Home Bound

Holly, Jake and I would like to thank all of our family and friends for their support throughout this long process. We could not have done it without all of your help. We are looking forward to getting home and settled in. We hope to see all of you soon after we recoup from the travel. We will be leaving for Hong Kong at 2pm today and should be home in Orlando at 2:30pm on Thursday.

No Refund

Well we were unable to return Jake. They said he was damaged goods. They stated that when we got him he was a sweet gentle boy. Now they say he is swearing and has an attitude like he was raised in Jersey. He gave the orphanage director the finger when we arrived. So we are stuck with him and he was sworn in at the US Consulate and will be an American citizen when we land in the USA. He did great and serenaded Mommy with a Chinese love song the entire 45 minutes drive back to the hotel.

Jake can't contain his excitement at the zoo

HURRAH,WE FOUND OUR OLD RECEIPTS !!!

DEAR JASON AND HOLLY
YOUR NEW RETURN POLICY,JUST SET OFF THE BULB OVER OUR HEADS.WE CALLED AROUND AND CONVINCED THE NEW JERSEY AUTHORITIES,THAT YOU FOUR WERE ALL FOSTER KIDS AND THEY OWE US A TON OF MONEY FOR FEEDING YOU ALL FOR OVER 40 YEARS.
THANK GOD,WE NEVER THROW OUT OLD PAPERWORK......
SEE YOU ALL ON THURSDAY.......LOVE YOU VERY LARGE..FOREVER.

MISS YOU
MOM & DAD

Return

Well Holly and I have decided that this parenting thing is not for us. Jake came with a 30 day money back guarantee. We are bringing him back to the orphange today for a full refund.

Lettin it all hang out

The guy on the left was excited to see Holly, I guess the little guy on the right was offended by his excitement.

The zoo was awesome and the best zoo that we've ever seen. They let you get really close to all of the animals, I guess they don't have as many lawyers in China. We have a ton of pics and cool videos. Here are a few. Jake had a great time and fell asleep in the stroller half way thru, but Holly and I had a great time.

Panda

We got 10 feet fron the Panda's. They were chomping on bamboo.

Pandas

feeding Giraffe

Feeding White Tiger

Feeding baby Tiger

Birthday

Happy Birthday Jerry, Dallas & Daisy!

Consulate appt.

Our guide is at the US consulate now and we have to wait in our room until we hear from in case there are any questions from the USA. Tommorow is the swearing in ceremony. We are going to the safari park today once our guide calls us. Holly got me sick and I feel like crap. I'll have to suck it up till we get home. We are both ready to get home. I'm about over Chinese people (except Jake) . They burp really loud in public, I tell them you're excused! I guess it's a cultural thing. Also they do the air hankie thing and blow snot from their nose right on the sidewalk (no barefeet walking).We'll post some pics of the safari park later on.

Card Shark

Getting Jake ready for Poker Night

Jake Hustling Mommy at a game of Uno.

coincidence?

Hmmm, Alcohol Ocean located right next door to hotel where most American Adoption familes stay.

Walk in the park

Jake wearing Jason's hats

Jake decided to walk around with Jason's hats on his head this morning.

All is well....

I just came from your place....cats are good, no hairballs lately. I'm pretty sure Ninja said she misses you :-) Cujo looked really good today too...the other day he looked.....um...well, not awake.
Love the two latest pics....so looking forward to meeting Jake in person!!

Be safe you guys and see you soon!

Dinner

Jake just took the smelliest dump and is laughing as Holly is changing him! Yuck, i'm going to puke, just ate dinner!!!! We just ate spaghetti with chicken, fish & chips, 4 beers and Jake's dinner which is chicken congee (i think it's grits and chicken) he loves it. $22 bucks. I'm starting to like China.

Ok Jake is going to start charging for requests (Kristin), someone has to pay for this damn trip! The videos will not load for some reason. I'll try to email it to you. Jake is the biggest fake and his new name is Jake the Fake. He fake cries all of the time and laughs 2 seconds later. We went to the shopping today with a guide. The place was crazy busy. Of course one of the streets were selling dogs, cats and chipmonks, for pets (i think) and Holly had to stop at every cage. I had to tell her to keep walking 50 times and we can't smuggle a chinese cat home, I told her most of the cats would find homes (on somebodys dinner table) Jake saw the kittens and said "oh Papa we have runch now" There was an article in the paper today about a restaurant that serves dog and cat nearby is struggling because the yunger Chinese people do not want to eat it. Ok i'm delirious from lack of sleep and too much family time. I need ESPN, Poker, Golf, and a Strip bar.

