1000th McDonalds Grand Opening and leaving China!

1000th restaurant grand opening in China

Aunt Lisa in the grand parade for the new restaurant drive through

James and Dad and Ronald McDonald! (Tong Tong only looks a bit freaked out...)

James and dad with the dragons!

Lisa up on stage for the ribbon cutting ceremony

Today we had the opportunity to go to the 1000th McDonald's restaurant grand opening in Guandong (or somewhere like that, about an hour away from Guangzhou). It was quite an event! James loved most of it and was quite taken with Ronald McDonald! It was such an incredible chance for Mike to meet his China colleagues. It was also so moving to see my sister Lisa on her home turf. I am so incredibly proud of her and was even emotional that I was able to have this chance to see her! I mean really what are the chances! The restaurant was very nice and there were many people there, as well as the media. Lisa was pretty busy with all of that so we didn't have much of a chance to talk, but again I was just so thrilled to be there!

Today was also our swearing in ceremony. It was at the US Consulate in China with about 40 other adoptive parents. The actual swearing in was about 3 minutes. I can't quite remember it as we are getting a little delirious. It is time to go home...We had some beautiful and tender moments today with James and also some very hard moments with the temper tantrums. He is definitely attaching though. When I think of the first nights when he laid in his crib and put himself to sleep without wanting any mom or dad interaction, to these nights when he needs me to help him fall asleep and talk to him. It is such a beautiful change. I remember how odd it was when I tried to get him to lay down with us in the beginning and he just wanted to be alone. Now he wakes up in the wee hours and calls out mama...which in some ways may not be such a good thing and make for a tired mom!

We are hoping for a nice travel time. I sure hope no one on the plane has to experience poor James temper tantrum-oh the looks we have gotten in China! Please pray for us- I don't want one of our fellow passengers parachuting out the emergency door!

Ali:
My mom and I are listening to Christmas carols right now, in Starbucks (while drinking Iced Hot Chocolate, which is an oxymoron, and I LOVE oxymorons). We are looking forward to seeing you all again. We miss you all so much. If you meet James in the next few weeks, just know that he is temper prone. I just wanted to give everyone a fair warning.

We now interrupt this blog entry with a brief message from the Beach Boys:

So hoist up the John B's sail

See how the mainsail sets

Call for the captain ashore

Let me go home, let me go home

I wanna go home, let me go home

Why don't you let me go home?

-"Sloop John B"

Much love, Ali and Jenn

PS Not all of us want to go home, to the daily grind of suburbia and school and being crushed by the system, et. cetera. But we must go, because it is our HOME, after all. This has truly been the trip of a lifetime and I am so glad we all had the chance to go together.

PPS Fun fact of the day: If you would like to speak to James, this is the current extent of his vocabulary. We've also included pronunciations, for your convenience.

Ay-ay-ay-lee-Ali

Carlien-Caroline

Clay-ay-ire-Claire

Mama-Mom

Baba-Dad

BOOO-NANA-Banana

Bu Yao!!- (This is a Chinese expression meaning, "I don't want/need it." It is the most common thing out of James' mouth. Usually precedes a temper tantrum.)

Engen Engen Numba NINE!-From the book "Engine Engine Number Nine, one of James' favorite phrases.)

MER!-More

Godda go PEE PEE! Godda go PEE, A-PEE!- Sometimes he just randomly says this. He has no idea what it means.