Plane ride and Hong Kong

11/22+11/23

                LONGEST PLANE RIDE EVER!!!  Overall, however, it wasn’t too bad. During the morning of 11/22, Grandma, Grandpa, and Justin drove us to the airport at around 8:30 AM. Our plane took off at 10:15 AM to Chicago. When we boarded this plane, we were all very excited. We couldn’t wait to arrive!

                We had a 3 hour layover in Chicago.  We had to take a shuttle over there. Once we walked on, we were amazed at what we saw. The check-in counters for the planes were all amazing in themselves! The Egyptian airline was written in black and gold. It seemed to stand out the most.  We had to go through security and customs again, this time, a lot more detailed.

                We flew a 777 Boeing by Cathay Pacific. The plane was gigantic, made to fit 300 people. The seats were comfortable, and we all had our own personal T.V. and remote. This T.V. had movies, shows, games, and music all loaded onto it. This plane was a lot smoother taking off.   Sleeping was very hard, and between us all, we watched about 7 movies. 

                Just as I was about to pass out, Dad looked over at me and said, “We are half way there!” We were also over Russia, and it was -75 degrees right outside of the plane at 34000 feet in the air. It was also pitch black, so looking down was impossible. We got fed twice on the plane, I got Pasta once and Chicken the other time, both of which were amazing. When we finally arrived, we had so many emotions running through us! We had to go through security and customs in Hong Kong, along with the visitor immigration check-in. We found our tour guide from CCAI, Matthew.

                Matthew went over everything we needed to know for the first night and traded some of our money into Hong Kong dollars. My first impression of Matthew was that he was smart, funny, and very knowledgeable of Hong Kong. I was hungry, so I went off to find a Starbucks in the airport and got a blueberry muffin which was $16 in Hong Kong money.  Then, I realized it was only about 2 US dollars.   Matthew left us for just a few minutes to find another family which would be traveling with us.  Our driver drove us all to the hotel, and we got there pretty late.  We all went to sleep right away, excited for the days ahead and dreaming of Gianna!a

By Big Sister, Britt

           

Conference Call

On 11/15, Joel and I met in one of the conference rooms at work for our travel conference call.  We were given the final travel plans which included a two week itinerary in China.  The itinerary has us traveling to Hong Kong. From there, we will fly to Nanchang on Sunday for “Gotcha Day” which is where you get your beautiful baby. We will stay in Nanchang until Saturday (12/1) then fly to Guangzhou for our Consulate appointment.  We will then fly to Hong Kong and return home.  Wow, what a busy two weeks!!

November 12, 2012--Gianna's Birthday!!

Wow, it's already here....Gianna's Birthday!  She is now one year old!  We celebrated by having an Asian carryout meal from our favorite take out.  We are certainly getting better at using our chop sticks!!! My right hand still aches a little after each meal using chop sticks. It has been good for my waisteline because it has takes so long to pick up food with them that I tend to tire out and not finish my meal.

My Friend, Stephanie, came over and brought the most beautiful cake.  It had pictures of Gianna on it.  The cake was strawberry with white icing!  YUMMY!  Thank you Stephanie for your thoughtfullness!! 

This is such a  happy day, but yet we find ourselves a bit down just because we don't have Gianna yet.  We were so hoping by this time, we would have her home and be planning a birthday party for her.  We will have many of these to come I'm sure!!

September 24, More baby Pictures

       What a nice surprise!! I was checking my email when I saw that CCAI (our adoption agency) sent a couple of new pictures of Gianna as well as updated statistics. Gianna is nine months old in the photos....and she is just BEAUTIFUL!  We just can't wait to be able to pick her up and bring her home!!!

September 14th, Baby Shower

       My good friend, Toni Westbay, had a baby shower for us at her home to celebrate baby Gianna!  Brittany and I were super excited to go to the baby shower.  Toni made one of my favorite dishes, Lasagna.  Kelly made delicious cupcakes that were too beautiful to indulge in.  We also the most delicious drink ever--made by none other than Ms. Westbay!! 

       Several work friends came and brought the most amazing gifts as well as their children which I thought was very fitting.   I was blown away by my friend's generosity, creativity, and support.  Everyones gifts were very special and unique. We appreciate them so much.

Gianna's Room!!!