LEAVING TODAY!!!!

Well, the time has finally come for us to leave for China to bring home our little Sydney! We are packed and ready to go,tickets confirmed, friends and family contacted, paperwork in order....whew...it has been quite a hectic last few weeks. Thank you to everyone who has helped us out along the way and shown love and support throughout the process and the endless waiting...we are VERY grateful to all of you. Our flight for LAX airport leaves Houston at 3:13 p.m. and arrives in L.A. at 5:20 p.m. California time. We hope to meet Elizabeth and Michael around 7 or 8 p.m. for our flight on China Southern(leaving LAX at 11:20 p.m.) We will miss you all, especially Kyle and Spencer...be good for Grandma & Grandpa, we love you very much and will call as soon as we can from China! Take care of Daisey, Cocoa, and Woody!!!
We will post again as soon as we can from China or during the flight.
Love always,
Mommy & Daddy
AKA... Anne Marie & Joe

TA's & CA's and travel dates...WHOO HOO!!!

After waiting for 5 LOOOONG weeks and one day...TA's or Travel Approvals finally arrived for HFS on November 8th! Then another 2 days , Novemebr 10th , for our CA or Consulate Appointment. Our appointment is for December 14th in Guangzhou. During the process we had talked about not doing Beijing, too cold, more expensive etc...but we did finally decide to do it...whoo hoo! On the morning of the 10th, right after CA's were posted, we started making calls to book our flights. Joe and I felt that this trip and flight was going to be very long so we had deided long ago to fly on China Southern Premium Economy seats which is business class for the most part. Well, when we tried to book, at 4 different agencies the flight home on Dec 16th was full...OH NO!!! What are we going to do now...especially the PE would have been nice with the baby in tow...so Lien at All America Travel was able to get us tickets! BUT... seats that we want come with a price so we wound up spending almost 2000 a piece on airfare round trip from LAX to Guangzhou and back to LAX OUCH!!! This does include 3 nights at the White Swan Hotel in Guanzhou and breakfasts while we are there. We had to pay for another day because although we could leave China on Thursday Dec 15th...China Southern doesn't fly on Thursday.
Here is the Schedule so far

November 28th...get a good nights sleep as the next few weeks are going to be crazy :)

Day 1 - 11/29 -
Depart Houston TX to LAX in California - arrive at 5:50 pm
Wait around the airport for a few hours for the CS window to open to get our seat assignments
Wait to Meet Elizabeth for our travel group !!!
Depart LAX at 11:20 pm

Day 2 - 11/30 -
In Air!!!

Day 3 - 12/1 -
Arrive at Guangzhou airport @ 6:20 am (12 hours ahead of us in US-so still the 30th at 6:20 PM to all of you)
Wait for connecting flight to Beijing at 10:20 am or earlier

Arrive Beijing Airport at 12:55 to meet guide to take us to the hotel in Beijing
Arrive at Novotel Peace -Beijing and probably faint from exhaustion

Day 4 - 12/2/05
Western breakfast at hotel
Summer Palace
Lunch
Bi Yun Temple
Dinner

Day 5 - 12/3/05
Western Breakfast at hotel
TianAnMen Square
Forbidden City
Lunch at a local family's house
Hutong Tricycle Tour
Temple of Heaven
Dinner (Peking duck)

Day 6 - 12/4/05
Western breakfasts at hotel
Great Wall (Ju Yong Guan)
Lunch
Sacred Way (Ming Tomb)
Mongolian Restaurant (Acrobatics as optional)

Day 7 - 12/5/05
Western Breakfast at hotel
Check out at hotel. Our guide will take us back to airport and you will fly to capital city of Chongqing to meet Sydney
Arrive Chongqing! Guide will meet us at airport and take us to the hotel - Harbor Plaza

Day 8 - 12/6/05
Do Paperwork at Civil Affairs Office in morning
Gotcha Day for Sydney!!!
EXACTLY one year from the date of submitting our application to Gotcha day!

