Long Time Coming!

Hi Everyone! I know that this is so delayed in being posted! When we returned home, we found that our water heater had burst and destroyed our newly finished basement with the playroom for the kids. Needless to say, my internet connection was then pretty trashed. After being home fro one week, I became so sick that I could barely get out of bed. They tested me for parasites and such, but I had gastroenteritis for the better part of 17 days. No fun there!
Now that everything is back to normal, I will update the blog more frequently!

Tatum is doing wonderfully. She is a real ham and loves the attention of everyone, especially her brother. She is in swimming and playgroup and will be starting gymnastics right after Christmas! She is having surgery on her palate on October
30th at Boston Children's Hospital.

Colin moved up in swim class and is doing great! He really gets a kick out of Tatum! He is also doing playgroup with Tatum and loves the ball pit! Go figure, he loved it in Nanchang too!

Our Day on Lantau Island

Hi Everyone,
We ventured out today. We took the Tung Chung MTR (like the T at home) to Disneyland Hong Kong. We saw a parade where everyone gets wet. Boy, did that feel good in the heat! We walked down Main street USA and felt closer to home. We had dinner in the Royal Castle. It is the castle from Beauty and the Beast. The kids had pizza in the shape of Mickey and Dennis and I had cheeseburgers!
After dinner, we walked around in Fantasyland. All four of us went on the Winnie the Pooh ride. Colin seemed a little scared at first, but really enjoyed it. Tatum held onto Daddy's neck. Next, we went over to Small World. The outside was like a wild castle. We all sat in one row for this one. Colin was mesmerized by all there was to see. Tatum got excited and clapped her hands! They were both so cute. They each got a t-shirt to commemorate the occasion...our first family of four outing!
Disneyland Hong Kong is much smaller than at home, but it is just as clean and well kept. It was the perfect ending for our journey.
We are so looking forward to coming home tomorrow! It will be so nice to see friendly faces and familiar sights. We miss our family and friends! Dunkin' Donuts must have seen it's stock go down while we were away. We'll remedy that quickly!
See you all tomorrow. We look forward to you meeting our little Tatum...she's a trip!

Back in Hong Kong!

It is so nice to be back in civilization! The hotel seems even nicer this time around. We walked around the outlets and had some lunch when we got here. Later, we are heading over to Hong Kong Disney to end this trip on a high note! We can take the train right from the hotel. We plan on having some dinner, riding some rides and watching the fireworks. I will post those photos tonight.

I'm sorry that I couldn't post any photos last night, we had to pack and put the bags out early. We all got up at 4:30 to begin our journey. The flight was very short, only 40 minutes!
I have posted some of the photos from The Red Couch yesterday.
I will update more later when we return from Disney!

Day #10

Hello all, no pictures to show today (sorry!). Today we went to the U.S. Consulate for the so-called "Oath Ceremony". It really wasn't much of a ceremony; we just had to promise that all the information we provided on our various applications and paperwork to the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service was complete, accurate and true. That's it, nothing about the adoption itself, or all the adopted children becoming U.S. citizens. We were not allowed to bring any cameras into the consulate with us. In addition to the "Oath", we were provided with a sealed packet of immigration documents that we must provide to customs upon our arrival in Newark on Saturday. The highlight of the Consulate visit was that we got Tatum's visa to enter the U.S. I guess she's stuck with us now!!! I think the highlight of today was taking all the pictures of the kids and parents on the infamous White Swan Hotel red couch! That was an interesting event...try as we might we were not able to get all the kids to sit still!
We have a busy day tomorrow. We are flying to Hong Kong at 8:30 a.m., which means we must leave the hotel tomorrow around 5:15 a.m.! That means a 4:00 a.m. wakeup call...the kids are going to love that. We had to pack all our stuff tonight (camera included, hence no pictures to add to this post)so that the bell hops can take our bags at 5 in the morning. We will post some pictures tomorrow when we arrive in Hong Kong.
If all goes according to plan after checking in to the Novotel, we hope to make a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow afternoon if Tatum and Colin are up for it. After that, early to bed in preparation for our flight home on Saturday.

Day #9

Hi Everyone,
We had another quiet day here. Our visa appointment went off without a hitch. That means that we can come home soon!
We spent quite a bit of time in the play room today. Colin had a great time with the Lego's and the balls. Tatum was exploring and getting into everything. At one point they both got into the playpen and played ball together. It was too cute!
There was a thunderstorm this afternoon with some lightning. The storms come and go so quickly here. It seemed to only last about 10 minutes!
I went to a store today that wrote out the kids' names in Chinese calligraphy. It is so beautiful. It turns out that Tatum means sweet peace and Colin is forgiving forest. Seems to fit a think, especially the forest part!
We walked around the hotel a bit and took some pictures. Afterwards, we went to Lucy's and had dinner with two other families from the agency.
Tomorrow, we are swimming in the morning before the aftrenoon storms hit. We have our group photo at the famous red couch. I'm sure that will be a trip with all the kids! We then travel about 40 minutes to the US Consulate for our oath-taking ceremony. We are not allowed to take any pictures, but I will take some before we leave and after we return.
Then, it's time to pack!!!!!!!