This is it!

Yesterday was our last full day here in China. it's a bittersweet feeling, 3 of us are keen to get home, but the smallest of our family of 4 will be leaving the only home she has ever known permanently.

We are seeing so many changes in Zoe over the last two weeks, it's hard to believe. She pretty much sneezes on command, she's starting to learn some baby sign language, and she loves her big sister a lot, looking for Amelia anytime she disappears from sight.

Zoe is starting to like her time in the pool, pretty much a prerequisite to being Amelia's sister, and really seems to be adjusting well to being a part of our family. She has a VERY strong will, not afraid to let us know when she's not happy and, if possible, she might be even spicier than her big sister.

We check out at 2pm today and head to the airport for our 6:45 flight. We grabbed a few last minute souvenirs yesterday and today, now we just need to get packed up and ready to go. This will be my last update until we get home. Thank you all for following our trip and thanks for all the nice messages.

A special big thanks to Kayla for helping me with the blog, she's been amazing as always, we can't wait for you to meet Zoe at Christmas!

Forbidden City Pics

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Forbidden City/Tienanmen Square

Today was forbidden City and Tienanmen Square. Security to get into Tienanmen Square was crazy as the 'Peoples Congress' is under way or soon will be. This is the once every 10 years meeting where a new leader is chosen for China, and it is done in one of the buildings here. We had to have our bags x-rayed and be patted down and checked with a metal detector.

It was a lot of walking again today and we are still sore from the Great Wall yesterday so it was a bit of a challenge, but we made it through. Last time we toured the Forbidden City there was a lot of renovations underway, so this time it was nice to see it completed. It really is fantastic.

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More Pics

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Pics #4

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Pics #3

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The Great Wall

We've had a very big day today so I will be brief in my descriptions of it. We left the hotel around 9:30 this morning and did not return until 8pm, so It was a very big day for the little one's.

First was the Great Wall, the same spot that we visited last time, but the view was much different this time of year, especially with the recent snowfall still on the ground. Of the group of us, only myself and Amelia went all the way up to the first Guard Tower. Janey and Zoe went up about 1/2 way with us before she turned back. Carrying the extra weight up that trek is near impossible.

We were very proud of Amelia for making it all the way up there, and I took plenty of pictures to prove it. The steps were still a bit icy, but she was very brave and did it! The one picture I will post, you can see behind her the row of buses parked, to get an idea of how high she went.

After that we went to the Jade Factory, where we had a very nice Chinese meal and of course, some shopping!

Next stop was the Silk Factory for . . . . . more shopping!

Then we had our Peking Duck dinner, and after that stopped by the Olympic Village for some fantastic night photos.

We were all very tired by the time we got back to the hotel, but of course, Amelia had been promised a swim so off her and I went for our daily Polar Dip. (The pool is frigid in this hotel!)

I'll post the pictures in groups of two as the free wifi is pretty slow and the tablet has a tough time handling more than that. Tomorrow is the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.

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A Message from Amelia

Dear Everyone,

This morning was Zoe's medical check up to be sure she was healthy. Our doctor's name was Dr. Lucy Chen. She is very nice and a very good doctor. While we waited for our turn we waited in the toy room, for babies and toddlers. Elizabeth and Peter's baby Sophie is a little older than Zoe. Sophie is smaller than Zoe even though her birthday is November 6th and Zoe's birthday is November 27th. Zoe went to see Dr. Chen first and Sophie was second.

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Medical and shopping day

This morning was Zoe's medical check required by the Embassy for immigration purposes. She received a clean bill of health from the doctor. She weighed in at 8.8 kg (19.4 lbs) and is 72.5 cm (29 in)tall.

After lunch we went to the silk market by taxi for some souvenir shopping, only to discover that it is no longer cheap! As bargaining is the name of the game there, we managed to pay about 1/3 of the asking price each time, but still felt like we were being hosed with every purchase. Stuff is not as cheap as it was 7 years ago, good thing we got lots of souvenirs then as we won't be spending that much this time.

After we got back from shopping we had to try on the purchases for some pictures!

Tomorrow is the Great Wall and jade factory.

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Sunday Snow Day two more pics

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Sunday Snow Day!

