This morning we took of to the zoo!  We went on a wheeled Safari ride and then walked through the zoo.  It really was an amazing zoo, maybe one of the best I have ever been to.  The folage was very lush and tropical, the grounds were beautiful, and they had a ton of animals … more of certain species (like Tigers and Giraffee’s) than I had seen at any other zoo.  And we tend to go to a lot of zoos!

First, a couple of shots from last night.  How could I have forgotten to post this shot????

And, in the name of brevity, we have seen a million shopping pictures so just one:

In one of the shops that we bought a fair amount of stuff, the shop keeper would write out the adopted kids names in Chinese along with their meaning.  Here he is doing one of Caleb’s name:

One of the interesting things about this city is that EVERYONE hangs their laundry outside their apartments to airdry.  You could have a very nice, fancy apartment building, and then outside a window would be a rod and their clothing hanging out there.  I keep wondering what happens when a sudden wind comes a long and it all gets taken away?  Clayton, the father of the other family we are with, said that he heard that happens and that the parents send the kids down to the street to pick up the clothing.  Nice …

I just had to take a picture of this guy.  Nice sleeves, bud.  They sell men’s clothing where you bought that?

I guess you could say that public transportation is well utilized here?

OK, so I am sorry to everyone who I told I was going to post the zoo pictures yet today, but I have been fighting with Xanga now for 20 minutes just trying to get this far and everyone else is in bed!  I can not get the photo manager to work with me here, so I guess I will have to post the pictures after I get up in the morning.  Sorry!

First thing tomorrow, at 8:15 AM (8:15PM Monday – Eastern Time) we have to have Caleb’s TB test read.  It looked pretty good today, but this is the ONE thing that can kind of hang things up, especially since we are running short on time with the Labor Day holiday this weekend.  Pray that it does get read “negative.”  Things will go much smoother if that is the case!

Cameron

This morning we had to take the kids over to the medical clinic to have their medical examination and vaccinations needed before they can enter the US.  In addition, they have to have a TB test that must be read by early Tuesday morning before we go to our meeting with the US Consulate that same day in order to get a VISA. 

Now, I am not going to say that our guide, Connie, is pushy.  BUT, I can say that it is nice to have a guide that basically walks you to the front of the line everywhere at the clinic!  It was VERY busy there as all the families that are here this weekend were trying to get the same stuff done that we were.  I would say that we were NOT the first ones there, but we were pretty close to the first ones out!  Connie took our paperwork and ran us through every station quickly.  I feel that we may well have been put ahead of other people, but with whirling dervish Caleb in tow, we were not about to argue with her!  She did make us stand in line a few times … very few!

I mentioned the other day about the construction.  They were paving the street in front of our hotel until about 10:30 last night.  That is nothing compared to the construction noise we had to deal with in Hanoi with Mia.  They worked until 12:00 or 1:00AM there. 

So much of the work here is done by hand.  They have very few power tools.  It is amazing to watch people working away with a hammer or an axe to break up concrete when a jackhammer could do it in about 1/100th of the time!

That last picture almost cost me the family.  I loved the character of this building so I let the group get ahead of me while I tried to find the best angle for this picture.  Of coarse, when I was done they had slipped into a side door somewhere and I couldn’t find them!  If Clayton, the father from the other family, had not seen me walking by I would probably still be wondering the island!

I can tell you that this medical clinic was SOOO much nicer than the one we visited in Vietnam.  If you go to Mia’s blog (www.xanga.com/journeytomia) you can see that it was kind of a pit!  This place was nice and clean and everyone (except maybe the Malaysian doctor that takes you money) was very nice!

Caleb was told what was in store for him and Brittany had to do a little comforting.  Thank goodness she is here!

Connie working out our quick tour through the medical center!

The entire reason why we are here ….

The meeting of the Nintendo Anonymous members – China Branch.

Kelly had to hand over Caleb’s immunization records.

Then, Caleb had to have his temperature read and his height measured.

Then it was off to get his shots.  It looks like a scene from the Green Mile!

Then, we took Caleb over to get his medical exam.

After that, the ENT exam…

… and finally the visual exam.

