Hi to all-it's Hoyle and Doris. I thought the pictures are a perfect update of our children. Bailey is just a great sister. Little Ellie entertains all of us--altho she has not been cross or crabby she will NOT sleep. Gretchen suspected something amiss--so--Yes, Ear infection and sinus infection--So, medicine started tonight and she will really be a goer now--with some sleep. Ellie has learned so much in the 14 days her family has been with her. She crawled yesterday--has started putting things in her mouth ( not food) and will pull up. Our days here are very precious and each day is a thrill. The little 4 year old neighbor came over and said, "I think she looks like she was born in China!!" Yep, she sure does. Friday at the end of the school day she will be a visitor in Bailey's classroom. Thank you one and all for the thoughts and kindesses and concern you each have shown for this big project that our children have taken on. We are very proud of them. Hoyle and Doris

There is no place like home!! We arrived safely in Boise on Saturday the 17th. It was a LONG day, but we made it. Bailey and Ellie were perfect travelers (much better than the adults they were traveling with!) and there were about 30 people that met us at the airport to welcome us home. It was fantastic to be back on American soil. We are all settling in nicely. Ellie is crawling around and pulling herself up. She is an incredible little girl and we couldn't be more happy to have her as a daughter. Bailey is also doing very well with the transition, she will go back to school tomorrow and get back in the groove of things. As for Steve and I, we walked around in a blur for a couple of days but the jet lag is slowly disappearing. My parents are here for a few days to help out, so that has been great!
Thanks to all that followed along. We felt your love from half way around the world. I will update periodically, so check back!
Love,
Gretchen
P.S. Pictured are the other couples that traveled with us. Notice the large woman in the swimsuit, she is obviously not Chinese. This was Bailey's favorite sculpture because the crotch of the suit was not visible! Lovely!!!!!

Hello from Guangzhou! we are having TERRIBLE luck with the internet, so that is why you haven't heard from the merry travelers. We are having a wonderful time here. we flew here Tuesday night and got to this motel late. We had chicken quesadillas and enchiladdas for dinner- mexican food never tasted so good!!! Wednesday Ellie had her medical exam. She weighs 16 pounds and can hear and see. So, Life is good! We visited a pearl market and mall yesterday. Very, very crowded! Everyone is getting ready for the Chinese New Year. It must truly be a huge celebration. Beautiful decorations everywhere. This city is so tropical. It reminds me a lot of Hawaii. Bailey was the only person swimming outside yesterday as it was very overcast and about 75 degrees. She had a blast! this motel is incredible. It willl be hard to adjust back home. They turn down your covers and place chocolates on the pillow. And there are probably 100 choices of food included in the breakfast buffet. I told Bailey not to get used to that, it will be Cheerios very soon. AFriday afternoon we go to the consulate for the swearing in ceremony then we leave for Beijing. Beijing to Sanfransisco, to Los Angeles to Boise on Saturday. LONG DAY!!! Happy Valentines Day! Give each other a hug from us! No pictures today- could not get them downloaded. we will post hopefully tomorrow night from Beijing. If you don't hear from us, we are still scheduled to land in Boise at 7 p.m. On Saturday. Hope to see you at the airport.

Love,
Gretchen

Today we toured the temple of Lord Bao. He was born over 1000 years ago in the city of Hefei and was very popular with the common people. He was a real humanitarin and very fair. To this day, his distant relatives come to the temple on his birthday every year to honor him. He saved many from the guillotine (pictured). He had two wives and two children. The wax museum that portrayed some of their llife together was incredible. Very, very fascinating! On the way to the temple, we passed a few signs to keep off the grass. (double click on picture to see what the signs said- to funny!) this is where we also saw the three legged monkey on a leash.


We did a little walking tour and found the Football Restraunt. Outside of that was where that meat was hanging. Lunch anyone? The Budweiser Bar was right next to it.

Also pictured is Ellie's friend Sadie. Sadie is one day older than Ellie, but she is quite a bit bigger. You can tell how bundled she is, it was probably 50 today so she was plenty warm. sadie's new home is in Williamsport, Pennsylvania which is the home of the little league world series.

Alea is 18 month old and she was napping today so she missed the tour. She will live just outside of Washington DC. Alea's mom is from Indonesia and her dad is Cuba. we hope to get the girls together for many pictures now that Sadie and Alea are feeling better.

