Great day in Guangzhou

Today was an absolutely awesome day.  ....and jam packed full of activities.  So let's see if I can remember them all.

We started off by meeting in the lobby at 7:40am for our US Consulate Appointment.  This is what we've been sitting around waiting for for the last 4 days, so it was nice to finally do something.

There were approx. 10 other families there and we all took a 45 second oath and then collected some paperwork.  So now it's really REALLY official that Melia is ours.  And she's close to being a US citizen.  One more round of paperwork tomorrow and then we can begin our long journey back home.  (Which includes an overnight stay in Hong Kong.  I'm pretty excited about that.

After our US Consulate appointment (which we weren't allowed to take any pictures) we came back for an early lunch and then an early nap.  Melia wasn't really interested in the nap, so we said, "OK girl.  If you're in the mood for adventure, then we are too.  Let's introduce you to the way that Horner's do things!"

So the adventure began.....

It started with a trip on the Subway.  (Which required two different line changes)

It didn't take long for a local to recognize that we were from out of town.

Although this man was very nice, he successfully bought me two tickets to the wrong Subway stop.  The funny part is that this was our 2nd Subway excursion and I actually kinda knew what I was doing.  Nice enough man, but.....

So here were are on the Subway.  Crowded as expected.  We felt pretty darn cool when we arrived at our destination.  

We wanted to see some more "cool things" here in Guangzhou, but we weren't really sure what to do.  So I went on the Internet and found some thing called:  Canton Tower.

It turns out that the 2010 Asian Games were here in Guangzhou and that the entire area by this "Canton Tower" (which was built in the Mid-1990's) was where the Games were held.  It was absolutely stunning.  I no longer even felt that i was in China.  It was clearly some financial district / downtown part of the city that was just as (if not more so) developed as the United States.  Let's just quit calling China "developing".  I'd say that they are more than on their way.

Take a look:

Here's me feeling like an idiot for walking across the wet paint that they were laying down in preparation for the New Year events.  (In my defense, I couldn't exactly read the sign in Chinese letters)

As luck would have it, it was an oil based paint, so the nice employee took my shoe and wiped off the paint from the bottom of my shoe.  Of course, in the process, he managed to get paint on the top of my shoe!  Hmmm... I guess..... Thanks for helping?

It's worth mentioning that it was here that some tourists stopped us to not just "sneak a picture" of us (which we've gotten used to) but actually pose in a picture with them.  So we all stood there.... like a family.... and took pictures by Canton Tower.  

Note:  There are two tall structures here in Guanzhou.  Both of them are around 110 stories high, but there are two separate structures.  Take a look at the video.  One is a bank (commercial tower), the other is Canton Tower.  Nothing more then a decorative structure..... a really, really expensive decorative structure.

Melia, being the awesome kid that she is, managed to fall asleep in my arms, take a 90 minute nap in the stroller and not even make a peep when we woke up.  In fact, Katie and I walked around for a total of over 4 hours today without a single incident from Melia.  This is one easy going kid.

We returned to the Hotel and let Melia play around at the outdoor play area for about an hour before we succumbed to eating dinner at McDonald's.  Not our favorite place, but it's too close to our hotel to ignore.

After a laid back evening at the Hotel, we ventured out one more time to the Park and then came back to go to sleep.

Up until this point, we've been lying down with Melia during Naptime and Bedtime in order to help her fall asleep and give her comfort.  Tonight, we just put her in her crib and said, "Night Night!"  She immediately rolled over, put her right index finger in her mouth and shut her eyes.

Wow.  Like I said, this is one easy kid.  I can't begin to tell her how awesome she is.  Every moment she reveals another piece of herself that makes us fall in love with her even more so.

Becoming her parents has been such an easy process, that this trip has felt more like a vacation than anything else.