leaving now

We are leaving Beijing and flying to Guangzhou. Holly is sick and lost her voice and has been coughing and fighting a Sinus thing. Jake is ornery this morning and I need a Valium.

Become the pack leader

Jason,

In order to rehabilitate Jake from his former handler you must take my advice. Follow these three simple steps to break him into being stroller trainied:

1.) Establish yourself as the pack leader. Remember in your role as pack leader, the stroller is the only acceptable means of transportation. You are the alpha dog.

2.) Set aside time every day to providemental excercise by maintinaing rules, boundries and limitations. When these needs are met, the affection you give to jake will be channeled as a reward.

3.) Always walk out the door ahead of Jake when leaving the house. This will show Jake who is in the leadership role. Be the pack leader!!!

I rehabilitate dogs, I train people. I am the dog wheeeeesperer!!

Cesar Millan

Birds nest Olympic Stadium

We took a taxi to the Birdsnest Olympic stadium. It was really big. The whole area around it was all built for the Olympics. The city of Beijing is actually very clean. The city is huge and over 9000 square miles. Volkswagon is the #1 vehicle in China, who would of guessed that? Jake threw another fit when we tried to put him in the stroller. He squirms out of it and throws a major temper tantrum. He's getting somewhat of a pass until we get home. We are flying out tommorow morning at 10am. Hopefully all goes well.

Birdsnest

The Cats and Cujo (aka Lizard)

I actually saw Taz today....but as I got closer he took off....Cujo was wide awake and I actually saw him move :-) One of the cats definitely projectile vomited a hairball. It was a splash pattern. Kinda gross. LOL! Yes, I cleaned it up :-) You guys must be so exhausted, but I think your sense of humor will definitely get you through this trip. Be safe you guys!!

Monday Morning

Yes, we are still on track to come home on the 10th. Tommorow will be intersting when we try to fly to Guangzhou without a passport for Jake, his passport is not ready until Wed and we have to get to Guangzhou tommorow. They are suppose to mail it to us there. They said we should be able to get on the plane with his adoption paperwork (keep your fingers crossed). We are learning that Jake is a picky eater and just spits out what he doesn't like. I never met a picky eater from an orphanage. Also they must have paid him a lot of attention because he is a bit spoiled. Holly just got busted trying to take a Banana from the buffet up to the room and they stopped her walking out and made her give it up. We should have stuffed it in Jake's diaper. We're looking at taking a taxi to either the Summer Palace or the Birdnest Olympic Stadium a little later on. We'll talk to you later.

HELLO FROM YOUR FLORIDA !!!

HEY KRIEGSMAN FAMILY

EVERYONE HERE IS TOTALLY, O.K. !!! WE MISS YOU ALL VERY MUCH....KEEP THE FUNNY POSTINGS COMING,IT HELPS TO KEEP YOU SANE....

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE IN THE 5TH WORLD,NOT THE 3RD WORLD?????GOD BLESS AMERICA.....

BY THE WAY,BITE JAKE BACK!!!!!IT WORKED FOR US !!!!!

DO YOU THINK YOUR ARRIVAL PLANS ARE STILL ON TRACK...WE SURE HOPE SO...WE ARE ALL

PRAYING FOR YOU GUYS,TO COME HOME SAFE AND SOUND....LOVE YOU ALL....
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP

Buy 3 Snickers and get 2 free Batteries.

Can't figure out this combo?

Jake loves the birds

Jake shows us the birds in the lobby. We think this is the first time he saw birds and fish because he was amazed by them.

Laundry

We have 2 bags of laundry and asked the hotel to wash it. They gave us the price of $255 US Dollars!!! I gave them a few items to wash and washing some in the sink. I don't think they wash clothes after wearing once. They thought we were crazy having so much clothes to wash. There is a cheaper laundromat in Guangzhou from what we heard, so we are going to wait till we get there. Here is baby Jake and me on a walk and he cried himself to sleep in the stroller.

Fish Soup Potato Chips

They were looking at me like I was crazy taking pics of the Chips

mmmm Shrimp flavored pretzels

Morning walk to grocery store

Jake threw a fit going in the Stroller and bit Mommy.

