Mr. E

Photos from China

Of course when you're done eating you need to scratch your butt!!!

This panda was hungry!

Can you say cute? Aren't pandas just the cutest things?

I know this photo of the panda is blown out, but I still like it. They are so amazing to see in real life.

Proof that Michelle Langvardt was on The Great Wall!!! Do these steps look steep enough?

Partial shot of The Great Wall. Sure wish the sky was blue this day.

Photos below from Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China.

One of several large screens in Tiananmen Square.

Eric with the tour guide's doll on a stick, Tiananmen Square. I think Eric really enjoyed China. He and Jeff stayed another 2 weeks and went on a river cruise and to Tibet. How cool is that!

A close-up of the our guide Alina's doll.

Hello, do you think this screen is large enough? There were several of these screens in Tiananmen Square. The only bit of color in the dismal smog. These photos would be so much nicer with blue skies and fluffy white clouds....yeah right!

Tiananmen Square had masses of people there the day we went. Another nice shot with the smog. Makes for some really colorful photos....not!

You can see the smog in this photo above. Everything looks so dingy. Tiananmen Square.

Another photo of Julia, Tiananmen Square.

Julia holding the guide's dolly in Tiananmen Square. The doll on the stick was so we could see where the guide was and not get lost! We saw all kinds of funny things hanging from sticks.

Ni Hao. Finally getting around to uploading some photos from China. The smog was so bad in China. The only city that we actually saw blue skies and sunshine was Shanghai....the last city we visited. Shanghai had smog too, but since it's on the water it did clear up the second day we were there. I'll be adding photos as I can. We are glad to have had the chance to take Julia back to see China, but we're so thankful we live in the US. Julia is thankful too. The Saturday that we got back home from China, we were eating outside at Panera and she said, "Mom, thank you for adopting me." I think she realizes how lucky we are to live here.

Going to China!!!!!!

Ni hao,

Jeff, Eric, Michelle, Julia and I will be leaving for China on Friday, October 23. Michelle, Julia and I will be there for two weeks, and Jeff and Eric will stay on another two weeks to go to Tibet and on a river cruise.

It's been nine years almost to the day since Jeff and I were in China getting Julia. It's going to be so much fun to go back to China, and to get to see some other cities that we didn't see before. I hope Julia enjoys her birth country and has a fun time shopping, and seeing all the sites. Hopefully she's old enough to remember this trip.

Here's where we're going. Chicago to Beijing, 13 hours......can you say, "OMG, I want to get off the plane now!!!!!" I'm sure I'll hear, "I'm bored" about a million times!!! In Beijing, we will see the Great Wall, Tianenmen Square (sp), Summer Palace, etc. then we fly to Chengdu to see the giant pandas. Next will be Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Then we go to the Changsha, the capital of the Hunan Province, and take a day tour over to Julia's birth city of Loudi. A small town we were told, only 4 million people! We then go to Shanghai, and that is where Michelle, Julia and I will fly home from on November 6. Jeff and Eric go on to quite a few more cities, one of those Lhasa, Tibet. How cool is that? I'd love to go to Tibet, but I don't think I'd do well with the altitude.

November 5 is Julia's "Gotcha Day" so we will get to celebrate that special day in China. Nine years ago on November 5 is when we got that gorgeous little baby! She was so frickin' cute, but cried when her nanny handed her to me. After we got everyone to leave our hotel room she settled down, we gave her a bath, (she loved that), put new jammies on her and gave her a bottle. It didn't take long and she was asleep. The cutest little baby I'd ever seen! Love ya, Jules! My life has never been the same since.

Well, I have some last minute packing, my suitcase is already at 38lbs, and we are only allowed 44lbs for the in-country flights in China. Guess I'll be paying extra baggage weight charges.

Stay tuned for lots of photos when we get back! I'll be back home on November 7.

Until then,

This is one of the referral photos we received in August 2000 of Julia. Isn't she cute? My little Ju Bean!

Miss J ::Senior::

Michelle and I got to photograph gorgeous Miss J today. Hello.......Can you say "stunning!!" Look at those beautiful eyes and pouty lips! J is so gorgeous and she's a natural in front of the camera. I had so much fun today with Michelle and Miss J. Miss J is Kelly's niece. I'll be posting more photos of gorgeous Miss J soon.