We went back to the hotel and Kelly worked with Connie on all the paperwork needed for the Consulate.  Brittany went and played with her new friends and Taylor and I took Caleb back to the room to get him feed.  Now, I guess it is off to more shopping????

Two big credits to Taylor today.  First, she showed me the joy of peanut butter on Oreo’s.  That is some good stuff.  If you have tried it, you should.

Second, she rigged up a clothes dryer in our bathroom.  She took two hair dryers and set them on each side of the bathroom, aimed to shoot a hot cross breeze through the wet clothes we had hand washed in the sink.  She was trying to figure out a way to get a third hair dryer in the mix, but I was amazed that the electrical circuit could handle the two!  I think a third would have shut the entire room down!  Nice job, Tay!

Tomorrow we go on a safari!  Yay!

Cameron

Today was S-S-S day … Shopping-Swimming-Shoping!  We started out today heading down the hall for breakfast and running into the other Madison family who arrived late last night.  It was nice to have another family around to share your experiences with!  They are a wonderful Christian family who is adopting a 9 year old little girl who has had a couple of heart surgeries, but the last one was when she was 3 and she seems like a completely healthy little girl now!

We started by heading down to the play area for a few minutes to wear the kids down before the heavy shopping began.  You fool them a little into thinking you really are NOT going shopping, and then when they are all sweaty and tired, you lure them into the shops.  It doesn’t always work, but it did today.

Brittany and her new playmate played on the teeter-totter while an elderly gentleman stared on.  In the US this would seem rather creepy, but here it is perfectly normal.

With the blond haired girls added to our processional, the frequency of picture requests has risen dramatically.  I guess we just weren’t different enough for people to get over their inhibitions, but add a couple of Swedes to the mix and now everyone becomes brave!

Yes, Caleb slid down this pole today.  Well, it was more of a controlled fall, but he is ALL boy!

Imagine … he also likes to climb!

 It was fun to watch this group of older ladies kicking a ball around for exercise.

Now that the kids were tired out, it was off to the shopping part of the day!

Here is the little girl with the heart surgeries.  Sorry, I can’t pronounce her name, let alone say it.  Maybe here parents will comment with the correct spelling!

I HAD to take the picture of the statue taking the picture!

Once again, the weddings were out in force today.  I had to take these shots because the brides were wearing traditional dresses.  They were quit beautiful.  I would love to shoot a wedding here!

I thought this was funny because it wasn’t the only time we saw it today!  A bride-to-be running around the construction area desperately trying to keep her beautiful white dress clean!  I also liked the little pink sandals! 

With the morning shopping period finished (and a little Subway under our belts … mmmmm) …

…we headed to the pool for a little swimming.  Yes, the pool water was really this green and, yes, we still went swimming.  We are heading for the medical exam tomorrow morning so we figured we can fix anything that goes wrong there!!this was Caleb’s first time in the pool and he did OK.  Not REAL sure about the water, but OK.

Taylor was SO happy.  Shopping and now laying in the sun.  What more could a girl want??

Brittany enjoyed a little sun herself!

Caleb started getting brave, lower himself all the way into the water and then pulling himself up.  Can I tell you how STRONG that kids right arm is!

Then, without warning, he turned into Aquaman!

If you should happen to come by and see us in the hotel this is the view you will most likely see:

Caleb is basically in charge of all button pushing on all elevators, regardless of us being by ourselves or with other families.  That is the way it is.  It is Caleb rule.

On our way to dinner, it was obviously a good time for some more shopping!

This guy below actually puts a paint brush into bottles and vases and paints the pictures on the INSIDE!  Very cool.

Cool enough that we ended buying a bunch of stuff from him.

Caleb truly was a bull in a china shop here, so I ended up taking him outside the shop.  You can see how very happy and excited he was with me concerning this decision.

He perked up a little bit later.  He usually doesn’t stay mad too long!

That night we went to a Thai restaurant and we had a very nice time just sitting and talking.

Caleb does enjoy his noodles!

Tomorrow we head out to the medical office to get an exam and any immunizations that he needs.  Now, it is time to go to bed!

Cameron