Consulate Day

Today was the day when the Consulate looked over our documents and approved Molly to go home with us. When we land in LAX she will be a dual citizen, as far as the U.S. authorities are concerned. China says she will be an American citizen. We waited in our room while Nelson went across town to the Consulate's office. If there were any problems, Nelson said he would call us and let us speak to the consulate. The only call we received during our confinement period was from Monique at Gift of Love. She was just checking in to see how things were going. Jon sent her the mpg file of the ladies in the park oohing over Molly. She said she'd tell us what they ladies were saying. Jon loves the part at the end where one of the women pats Molly on the behind.

After we were released by Nelson this morning, we did a little shopping, then ate lunch at Lucy's, it's right next to the hotel and serves American-style food in an American movie-theme decor. The waiters and waitresses all speak excellent English and have a very Western look about them. The french fries were good, the hamburger more like meatloaf, but the chicken congee received a thumbs up from Molly, who ate nearly the entire serving. She also tried some broccoli (yumm) and a few bites of Dad's tortilla. I told her to get used to eating tortillas because she'd be seeing a few more of them at our house.

While we ate, Molly admired the "Ski Utah" license plate on the wall next to her. She wants to take up slalom.

It's a rainy day here and we're just resting a bit, since we have a free day. Molly is napping face up on my bed and Daddy is napping face down on his. They are both snoring.

Here are a few more photos from yesterday.



First is a group photo. We make quite a scene when we go out. I call it the baby parade. As Nelson was taking this photo, a crowd of people collected and started taking our picture as well. The photo below is Mikaela, Kathy's daughter. She just had her 9th birthday and is like a celebrity here. Little girls run up to her saying "Hello!" "Hello!" and then their parents take a picture. They must not see many American kids here. I love this photo.



Molly likes to look up at lanterns. At the Folk Arts Museum yesterday, I took this photo for her.



The greenhouse at the garden yesterday had a section of nothing but orchids, some hanging in baskets, others on planters on a rock wall, others on large bamboo poles. Here's a close up:



A side note: Molly again slept from 9:15 to about 7:00 a.m. We love this kid!