The Botanical Garden in Guangzhou, probably the most beautiful garden in China. Tuesday...2 more dats until we fly home to see SONJA!!!!

Today we went to have the childrens medical exams done, went to the Jade and Pearl market and visited the botanical garden. The most important part of the day was the medical exam. We were the first in the clinic and were seen shortly after entering. The doctors even gave the children toys to keep. Just rollin' in the stroller.

Aiyana is so quick it hard to get a picture of her but anyways... here is her picture at the medical exam and she too of course is healthy!

Waiting for the physical.

Ta da! Max passed his physical YAY!!! We of course knew he would! He is a healthy and happy guy!

We made a stop at the Jade and Pearl Market. The gentleman here is shucking an oyster shell and showing us as he takes pearls from it. He gave some of the pearls taken from it to the Miles family and also to us. He explained some of the details of pearl formation etc.

China is gearing up for the celebration of "National Day" I believe. The garden park is beautifully decorated with many topiaries, statuary and also decorations like those seen behind us in this picture. It is extraordinary! Imagine the work and time that goes into making this as beautiful as it is and it is all hand done. No machines here just hard work.

When you throw food to the fish it's like a feeding frenzy! They even jump out of the water trying to get it as it falls!

Max watching the fish feed.

Another beautiful picture of the topiaries in the garden.

"You talkin' to me?"

This photo is specifically for Sonja, a mama peguino with a baby peguino. She loves peguins.

An interesting rock formation. From a certain angle it looks like an elephant with a short trunk.

Our guide and facilitator Frank was explaining to us that he believed the totems seen in the back were given to the botanical gardens by the Australians. Below are a few others seen at the gardens.

This is a display of the 12 different Chinese zodiac signs.

Max posing near his Chinese zodiac sign, the rooster.

Dan posing in front of his Chinese zodiac sign, the rabbit. I am also a rabbit while Sonja is a monkey and Max a rooster.

I was trying to avoid the camera.

A clock made from flowers and shrubs. The time is accurate too.

Aiyana Miles having a ball with daddy Steve wheeling her around in the stroller. Mommy Tina Miles looking on.

The Phoenix topiaries

Dragons of red and gold, very lucky colors in China.

Max all wound up and of course it's close to bed time! He is starting to show more and more of his personality. I think he will give big sister Sonja a run for her money! He is very independent, smart, a quick learner and is a little spicy, just like a little girl I know very well!

Max walking 1

The first video of Max taking his first few steps. He does a pretty good job too!

Max 2 walking

Another video of Max taking his first few steps.

Max walking

Max taking his first few steps.

Our Last day in Lanzhou.

On this day we leave Lanzhou to fly to Guangzhou. Lanzhou is a beautiful and charming city. We found the people curious and warm. We are excited though to travel to Guangzhou as this means Max's paperwork will soon be finished. We also enjoyed the beautiful gardens from our trip for Sonja. I believe we will see the botanical gardens again, or at least I hope! Max having some fun with mommy. I love his smile!

Our cutie pie.

I believe this is the Chinese equivilent of the Con Ed man doing his job. There were a few of these men working along a stretch of highway outside Lanzhou.

More photos of the cave dwellings.

Sleepy boy

Say "Cheese"!

Max enjoying a bottle before the flight to Guangzhou.

Aiyana having a few "Waco puffs". The Max and Aiyana love them as well as Sonja when we adopted her in 2005. We bought an extra package to bring home for Sonja.

"I think I'll sit here for the view"

Max killing some time checking out the inflight magazines.

Max going after the food of course. I think instead of his name being Rui Fu maybe it should have been Rui Food :) He LOVES to eat and will eat forever if you let him. This was taken at our hotel Bai Yun just after checking in.

The "Garden Hotel" where we stayed when we were here for Sonja's adoption.

Downtown Guangzhou.

Hello from Lanzhou! This was our last full day in Lanzhou before we traveled to Guangzhou. Sorry we haven't posted in a while but we have been pretty busy and tired.
Here are a few pictures of our day.

We love and miss everyone very very much! We can't wait to return home and see everyone especially Sonja. We miss her so very very very much. Please give her a big hug and kiss from Mommy and Daddy!

Max and I relaxing in the van.

Extreme close up!!

Grist mill like house where the water travels to from the water wheel. The water wheel is entirely made from wood.

Steve Miles in front of the water wheel.

Aiyana the little sweet pie with her sporty little outfit.

Max, me, Dan and our facilitator and guide Frank.

Some information and history about the water wheel

Our little man.

A gentleman resting and people watching. I wanted to get a picture of him close up because he had blue eyes whic I thought was quite interesting.

A group photo taken of u in front of the "Mother of the Yellow River" statue.

This is an inflated pig skin (as you can see). It is used to make a raft for navigating the Yellow river. The skin is taken from the pig and then sheared, inflated and tied to a raft made of bamboo. This prepared skin can last 10 years or more as long as it is kept moist by putting it in the water occasionally.

The men preparing the pig skin for inflating.

scraping the rest of the hair from the pig after it has been inflated.

Steve Miles and I "hamming" it up. hee hee

The man next to me is the gentleman that owns the pig raft/boat tour business. He asked if he could have his picture taken with us. We were happy to accomodate his request as we wanted to have his picture taken with us too.

The final product after the pig skins have been blown up, tied and secured to the bamboo raft.

We saw this and had to take a picture of it just seemed so appropriate.

The local garbage men and women tying down their load.

Frank took us to the best noodle place in town and it was great. The noodles were in a broth that was so delicious. As you can see the people were pretty curious about us. Dan was taking the picture so all eyes were on the redhead.

We saw these everywhere we went so I asked Frank what they were. He told us they are for funerals.

Lunch al fresco

We visited a shop and I am unsure whether the turtles are pets or a fresh item for a recipe!

A tired Max

The women from the tea shop introducing their son to Max. Again, they wanted the baby to touch Max or vise versa but neither one wanted to cooperate. The people are so friendly and very welcoming.

Dan and Max walking on the bridge. The big red headed guy holding the little Chinese boy gets quite a few looks.

Frank told us this bridge was built by Americans and that it is 100 years old. He also said that because it is 100 years old the bridge is only for pedestrian traffic Just a few years ago many cars used this to cross from one side of Lanzhou to the other.

Anything old is treasured in China and they are very proud of their ancient history.