This morning we woke up to quite a bit of snow/slush. Of course, we had to walk through it to get to the photo shop where Zoe's visa photo was to be taken.The slush continued for about 2 blocks until we encountered the sidewalk cleaning crew, pictured above in orange. A little further on we came upon a second and third crew, pictured in green, these guys were the army! Big snowstorm in Beijing and they call in the army, wonder if they got the idea from Toronto??Our guide for this leg of the trip, Cissy, told us that the photo place we were at hires their employees for life. They can never be fired, ever. Not only that, the employees children are also guaranteed jobs at the photo place if they wish!Tomorrow we have the medical appointment required by the embassy, Tuesday is our Great Wall trip. The weather is supposed to improve for the remainder of the week, still cold, but at least dry and not as windy. We'll see if the forecasters here are any better than the ones back home.Sent from my ASUS Pad

More Pics

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Chongqing Old Town

A couple pics from the Chongqing old town - before we got Zoe.

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Made it to Beijing

We are now in Beijing, arrived at the hotel around 3:30 this afternoon. The hotel is very nice, not surprisingly to those who know Amelia well, we have already tried out the pool! It's on the 9th floor, and supposedly has a very nice view, but it was dark by the time we got up there.

The weather is quite a bit different here, most days in Nanchang were around 20 C, it was only 11 C and pouring rain when we landed, apparently they had light snow here this morning. We're already thankful for the warm clothes we packed.

I will be using internet in the lobby at this hotel as the Wifi is free down here, but we have to pay to use it in the rooms, and it's quite expensive. So anyone who we've been e-mailing with keep in mid I won't be answering as frequently.

Zoe is doing well, she still has a bit of a runny nose. We didn't think it possible, but we just may have an even spicier girl on our hands than the one we already have. When Zoe decides she isn't happy with something, she can freak out like crazy! Made for quite an interesting flight, and we're hoping this wasn't a 2 hour preview of the 13 hour flight we have in our future!

She's eating and drinking pretty much anything we give her, she uses those 6 teeth of hers quite effectively. However, even if she's hungry, if she's not in the mood for something, she will not even consider eating it. Spicy!

Tomorrow we go get the pictures taken for Zoe's visa that she needs to enter Canada. Monday is the medical check required by the embassy. I'll take some time tomorrow to go through our pictures and put a few up from the last week.

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What a day!

Today was orphanage visit/meet Zoe's foster mom day.  What an incredibly stressful and emotional day.

It was about a 2 hour van ride to get to Fengcheng, through a mainly agricultural countryside.  Amelia's home city and the entire trip to it was very mountainous, Zoe's is just the opposite, quite flat, similar to SW Ontario, and is a farming area of rice and sugarcane primarily.

Most of the rice has been or is ready to be harvested now, some fields were being harvested as we went by.  After the rice has been harvested, apparently it needs to be spread out to dry, and every flat concrete surface to be found was being used for this, storefronts, sidewalks, and even the highway!

Fengcheng city, where Zoe is from, is a 'town' of 1 million people.  On the way through town we saw both the new and old town, which were definitely a huge contrast from one another.

When we got to the orphanage, Zoe's foster mom, Xun Aimei, was waiting outside, and was already at the door of the van when we emerged.  It was very emotional as she was crying when she saw Zoe, as I'm sure she realized this was the last time she would probable see her.  She had brought a bag of treats and snacks for her and was giving them to her the entire time.

We had a quite  bit of time to spend with her and ask questions, etc.  We've been able to tell over the last 3 days that she had taken very good care of Zoe for us and we can't thank her enough for that gift.

After the meeting at the orphanage, we all went out to lunch together, the families, the foster mom's and the orphanage director, then we made our goodbyes and were on our way.  Xun Aimei was genuinely heartbroken to see her go, we can tell she received lots of love from her over the last 11 months.

We were all emotionally drained by the time we returned to the hotel, but not too tired to make yet another trip to the pool with Amelia!  At the end of the day Helen brought us our notarized adoption documents, tomorrow we receive Zoe's passport, that being the last thing we need before moving on to Beijing on Saturday to begin the Canadian side of the adoption process.

Tomorrow we are also planning to go to a porcelain market to get some souvenirs from Zoe's province.  Jiangxi is known for fine pottery.