Great wall trip

We started the day at 5 am and took the train to Beijing. I was close to going Bruce Lee on some of the rude Chinese people who don't yield to a women carrying a baby. They just cut you off and bump into you and almost run you over. So needless to say I wanted to knock out a few Chinamen, but kept my composure because I did not want to goto a Red Chinese prison. Of course we get the ADD Chinese kid sitting next to us who kept Jake awake the whole ride. He kept coming over and dancing and ate like 5 cookies in Jake's face. So Holly yelled at me when I told him to sit down Jackass. Nobody can understand anyway, I must of called 20 people docuhebags to their face today and they have no response. We got to Beijing after a 2 hour train ride and battled thru the Beijing "Zoo' train station. We first went to the Forbiden City. We put Jake in the Stroller right in front of Tianeman Square and he threw a fit screaming and crying in front of all the straight faced Chinese Soldiers. I thought we were done, these soldiers have no sense of humor. Jake settled down and we toured the forbidden city which was really cool because of the history and age. It is not stroller friendly and we had to carry the stroller up and down steps. Oh yeah it was 95 degrees out. Again for those of you who know me my patience was running a little thin with all the rude a-holes. We finished the tour and drove to the Great Wall aout 45 minutes away. We got there and Holly decided that her and Jake would wait on the bottom and let me climb. I had not idea the wall was so steep, I got my workout for the day and climbed t the 3rd tower. It's unreal and runs over 5000 miles in China. We did not stay too long cause Jake was hot and needed to nap. We got back to the hotel where we will stay in Beijing until Tuesday. I want to the 7/11 to get some stuff and thought I was buying Lays chips and then looked again and they were Lays Sea Urchin Flavor, WTF? Who eats this shit? Holly got ruined on he way to the Great Wall an open truck drove past with stacks and stacks of dead pigs! Oh yeah on the way back we got stopped at a checkpoint by the Chinese Army who inspected the documents. They march up to the car and I was like oh shit they translated all the shit I've been talking all week and I'm done, but they let us go after a few minutes. God Bless America!!! Here are some pics of the day.

Ham

Jake in his crib at new hotel.

This is a workout

No wonder there are no fat Chinese People.

Locks

Kristin, these are the locks like Will Smith did.

Great Wall

Holly and Sim our Guide in City

Tianamen Square

Entrance to forbidden city

Golden Child

Jake could star in Golden Child 2. Off to Beijing, we'll post later tonight

All that time at the gym....

is certainly paying off Holly. How did the Gods know that you would have to CARRY Jake everywhere?? ;-)

THE KIDS,AT OUR HOUSE ARE SO ANXIOUS .

HEY JAKE BABY,YOUR PETS AREN'T LOSING ANY SLEEP,WAITING FOR YOU TO COME HOME,BUT DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY....................
THEY EAT,SLEEP,RUN AROUND,FIGHT,POOP,AND SOME OTHER THINGS WHILE THEY ARE WAITING FOR THEIR LITTLE BROTHER AND MOM AND DAD...............................
WE ARE ALL WAITING TO HOLD YOU AND GIVE YOU BIG HUGS AND KISSES..............
WE LOVE YOU,SO MUCH.....
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP

Jake trying to tell me something after a long hot day!

Jake being rowdy

Squatty Potty at Pizza Hut

These crappers give u a good leg workout!

Dad & Jake done with shopping!

Chinese Mcdonalds in Background with Monkey Meat Big Macs!

Going shopping

Day out Shopping and Pizza Hut

We went out on the town and went to the 15 story shopping center. They had really nice clothes and Holly bought a shirt. They had high end clothes and I know all you girls would have spent 2 days in this place. Jake and I were ready to go in 20 minutes. We found a Pizza Hut and went in to eat lunch. The Pizza Hut was like a 4 star restaurant with nice plates and waitresses, they had a full menu and we had a pizza that was really good. Jake ate and was well behaved. I pushed the stroller (empty) while Holly carried Jake the entire time. We put Jake in the stroller on the walk back and he screamed and threw a fit and all of the Chinese people were looking at us like we were killing him. I wanted to leave him there screaming, but Holly picked him up and he stopped immediately. He's really becoming attached to Holly, if she goes in the bathroom and he can't see her he starts to cry. He really could give a shit if I leave the room. We're suppose to go to Beijing in the morning by train and go to the Great Wall and Forbidden City. We will stay in Beijing until Tuesday and fly to Guangzhou for the rest of the stay (if all works out with Jake's passport???) We'll try to update tomorrow.

