Day 16 - Home

Made it home!  Thanks for the many prays, thoughts and well wishes while we were away.  Many thanks to mom for sharing the journey with us and Gabbie and Poppy for taking care of Emma and Sophie for us.  The day was a little of a fog; feeling the effects of 24 hours of traveling.  We did manage to call the Hogs of course...

 

Emma and Sophie just love their baby sister; and she loves them.  They are being excellent big sisters.  Our welcome home from our house - a/c not working...hopefully something simple.



Day 15 - coming home

We stayed at the Regal airport hotel in Hong Kong prior to leaving in the morning.  It was by far our least favorite hotel; the room was much smaller and not near as updated or nice.  Essentially paying for the convenience of being able to walk to the terminal, which I have to say was very nice.  The flight was approximate 12.5 hours to San Francisco.  We had upgraded to economy plus but mom was split from us.  We asked if they could put us all together, but we assumed would still be in the econ plus, but they put us altogether in regular economy.  After some discussion they let us keep the 3 economy seats and mom got to keep her economy plus seat - actually turned out to be the best; Grace took a couple good long naps and it was a life saver being able to lay her down in her own seat.  After a near four hour flight to St Louis we were finally close to home.  We were warmly greeted by Gabbie, Poppy and the girls.

newest US citizen

Day 14

Our last day in Guangzhou; bittersweet.  This trip has exceeded all expectations I had.  Grace seems to be adjusting well; still the happiest little baby.  In addition to her two bottom teeth, her two front teeth are coming in.

Lunch was at the hotel bar - hotdogs and beer for mom and me; Malia opted for some noodle soup.  Was actually quite good.  The bar is having it's eight annual Octoberfest soon; looks to be a good time with German food and beer.

 

We said good bye to our excellent guide Jason and the rest of the CCAI families and took a van to Hong Kong.  We had the option of flight or much cheaper train ride, but with all the luggage and new baby we opted for the van and have no regrets.  We had our first rain in Guangzhou; it has been hot and sunny with a few days with a nice breeze.  Mom got one more scarf at the shopping area near the hotel; I believe they know us by name now...