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Welcome to our adoption website. This is so friends and family can keep up with us during our amazing journey to adopt a baby from China. We traveled to China in February 2006 to bring our daughter Emma home. Our travel journals are archived in the drop-down box under the web buttons. This website continues so Emma's family and friends can continue checking out her progress and daily adventures.
3/10/2012: Part II - Day 3: Sorry, I've been doing contract work every evening since we returned and haven't finished updating our trip. On to the 2nd half of day three... When you watch the Red Carpet at the Oscars, the celebrities then walk up the beautiful red tiled staircase that leads to the Kodak theater (which we couldn't enter, due to the Oscars). What you don't see when they are walking into the theater are the high-end stores leading to this amazing tiled staircase. They put up drapes in front of the stores, from ceiling to floor to cover them for the event. The staircase was beautiful. Afterwards, we were given a few minutes to roam the craziness that is Hollywood Blvd. Wow. The crazy people were out in full force. We had folks dressed like transformers, power rangers, spiderman, a very strange looking Minnie & Daisy, all wanting to charge for photos with them. This was in front of the Wax Museum. Then you had the street performers, the wanna-be's handing out their music on CD, then wanting to charge you if you took it, and the tour guides wanting to take you anywhere you would like to go. Even though we told them we were already on a tour, they persisted. You had to be direct and tell them NO. Even Emma was saying "We're not interested" by the end of that scene. We walked the Walk of Fame for a bit. Got a famous photo. Contemplated buying our own Oscar. And what's funny, is if you see the Hollywood Star in the photo above, our tour guides went and had them made for our whole group and handed them out (we're way in the back) On the bus again and on our way to Rodeo Drive. Wow, what a difference from Hollywood Blvd. I'm surprised we didn't need a credit check for walking down the street. This place was gorgeous. We first went to the street sign that was encrusted with Swarovski crystals. As we were taking pictures, we did notice a strange lady asking people for money. I didn't see a big police presence in the area, but I didn't see her stay there very long either. We then walked down Rodeo Drive to see the RegBevWil (movie reference anyone??). The Regent Beverly Wilshire from the movie Pretty Woman. We walked into the lobby and couldn't believe it was so tiny. Looks so huge in the movie. On to window shopping. We didn't dare go into any of the stores. We got looks anyway, wearing our mom jeans and sensible walking shoes. Check this out....Purple and Gold. Blaine wouldn't even let me go see how much it was. Yeah, right. Dream on baby!! The owner of one of the boutiques parks his $1.7 million dollar Bugatti Veyron on the street in front of his store. Apparently you can't just walk into his store, you have to have an appointment. Our bus driver then drove and gave us an hour's tour of some famous/notorious places as he took us to our next destination, Malibu. We drove down Sunset Blvd. and passed places like the Viper Room, the Laugh Factor, the Comedy Store, and the Beverly Hills Hotel, which had a memorial to Whitney Houston who had passed away the week before. We drove down the PCH and made our way to Gladstones Restaurant on the beach. They told us what Gladstones was famous for - some reality show or something. I don't watch that much tv, so I've never heard of it. It was really pretty though and a nice way to end the day. Michael and Dean had an appetizer buffet set up for us and handed out Mojitos. Emma had a Shirley Temple and LOVED it. Afterwards, we went out on the beach and Emma was given strict instructions NOT to get soaked in the water. Well, we all know how that ended. She wasn't too happy having her legs washed down in the sink in the bathroom, but her delicate skin was super itchy. We cleaned up and watched a gorgeous sunset over the Malibu beach and got back on the bus to head back to Disney. This tour was really a nice break from the parks and we got to see so much. Our guides were awesome and fun too. The worst part of the day was the 45 mile, but almost three hour drive, back to Disney. We were fighting Friday rush hour (and holiday weekend) traffic. They played a Disney movie for us on the way back (my least favorite, of course) to keep us entertained. Then around 8:30pm after arriving at the hotel, we got one last picture with our hosts for the day. And Emma had a tight grip on that Sprinkles cupcake that Michael had gotten us from Rodeo drive. Whew. I'm exhausted just updating half of day three!!! 2/25/2012: Day 3: This was a fun change of pace. We signed up for the Lights Camera Magic tour by Disney. We met our group at 8am and boarded our bus. First we were brought to Disney Studios, where many of the Disney shows are filmed. Here is the lobby of one of the private screening rooms. Notice Fantasia? We got to see Pooh's Oscar... ...the original MM watch. One of the sculptures from Narnia movie. Selena's recent platinum record with Michael our tour guide (and Emma was given a Hannah M. CD) The a tour of the grounds. So cool!! The only "partners" statue you can take pictures with since the ones in the parks are up on pedestals and surrounded by gardens. Walt, Emma & Minnie. (*Blaine tells me this isn't Walt, so I guess he's probably a good friend of Walt - Roy, possibly?). One of the ink rooms. From there, we boarded the bus and were on our way to Hollywood! We got a private tour of Grauman's Chinese Theater and got to find the hand/foot prints of our favorite stars. Marilyn: (notice Emma's feet are larger than Marilyn's - they were crazy tiny). Then we walked next door to the Kodak Theater where you can see they were setting up for the Oscars that are being held one week after we were there. The entry way to the Kodak, it was closed due to set up for the Oscars, but it's interesting to see how they've listed the top movie of the year on each of the lit up panels on the columns leading up to the theater.
