Arrival in Guangzhou

Harper has taken her first airplane flight and you will be pleased to know that she can amp up her shriek by 10 decibels or more to match the extra noise at take-off. Why did my guide book a flight in the middle of nap time?!? The accusatory glares of everyone sitting around us were ten times worse than the curiosity stares of the last few days. One man sitting in the row in front of us, however, gave me a sympathetic nod; thank you sir! And an attractive flight attendant came by to ask if she could help, said something to Harper in Mandarin, and returned with two little books of Chinese cartoon characters. Tears stopped, smile appeared, and the flight was now okay. But for the remaining 40 min she found it fun to throw the empty water bottles we had onto the floor, and what other option did I have but to keep picking them up. Hardly a time to start setting limits on the 2 year old, not with that crowd.

My guide for this week is Michael, who is Chris' 26 year old son. I can already tell he is going to get a bit uptight on all the details like his father since as soon as we reached the hotel, he had me filling out the US consulate paperwork. No time to change Harper, find her a snack, geez. Finally he left and room service menu looked too much like the one in Nanchang and I am about noodled out. So off we go to find food, and it is easy here on Shamian Island since it was once a European colony and has certainly a different look and feel from the neighboring areas. Lots of western or westernized eating places. Dinner was from Subway and it was the best sandwich ever, even had them put on tomatoes and cucumbers (following the rule if it has a peel, it is okay to eat). A Coke Zero from the 7-11 around the corner and I was good. Harper really liked her dinner of chicken sandwich and orange juice. I suspect we will be going back!

The best part of the day? Skyping with Jaden although we could not see her; she could see us. She could see Harper jabbering away and I could hear what Jaden has been up to (it seems like I left home a looong time ago). And Jaden wanted to see/hear Harper laugh. She also declared somewhere in the call "I like her!". Whew.

Ok, no yelling, but I just spent the last 30 min watching a fraction of one picture upload and it got stuck. Tried a couple times. Could be the wireless here at the hotel; will have to see if there is a hard cable connection in the morning. Long explanation short, no pictures! She spent most of the day running away from me laughing anyway (well, except for that plane ride....). Goodnight!

Update (Saturday):  FINALLY, I think I have some tricks to get the pictures loaded.

At breakfast, good with a spoon, one cereal at a time (sans milk). She is
definitely right handed (noted because Jaden and I are left handed).

Waiting for transport to airport. What a ham, and how different sitting here was as compared to
when we sat in this same area 5 days earlier on Gotcha Day.

At airport waiting for flight. Typical toddler, just out of arm's reach.

Washing down that Subway sandwich with juice. Bottoms up! And she is
wearing the necklace Jaden made her in jewelry class. She loves it jie jie!!