Dinner cruise & Merry Christmas!!!

Last night we went on a dinner cruise with the Lifeline group.  If you have not experienced Chinese culture, it's everyone for themselves!  There is no order to things or at least not to what I have figured out.  So we were warned when they say it's time to eat get yourself up to the buffet right away.  Apparently the announcement was made and within 15 seconds you look around and all you see is 20 tables of Americans looking at each other.  So we just waited a bit and then headed up to see what was left.  There was plenty of food to go around and the buffet was quite good.  Plates , yes actual plates, were limited, and kleenex were used for napkins.  And small, small forks, because we were suppose to use the chopsticks.  Huahua is the only that can do that well enough to feed herself!

We saw the 3rd tallest building in the world (pictured here) called the Guangzhou Tower from our dinner tour.  It lights up with florescent lights, changing colors ever few seconds.

The children enjoyed the after dinner entertainment, with balloons and Sihua had a soccer ball spun on her fingertip.  She is very outgoing and willing to try new things.  Here she was showing off and entertaining the crowd herself!

Loves her noodles!

Posing on the grand spiral staircase.

The lobby of the hotel is quite grand.  Here is the Christmas tree. Notice the ceiling and the picture of the spiral staircase.  Huahua was busy pushing another child around in her stroller with a little help from some friends.  We appreciated this because we usually have to chase her around the lobby because she makes a b-line for the escalators .  She likes to ride them up and down, up and down, up and down.

This is what we do when we're not shopping, sight seeing or taking baths!   Have I mentioned to has probably taken 20 baths in the last 10 days.  She is such an entertainer and has her Daddy's sense of humor.

Enjoying a little snack on the way to shopping. Someone is going to have a huge surprise when she lands in America and we start using a car seat during transportation.  Right now it's a great time for her to socialize with all the patrons on the bus!

You might wonder why are we just shopping and sight seeing in China???  Well we are awaiting our consulate appointment on Thursday, 12-26-13.  Good news. Huahua's TB test was negative, so that's another hurdle jumped through.  Last hurdle will be the consulate appointment on Thursday where we will apply for her Visa to enter the US.  We will pick it up Friday end of day. Our travel home starts the following day :)

Many of the Lifeline families went shopping today at the "Island", but before we celebrated our Christmas together with lunch.  We were able to read the Christmas story from the Bible and pray together before our meal and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.  We topped off our meals with a bunch of shared chocolate treats.  The big and little kids all enjoyed that!  Here Huahua was sharing her treats with the waitress.

Lifeline Families all in Guangzhou

Lifeline families in China a little too long!  Ready to head home :)

The river around the boardwalk island.

This store owner claimed to give us a special discount because she shared a name with our baby!  Huahua did get a free toy phone from another store owner because she said she was so cute!