What happened? We're already back! And I'm still working on a checklist (maybe for the next foreign trip)

We ended up leaving June 16th and returning back June 26th.  We were able to make it with a carry on and a check in.    We went to Beijing to see the Temple of Heaven,  Forbidden City,  Great Wall, Chengdu ( Pandas ), Xi'an ( Terra Cotta soldiers ), Quilin ( Li River),  Then we went to Tokyo, Tokyo DisneySEA,  and Mt. Fuji.  Wow, it's unbelievable that we accomplish this trip. 

I forgot to meantion the multiple delayed flights and my lost luggage (for 2 days) and the rain.  It was fun.  Here is my list of things that I plan to do for the next big trip.

1. In China,  Water sources for bottle water was not a problem.  I brought a lifestraw water bottle and would do it again ( in case there was an emergency and bottle water was in short supply ).  I would pack more 1 dollar yuan bills  (very handy for drink machines at airport, hotel, and tourist areas).  Bring backpack that can carry 2 water bottles.

2. Next I would have a set of quick dry washable clothes for tshirt, pants, underwear and socks.  Cathay Pacific lost my luggage and I only had a tshirt I could wash.  I purchased new underwear ( and grew to a triple X size!!)

3. Taking pictures is really fun.  It turned out that something got stuck on my lens, temporarily, and a bunch of shots look like there's a worm on it.  Yuck.  I should make sure to clean my lens and to review and check a photo.  I almost ran out of memory cards.  I used 4 sets of 64gb cards!

4. Bring extra US cash currency and convert some currency to the denomination of the country you're going to (yuan and yen for us).  We brought roughly $1,500 (in crisp 100 bills) and $10,000 yen bills.
This came in handy for our decision for Katie to pose with a live panda and to pay our hotel bill in Japan ( I didn't want to use my credit card).

It's hard to imagine that we're going back to China with Katie on a heritage tour.  Why are we going?  Because we're getting a better deal that even our entertainment book or Costco cannot match.  Katie gets to travel in China (with other adoption families) for free, while we have to pay.  But what a deal.

I'm starting to get back flashback memories when we were preparing for our first China trip back in 2009.  Back then we had to pack a elephant in our suitcase and worry about the birdflu and getting sick.   Back then we had to bring all our over the counter meds and a lot of crisp 100 dollar bills. Hey!  We're still doing that now in 2017.

As we get older, we get smarter and pack lighter.  Right?  This time around we're packing lighter and the weight we saved on our luggage went to my stomach weight.   At least that was for me.  Arlene can still fit her clothes from high school.  I decided to buy new outfits.  Katie is now in 3rd grade going on 5th grade with an attitude.   We wanted to take her now before it was too late.  Squat toilets, humid weather,  and foreign languages don't appeal to teenagers.

Ready.  On your mark.  Get set.  Go ......  hmm,  the slow and steady win the race, right.  Well the blogs will be starting back up.  Stay tune.

Time flies by when you're having fun or you're so busy that everything else stands still.    Katie has been a real blessing and has kept us young.  I was getting so old that it was hard to stand up off the floor.  Now it's less of a problem.  Now I have these aches and pains due to old age.  Nooooooo!

Katie loves the beach, and loves hiking, and loves books and lego and duplo and magnet tiles.  For myself I love peace and quiet.  It's something I don't have, and I find it priceless when I do.

Mom and Katie hiking at Muir Woods.  Dad dragging behind.

It's hard to believe it's been 4 years since we had our Big trip.    We have been spending much, if not all, of our time and energy helping Katie to adjust.  After 4 years, life has finally calmed down and I even reset the password for this blog!  I  plan to maintain it more now.    Katie just had her 6th birthday and she has grown soo much.  She just started kindergarden and is learning to swim.

 We were blessed to have Katie find lots of friends at pre-school and at our church.  It provided an excellent environment for her to talk and make friends and talk non-stop at recess.   We have a new treasured gift we desired called  "Peace and Quiet" and to be able to get "Power Naps" for 30 minutes.  One of the funnest joy that Katie does is to copy me taking pictures with her toy camera.  Something, sadly, our boys never picked up. I have learned to treasure the little things in life called "sleep" more now.  I can fall asleep almost anywhere in any position. Because there is so much going on with family and Katie.

 Katie continues to be a bursting bubble of joy and able to make the most obnoxious "MU HAHA Laugh" yet contagious laugh ever. Katie's favorite stuff animals have been versions of Simba and Nayla.

She may start playing the piano soon.  She has shown interest playing other instruments well and now can whistle one note.  She likes to tweet into my ear when I'm trying to have some "peace and quiet" and having a "power nap"

 Nothing  like raising a girl who loves to say "NO".  We are blessed that Katie's favorite drink is a can of V8 juice.  Parents of other kids, nearly fainted when she drank that instead of juice boxes.  They ran to us asking us how we did it?