We are all feeling good, except becoming a little homesick. Bailey has had cabin fever the last couple of days, so Steve took her to the park today and they played ball and blew bubbles. It seemed to make the aternoon better for her. We leave for Guangzhou tomorrw and we are excited! It will be in the high 80's there so we can't wait. we leave here at 4 and should arrive there around 6. We will stay in the White Swan hotel. (google it- it is quite amazing!)

Thank you for all of the comments! we check the blog frequently to see who has checked in.

See you soon!
Gretchen

Good Evening from Hefei, China! We have had a terrific day as we are now officially done with our paperwork. For two hours this morning, we finished the last of it. It is a great feeling to FINALLY be done with all of it! Now we just hope that the American consulate agrees with all of it. we will find out on Friday!

We were going to go to a temple this morning, but our guide thought it was to cold for the babies to be outside, so we will try again tomorrow. So, instead we went and played at the park. Bailey and Steve rented a little boat and strolled around the river. Bailey had a wonderful time! It was a beautiful afternoon and there were lots of people out and about. Many locals stop us and say "lucky girl" to Ellie. I beleive that we are the lucky ones! She is some an awesome baby, her little smile and laugh light up the room.

For those of you who are looking for a different career, may I suggest attatching a portable cotton candy maker to your bike and hang out at the park. Actually,mom, I think it would be an excellent job for you! You have to like to talk and make friends. The whole time the lady was making the cotton candy, she was chatting with us. She didn't know a lick of English but just kept on visiting and smiling. It was great! There is not much profit, as she charged us 12 American cents.

Double click on the green sign that is on the garbage can. The chinese tranlation is actually Fruit Leather Suitcase. we are not sure what it means, but it was hilarious!

we tried duck and pork intestines for lunch today. (just a tiny bit, when in China do as the Chinese!) For dinner we had instant oatmeal (that we brought from home) and peanut butter and french bread. Just needed a little comfort food. After eating in the same restraunt for almost a week it was a nice change! we have tried the Chinese beer and it is actully very good.

We our having a lot of trouble with the internet right now so I need to stop for today.

Hope your weekend is good!
Love,
Gretchen

We have had another great day! The trip to the museum was interesting. There was no heat, but great sites. There were many small artifacts that were in the tombs of noble birth.

Words of wisdom....when in China do not dial 55 for room service. That is what we dialed and an hour and a half later Steve went looking for our food. There is a BIT of a language barrier but with the help of Filmore (karioke singer who speaks very good English) our food was delivered 20 minutes later. This morning we discovered that we did not call room service, but housekeeping! The funny part is after Steve placed the order the maid came and looked puzzled so she left. We now know the correct nuber, but it has provided us with a laugh all day.

Chinese workers pick an American name so the foreigners can pronounce it. So there are lots of Michaels (after Michael Jordan)Janes, Stevens, Grace, but we are not sure why Filmore was picked! Filmore's job at the motel is to teach the emoplyees English. His night job is entertainment in the bar. His singing is really good- Gordie, he even sang an Eagles tune. we thought of you!!!

After the museum, guide Jane and I got of the travel bus and went shopping for smaller clothes for Ellie. That was a fun experience. She snapped her fingers and the workers came running over. Within 7 minutes, I had 5 outfits and 2 pairs of socks. Jane and I were going to walk back to the hotel, but she spied a cab and took off running trying to catch it. I ran to catch up and we hopped in the cabbie as he was pulling away from the curb. The others came home on the bus and the driver missed the hotel so he turns the bus around in the middle of the road having to back up blocking four lanes of traffic. Insane!

Ellie has had another fantastic day. She slept really well last night and wakes up smiling and giggling. She is a great growler and hair puller. Bailey really appreciates that!

Steve, Melinda and I spend most of our time laughing about all of the crazy experiences we have had here. And it takes all of us to keep Ellie from rolling off the bed. she acts like a sumo wrestler and is all over the place.

Steve and Bailey tried either squid or octopus this morning. (we were not sure which one it was) The breakfast buffet offers a wide variety of food from baked beans to fried tomatoes, to rice krispies. A little something for everyone!

Love to all-
Gretchen





This afternoon we all went to a museum of the history of the Anhui province. We were there around a hour. After that we all went to a park to walk around and breath in the Hefei air. It is so rough you can feel it going in. Here is a shot of the wonderful world of split pants (after diapers and during potty training). I also took a couple of pix's of some animals strung on strings above a restraunt.. The first is some sort of bird or animal the other is some fish(fuzzy).

Steve