Halloween!

Well, Bayard had multiple costumes this year. Here are the photos.... they represent Sheriff Dash (a hybrid costume), "Super Metal Man"(all his own design), and Spiderman. Ah, preschoolers, gotta love em. He had a great time trick or treating with the neighbors tonight (he was Spiderman tonight, Super Metal Man for the Lantern Walk (although got out of costume before we got there as Travis mentioned that he may have some trouble if there was lightening, apparently this was a bit too much for the 3.5 yr old to process and realize dad was joking...), and Sheriff Dash for our neighbor's Halloween party on Sat. Fun times were had by all. He is looking forward to next year. Well, I am having a hard time uploading the photos... and I need to get packing...we are leaving in the morning! So, I will try the photos again another time.

More from China!

2 more sleeps...

So I just checked out the weather for our trip. Here is the breakdown (and the itinerary)...

Hong Kong : 80's and mostly sunny!
11/1-11/4 (in reality, we lose a day, so we are really only there one full day, we get into HK thurs night and then leave for Guiyang on sat 11/4) Friday is a free day to roam around HK
Guiyang: just like Portland! 60's and good chance of rain!
11/4- fly in
11/5- GOTCHA DAY! (for those of you not in the know about adoption lingo, this means the day we meet and "get" Amelia! so, "gotcha")
11/6- appointments related to adoption with the Chinese government and the orphanage that has managed Amelia's care since she was found last Feb. We agree to care for her, educate her, and love her as "our own", etc.
11/7-11/9 (tues-thurs) are down days. We are free to roam around Guiyang, and get aquainted with Amelia.
11/10- we get the notarized documents from the Chinese government that say we are officially Amelia's parents!
11/11- get Amelia's Chinese passport and other official documents (she will have a Chinese passport until we apply for a US one when we get back home). This is also the day we fly to Guangzhou where the US Consulate is
Guangzhou -- 80's and mostly sunny!
11/12 (sunday) - free time in Guangzhou!
11/13 - Amelia gets a physical exam and a photo for her US Visa!
11/14- An appointment at the US Consulate related to legalizing the adoption with the US government
11/15- take the US adoption oath! WE ARE LEGALLY HER PARENTS IN THE EYES OF THE US!!!
11-16- Fly to HK and then on to LA and then back to Portland! HOME AT LAST!

Whew. I am tired already. Did I mention excited too? Here we go.....

Here are our most recent pictures of Amelia. These were taken on Oct 7 2006. I wonder how much different she will look when we get her next sunday? Wow. One more week!

We have spent much of today looking at all the stuff we are taking with us. Wow. We are working hard on being minimalists, but...all the "what if's" have us packing more than we will likely need, especially in the area of just-in-case medications! We hit the traveler's clinic and they loaded us up. Let's hope we don't need any of them!

We are off to a Lantern Walk tonight with Bayard's school. What is a Lantern Walk you ask... here is what Bayard's school says...

The lantern walk is a time honored tradition that marks the coming of Winter. Parents and children are invited to dress up in their favorite winter costume and take a walk through Fernhill Park. Children walk carrying handmade lanterns. These lanterns represent the warm season that has passed and eternal life. Along the path, “treats” (snacks, polished rocks, shells) can be collected and stored in pockets. The walk ends and families form a large circle and blow out their candles.

Groovy you say? Well, we do live in Portland.

Ok, I will try and post some Halloween/Lantern Walk pictures later.

Ok, I am figuring out how to load pictures on here. It isn't really very hard... here is one of us in the backyard this August. Hmmm.... this blogging thing is pretty cool....

4 more days til China...

Well, it is saturday night and we are getting closer and closer to our trip. We meet Amelia a week from tomorrow! Hard to believe. I thought it might make sense to try and figure out this blog deal to let people follow us while we are in China... we'll see how it goes...