Back in Guangzhou

Getting here was nothing short of arduous, though. Good thing we had a laid back morning because nothing that followed was anything other than stressful for some time. At check-out, the lady at the desk tried to not only charge us again(we paid through a travel agency), she tried to stick us with three other families' bills! Once that was resolved, we headed off to the airport. We left the Shangri La around 2:30. Check in at the airport for all four Holt families took about an hour. Try entertaining a two year old and a four year old, both very active, who are still pretty out-of-sorts. Checking in took that long because, as it turns out, only one of the four families was able to get seats together. Getting through security was another little slice of heaven. Ethan had a lap seat, and it was in Troy's name. Lord help us. That sent them into a tizzy. Finally, we got through security, grabbed a less-than-appetizing bite to eat (with nowhere to sit but on the floor essentially right in front of the quick stop food joint which is next to the bathroom. YUM!),

and went to our gate only to discover our flight was delayed by an hour. A bit later, I went to check the status and saw our gate had been moved from #35 (the very end of the terminal) to #1 (obviously the very OTHER end of the terminal -- upstairs). So, load everything up again and start hualing butt. Aiden is showing signs of stress and jealously. He refused to walk and demanded to ride in the stroller. This means either lugging Tank or having himwalk / run away. SO. MUCH. FUN!!!! We got to gate 1 and let the boys run. Somebody, Karen I believe, went to see if our departure time was still 6:45, and it was. However....the gate had been moved from #1 to #32. I almost cried. I haven't mentioned it yet, but I have an incredibly sore throat. Like, burning sore. This just magnifies everything. What do you do, though? So, load up everything and head back across the airport -- downstairs. Obviously the plane got out of Changchun as we are currently in Guangzhou. It left about 7:00. Actually, in spite all the issues of the day, the flight went remarkably well. Troy and Ethan were going to sit together with Ethan on his lap. Yup. For a 4+ hour flight. :-O Aiden and I had seats together. Luckily for Troy, the seat next to him was unoccupied and he had an aisle seat! Our little trooper sat quietly almost the entire trip and ate very well. The only time he fussed was when Aiden and I made our way back to say hi and left to go on to use the potty. Right after that, though, Ethan conked out for the rest of the flight. Aiden was picture-perfect and slept for a couple hours, too. Our flight touched down around 11:30. We collected our luggage without incident and found our guide awaiting us as we walked away from baggage claim. Even though both the boys were awake, they were well-behaved and in a relatively good mood!

(Yes, that's Ethan in a luggage trolley!)

We got to the hotel shortly after midnight and had a little question at check-in that took some time (our first night is free and this seemed to confuse our little gal), so we didn't get up to our room until after 1:00.

We got the boys bedded down around 1:30 and we had to be up and in the lobby by 10:00 for the medical check. Blah. Ethan slept until almost 7:30. Do the math. That's 6 hours of sleep for a 22 month old and a four year old. NOT ACCEPTABLE. This may account for their behavior at the medical check. Ya think!? (And to be honest, they were still pretty amazing!) At least this time there were not shots!! Remember Aiden had to have 7 shots and a TB test last time, my poor baby.

Poor kids. Ethan's world has been turned upside down and so has Aiden's. So, right now our sons are sleeping,

and we're going to let them sleep until they wake up on their own. Heck, while Troy's down doing paperwork, I may have to join them for a few winks. :)