They had so many cool things to buy, but the problem was getting it home soo we didn't buy much. Holly bought some jewelry and I got nothing but a headache. Holly has one of those night coughs that is like Chinese water torture because it keeps both of us up all night. I mean why should I suffer too? She could have went down to the lobby for a while and coughed down there while Jake and I slept. ONLY KIDDING, I know you people think i'm an ahole already, but I did go to try to get her Nyquil, but I could not find any meds anywhere. If she coughs all night again I'm going to smother her with a pillow, (again kidding). If I have to watch one more Chinese cartoon or this anti American foreign news channel i'm going to jump off the building!

Starbucks

Starbucks here no DD.

More Video Please!!!

It might be hard for you to post videos. We never did get the squeaky shoes one. If you are able to, try to send us another video. We crave more of Jake!!!! oh.......and you two also. Love ya!!

Hey guys!

I love your posts. This blog thing is great; I'm glad I thought of it!

btw...How is the coffee in china?

Childrens Benadryl

Hi everyone! Wanted to test the benadryl out before the 20 hours of plan rides home and I am of course afraid to test it out on him LOL...it says on the box not to give to children 2-6 yrs old unless directed by doctor...would it be okay to give him a half or quarter of a tablet? I don't want to give him a whole one cause it may be too much..
I'll be so happy when this zpac kicks in..i'm tired of coughing and having a sore throat!!
love you all..XOXOXOXO

Jake in Pool

We went in the pool today and Jake was brave and liked the water. Holly is still sick and got a Z pack from one of the couples from our agency.

Hopefully it kicks in soon. Jake has discovered the toilet and so far has thrown my vitamins, water bottle, and bath toy in there. He also likes to unwrap the whole roll of TP. Jake is a bit of a voyeur and likes to watch Holly shower. Maybe he won't be gay from the sheep purse. This kid can eat too. He packs it down, we're lucky food is so cheap here. We go out to dinner and eat good with drinks and the bill is like $30 US and no tipping is allowed, there are signs saying no tipping. The Honda workers are on strike near where we are and in the paper it says they make $1900 Yuan a month which is under $400 US dollars a month. There is a huge factory called Foxxcom which makes all the Apple Ipod and Ipad parts near hear and 11 workers have jumped off the building this year because of 14 hour days and under $400 US a month and they have to live there, This company has a small city where they keep all the workers secluded. God Bless America! We have it pretty good. The students here go to school from 8-2 and get a 2 hour recess and go back until 10pm. It is crazy. We're going to go find a place to eat after Holly gets out of the shower. Later, Oh yeah all of Jake's medical stuff came back fine so he is good to go and will get sworn in at the US Consulate on Tuesday.

Jake & Mom playing ball

3rd room pic

Free computer for charge?

Sign on desk in front of computer. They love us at the front desk. We switched rooms again to the Japanese suite. The room last night was next to street where they jackhammered until 11pm. Not to mention the bird sancuary next door where peacocks screamed that sounded like cats getting killed. Needless to say I was not happy. Jake took back to back smelly dumps this morning, (no I still have not changed a shit diaper) baby steps for me!

Our big boy!!!

Just woke from a nap with Jake...still not used to the time change yet! Jake is bonding beautifuly with his daddy (I thing he may be his favorite now LOL) He was such a good boy today. He sat in his highchair at breakfast without much of a fuss and sat in the stroller for a while as we walked around the Island. Last night night at dinner and this morning at breakfast he actually was using a spoon by himself!!! He is so smart! We also got his passport today :-) Jake says "Hi to all his family and friends.I love you!!!"
XOXOXOXO

We switched rooms today and got a suite. The regular room was getting claustrophobic with the amount of time we spend in it. The suite is nice with a living room and bedroom. I bought Jake a stuffed animal of a sheep that is his favorite cartoon here in China. I noticed it had a string and a weird metal thing on top, but I figured it was part of the character. I came out of the store and gave it to Jake and Holly looked at it and said it was a purse and the metal thing opened to hold change. Now my 2 year old boy will probably be gay because he is walking around sporting a sheep purse WTF? Oh and we also bought him new shoes on the walk to dinner last night because the sandals he had from the orphanage were 2 sizes too big and kept falling off. So went to this little store and bought these little brown shoes. We learned later that they are squeaky shoes. So every step he squeaks and he loves to walk back and forth and squeak (another beer please). I am going to try to post a short video of his squeaky shoes, let me know if you guys can see it.

