Turning into a Ham

Before I get to Claire, Kirsten and I are so ready to come home and see all of you, but especially Benjamin and Katie. 2 weeks is a long time not to see your kids. And even though we see them every day with the help of a video camera, it's just not the same.

Claire continues to do great. Despite our early doubts, she really can walk quite well and I laugh every time I see it because she is the smallest human being I have ever seen that can walk. She is hamming it up for me and Kirsten all the time, but especially when we eat and at the pool.

Since our last post, Claire has had her medical checkup that is required for her Visa to enter the U.S. She did very well. Not a lot of crying, as there was for our drama queen, Emma 4 years ago.

Sunday morning started with the famous Red Couch photos at the White Swan and then group photos in front of the White Swan's waterfall.

From there we went to a local shopping, well, mall, I guess. It was where Chinese people go to shop. And although it looked like a mall, there was no A/C and the public restrooms were squatty potties with no toilet paper (or so I am told by someone that I am married to). Nevertheless, we bought a few things and saw some beautiful things that if we had a lot of money we would have bought. To top it off, we crossed the street and gave Claire her first McDonald's experience. Yay, french fries!!!

The rest of the day was spent napping, at the pool and eating at Lucy's with some friends. After dinner we made it to the Swan Room, which is a play room inside the White Swan. Here's where the story takes a really ominous turn. We met up with Emma's little red-headed (not that there's anything wrong with that) friend, Ryan from Spokane and his family. Emma and Ryan played and watched some of Lion King on the big TV there. Well, we leave and head upstairs with Ryan and his family. We get off on the 10th floor, while Ryan and crew are headed to 19. Well, as we are getting off the elevator, Emma and Ryan say good night to each other and just as the doors are closing, Ryan yells out to Emma, "I love you!"

As you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep last night worring about this turn of events. I would appreciate any helpful suggestions about what to do about this Ryan kid.

I'll leave you with our group pic from yesterday.

OMG! He's sitting right next to Emma!!!