WE ARE AT THE WHITE SWAN!! WOO HOO!!!

Graeme ready for his first plane ride.

Wyatte, Jane, Tamara and Andy

Lorena, Jane, Aurora and Kelsey

Margaret, Lily, Jane, Wes and Graeme

Our group!

Graeme's very breif nap!

The great Uno match. This drew quite the group of onlookers.

Aurora and Lily playing Leapster

Lily, Aurora and Kelsey are watching Finding Nemo in Chinese. I wonder what Lily is thinking.

This picture was taken before we boarded the plane. Can you imagine what it was like at the end of the flight?

After a very long day of traveling, we are at the White Swan Hotel. This morning started out well as we packed to leave Hefei in Anhui Province to travel to Guangzhou where we will finalize things with the U.S. Consolate. We enjoyed a nice breakfast and packed our belongings. We all met in the lobby and checked out. Then we took lots of pictures with our guide and all of the families together. It was a leisurely morning and we left for the airport at 11:30 a.m. for our 1:40 flight.

We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to check in and headed upstairs to wait. We saw that our flight was on time and settled in for our short wait. Then, we hear that MU5225 has been delayed due to air traffic congestion until further notice. Ouch!!! They didn't even mention when we would take off. We noticed that the plane before ours was also going to Guangzhou and they had boarded so we were still optamistic at this point. We kept hearing the same message about our flight. After an hour, the plane that had preboarded still had not taken off and they deboarded the passengers. Optimism began to fade at that point. After a while longer at about 4:00 p.m. they announce that they will be given a snack for the passengers on our flight. I leave Wes with the children while the other Mom's and I get in line for the snack. We all kind of stand back in awe as we watch passengers elbowing their way to the counter to get the snack. You think I'm kidding but I have witnesses!!!! We finally get our snacks...you got it they didn't run out...no need to hurt anyone! We return to our seats and begin to snack on our crackers and water when five minutes later they announce that they are boarding our plane..WHAT! So we gather up all of our things and head to board. We are happy to be moving forward. Again, a mad rush to board. We hang back and still make it on the plane where you guessed it....we wait some more!!

We are now waiting on the runway. Some progress well maybe not. We are then served yet another snack. (soy nuts, a roll and pound cake...YUM!! (yes I can still be sarcastic at this late hour)). We wait and wait and wait. Over an hour later we start to notice that the plane next to us is deboarding. Not a good sign! Suddenly and with no notice our plane begins to move. Finally we are on our way!!! Our flight is without further incident and we land in Guangzhou. I remember feeling an overwhelming sadness when we left Chongquing with Lily. I felt sad about taking her away from her birth province. I did not have those same feelings today. By the time we left, I was so ready to be starting the first leg of our trip HOME!!!

You may wonder how Wes and I occupied the kids at the airport. Lily Wen was easy. She played Uno, Leapster and watched Finding Nemo in Chinese. She was so easy!!! Wes was in charge of Graeme who would have it no other way and he had a much harder day. He had to occupy Graeme in less than ideal circumstances. He walked him around the airport, fed him and played the fetch the cup game (you know the game, Graeme throws the cup and Wes fetches). Graeme finally fell asleep but only slept for 20 minutes. On the plane, Graeme kept trying to remove his seatbelt so Wes had to hold his hands and only when he made Graeme really mad would he then stop. He really is trying his BaBa now. Graeme even tried to bite and pinched Wes some on the plane. Five minutes into the flight, Lily fell asleep and didn't wake up until we landed. I teased Wes that I had my charge asleep and what was up with his. In the moment, Wes didn't quite appreciate the joke. More than ever, he is wishing that Graeme had first bonded with me. Wes is passed out from exhaustion.

When we arrived at the White Swan we were met by many of the families that we spent time with in Beijing. We have seen some of the children and will see more tomorrow. We shared stories and many of us have had similar bonding experiences and feelings. This was such a relief and helped after the long day. Tomorrow is a new day and we face it after the infamous breakfast at the White Swan (it has to beat the noodles and Pringles we had for dinner)!!! Dawn brings a new day and I can't wait!