Consulate paperwork is done…YEAH!

Since Kassie was up so late last night, she slept until almost 8am this morning. We dressed quickly and met MeMa and PaPa for breakfast downstairs. We made a HUGE leap today, Kristin was able to hold her hand down the hall and carry her in the elevator and into the breakfast buffet. WOW!! Kassie ate her usual for breakfast; water, croissant, fruit and chicken nuggets. Yummo! What makes us laugh is we have known her for 7 days and we are calling this her “usual” breakfast.

David, our guide, had a 9am appointment at the US Consulate to submit the packet of paperwork for Kassie to get her travel papers and approval to come to the US/ Citizenship paperwork. Yesterday, we gave David our last payment for the consulate fees. He said yesterday…okay….no more money. We made him repeat it just to hear the phrase again…”No More Money!” We all laughed.

After breakfast, we loaded up the carriage and the five of us went out souvenir shopping in the town. Kassie was the greeter…”HI” to all. She was toddling around pushing the carriage, loving life. We stopped for a “light” lunch, truly a light lunch…some cheese, a loaf of bread, some drinks and a fruit platter. All were happy. Bill’s stomach is still not feeling well….I feel awful.

We came back from lunch and there was a “gift” in our room.e are going to do. Bill and Kristin laugh because in one short week we have been completely indoctrinated into parenthood; we have been thrown up on, pooped on and pee’d on….

David dropped off a present for Kassie.....it was a pink baby plastic squatty potty. Kassie sat on it and within two minutes she pooped. We now call it the “Magic Potty”. It is coming home with us. I know….weird thing to bring home but she is comfortable on it and uses it easily. Anything we can do to help with the transition is what we are going to do. If that means flying a pink plastic potty 8000 miles to NY is what wwoman (Chris, Kristin, and another woman from our travel group) in a taxi on a trip….the LEATHER OUTLET MALL. We were in heaven. Store front upon store front upon storefront of more leather and more leather and more leather. (Bill and Italo were in the hotel nervously waiting the woman’s return - hahahahaha) Some fakes and some originals…OH MY GOSH!!!!!! The smell of beautiful bags was awesome. Chris bought a gorgeous bag in all her favorite colors, red, black, and browns. It is beautiful. Kristin bought a kickin’ black bag…..love it!!! Can’t wait to start using it!

When we returned to the room, Bill, Kassie, and PaPa were here. She finally conked out on PaPa around 4pm so we’re waiting for her to wake up and then determine what to do next.

We went back into town after Kassie’s two-hour nap on PaPa and looked for some more souvenirs. Then we decided on dinner. We opted to eat in the restaurant in the hotel. It was delicious. The view was incredible. We had a view of the river and everything was lit up and was so lovely. A nice way to end our stay. We ordered some veggies and some noodles with beef and some Chinese raviolis (Somewhere between a dumpling a ravioli.) In addition we ordered some handmade noodles in broth. Kassie was happy and ate with her usual joy. Then we went back into town so we could walk of our meal. Came back to the room and the “Magic Potty” worked again and she went after dinner. YEAH!!!! Worth it’s weight in gold. When you do not speak the same language…bathroom functions become a little more difficult.

UGH!!!! It is 11:30pm and MeMa is putting Kassie to sleep while Bill and I are packing. We left a lot of stuff here but we’re packing more. Don’t know HOW that could have happened…..hahahaha.

We are looking forward to knowing tomorrow we have our swearing in and then are off to Hong Kong, our last city. It has been wonderful here at the White Swan. The island is very quaint and we have enjoyed being able to walk around, let Kassie run and interact with people. The local merchants ALL know we have adopted so they ask questions about Kassie, “How old is she?”, “Where is she from?”, “She is so cute?” etc. When we tell them she is from Hunan, they ALL say,” Oh, she is a spicy girl!” If we have a dollar for every time we heard that – we’d have more souvenirs. :) Our reply is always the same….”Yes, she is a spicy girl.”