Hello from Guangzhou

On Friday in Guiyang we received Lexie's passport. Our guide did everything for us from going to the notary, getting the passport etc. She was wonderful. Thank you Jessica for everything while we were in Guiyang! Then we were off to Guangzhou with 3 other families. One from our agency, the doctor and his wife that traveled with us and another family from another agency we became friendly with.
We arrived safely in Guangzhou on Friday night at the White Swan hotel. What a clean, beautiful city compared to where we were in Guiyang! We are happy to breathe the air here which feels much cleaner. Lexie was great on the airplane even though it was a short ride. She loved it. Her friend was city 4 rows in front of us and before the plane took off they were yelling back and forth to each other in Chinese. Everyone around us knew what they were saying except for us. It was so funny!
Saturday I spent over an hour doing paperwork for the US Consulate while Kysle and Lexie played. Cole wanted to join me I think hoping for a little alone Mommy time. Then we all went to get our childrens visa photos then their visa physicals. Lexie did great, she was so busy talking to all the doctors that checked her over. It was very funny. She is a chatter box! Then we spent some time at the playground and Starbucks! I was happy to get my Starbucks fix here. That I missed in Guiyang.
What an adventure later on Saturday. I went with 4 other families on a shopping excursion with Ann of Red Thread. She is well known for taking you to places you would have no idea to go for wholesale prices on everything from jade, to pearls, to tea sets etc. It was great as I bought a ton of stuff! Well we finished with her around 5 p.m. and then there was a horrible rain storm! We got caught in it. We were not able to get a taxi. We were soaked from head to toe! Ann was amazing finally after about 45 mins. the rain lightened up and she got some type of van to pick us up that was driving by. What a ride this certainly was not a taxi! It was some random guy that agreed for 50 RMB (about $7) to drive us back to our hotel. There were only 3 seats in this van so a few people sat in the back on there knees. What a ride it was!! At least we made it back to the hotel safely! We had dinner at the hotel and we can definitely say Lexie is almost as good as Cole is at restaurants. She eats very well, sits for a long time at dinner with no problems. So that's great news for our lifestyle since we love to fine dine with and without children.
Today we will hang out then I will leave Kysle and the kids again and go with Ann and the families to the clothing markets. This is where we can get awesome deals on the silk dresses for the girls. I can't wait.
And yes Cole finally broke down yesterday when we were at Lexie's physical and used the Chinese bathroom!! He wasn't too pleased but he did it.
That's all for now my clan is starting to wake up so off to breakfast.