Reliving my trip to adopt Caroline

In December 2002, my dad and I spent a week in Nanning, where I met and adopted Caroline. Today we are staying at the same hotel, bringing back memories. This time there is no Santa and reindeer in the lobby, no towering pyramid of fishbowls holding goldfish in the lobby, no choirs on the lobby stairs, non-stop holiday parties that we listened to then!

But some things don't change. This morning we had breakfast at the hotel, where Caroline sampled the congee (a Chinese comfort food, sort of like rice oatmeal) and deemed it perfect. This after trying the congee at our hotel in Beijing, which was NOT the same.

Then we walked to the People's Park, a few blocks behind the hotel. It's beautiful, and full of people on a Saturday morning. We had come here a few times with Caroline 10 years ago.

The shaded areas along the lake were full of people dancing, doing tai chi exercises and playing instruments, and one woman was brush-painting poetry on the sidewalk in water. There were so many families out enjoying the beautiful day.

The lake is full of goldfish/koi, so of course we had to buy a few bags of food for them.

I had taken pictures of us holding Caroline in this exact spot 10 years ago, so of course I made her pose again. When we get home I'll compare the two.

I made the poor girls stop at every scenic spot for photos.

Sunday morning we fly to Guangzhou, and Monday afternoon we meet Alex! By the time most of you wake up Monday morning, he will be ours.