Day 9 - 14 12/7/05 - 12/12/05
In province of Chongqing getting to know our new little peanut! During the week we will visit the zoo and People's Square etc

Day 14 - 12/12/05
Pick up Sydney's passport in Morning
Depart Chongqing /Arrive Guangzhou- Guide transfers us to The White Swan Hotel

Day 15 - 12/13/05
Medical Exam for Sydney and photos

Day 16 - 12/14/05
Consulate Appointment

Day 17 - 12/15/05
Receive Sydney's Visa...Free to go! BUT, we have to wait another day to leave...so relax and shop!

Day 18 - 12/16/05
Check out of White Swan and go to Airport for 9 PM China Southern Flight back to LAX

Day 19 - 12/16/05
Yes, you are reading this right, you arrive the same day you left China???
Arrive LAX and check into Hotel at Airport...Faint again from exhaustion

Day 20 - 12/17/05
Depart LAX to Houston and Home Sweet home!
Welcome Home Sydney!

Joe's parents have been kind enough to stay and help us out the whole time we are gone, plus we are happy to have them for both Thanksgiving and Christmas! They arrive on Novemebr 20th and stay until January 1st!!!

Today is Novemebr 13th...only 16 more sleeps until we are heading out to get our new baby and see some amazing things! Can't wait!
AM

Packing and updates....

Here is a picture of the announcement we sent out to friends about Sydney's referral... I must give credit to a friend who created it, she did a great job...Thanks Darcy!!! Sydney got updated weight which is now about 16.5 lbs and is about 26 inches long, AND has three new teeth!!!!! She just turned 9 months on October 21st :( We will also miss her 10 month birthday as well (November 21st)...but we BETTER not miss her 11 month(December 21st)... I would be VERY hurt if we can't be with her before she is one.

We sent her a care package that included a camera for the nannies to take pictures, a blankie for her, a stuffed panda for her, and a ton of candy and treats for the nannies and kids to share. The package was received on October 28th,hopefully we will get the camera back when we have Gotcha Day with her and her nannies!

Wow...it is already November 2nd and we still have not received TA yet...very frustrating...goes with the rest of this process. In the mean time since referrals, we have purchased all of our medications, both OTC and Prescriptions to take with us for both Joe and I and for Sydney...the DR's were way cool about the whole thing...can you say, shocked? Anyway, we also got our visas done (all by myself thank you very much) and are getting updates too regarding travel from our travel group. Not much excitement until we get TA's and CA's...that is when the craziness really starts! We have decided that we will fly out of Houston to LAX and get on a China Southern Flight to Guangzhou. Oh wait...these are premium economy seats... pretty much business class seating, so we want to be VERY comfy for a long flight. Then we are not going to tour Beijing this time, but try to tour Chengdu and Chongqing before we get the baby. Chengdu has a Panda Breeding research facility there...very cool and there is another place we want to visit called Dazu that has some fabulous carvings in the walls of this "thing"...not sure all the details yet!
I have worked on packing since we got Sydney's referral, so with the exception of Joe's clothes, the video stuff, the lap top and converters etc... all the rest is packed already and we are way under the 44 lbs limit, so I am feeling quite confident that we shoul be more than fine on weight. I got all the over the counter meds along with the prescriptions from our DR and the Pediatrician...TamiFlu, Levaquin, Elimite, Ambien, Zithromax, Xanax, Lorazepam(Valium I think), and every OTC drug known to man...all fitting in 2 ziplock baggies! Gallon size of course, but still! We used packmates as well and I don't know whow people do it without them...they are WONDERFUL!! Highly recommend them. Only catch is you still need to watch your weights as they get smaller, but the weight stays the same and you pack more because you think you have more room! I cannot wait to meet our happy baby girl for the first time... I am so in love with her picture, it hurts to not be able to go get her right now. If TA's don't come up soon.... you are going to see one crazy mama!
AM