My goodness! Yesterday was quite the experience. We loaded up the bus in Nanchang at 10:30 to pick up our passports. When I write "we loaded up the bus" I need for you to understand what the really means. Fourty-four diaper bag toting adults, 6 children and 21 babies all cram onto a tour bus (please see the entry from Beijing regarding seat size). We're all concerned about the recklessness of the drivers here in China, but we take comfort in knowing that if our bus ever gets hit, we won't be injured. We're packed in so tightly that we won't be thrown around on impact!!!

Since the passport office wasn't quite ready for us when we arrived, several of us stepped out of the building and sat on the steps. We caused quite a commotion. Nearly everyone who passed, stared and smiled at the babies.

With our babies' Chinese passports in hand we headed back to the hotel for a quick lunch before departing for the aiport. Departure time was 2:00 p.m. for our 4:10 p.m. flight. The inexperienced parents (me) packed the diaper bags pretty lightly knowing that our flight to Guangzhou would only be an hour long. Ha! That was a big mistake. Upon arrival, Shiyan was informed that our flight would be delayed 1 1/2 hours. Yikes!!!!!! We checked in and went to the holding pen...um...I mean gate area. You should have heard those babies. Oh my goodness. The American kids traveling with us (mostly between the ages of 5 and 8) had a blast. They have really formed tight bonds and they kept themselves occupied the entire time with no problem. The babies were a different story though. Some were happy, some slept and some just cried for no apparent reason. Truthfully, I would loved to have joined the criers, but I was trying to set an example.

Someone from our group talked to a lady from the Phillipines who told her that our flight was delayed because the Chinese government was conducting an "air expercise". What the heck? Was it not enough that President Bush nearly made my bladder burst twice? Did we really need to get the Chinese goverment involved????

Oh well, our plan arrived at 6:00 p.m. and we boarded at 6:30. The flight to Guangzhou was uneventful, except for the man sitting next to Larry, and Kaitlyn was a real trooper. She finished up a bottle on take off and didn't seem to have any problems with her ears. Once the bottle was gone she fell asleep and slept the entire trip. She got a little fussy on the descent, but I think that's because her ears were bothering her. We fed her Cheerios and that seemed to help a bit. I'm finding that Cheerios can cure many ills.

We collected our luggage and boarded the bus. Babies and parents were all exhausted by the time we got to the hotel. One family fed their little girl a bottle on the bus ride from the airport. Once we got the hotel lobby, the baby got very sick. She made a mess of herself and a mess of her momma. Baby cried and so did mom. Someone shouted for baby wipes and everyone immediately started going through their bags to offer assistance. We could only contribute one wipe to the cause because that's all we had left (that's another story altogether). Everyone is doing fine this morning though. We all think that the baby just had some motion sickness.

Kaitlyn passed her medical exam with flying colors. Her temp was 97.4 (low just like her mom) and hearing was fine. The nurse did say that Kaitlyn's throat was sore. We suspected that this morning when she didn't eat much. We gave her some Tylenol Cold and she seems to be feeling better. She's working on hour two of a nap right now, so I'm hoping that she'll be back to her old self when she wakes up.

I can't wait to go shopping!!!! There are so many cute little shops around the hotel. We're finally going to buy Kaitlyn some shoes, including squeaky shoes, and we're also going to buy her a silk dress or three. :) From what I've seen, Guangzhou is a beautiful city and I can't wait to explore.

My arms were killing after yesterday so I finally, grudgingly, broke out the Hip Hammock. Oh my goodness. I can't believe I waited this long to use it. It is amazing. Kaitlyn can ride on my hip and be close to me, but it takes the strain off my lower back and arms.

Guess that's it for now. I hope to hit the pool with Kaitlyn later on this afternoon. That should be an experience.

Nik