Warm weather! Aren't you jealous!

I think the majority of those reading our travels are in the Midwest and kind of disgruntled with the weather winter suddenly sprung with the new year.  I for one am wearing shorts today!  Guangzhou is the penultimate stop on our journey to bring Cameron home.  We are on the south end of China very close to Hong Kong.  The weather here would be similar to Miami for us.  Its funny to see people in decent leather coats and even hats and the temperature is 72 today! Lainey and I went to a playground here at the hotel and we got more than a few odd looks for not having coats on.  Guangzhou is a small 19 million in population!  Just think that's double the population of New York, our biggest city!  So why are we here other than to work on our tan?  This is the site of the only US consulate in China that issues immigration visas.  So we have to come here for an in person meeting at an appointment at the consulate to get permission to bring Cam into the country.    We arrived here on Saturday and got settled in.  Sunday we ventured off to see the sites some in the morning and did some of the final paperwork in the afternoon.  I really do believe that is the final amount of forms to be filled out!  It seems we've been doing paperwork for a year.  And actually we have!  If there is someone out there considering this adoption journey, don't let that deter you.   None of it is difficult, just tedious.  So on to the sites!  First stop was the 6 Banyan tree temple.  A Buddhist temple in the heart of the city not too far from our hotel.  Its a working temple, so I felt odd coming through with our tour and cameras and strollers while people pray.  There are a number of Buddhist shrines here that people will pray too.  Could be for children, or prosperity or good fortune to name a few.  They will leave money, fruit, and burn incense.  There were a number of bags of live koi fish left at the foot of one shrine. Its also to bring good fortune or luck. 

From there it was off to the Chen Family House.  Its a museum now to what they call folk art but its a display of some of the most detailed wood working, pottery, and carving you will ever see.  The Chen family is one of the most well known family names from China, think Smith in the US.  This house of over 15,000 square meters or 161,000 square feet, was built hundreds of years ago by the Chen family throughout the province.  When they would come to visit or on official business to the capital they would have somewhere to stay.  They didn't have hotels yet!  Some of the hand painting is the most amazing.  The masters can paint extravagantly detailed pictures with the side of their hand! The same side of your hand that chops a board in two in karate can make paintings that make you feel you are visiting the lush waterfall land in person.

And last but not least!  This day has some more significance to us.  Five years ago Lainey was placed in our arms and we became a family! 

Have to love Christina's craftiness to come up with a sign here in the hotel room!