Time flies when you're having...fun?

I'm showing no entries in 4 days. Has it been that long since the drama at the aquarium? Last Friday seems so long ago. I had to confirm with Angela, but I think we just lazed around the hotel in Zhengzhou after a late breakfast. With the hotel hosting several international dignitaries for some big meeting this week, we had to deal with hefty security checkpoints making movement around town difficult. As I understand it, the families that are in Zhengzhou this week are on lockdown in their hotel rooms for three days -- they must be escorted to breakfast and may only go when none of the "important" people are dining. Thank goodness we left before it got really tough.

Saturday was our travel day to head to Guangzhou, our final stop before coming home. We were up bright and early to get a quick breakfast before boarding a bus for the airport at 7 AM. The flight was at 11:30 AM but security checkpoints meant lots of delays. Seraphina did well for most of the flight which was a relief as we were unsure how she would handle the new experience, especially after tears the first time we took her on a bus and a taxi.

I say "most" because we did have issues on takeoff and landing. No, not involving fear. The issue involved what I have coined the "princess attitude"; something we are already familiar with from the other daughter we have back home. It seems princesses don't like *having* to do something like, say, sitting upright in a seat with seatbelt fastened and tray in its upright position. Yeah. So pretty much the entire ascent and descent were spent with a child trying to assume a rigid, prone position in every imaginable direction other than upright while Angela (sitting in the middle) kept readjusting her and re-fastening the seat belt. After the ascent, I was optimistic (that'll teach me) that going down might go better but it was the same thing. This time, after having less success on Angela's part, I smacked Sera. The result was a child sitting in her seat albeit with plenty of wailing. When one of the other dad's sitting nearby asked if she was having problems with ears popping, I just gave him a look, and said "Not exactly." Perhaps not my finest moment, but it got the job done. Sigh.

It was dinner time before we were settled into the hotel and we opted for a McDonald's meal since it was right next to the hotel. Sera got a kid's meal with chicken nuggets, fries and a boxed milk. It included a Snoopy toy in the typical plastic bag. Angela and I finished our meals in short order, mainly because we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Sera has eaten 1 of 4 nuggets and a few fries. She spends most of her time goofing off or yapping. We sat around for about 45 minutes more while she ate a few more bites. Each time we made to leave, she fussed about still eating. Sigh.

When she finally decided she was full, we went to throw away the leftovers which resulted in a hissy fit. (Side note: in China it appears guests leave their trash on the table for the employees to throw away. I got strange stares when I took my own trash to the bin.) Sera then proceeded to place her leftover fries and nuggets in the bag the toy came in before placing the toy in as well. When she tried to place the opened, partially consumed sweet & sour dipping sauce in as well, we nixed it. This caused a minor what-for and the removal of fries to finish off the sauce. Nothing like a 2-hour dinner at McD's to burn some time. Sigh.

Sunday started off pretty nice. When we got to our hotel room the night before, it included a playpen. We planned to collapse it to make more space, but the princess got upset. She *wanted* to get in the playpen. What's this? She was a willing accomplice in being contained? Prayers answered. Not only did she sleep in the pen, she overslept until almost 7:30. Best night of sleep since we've been in China. May have to get one of these again when we get home.

Rather than visit a Buddhist temple with the group (Angela refused on the grounds that if we couldn't attend Mass, we certainly weren't visiting a temple of another religion) we stayed at the hotel. We met up with another family doing the same to instead go to a museum a block from the hotel housing the 2,000 year old remains of an emperor. The other family had a contact here in Guangzhou who paid the entrance fee so we got to see an archeological dig site and waste a few more hours.

After that we parted with the other family when they stopped for lunch and continued our walk around the "block". Not sure how blocks work around here, but we wound up taking a 3-mile tour around the city, all the while keeping our eyes on recognizable landmarks in hopes of working our way back to the hotel. When we finally got back, mom and dad were exhausted from carrying a toddler (7-year-old, but I digress). We had skipped lunch and I had to get to a 4 PM meeting to fill out paperwork for the US visa. Following that, we did dinner in the hotel and called it a night.

Now it is Tuesday morning. We are headed to a medical facility for a checkup for Sera. We are told it will include a TB test that comes with a shot in a room with doctor and nurses, but no parents. I expect that will go over like a... well, I'll let you fill in the rest. We have a dinner cruise on the river tonight which we are looking forward to. The rest of the week includes getting the visa for Sera and waiting for the TB results before beginning the journey home on Friday morning. So ready to be home -- oh, did I mention that already?