Hopefully not a Future Policeman

Breakfast

Well Jake likes to eat is not to fussy. We're learning that he is a Mommy's boy and throws a fit when Mommy is not in sight. He is quite an actor and turns on the crocodile tears often and two minutes later is laughing. He is saying Momma? we think, or it may be a Chinese word that sounds like Momma.

Smiles, goosebumps, and teary eyes....

at work when I show people these pictures. Everyone is soooo happy for you! Can't help but smile when we look at the pics....and laugh so hard when we read Jason's entries! LOL!!! Sorry Holly, but you have to admit the toilet story is classic. LOL!

Taz is still not coming out when I'm there so now that I have a 4 day weekend, I'll just wait until he does!!! He has to eat sometime!! :-)

Be safe and keep the pics and stories coming!

WHO'S THE BOSS????

HEY GUYS
GUESS,WHO'S THE BOSS!!!!
SPEAKING,FOR US ,OUR 4 KIDS ALWAYS DID WHATEVER WE TOLD THEM TO DO,AS LONG AS THEY WANTED THE SAME THING.LOL.....................................................................
JAKE IS TO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS AND YOU BOTH SEEM TO BE ENJOYING,EVERY
MOMENT.
IF YOU CAN KEEP YOUR SANITY,UNDER THESE CONDITIONS,THE REST OF YOUR LIVES WILL BE A BREEZE.BY THE WAY,IS JAKE WALKING????? IS HE SPEAKING MUCH??????????
JOHN AND LORI,GAVE GOOD ADVICE.EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT,BUT THEY ALL HAVE
ONE THING IN COMMON.THEY ALL MAKE YOU CRAZY!!!!THAT'S WHY WE LOVE THEM....
LOVE
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP

Naps

We need help. How long should a nap be for Jake? Jake is taking naps, but we wake him after about 1 hour. He is cranky when he gets up and wants to keep sleeping. Should he be getting more nap time? Aslo we learned today that Jake can scream and cry really loud. I guess the loudest crier gets the most attention at the orphanage!

Police Station in Jake's hometown

The Police Station was huge! we were expecting some little hole in the wall police station. You could fit the whole NYPD in this building.

Holly's new best friend. I went to get some lunch (which by the way SUCKED, I think it was monkey meat!) When I returned Holly was having her turn at a 20 minute conversation in Chinese with the housekeeper. She loves Jake and wants Holly's email address. She starting talking to me again and I just have my own conversation and she just smiles and agrees. She would make a perfect wife. She is really nice, but she refuses to accept that we don't understand one word she says. Here is Holly's new pen pal.

Walk

We tried to go for a walk and went outside and it was cool in the 60's so we went back upstairs and put pants and a sweatshirt on Jake. We get back outside and it started to rain so we're back in our room for now. Jake hates the stroller and freaks out, screams and cries when we put him in it. Any suggestions???

Nap time

Waiting for Jake to wake up so we can go for a walk outside and to the shops near the hotel.

it works!!!!!!!

Finally I can say Hi, the pics and everything is wonderful...I am so happy....Missing you guys

Watching the world

Jake watching the world from our 20th floor view.

We ate breakfast and Jake is watching the world go by from our 20 story view. We actually met a Texan businessman at breakfast who spoke English! Wow what a relief to speak to someone in English. He was a big guy who was a lot more daring than us. He had one of everything on his plate. If you offered me a million dollars I could not guess what some of the stuff is that they have on the buffet. We are probably going to gain weight here cause all we eat are carbs. The proteins are a little scary and written in Chinese so u have no clue on what it is. I had a 20 minute convsersation with our housekeeper in Chinese. She kept talking to me and I kept saying I don't understand. She apparently ignored the fact that I did not speak and Chinese and kept talking and she was laughing and having a good time. She was probably talking shit to me and I had no clue. I just sat there and was polite. On another funny note, the toilets here do not flush very well and they get clogged with 2 pieces of toilet paper, so we've had too call to have a guy come up with a plunger twice already. So last night Holly went to the bathroom and it got clogged from toilet paper. So I called and after 15 minutes of trying to tell them the toilet was clogged I had to go downstairs and make the plunger motion like a jackass. The maintenance guy shows up with a plunger and since I figured he didn't speak English I said sorry my wife has a problem and she clogged the toilet by taking a big dump! The guy starts laughing and unclogs the toilet and leaves. Go figure I tell a joke and get the only friggin guy who understood English in the hotel. Well needless to say Holly didn't think it was funny but I laughed for about 20 minutes. Also we have 32 channels and 31 are in Chinese and the 1 English 1 is Reuters news network, otherwise I would be watching tv instead of posting on this blog.

