A pleasant surprise in our travel planning

boston→detroit→shanghai-guangzhou→hong kong→detroit→boston
After booking the 16 flights and embarking on myriad last minute home-projects, Gerry and I were feeling a little frazzled.  However, did I tell you how amazing Gerry is?

When Gerry was a youngerish professional, he worked his **** off traveling every single week (usually multi-city trips) for a number of years. He thus accrued a nice stash of frequent flyer and Amex points that we never, ever touched.  Ever.  Not even once, well once he did give some to his aunt who was not well.  Anyway, we wanted to use them but just never did.  Bottom line - we ended up having to buy a smallish number of points and our in-country flights but did manage to get our flights to and from China all first/business class for the cost of one coach ticket!!  I think Gerry was really happy to be able to do this and it will be really nice.  I guess you can lie down in these seats so I am gearing up for a nice 15 hour nap:)  Sounds kind of nice, in a way, don't you think?

the misfortunes of wallpaper

some of my worst childhood memories involved my parent's wall papering projects... 
I swore that I would never involve myself in such projects with my husband and yet here I am and it is just as bad as I remember!  

Gerry picked out some purple paint for Aoli's room (reportedly her favorite color) but all we have is this square swatch on the wall. The wallpaper border that a previous owner put up is very, very stubborn and does not want to come off (it's just out of view in this photo but goes around three walls). Warm soapy water does not work, Dif and perforated paper did not work so now onto vinegar/soapy water and perhaps steam.

At least her bed is in and is very, very comfortable.  I tried it out for her and it is great for napping!  

Consulate Date Confirmed

With our date confirmed, we are ready to start booking flights and hotels.  Originally I was planning to stay at the JadeLink in Shanghai but am now considering hotels in areas that are more family-friendly and central to the main tourist areas in the city.  I would love to try something in or around the French Concession or Zintiadi so if you travel in Shanghai and have a recommendation please let me know!  Also, a hotel with pool would be ideal.

I hope Aoli likes her veggies because our food co-op is giving us some amazing food these days... This week-end's pick-up should have me cooking up a storm!

travel invitation

less than one month to go...
We have our travel invitation!!  Today our agency called to let us know that we can schedule our appointment with the Consulate in China.  We are hoping to travel the first week of September.  This will mean that we will be in China exactly one-year after we first learned about Aoli and the Journey of Hope camp.  And we will be in China on her birthday.
I celebrated by going through all of the photos that were taken by our agency at the Journey of Hope camp last July and posting some of Aoli.  I was struck by how many of these kids I feel like I know and love but am yet to meet in person.  As of now, I know them through their new parents.  I can't wait to see our reunion photos of these kids all together in the US.

 

What, nothing yet?

Violet is wondering about this blog....No travel updates yet?  It's true.  Nothing yet.  Looks like September travel.

Photos for Lili

These are some of the pages from the photo album I assembled and sent to Lili.  I hope that she is able to see it soon so that she can see her new family and start to internalize what is in front of her... and just get familiar with these new faces (besides 50 pictures of us, pictures of her grandmother, aunts and uncles, and new cousins who cannot wait to meet her).

I understand that she probably hasn't yet received the packages we sent.  It can be hard to share the gifts.  Some of the other children can get upset if they do not yet have families and plans to leave the orphanage.  I know that the Shanghai SWI does a great job at preparing the kids to come home and Lili does know that she is being adopted.

Aoli's bedroom (before stage here except for the lights), pretty easy to work with all things considered.  This old bed is out...will post new photos once we are done.  I am only going to decorate it a little bit so that she can finish it off the way she wants to.  

We chose this room because it has a nice view and nice light but mostly because it is exactly diagonal from my room and I have a perfect view - bed to bed.  I am going to be worse than the Helicopter parent, apparently.  Here comes Snowplow/Bulldozer Parent, ready to remove obstacles before they arise...Kidding.  I do not want to be like that!!