The White Pagoda - Friday

This is a statue of a mother and her child. It is symbolic of the Yellow River being the mother of China and it's culture.

Behind us is the most famous bridge that crosses the Yellow River. We walked across it after coming down from the White Pagoda.

Friday we took a tram up to the White Pagoda, then walked down. It was beautiful to see, but there were a lot of stairs for the strollers. Way back when, a Lama was sent to Mongolia to Genghis Khan as a gift. The Lama died on it's way to Mongolia, in this city. So they built this Pagoda as a tribute to the Lama. Very Interesting.

Ivy feeding birds out of her hand in a city park while we were waiting for our ride to the airport.


The crowd that gathered around Ivy as she fed the birds.

In the middle of this city park was a large grassy field, beautifully manicured, with a little 1 foot fence all the way around the perimeter. Rick asked Michael why no one was playing on the grass. Michael said that in China, the grass in parks was just to look at and enjoy, but there were so many people that if they allowed them to walk on the grass, the grass would be ruined. Rick told him about the grass at home and how he has to mow it all the time. Michael said, "Oh yeah, I saw someone doing that on TV once."

Ivy and Luke asleep after getting off the airplane from Lanzhou to Guanzhou Friday night. Only 5 more days and we will be home!

Luke had a hard time on the airplane because he was so tired. He cried a lot, but finally fell asleep. Ivy fell asleep as well (it was a 3 hour flight) so when the plane landed, we took our time getting off because we had to carry 2 sleeping kids, plus the carry-on baggage and two strollers. When we finally got both kids in our arms, and the bags balanced precariously on our backs, climbed down those steep stairs they put at the door to planes sometimes, we saw the most crowded, long bus we had ever seen. It was about 50 yards away. We started walking towards it, my mouth literally hanging open. There was no way we were going to all fit in that bus, and get the strollers in as well, people were already practically hanging out the doors. Luckily, they decided the bus was too full for us, so they had a small van drive up to pick us up to take us to baggage claim. Yeah!!!

Touring Lanzhou - Thursday

At least these construction workers were honest about their craftsmanship.

Grinding Corn

Michael, our guide, with Ivy

Luke playing with the camera

In front of a raft

Famous Water Wheel

Ancient Life and Natural History Museum

Thursday Michael took us to the Lanzhou Water Wheel. It was a tourist attraction to show how they used to grind corn into flour - Sort of like the Lehi Roller Mills :). These pictures aren't too exciting.
After see the wheels and taking a turn grinding some corn ourselves, we went to a museum about what life used to be like in this area hundreds of years ago. It could have passed for a museum about ancient life in South America. The huts, tools, and pots they made were all the same. The museum was a little difficult with children, though, because they didn't like anyone to make noise or touch anything. Our family didn't last very long in there.

Five Springs Park - Wednesday

Wednesday Morning after breakfast, Michael took us to Five Springs Park. It was a little chilly at when we started out, but eventually became warmer. Five Springs Park is a famous Buddhist Temple. It is built on the side of a mountain and is impressively beautiful. As we walked through the gates, we really got some interested looks. We usually get these looks because Ivy is a foreign child, but now also because we are a white couple (well, Ivy says her and daddy are white, and Luke and Mommy are brown) with a Chinese baby. Michael said that in the countryside here, people have never heard of international adoption and so people keep stopping him and asking about our family. Because we are now an 'unusual' family, both Luke and Ivy get a lot of attention. There were crowds of people everywhere, and at one point they completely blocked our path in order to look at the children. They started playing with them in their strollers, and giving them fruit as gifts. It was really interesting to see, and very sweet.
The whole time we were there we could hear the Buddhist Monks singing and chanting. Michael said that many people come here to exercise because the temple grounds were so big. There were lots of stairs and hills, so we sure got a work out pushing and carrying the strollers everywhere. In the middle of the Park, there was a small zoo. The kids loved that part.

In the background of this pictures, way up on the mountain side, you can see more parts of the temple

Ivy and Luke with the tiger

There was a little train in the zoo that Rick, Luke, and Ivy rode on

Civil Offices - Tuesday

Our family at the Civil Offices with City and Orphanage officials

Tuesday, the morning after we got Luke, Michael (our guide) took us to the Lanzhou City Civil Offices to register the adoption. We had to wake up earlier than usual to get there, so the kids were still very sleepy. Our first stop was to the photo shop to get Luke's picture taken for his passport - that will be ready for us on Friday, then we can leave Lanzhou and go to Guanzhou where the American Consulate is located, to get Luke's American Visa, then we get to come home!!!
After the photo shop, we got back in the car and drove to the Civil Offices.
We saw two other families there registering their adoption as well. One was the family who adopted Henry, they are the family who got him the same day we got Luke, and the other family was from Holland and they adopted a 16 month old they named Reuben. He has a cleft pallet and cleft lip. All of us are staying in the same hotel, so we see each other each morning at breakfast.
We were all in the same room together. A large room with a long, wooden desk in the middle, surrounded by chairs.
The orphanage and city workers start showing up about 30 minutes later, and the paper work began. It was a bit chaotic and overwhelming because there were so many people and we were still trying to get to know Luke and help him to become comfortable with us, while at the same time give Ivy enough attention. There was a lot of paper signing, fingerprints, and waiting. It probably lasted only 60 to 90 minutes, but it was exhausting (I'm getting nervous for Sacrament Meeting).

Sleepy Ivy on the way to the photo shop for Luke's passport

Sleepy Luke (and sleepy Rick)

Photo shop after his passport picture was taken




Luke and Ivy playing while we were waiting in the City Offices

Luke, with Reuben in the background


The long wooden table

City and Orphanage officials signing papers


Ivy being a good girl and coloring while waiting for the process to end