Day 13 Goodbye Guangzhou, hello Hong Kong (Tuesday, August 16th)

This morning I awoke to messages from Mark (grandpa Gronberg) with pictures of the kids at back to school night. I've been doing great- missing the kids, of course, but enjoying these moments in China. However, after seeing these pictures, I lost it. I'm missing their back to school time. Chase's first day of kindergarten. Riley's LAST first day of elementary school... it's all too much for me! I was in tears. Look at how they've grown! God, I miss them.

I had to give them a call after seeing these pics. For them, it was about 8pm. They were just fine without us being there (which is great, but heartbreaking all at the same time)! Tomorrow, they'll wake up and head to their first day of school (just Riley and Addison- Chase starts on Wednesday). 

We went down for our last breakfast in Guangzhou. I'm in a state of shock that this journey is over. I'm terribly sad, really. I knew it would go by fast, but man has it ever. It's been so great for Nathan and I to have this time together- it's honestly felt more like a vacation than I thought it would. Scarlett has been so easy and chill (especially for a 2 year old). I'm going to have to make meals now... that's the biggest thing. I love not having to make meals. And I'll be missing the amazing Chinese food here! I've said that a lot. The food here is just delicious. 

I am excited to introduce Scarlett to our life. To just get that whole thing started. I know the kids are dying to meet her, too. It's going to be a sweet reunion. 

After breakfast, we worked on some packing and then headed across the street to check out this park that we'd heard was pretty neat. To get across the street, you have to go underground to where the subway system is. Believe it or not, there was a 7-eleven down there! Once we got across the street we discovered a great view of our massive hotel. It's a Marriott- called The China Hotel. The park is called Yuexiu park and man am I glad we found it! It was this huge park in the middle of this big city, and it was beautiful. So many green tropical plants, and flowers. Bridges, and a lake where you could rent boats. I wish we had more time to explore this pretty place! Scarlett fell asleep on Nathan (she was in the carrier), and it was very humid of course, so we didn't make it long.  Not to mention we needed to have lunch and be checked out of our hotel room at 2pm! 

We stopped by a little sidewalk store on the way back and bought popsicles and a toy from a popular Chinese cartoon for Scarlett's birthday. We had lunch at the hotel- the lunch buffet was even better than the breakfast! So so so many amazing choices! 

Jenny, Christy, Kimberlyn and Judah met us in the lobby at 2:00 to say goodbye. I'm so thankful that we ended up with another family to be in our group. Some people experience this with many people in their group- we were alone so much of the time. There were pros to this, of course. 

The driver picked us up at 2:30 and drove us to the consulate. It took Helen a bit, but she finally met us and gave us the rest of Scarlett's paperwork including her visa. Wow! What a neat thing. We're legal to travel with her, and we'll show that to customs in the states for her to become a U.S. citizen! 

Nathan showing Scarlett her visa

Then starts our drive to Hong Kong. We did it- we kept Scarlett awake, so she slept most of the way to HK. It was exactly a 3 hour drive. We were in a very nice, comfortable van. Helen was not with us- just a driver that doesn't speak English. It's pretty crazy! We went through the Hong Kong customs without having to get out of the car, which was weird. We'd heard that you had to get all of your stuff and meet the driver on the other side of customs. Somehow, our driver kept us with him and just showed our passports as we went through customs. Um, okay, we'll take it! 

I wish it was a nicer day, but it was pretty much raining during this entire drive. Hong Kong looks like an amazing place, but we couldn't see much due to the rain. We got a few good views of the city as we headed towards the airport and our hotel. Scarlett woke up as we were going through customs, and was just content to sit on my lap and look out the window the rest of the way. 

We got to the hotel at 7pm and got checked in. We headed down to a Chinese restaurant for a late dinner. We explored the hotel for a few minutes then headed to bed. There was no baby bed delivered to our room, and we were too tired to ask again, so she slept in bed with Nathan. Tomorrow, we get on an airplane and fly HOME. We'll have a special someone with us. Something we've been waiting for for quite awhile. It's surreal that it's actually happening. I can't wait for all of the firsts that we'll get to experience.