We are a road trip family and so once we were mostly over the jet lag we decided to take Nadia on her first road trip. Mike’s Aunt Joy offered one solitary piece of advise before we left for China. She basically said, “Don’t turn your life upside down for the baby. Make her part of your life. She will adjust to the way you live.” (feel free to correct me Joy 🙂 ) So I have been joking that we are going to take her seriously. Nadia was doing well and needed to meet Mike’s family since she had met lots of my family.
We headed for Joplin, MO on Saturday so Nadia could meet her Grandma Linda, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Stoney, Cousins Jade and Gwen and Sharon’s good friend Amy. We were staying at the Residence Inn in Joplin in the evening and Mike was in the bedroom and I set Nadia down in the sitting area to sterilize her bottles. She was fascinated by the carpet because it had dots on it and she was spending some time touching each dot in front of her.
Then she saw DADDY and when I turned around she was crawling towards him. It was awesome and I started screaming, “She’s crawling, she’s crawling!!!” I almost started to cry and Mike said, “Grab the camera.” So we got it on video.
What is so amazing about this is that 3 weeks ago when we got Nadia she couldn’t sit up on her own and now she is pulling up and crawling. It’s just amazing what the power of touch and constant attention can do for children. And her hair is really growing in nicely on that bald spot on the back of her head. She is doing much better with the solid foods now that she is used to the spoon.
So Sunday we visited with Sharon and them for about 45 minutes and then we hit the road on our way east to Myrtle Beach to meet up with Mike’s cousin Eddie, his wife Kim, and all their kids. Evan, Julie, Claire and Regan. We got as far as Birmingham on Sunday, grabbed a hotel and then drove the rest of the way today.
Nadia did great on her first road trip and now she is totally used to the car seat which is great. Tomorrow morning we will take her down to the beach for the first time and the kids are so excited. We got here and they had onesies, a beach towel and beach toys for Nadia. She was just having so much fun playing with the kids tonight which was really cute.
Is this what blogs were really started for? Sleepless people to ramble on in the middle of the night? Well I am going to save you that and post some new photos of Nadia meeting and making new friends. She met Kaye and Darwin’s granddaughter Lila, Aunt Tahni, A’Jani, had her first trip to Italianni’s with Grammie and I and more. I also took a photo of all the shoes we got her in China. Some sizes I can’t believe I only got one pair in….anyone going to China soon that wants to pick me up a few more pairs?
Speaking of the little fashionista….we were given literally half a mini van full of clothes for Nadia from Eddie and Kim. They have 3 girls under 10 and started saving clothes when we first announced the adoption. I have them all sorted by size and in Nadia’s closet ready to go when the time comes. At the time I went through all of them in West Virginia, I didn’t take any of the really small clothes because we didn’t think we would get a referral of a child under a year. It just wasn’t common at the time our paperwork went in. So I told Kim to give all of those to a family that she knew was having a baby right away who could use them (which I am glad she did since a family got to use them ASAP). Sooooooooo the point of all this is that we got the little tiny peanut Nadia and didn’t have any clothes to fit her since she is in 6 month clothes. Not that I minded shopping, but it’s kind of funny for her to have a bunch of clothes in her closet she can’t wear.
Then Jessica Peterman packed up Randy like a sherpa on his most recent visit to Texas for a meeting with clothes that were Abby and Evie’s. I should have taken a photo before I just unpacked and sorted it. Thanks Jess, that was fun! There are several outfits that Nadia can wear right now which is great too. So I think that with all these clothes from the two families, some are bound to fit the girl in the correct season 🙂
We are really grateful to both Eddie and Kim and Randy and Jess for all the goodies for Nadia. It’s fun to see the clothes and think of the kids who wore them before that I LOVE SO MUCH!!!!