We shared that we had to like drinking it too. And the parents gave us a look of despair.  "What?"  Just kidding.  We don't know what we .did.  We told her it was good for her and that was it.

Like most girls, she loved anything Disney.  She was infected with the Princess Syndrome and we told her that we only liked a few of them.  Belle was great because she loved to read LOTS of books.  Rapunzel was cool, she was a hard worker and wasn't lazy.  TinkerBell was cool because she was inventive, a team player and thought outside the box and had a good esteem.

Katie currently loves books, being creative with unlimited scratch paper and rolls of generic scotch tape, and plays a lot of Duplo and Lego.

A senior moment X 3

Talk about senior moments. I forgot the account name, blog, email, and password to edit this blog. Fortunately I wrote this information down before I went to China. Since we got back from China, my hair is turning gray, my eyes are baggy'er , and my memory will last as long as my flash drive.

In any case, We're back (more or less). Katie had her welcome to our family party on October 31st, 2009 to welcome her to our family and also to acknowledge many of our friends who supported us through this wonderful journey. This journey is a marathon, and now we're on the second mile.

On November 1st we also had the opportunity to dedicate Katie at our church Chinese Grace Bible Church. It was an opportunity to acknowledge her and to receive supportive blessing from Pastor Joe and the congregation.

The past two months has been really eventful with her palette surgery and recovery. It's been a real blessing to see her grow and cry and scream and touch every button within her little fingers. It's exciting to see her learning sign language and to speak. Unfortunately, Arlene and I tend to look at each other and say "What did Katie say or sign??" So far, she can do her A-Z wooden puzzle quite fast. And she can lose the letters even faster. Life has changed in many ways. I now spend too much time on Ebay shopping for duplo animals!

Katie's poop-con alerts are now becoming are becoming more dramatic. We're more concern about how big her delivery is in terms of tonnage now a days. Currently Katie's crib is in our master bedroom. After she takes a afternoon nap she consistently does her poopbomb and our whole bedroom smells like poop. In order to change her, I have developed the ability to hold my breath for a 2 minute drill. I have to I usually lay out 3-8 wipes in 10 seconds and then lie her down or was it pin her down to pull off the diaper miracle change and then TA-DA! , I turn on the whole house fan to get a breath of fresh air! Ahhhhhh. It's not the best time to turn on the whole house fan in the winter time tho. I always wonder how you determine the number size required for your child. I've concluded that it's based on the diapers ability to hold stuff without leaking or bursting.

With Katie running around more, I'm wondering it our dog has child sheepherding skills or now. Hmm, it's worth trying. Katie's favorite words are currently "Bau", "Moore", and "Mulk".

If you click on the photos, they will become sharper. I also gave up trying to align this post. Blame that on another senior moment. Enjoy

Katie's Personality

It's exciting to see how Katie is adapting compared to us adapting to her. For instance, when Katie takes a nap or goes to bed, that's the time for me to ZzZzZz out too or to finally watch a dvd movie and volume level 01.

At the rate prices are going up with diapers, we thot it was a good idea to start Katie on a potty training regiment. Katie had her own ideas of what pottie training meant.

Katie loves to play with all our pots and pans in the kitchen. Our whole house is becoming a playground again for kids.


Katie has also been developing a very independent attititude toward us. She wants to feed herself and lets us know how she can do it better than us. She may develop a career in plastering. You can see how well she can feed herself and give herself a rice cereal facial at the same time and how cooperative she is with sticking out her tongue at us.



Life continues to be full of joys and challenges as Katie is growing up too fast. It's a blast to see her mimicking our family. I'm not sure if playing the piano and using a cell phone for a tutor was a good idea though. haha. Until the next blog.

Rock, Paper, Scissors

Ahh the joys of Fatherhood. I'm learning a version of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. It's called
Riotmode, Pooper, Starving. I play this game with her everyday. Most of the time she is in one of these modes when she is fussy. To make things worst, she likes to bluff here and there. She likes to do stink grenades and false hunger pains. Arlene is more conservative with the wipes. For myself, I would pour out the wipes and use as many as possible. It also makes her smell more fragrant.

Oh well, it's fun to see here grow and try and communicate with us. She is no longer afraid of our dog. In fact Thumper is more afraid of her! My next goal in the weeks to follow is to see how she likes to write or draw. I'll give her some paper and pencil or use a magnadoodle.

Anthony is now driving and Christopher is almost ready to learn. Katie is already driving, Flintstones style. Enjoy the photos.

Loy