Remote Issues already!

I'm now fighting 2 men for the remote!

GREAT READER LIKE HIS PARENTS !!!!

OUR GRANDSON HAS TERRIFIC TASTE IN LITERATURE,OR THE BOOKS JUST TASTE GOOD........
YOU CAN REALLY DIGEST ALL THAT INFO,JAKE !!!!!
JAKE,MY LOVE YOU ARE ADORABLE,FOR SURE.........WHEN YOU GET HOME,WE WILL
GET YOU A LIBRARY CARD........
KEEP THOSE FANTASTIC PICS,COMING.OUR EYES ARE FILLED WITH TEARS OF JOY.
LOVING YOU
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP

Jake reading to Mommy

Jake's favorite book that he tore up.

Jake eating a wafer straw

This kid likes to eat!

Jake reading to Daddy.

WE HAVE ANOTHER GRANDSON,WOW !!!

THESE PICS ARE AMAZING....YOU GUYS LOOK SO HAPPY AND NATURAL......YOU DO
LOOK LIKE A FAMILY,FOR SURE....WE CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU ALL TO GET HOME.
WORDS ARE REALLY HARD TO COME BY,WHEN YOU GET ALL CHOKED UP,JUST LOOKING AT THAT HANDSOME,KRIEGSMAN BOY.

KEEP THE PICS COMING,AND JUST THANK GOD,FOR THE AMAZING GIFT YOU JUST GOT......

LOVE TO YOU ALL
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP WARREN

Chillin

J

Chillin with my boy, Brooke, do you want to share my Sippy cup?

Finally got Jake

Well the day started at 8am and we met Jake at the Provincial Office in Hebei. The director of the orphange and Jake's Foster mom drove 3 hours to bring him to meet us. Jake was scared at first and cried for a while. We needed an offical picture of Holly, Jake, and me and Jake was crying in the picture. Holly gave Jake the Tigger stuffed animal and he wanted nothing to do with it a t first. After all the paperwork we had to travel to the notary and have everything notorized. Jake started warming up to us and Holly would not put him down. Holly attempted to Jake into the squatty potty to pee before our 3 hour ride to the police station to get his passport. We proceeded to drive 3 hours to Jake's home town to the police station to apply for his passport. Jake slept in Holly's arms most of the way there. We got all the stuff done there and learned his passport may not be ready for a week which will mess up our whole schedule but that's another story. We finished there and headed 3 hours back to the hotel. Jake and Holly sat in the back seat and Jake amused us all for most of the ride. First he decided to rip the pop ups off of the page on the Elmo pop up book that the Ackerman's got him. Then he tried to eat his Tigger toy and played the drums on his cheerios container. Our guide "Sim" said he never say a baby so happy and who was not crying the whole time. We are back at the hotel now and exhausted and starving. I tried to order room service 3 times and keep getting hung up on because nobody speaks friggin English. I'm about to go Bruce Lee on someone so I gotta go now and find some food for my family. We'll post some more pics later.

Just Bathed

Holly gave Jake his first bath.

Jake the Ham!

We learned on the 3 hour ride home from the Police Station that Jake is a ham! This is the Tigger we bought him in Orlando

Jake meeting his new Moomy

Jake's foster Mom intoduces him to his new mom

Orphange director and staff pic

The orphange director and staff who took care of Jake at the orphange. They were very nice.

Jason and Jake

Jake loves the sippy cup.

Mommy meeting Jake

Jake was a little scared when we first me

Jake's Police Car

Going to meet Jake now and give him a Chinese Police Car. We'll post pics tonight if we're conscious.

It's five am......

We both had a hard time sleeping last night...we will have our little sweetheart in about 4 hours! I'm so excited....I keep wondering what will be going through his mind! He will be coming from a 3 hour ride from his orphanage....when we are finished here hopefully by noon, we will drive back to the town where his orphanage is to apply for his Passport! Then we will come back tonight after that!!! The little guy will be in a car for 9 hours! needless to say we will all be exhaused tonight :-) We are thinking about you and can't wait to put a picture up of Jake!Love you guys...
Holly XOXOXOXO

Information you might want to know!!