First for NADIA!!! She is the sweetest girl ever and I just can’t imagine any other baby being a part of our family.
o For Mexican food in Texas! We took Nadia on her first visit to Pappasitos today, unfortunately for her she had to eat baby food and not queso. o For all the people who have just showered the baby with love since we have been home. o For aunt Tahni driving up from Houston to visit for a couple of days and for being cool that we were jet lagged zombies. HA! o For the KIDS HOPE kids who were able to attend the Cats baseball game with us last night. o For Jacob T. for organizing all the tickets for the church members and KIDS HOPE kids to attend. o For Nadia sleeping through the night last night. WOO HOO!! o For ice cream. (yes they had it in China, but I was avoiding dairy) o For fresh salad. o For fresh veggies. o For clean water so you don’t need bottled water to brush your teeth. And so you don’t have to take a shower with your eyes and mouth clamped shut. o For our own soft, comfy bed to sleep in. o For baby babble and laughter, it’s just about the cutest sound on the planet.
*This post is mostly for the waiting families coming behind us, especially those with Great Wall who will stay at the same places.
The Poly Plaza – Beijing
This hotel seemed to be mostly for business travelers, but we did see a group of families from Canada that were finishing up all their paperwork since their consulate is in Beijing, not GZ. There is a theatre on the bottom floor of the hotel and while we were there they had a show playing for children that had the Wizard of Oz and other kiddie things. Mamma Mia opens there in August and this is apparently a big deal for China and the hotel. ABBA in Chinese? I am not too sure about that 🙂 The last day we were there Mike was taking some photos in the lobby and he got too close to this secure escalator and the security guy came over and was trying to tell him not to even take photos of the empty escalator. I guess all the “big wigs” go that way, so Mike just moved away.
We upgraded to the suite and that gave us a moderate sized bedroom, a moderate sized sitting area and a pretty large bath. There was a large bathtub and a standalone shower with a rain showerhead. There aren’t enough great words to describe those showerheads, especially when you have no luggage. I was taking 2 showers a day in that thing. There was a medium sized hot pot in the bathroom for boiling water and a grocery store close by that you could get bottled water at. The bed was the worst, it was a SLAB, I am talking the kind of thing they use in the morgue. We tried to layer blankets, but my hips and arms still went numb at night because I sleep on my side. That was the very worst thing about the hotel. Although some members of our group liked it, I prefer a softer bed 😉
The staff was friendly and I taught the hostess at the breakfast buffet a new English word – ICE. It cracked us up the second day when we went down and she seated us and said to me, “Ice?” The day before she didn’t know what in the world I was talking about, but apparently when I started crying at the table the morning before I made an impression on her so she remembered me the next day. The buffet wasn’t very large, but it had a good selection. They had an omelet station with many fixings, but the toaster seemed a little tricky. They had several kinds of cereal, but the milk in China is weird, so I just avoided it altogether. The hotel had all the little expensive shops inside and a tea house/restaurant open 24 hours. They also had a little coffee/snack bar near the entrance.
It was fun to look out the window at the street below and just watch the insane traffic dance that occurs in Beijing. I always knew it was getting close to sunrise when the horn honking started to go mad in the morning. Overall this was a nice hotel, but we just wanted to get to the baby and I can’t really say that I paid complete attention to anything there.
This hotel was very nice and we also had a suite here. This was GREAT once we had the baby because we had a large master bath and bedroom with a couple of chairs and a desk plus a TV (that we never turned on). We also had a sitting area with a love seat, chair, TV and a wet bar area with glasses, cups, saucers and a 3 liter hot pot that was very handy. We had an extra half bath that became the bottle making station and dirty diaper disposal spot until the maids came every morning. Having this extra space with the baby was good and once she was asleep we could chat in the sitting area and not wake her. The coffee table in the sitting area was also good for eating room service on.
Speaking of room service at the Jin Feng – it’s GREAT!!! Mike highly recommends the club sandwich with fries (he got it 3 times) and I LOVED the fried rice with eggs. It doesn’t taste like that in America. I would love to know how to make that rice here. YUM! And it was cheap, cheap, cheap. A giant plate of fried rice was 15 yuan. That’s like $1.70!!! The breakfast buffet had a large selection and I really liked the mixed fried rice they had down there which you could also get from room service. They had all kinds of yummy bread and rolls, but some have “surprises” in them. Not quite like a pig in a blanket, but I think that was their idea. They also had an omelet station I think, but I didn’t order any from them as they had a lot of other hot choices on the buffet to fill me up. You can also get seedless watermelon on every buffet and it’s so good! I didn’t eat any other fruits and veggies while in China.
