noodles <3

always moving. haha.


he is so dang cute. i can't stand it.





he loves his cabbage soup. haha.




this is what he does on every bus ride. :)





dad with his quarter pounder. :)

so...apparently they don't believe in diapers...just open-butt pants. hahah. so gross... read on and you will hear about it...


Hey everyone :) So sorry i have been slacking on updating. here are a couple of e-mails from the past couple of days.

Wednesday July 1st

dad-
"Hey Kasey! Today we went to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. They were built during the Qin Dynasty around 220 B.C. The site was accidentally discovered in the 1970s when a well was being dug. The Emperor then built the army to accompany him after death. It is commonly called the 8th wonder of the world, and we would have to agree. There are 3 excavation pits, one with thousands of foot soldiers, one with a huge array of chariot teams, the cavalry, and one known as the command center. We watched one area with excavators working. It was all very amazing and a honor to see. Baby Mason did very well on the trip. He loves to watch people and see new things. After returning to the hotel, we all took a long nap (road trips are tiring, 100 degrees with no wind, bus ride, etc...) then went to dinner in a nice restaurant. Mason ate a ton of steamed eggs and cabbage soup, which I hope we don't have to begin cooking when we get home! Tomorrow we are off to see the Big Goose Pagoda. Should be another great day!"


mom-
"Mason is a little eater, noodles are the cutest, he slurps so well. He doesn't like rice!! It was meant to be, a kid of mine who won't eat rice!!! From China!! What are the odds? His province eats a lot more noodles. He has a rash that we are working on, that is why they shaved his head before we got him, the rash was all over, on his scalp as well. He is always itching but I am keeping ointments and stuff on him constantly. He is also teething, but I brought Tylenol for that too. He loves his stacky cups, he will sit there forever and line them up and stack them upside and right-side up. He loves to look at books too - we have a smarty on our hands."

Thursday July 2nd

Mom-
"Last night our guide took us to another very cool restaurant - she is a very sweet person, she is from another province but works as a guide all over China. She has taken very good care of all of us and loves the kids. She told us what some of the people are saying that are giving us unkind looks and obviously talking about us. (mostly everyone is very smiley and nice) She said most chinese people in the provinces away from Beijing don't understand why foreigners are here adopting children, they don't understand the problem of abandoned children, it is not widely known. I've gotta say, we do
stand out in a crowd, I've never been stared at more in my life, again though, mostly people smile and even come and talk to Mason.
Today we went to a Buddhist monastery that has a very famous pagoda (temple) that was built in 223 AD. It was very cool, and there were some beautiful Buddha statues, some of marble. There was one main statue that had huge incense pots going and people were offering prayers. Mason fell asleep in his stroller so I sat and waited while everyone finished the tour. Several Buddhist monks strolled by and stopped to smile and touch Mason, it was very neat. Jim got a picture or two. Our guide said most people in China are not religious but they still like to offer prayers to Buddha occasionally, it is more cultural that religious. The whole monastery and buildings and Buddhas were beautiful.
We should get Mason's passport tomorrow, then it is off to the American consulate in Guangzhou, a two hour flight from here. Let's hope Mr. Very loud wiggle-worm will do well on the flight.