Passports are ready and so are we, just waiting for China

Much to my relief, we got our passports back yesterday and they are good for 1 year. Now we just need to get our Travel Approval from China.

This week, Amelie finished another week of swimming lessons with Aqua Tots and proved, once again, what a natural and graceful swimmer she is. She improved her freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly and was very excited about the medal she earned at the end.

Today we had a fun day hanging with Amy and Abby and Malia going strawberry picking in Plant City. We then hung out the rest of the day going swimming, eating strawberry shortcake and watching movies. Pretty much a perfect day!

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Need a Translator?

Today we were driving around and Amelie was wondering how I would understand Han when he wanted to play with something. I told her that we might have to learned Chinese. She then told me that she already spoke China and she could talk to him in China and tell me what he wanted in England. So, I guess the 2 languages spoken in this house are "China" and "England" and we can officially say we are a bilingual family.

By the way, when Amelie told me she could speak China, I asked her some words, but she told me she didn't like to say them out loud.

Poop Tray for 2?

I get to spend some girl time with my favorite girl today. We were going to our favorite Chinese restaurant before meeting some friends at a show. On the way, Amelie asked, "Can we get the poop tray?" I said "Pu pu platter?" Amelie said "Yeah, that".

Mostly though, I'm blown away at her mastery of language. Earlier she asked me if we had to be at the show by a "reasonable hour". She then quizzed me about my knowledge of princesses by asking, "What do you think of Princess Caring versus Snow White?" I love the "versus", but I restrained my giggle so that I could give her an earnest analysis.

Sent off for the visas!

Today I was in a mad scramble to get our passports sent off. In the mountain of emails we got from or agency pertaining to the travel stage, the stated deadline for getting the visa applications out by March 17th. I just barely made the cutoff by sending them 14 days early, but I want to be ready in case we get that call way earlier than anyone ever anticipated. Looks like I'll be stalking the fedex guy again..

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Welcome to the Travel Phase!

Today we got our official "Welcome to the Travel Phase" email from our adoption agency! This means we're done filing immigration paperwork, getting fingerprints, remembering to sign with blue ink and not black and we can focus on the chaos of preparing to travel to China with one child and coming home with 2.

This email was followed by a slew of other emails of everything we'll need to do including sending

off for our visa applications to get our passports updated with a visa to enter China.

Yesterday, we took a family trip to Target to get Han some bedding. Allen finished building Han's bed which is a twin under Amelie's loft bed (pictures soon). We recently had fun buying

clothes and undies for the little fella too.

As a nice distraction, my friend Angela is here from Alaska for a visit. We had fun tonight going to see her in Kissimmee and playing miniature golf. Hard to believe it's been 4 years since we last saw each other! Of course, when we do catch up, it's like no time has passed at all. Angela hadn't seen Amelie since she was 1, so it was fun getting them together again. Anywhere we drove, Amelie wanted Angela to sit next to her.