Hello, Meg sent me this message for you.
The food gets a bit better in Guangzhou....Lucys is an attempt at America food (stay away from the burger) and bridge and cow is pretty good too (Thai food) the White Swan has an amazing buffet for breakfast....and everyone speaks better English there. I highly recommend a beer at dinner each night. I didn't get sick and did this the entire time I was there....plus, well - it's beer:) Good luck and can't wait to see him in your arms.

P.S. Not sure if it will help or not but maybe the promise of food in a week will help you get through the next few days!!!! Also, make sure you ask whoever brings Jake to you what his favorite snacks are - this will help if your guide take you to the grocery store and you get them for Jake.....food bridges language barriers i think:)

hotel

In front of the Hotel

Holly in front of Hotel

China KFC

Ok, Holly and I just came back from the KFC across the street from the hotel, first we must be the only round eyes in this entire province. They look at us like we're from Mars! So we goto order and I said we'll have 2-#3's and he said oh Pigeon and I said what? I said is it chicken and he could not understand anything else. So we got some kind of fish sandwich which was nasty and they even screwed up the fries. We are going to lose 20 lbs each at this rate. Earlier we went to the grocery store with our guide and Chinese people really like colors because everything is in bright shiny colors that looks like they were packaged for a 4 year old. We bought Jake a stroller and got Oreos and Beer, the Oreo's for Holly and the beer for me. I feel like i'm 5 years old giving people this Chinese money because I just hand them a bunc h of bills and they give me back change. We're back at the room and we asked room service to bring up a bucket of ice for the beer and they came up with the world's smallest bucket with 6 ice cubes. Our guide said they are running out of water in China and now I see that. We are going to watch TV on the one English speaking channel that had singing in the rain on when we left earlier.

Finally

We had to go thru a VPN to get on our blog since we're in China! We're in Hebei Prov and will get Jake Tomm morning. We are friggin jet lagged and it's 4pm here now and 4 am in Florida so we're all messed up. We have a cool guide who's taking us to the store now so we can get some stuff, i'm gonna try to post a video or 2.

I did it!!!!!

Yeah! I did it. I finally can post comments. I am sure I will annoy you. LOL! Hope all is well over there. All is good here, but we are waiting patiently for news, pics and video. Talk to you soon. XOXOXO

GLAD YOU MADE IT.......

HEY GUYS
GLAD YOU MADE IT TO JAPAN,HOPE THINGS ARE WELL...WE ARE O.K. AND KEEPING OUR PRAYERS ON THE HIGHEST LEVEL.LET US KNOW WHEN YOU HAVE OUR JAKE,IN YOUR ARMS.GIVE HIM BIG LOVES.
LOVE
GRANNY AN POP POP AND GANG

Tokyo

We got to Tokyo and the flight was good. We are eating noodles and some weird other stuff. We are delirious and friggin tired. Nobody speaks English worth a shit. I just drank a beer and need a nap. We'll get back tomorrow when we're more conscious.

GRANNY AND POP POP

GLAD YOU GUYS RESOLVED THE SEAT SITUATION..........HAVE A GREAT A SAFE TRIP.
THINGS HERE ARE FINE.......DALLAS,DAISY,ZOEY,& BELLE CATTY ARE DOING FINE.....
TALK TO YOU SOON.GET SOME SLEEP AND MAYBE MORNING COCKTAILS

Thanks for the lift Jon, Waiting to get on the plane to Chicago. Looks like the seat crisis to Tokyo has been resolved. See u in Tokyo.

HEY JAKE AARON KRIEGSMAN
WE HOPE YOU HAVE A BLESSED TRIP HOME WITH YOUR MOMMY AND DAD......
YOUR DOGS ARE HERE WITH US AND THEY CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU.SAME IS TRUE FOR
ZOEY AND BELLE CATTY.
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP WARREN ARE BITING THEIR NAILS,BUT WE MUST WAIT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.LOVE AND BIG KISSES,FROM THE WHOLE GANG.

leaving for China

Well we'll be leaving for China at 4am and have a ride to the airport thanks to Jon. Kristin let Jon sleep in and give him a massage when he gets home. We'll update when we get to Tokyo or Beijing depending on how many happy pills I take. Thanks for everyone's support through this process.

Love,

Jason & Holly

Balloon's

Baby Shower

Jake's room