Consulate Appointment and Lazy Afternoon

This morning we were up early! At the beginning of our trip in Beijing, we were up by 3:00am just because we hadn't adjusted to the time change. This morning we needed an alarm to wake us at 5:30. We had an early CA this morning. We left the hotel at 7:50 so to get all FOUR of us showered and finished with breakfast, we had to be up with the sun. We made it, though I know we'd have all preferred a more relaxed breakfast. Tomorrow is a free day though so we can allow for that.
Here we are ready to leave to take our oath.




Outside the Consulate - no electronic equipment is allowed, so we were instructed to snap this picture quick and get the camera back in the bag. The US Consulate office is on the 5th floor of this building.




Our appointment went very smoothly. There were only two families this morning so we were in and out in a half hour I think. The other family had a healthy 16m. old sweet little girl. They were first time parents from Austin, TX. In a city of 12 million, it is nice to meet another family that looks like ours. We don't have the comfort of our travel group with us this time around. Anyway, we were in the consulate office on time for our 8:30 appointment. We heard some instructions about applying for SS numbers and protecting our very important sealed brown envelope of citizenship papers, etc. Then, we all raised our right hands and swore that the information we provided was all true to the best of our knowledge, and that was that. Welcome to America, Luke. :) Our new son will now become an American citizen when he passes through customs in Seattle on our way home.
Now for the story...We had some running around to do after our appointment. We had to return to the Chen museum to remedy a broken necklace from yesterday. We had to stop by the medical building to pick up Luke's translated medical report. And, we'd asked if we could stop at a supermarket to do some shopping for some things for our trip home. We purchased some more noodles to make with our hot pot in the room, water, baby wipes...essentials. We also picked up a stroller for Luke to use in the airports, and an extra suitcase to pack our gifts in for the trip home. On our way out we noticed some not so sweet aromas coming from the stroller...you fill in the blanks here. Mr. Luke Heutmaker is now down one size 18m navy blue onesie.




I think that family picture at the top of this post is the only one we even have of him in his little red, white, and blue outfit. Ah well. There was no way that onesie was coming home with us. We Heuts know how to make memories. :)
The rest of our day was pretty quiet. We got back to our room and bathed the little man while Daddy made the noodles for lunch. Luke took a marathon nap. Hope and Ron tried out the new stroller and went for a walk around the area. A certain big girl is feeling like she'd like a little stroller time again these days. I started packing some of our things. It was nice to get a head start on that.
After nap we had some quality playtime in the room and then decided to go for a walk. We crossed the road to check out the "Guangzhou Friendship Store." Ummmmmm, Yeah...... We did not belong there. It turned out to be a VERY upscale type mall with stores like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, and Valentino just to name a few. We wandered around a little bit but got some very strange looks and felt pretty uncomfortable so we took our hillbilly family and went back across the road to McDonalds for dinner.
Wen we got back I took some pictures around the hotel so you can get a glimpse of the posh live we've been living for the last few days. This is something else.

The garden Hotel Guangzhou


Under the escalators in the lobby ~


Outside Courtyard ~








Lobby Ceiling ~


Lobby Staircase ~


Front Desk ~


Above the entrance on the inside ~


Happy Kids ~


Happy Family ~


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