Great to be in Guangzhou!!

After we received Kamea's passport in Hefei yesterday, we departed Anhui Province for Guangzhou.   Kamea had the window seat and she giggled as we took off.  The flight was uneventful and we landed in Guangzhou two hours later.

Kamea seems to be a natural traveler.  Between her backpack full of toys and books and her carry on filled with other necessities, she carried (and pulled) at least the amount of her body weight through the airport.  So cute!

Other than Elli's encounter with a huge cockroach in the airport's bathroom, we were very happy to be in Guangzhou.  After retrieving our baggage, we met our guide for the week, Molly.  She had also been our guide when we were here in 2009, so it has been fun to catch up with her.

Driving through Guangzhou is entirely different than driving through Hefei.  It is much more beautiful and the air much cleaner.  We are staying on Shamian Island in Gunagzhou, in the same hotel where we stayed for two weeks in 2009, so we are very comfortable here.  It is great to be back again!  Since there are 4 of us, Molly influenced the front desk personnel to give us the largest standard room on our floor.  It is wonderful to have a little more space.  We love Molly!  

This morning we reunited with Chuck and Jennie and met their beautiful new daughter, Ellie.  We traveled together with them to Guangdong International Travel Healthcare Center for the medical exam.  The exam went fine, but Kamea had a tough time with the TB test.  The poor kiddo was terrified and afterwards she wanted nothing to do with us.  Thankfully there were two Chinese women that noticed how upset she was.  They gently approached her, wiped her tears and explained to her that mama and baba did not want her to be sad or hurting and that we loved her very much.  One of the ladies then took a package of peanut M&Ms out of her purse for Kamea.  It was as if these women (angels) were just hanging out at the healthcare center to cheer up kiddos and give them treats.

This afternoon we walked around the island and stopped at Starbucks for treats. We did a little bit of shopping and the girls played at the park, too. The island is gorgeous right now with flowers in bloom and everything green.  It is so peaceful here.  Scattered throughout the island are numerous statues.  I think we stopped at half of them this afternoon for pictures!

Kamea hit kind of a rough patch for a while this afternoon.  It is so hard to see her hurting.   She's a strong little girl and I can't imagine how hard this is for her.

We enjoyed dinner with Chuck, Jennie and Ellie at a Thai restaurant tonight.  After dinner, we strolled through the island a little more.  In a bit, we're hoping to Skype with the boys back home.  We sure miss those little guys.