at this province so it will be quick. I'm going to try really hard not to burst into tears when I see her because I don't want to scare her but we'll see if I can control it!

Walk this way!

Today we visited the Great Wall, the Forbidden City,and Tian An Men Square. The buildings are so amazing, the detail that has lasted all these years is just so beautiful.

It was very crowded and very hot! Was not prepared for the mass of people we encountered. And let me tell you if you don't move out of the way they will move you anyway. We got to experience Chinese traffic and it's the most frightening thing ever!!

We were the center of several peoples vacation photos, they wanted to take pictures of their family with us. It was pretty cute, we took photos with lots of little kids and they were super excited to take a photo with an American.

Overall it was a good tour and we are ready to get some rest after all that walking.

Some pics

So long Chicago

I would like to take this oportunity to thank the city of Chicago for their...warm...hospitality. We spent over 7 hours in O'Hare Airport waiting on our flight to Bejing. The city of Chicago didnt want to turn on the A/C in the airport and it was 90 degrees the whole time...thanks.

But, on the plus side, the flight was miserable. We were stuck on a plane for 13 hours and didnt get any sleep at all, oh well, we landed in Bejing and got to the hotel...about 1:00 AM local time.

Bejing looks like a beautiful city though, we will see soon.

It has begun...officially

Well, the journey that actually began almost five years ago is officially under way. We will be staying in Saint Louis tonight and headed East in the morning.

Cake in China

Blair recieved her cake that Gram & Papa sent her in China. She looks so happy to have recieved it. I'm sure she had a huge sugar rush after that giant piece of cake they gave her!

Birthday Celebration for Blair at Home

Happy Birthday Blair!

Happy Birthday Blair!
Today is Blair's 3rd Birthday. We sent her a cake and we celebrated at both school and home. Per her brothers request we had to have treats for school and a cake for home. Pictures of both events to follow. We hope she felt the love.

Blair's Current Home

Xuchang (simplified Chinese: 许昌; traditional Chinese: 許昌; pinyin: Xǔchāng; Postal map spelling: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe to the southeast, and Pingdingshan to the southwest.

Xuchang Socail Welfare Institute

Plane Tickets - Check

We got our tickets!
We are so thrilled that we purchased our plane tickets today! We will leave from St. Louis. I'm pretty bummed that we could not leave out of Kansas City but the price was much higher than St. Louis. We get to fly into Bejing and out of Hong Kong, thats pretty exicting that we get to see 2 major cities. Below is our flight information for anyone who wants it.

Itinerary for Catrina and Ellen Butts, Dang Xue Ning

5/12 St. Louis/Chicago UA7394 Lv. 1008A, Ar. 1114A

5/12 Chicago/Beijing UA851 Lv. 107P, Ar. 315P on 5/13

5/26 Hong Kong/San Francisco UA862 Lv. 1130A, Ar. 829A

5/26 San Francisco/St. Louis UA492 Lv. 1250P, Ar. 639P