Newest family member

Meet our newest family member, Molly. She is 2 1/2 years old.
Keith decided she should be in our family after seeing her and hearing her story. The rescue people said she was taken out of a puppy mill. She's adjusting really well, we all adore her, and Buster actually seems to like her. The one downside is that I think she is going to live up to the reputation that dachshunds have as being the hardest breed of dog to potty train. Andrew and Anslee still love the old man.

Baseball!!!

Andrew decided last fall that he wanted to play catcher. We signed him up for several clinics from December until the start of spring ball.

Learning the catching position with a runner on 1st base. Notice his hand behind the glove to more quickly get the ball out in case he has to throw to 2nd on the steal.

This is a drill to get up and into the throwing position.

Learning to block.

Watch it to the glove!
Here is Andrew in his first game. Looks good! The black catchers gear above was borrowed. Below he looks good in the gear Santa brought him for Christmas.

China Trip - Tueday Afternoon 11/25

After our trip to the zoo, we went to the adoption registration office. While we waited for our appointment time, we walked around a large open area that had shopping and restaurants.

We were all posing for a group picture. As you might imagine we draw quite a crowd. Here is our view of the crowd gathering to watch us get our group photo taken.

As I mentioned, the Chinese LOVE Caucasian boys. Here a crowd gathers to look at Andrew. You can see me letting him know not to be worried by the growing mass. They just stare at him smiling and giving him a thumbs up. Occasionally they will touch his hair. Terri and Anslee are in the store behind us.

Another view. Eventually a policewoman came and made everyone move away.

Here we are on a side street. Lots of vendors selling merchandise to the locals. The cart to the right is assorted candies.
Time for some Starbucks!
Watching a video at the Adoption Registration office.
They gave us 10 minutes to look at Anslee's adoption paperwork and we were not allowed to make any copies or write anything down. They had everyone's paperwork spread out on this counter. It was all in Chinese, so we grabbed one of the guides to help us translate.

We were told that that Anslee was found at about 8:00 in the morning by a lady on her way to sell produce. She saw a small bundle wriggling and thought that is was a animal of some kind but as she got closer, she realized that it was a baby. The baby was wrapped in a very tattered red blanket. This is significant, as red is a color for good luck. Also, when babies are abandoned, they are usually left in the nicest clothing/blankets that the family owns. The fact that the clothing Anslee was found in was in such bad shape would leave you to believe that her family was extremely poor. As you can see below. This was a very emotional moment.

Here is where we had dinner. A pirate ship in China!

China Trip - Tuesday Morning 11/25

Well, I'm recovered from my rotator cuff surgery and back to posting pics from our China Trip. I'll try to be more timely! I think Terri has given up the blog for Facebook.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Chongqing. Here is a view from our hotel room looking down towards the river. It is almost always overcast in China.

Here is our group gathering for the days activities. On the agenda for the day is a visit to the local zoo in the morning to see the Panda's and then off to the adoption center for a chance to see Anslee's paperwork.

At the entrance to the zoo, there are locals selling their goods, much like at the Great Wall they are very aggressive. As you can see the kids talked me into getting them something.
Here is a close up of one of the Panda's. They just sit there and eat bamboo. It is amazing how close we could get to them.

Here is a hippo. What you can not see is the hippo on bottom! I like to call it:

The humpy, humpy hippo's!

Andrew did not care for this.

There was a guy doing Tai Chi with a sword.
He taught Andrew how to "bust a move"!
I had to put in this pic of one of the little girls from our group. She was the cutest thing!
I don't quite know why, but the Chinese LOVE Caucasian boys. These girls saw Andrew and his friends and had to have their pic taken with them. They were so excited.

Andrew and Anslee get a souvenir.

This guy was selling pets?

China Trip - Monday 11/24

This is probably the last post for a few days as I'm having surgery to repair my rotator cuff in the am. I will pick up with Tuesday 11/25 activities as soon as I'm feeling OK.

Terri and Andrew got up early to go visit a Buddhist temple and practice Tia Chi with the early morning crowd. I knew Anslee wasn't going to have any getting up early so we stayed behind.

Andrew and Terri at the temple. The Forbidden City is in the background.

A better picture of the Forbidden City.
Andrew practices his "moves".

The tree where Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hung himself.
Later that morning we all visited the China Center of Adoption Affairs. This is where we were able to get a first hand look at how the adoption process works on China's side.
When you adopt from China, there is always talk about the "matching room". This is the office that matches the child to the family.

Adoptive families are usually amazed at how well the children seem to match the adoptive family. Here the workers are busy doing their thing.

We also got a look at the room that houses all of the dossiers of families in waiting.

Look at all of those files. The files are color coded to specific adoption agencies.

The children were taken into conference rooms for different activities based on their ages. At first they asked the parents to wait outside... One of the guides helps Anslee with her origami.
After visiting the Center for Adoption, we ate lunch and then headed to the Beijing airport on our way to Chongqing. Can you believe all the luggage?! I plan on doing a blog later that focuses on all of our meals. Stay tuned!

China Trip - The Great Wall

Sorry about the lag in posting, but the Holiday's have kept us busy. This blog will highlight our favorite pictures from the 11/23 afternoon visit to the Great Wall. It is a must see destination and way more impressive in person, plus you can pick up a bunch of cheap SWAG outside.

The vendors hassle you all the way to and from the Great Wall.

They had a camel that the kids could get their picture taken on. We were lucky to get this photo as normally they will cover the camels head so you can not take a picture without paying!

After the walk up the hill through the vendors we took a cable car to the top of the wall. Some people hiked it, but I'm not sure Anslee was up for that.

Anslee enjoys the view.

Andrew thought he was Godzilla, we told him that was Japanese!

The whole family on the wall.

As I'm sure some of you are aware, the Great Wall is one of just a few visible structures from space. The size is truly amazing!

There is a lot of walking to be done exploring the wall.

Some areas are very steep and you really have to watch your step.

Andrew grabs a souvenir!

Anslee needs a rest.

Here we are inside one of the old guard towers.

Next Day two, 11/24.