It's Official....sort of.....again

We had our appointment at the US Consulate today. So no pictures. No cameras are allowed in. No electronic devices of any sort. I learned, much to the annoyance of those in the group behind me, that I had several squirreled away in my backpack that I had forgotten about. Good thing they just put them in a bin and gave me a check number to retrieve them after we finished.

The Consulate appointment was really sort of anti-climactic, in a way. It was great that it was the final step for us, but it was really just sitting in a room with all the other families (again), taking an oath (this was new), and going up to a window to sign some forms (again). Then it was done. That's it. No big production. We all cheered and clapped for each family when they turned away from the window as they finished, but that was it (and Caden started clapping along, as well; he is so smart and cute--and I'm totally not at all biased).

After we got back, it was lunch at Lucy's. The food was pretty good, but the service was terrible. Don't know if it was just us what. Everyone raves about the place, but if we were staying here longer, I probably wouldn't go back. Following lunch, we entered a whirlwind of shopping, trying to get things found off of Adreanna's list and go to a certain store (Susan's Place) where the shop owners are from Wu Chuan City, where Addie came from. Mom and I spent about an hour or so there, shopping, talking, drinking tea, and just having a good time with the proprietors. They didn't remember Addie or Adreanna specifically, but they were very happy that we were back there specifically because of the Wu Chuan City tie. Very nice people...who took quite a few yuan from us today.

Mom and I decided to punt the Pearl Market shopping trip in the afternoon. I think we're both just too worn out at this point, and neither of us planned to buy any pearls, anyway. Caden is out. Mom is out. I would like to be out for a bit, but doubt I'll be able to sleep with the noisemaker in the other bed...:)

We have a meeting tonight with Jason to go over departure procedures, then we're free to do our thing the rest of the night. Then I guess it's packing time again, in preparation for our departure tomorrow evening. Hopefully, I'll have a chance for one more post before we go.

Sooo looking forward to being back in the States, but I wish we had more time in Guangzou.