I thought the staff was friendly and helpful. The front desk takes a while to exchange your money and you have to give them a copy of your passport to keep when they do the exchange. Plus you have forms to fill out when they give it to you. I rented time on the internet from the business center when our laptop died and they speak good English in there which was nice. When you check out, they go into your room to confirm that nothing is damaged and to check the mini bar. Then they call down and tell the front desk so that you can pay what you owe them on the spot.
Overall I enjoyed this hotel, but everything was overshadowed by the joy of getting Nadia and her becoming part of our family. The extra space was money well spent for us. We didn’t have hot water in the shower for the first 2 days, but it wasn’t so cold that it was worth packing all our junk up and moving rooms. Several families in our group had to move rooms right away though because of the room either being too hot or too cold. You have to leave your room key or a coaster or something in the slot by the door for your A/C to stay on while you are gone. The suites have 2 A/C units, one for the bedroom and one for the sitting area.
We upgraded to the Executive Level Suite and it was worth EVERY penny in my mind. We were so worn out and tired by the time we got to GZ that to have all that space was great. We were tired when we arrived and it was nice to get separate check in. The suite had a very large bathroom all done up in black and white marble. There was a standalone shower and very large Jacuzzi tub. There was a lot of counter space for our toiletries and various baby medicines. Nadia had a cold by the time we got to GZ and we needed several of the items that we had brought.
There was a very large living room with a desk for your computer (free internet access also on Executive level), a couch, chair, TV and a hutch with a fridge. On top of that there were glasses, cups, spoons, various kinds of tea, sugar and a hot pot. We also had an extra half bath which was once again set up as the baby bottle station. The view from the window was wonderful. I think if we had been on the other side we would have had a much clearer view of the Pearl River, but we could see the neon decorated boats at night. You could go on dinner cruises, but we didn’t do that.
Now on to the food: We were so tired when we got the hotel after the flight with the babies that we ordered room service. It was about $18 EACH for the cheeseburger Mike got and the tuna baguette that I ordered. They both came with fries and we also got a slice of cheesecake that came with some incredible ice cream. It was the most expensive meal we had in China, but at least it was good. We ordered from Danny’s Bagel every day and it was wonderful. The BBQ chicken pizza was really wonderful and we just loved the crust. The convenience combined with the price was as great as you have heard. It was about $17 a meal including the deliver fee and tip. We got take out from Lucy’s one night and it was also very good. We ate at the Cow and Bridge Thai place with several other families one night. Mike got a great beef meal with a sweet Thai sauce. I ordered fried baby corn and mushrooms since it had been so long since I had enjoyed some veggies. I tried one of the Spring Rolls that Mya ordered and I liked those too. There is a 7-11 across the street from the White Swan where you can get bottled water, diet coke, snickers and more goodies.
The shopping in GZ was great because it’s built around the adoptive families who come to town. At Susan’s Place we got our laundry done and ordered multiple chops for many kids back home. The best place I found for squeaky shoes was Sherry’s Place #2. http://www.sherrymama.com/ This is her second location and it’s in the building just past the charity shop “A Gift from China”. It’s in a building with a bright red sign that says ART 64. They had all kinds of really great styles of squeaky shoes at great prices. I came home with 13 pairs for Nadia and some for various friends babies. At Jennifer’s Place we got more dresses and some squeaky shoes in different styles not at Sherry’s Place. From one of the vendors in front of 7-11 I got some bracelets and awesome paintings for gifts.
The service at the White Swan was top notch. We have been to some great places and the closest comparison is the Grand Floridian at Disney World. At the WS on the Exec. level they came in and serviced our room twice a day. At night for the turn down service we got chocolates and they laid out silk robes with tigers on them and slippers. There was a little evening greeting card also with the next days weather listed on it. We never saw the WS breakfast buffet because they had a continental breakfast on the 22nd floor for people in the Exec. suites. You could just run up there and take it back to your room.
That’s all I can think of for now and I hope it helps. — Louanne