2/25/2012: Day 2: We didn't get as early a start as we wanted, because we were exhausted from the previous day, but the beautiful weather soon beckoned us. We headed to California Adventure and right to Paradise Pier where we did most of the carnival rides. The Golden Zephyr - didn't care for this one too much. The Silly Swings. Fun! This shot cracks me up. Mickey's Fun Wheel Triton's Carousel Another of Emma's favorites: Goofy's Sky School. I could only do this ride one time! Yikes. And of course, everyone's favorite: Toy Story On the way off the Pier, we ran into the Mouse! So do you see the difference in a size 6 sweater and a size 7 t-shirt? Afterwards, it was time to stop for a snack. Ahhh, this became a daily snack. LOVE LOVE LOVE those Mickey bars. Emma had the ice cream sandwich bar. Next we ventured off to Bugs Land and did all the rides there. I loved the attention to detail in this particular land. The clover soared over our heads and the lights were all lightening bugs and the benches were used popsicle sticks. Looming right next to Bugs Land was the Tower of Terror. I've never been on this ride, as I don't really like being dropped straight down, but Emma was willing, so I was too. Needless to say, I think this is the only time we'll be going on this ride. Not my cup of tea. Here's the proof. Afterwards, we took a detour to Downtown Disney and found a Build-a-Bear. I happened to have a really good coupon with me, so Emma got a little dog, she named Lilly. It's ears and paws have Mickey heads all over it and can only be purchased there. She was so excited, and what a perfect souviner for her. 2/25/2012: We've just returned from a surprise trip to Disneyland. We've never been to the parks in California, so this was a nice change for us. We woke up Emma and she read her surprise note that we were leaving for CA TODAY! She proceeded to scream and bounce around the room. Then she suddenly stopped and said "are you joking?" It was too funny. I wish I could get the video to upload. I'll have to work on it. Day 1: After flying to CA we arrived and still had plenty of time to go into the park. However it was raining. Well, we donned our ponchos and walked to Disneyland. Good thing about the light rain, the park was empty!! We managed to do all the rides in Fantasy Land in no time at all. The Teacups were not running due to the rain, but it was really pretty in the drizzly rain. Emma then found one of her favorite things to do: Big Thunder Mtn. We rode it about 5 times, until it started to rain harder and it wasn't much fun in the pelting rain. After a while, it was getting dark and Emma was freezing. We found some hot cocoa and called it a night. 1/29/2012: We've really been enjoying the mild winter this year. We've spent many weekends outside, and just today we flew our kite on the beach. It was nice to enjoy a nearly deserted beach. Our little beach baby was so happy to get back to the sand and even tried to inch closer and closer to the water, even though she was warned that we had no towels or change of clothes. We walked a little further down and got to inspect the rock sculptures and build a couple of our own. Emma told us she wants to be a geologist and was loving all the rocks. We let her take a little one home, since they are studying rocks this week in school. It was so beautiful outside that we found a great place to sit and watch the water for a while. Back at the house working on the two wheeler. Child has no balance!! Earlier this month at the aquarium. I had to explain what a pirogue was! At a lunar new year celebration. Our little scientist.
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