Jake's China Girl

Jake's little girlfriend. Jon and Kristin, don't let Brooke see this we don't want to get her jealous. We went to dinner with 2 other couples who had little girls. Jake was the stud and sat in his high chair after watching the girls do it. Notice in the picture my beer (2 for 1 pints). Had a few to adjust to kids around. I've learned that kids get less annoying with the more beer that I drink :)

In front of hotel on the River

Walk on the Island

TIME TO MEET THE FAMILY ???????

OUR DEAREST BABY JAKE,
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT'S COVER,WE MAY LOOK A LITTLE DIFFERENT,BUT BE SURE......
WE LOVE YOU BIGGER THAN THE SKY !!!!YOUR FLORIDA,NEW JERSEY,AND GEORGIA FAMILY,ARE
THE GREATEST BUNCH YOU CAN EVER ADOPT.THAT'S FOR SURE.AUNTS,UNCLES,COUSINS,AND EVEN
YOUR CRAZY GRANDPARENTS,CAN'T WAIT TO LOVE YOU,UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.
YOUR MOM AND DAD,ARE THE BEST,AND WE KNOW BETTER THAN ANYONE.THEIR FANTASTIC FRIENDS ADD TO YOUR NEW FAMILY.LUCKY JAKE !!!!!!
SEE YOU LATER
LOVE
GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP WARREN

Learning

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share with you that Jake can say nose...actually he says "ose" LOL..and he points to his nose or mine! It's so cute! He is trying to say mouth and it came out as outh :-) He is VERY smart ...and I'm not just saying that because I'm the proud mama!! Every couple of days I'm going to try to teach him a new word! This place is so much nicer than were we were, and most of the people here are so friendly.....and yes i agree...Helen Keller can take better pictures than me...LOL
love you all xoxoxoox

Jake's Medical Exam

We went to the medical center this morning and Jake had his exam for the US Consulate. He was not happy when they looked in his ears or felt his baby balls. He weighed 24lbs, they told us he was 28 lbs 4 months ago. He got pricked for his TB test and was not happy with that and bit Mommy. Yeah it was quite the scene. We met another family who is from Tampa Bay and with the same agency. They went with us and have a 3 year old girl who shared her pretzels with Jake. It's crappy weather again and raining. We are going to dinner with the other couples tonight and all drink. They are ready to get back to the USA too. We are hoping to go to a Safari Park this week and Holly has a shopping trip to the pearl market scheduled on Saturday. I'll probably stay at the hotel and Jake and I will get massages (no happy ending for Jake).

Most of the pics taken are of Holly and Jake, and most of the pics with me and Jake have been taken by strangers. Don't tell Holly I said this, but Helen Keller could take better pics than her. She took one pic that didn't even get me in the shot??? Later.

Hotel Lobby

Happy Birthday Jake!

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Jake!

Love and Kisses,

Lori, John, Spencer, Zachary and Lily xoxo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY JAKE

WE CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY,AT YOUR HOME,WITH YOUR FAMILY AND LOVED ONES.

WE ARE ALL WITH YOU GUYS,IN SPIRIT.BLESSINGS TO YOU ALL.

GLAD TO HEAR THAT THE HOTEL AND AREA IS MORE AMERICAN FRIENDLY AND WE HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY

THE BALANCE OF YOUR TRIP.STRESS FREE....

LOVE GRANNY FRANNY AND POP POP.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKE!!!!!!

We hope Jake has a great birthday. We can't wait to celebrate with him when he gets home. Brooke sends him a birthday kiss XXXXX!!! Lots of love the Ackerman's. XOXOXOX

Jake's Birthday

Today Jake is 2 years old. We're going to get him a piece of cake tonight and throw him a party when we get home. We made it to our final destination and Jake did great on the plane ride. He slept the first half and played the second. We flew in Biz Class so there was alot of room. The hotel is really nice and it's on Shaimen Island where there are a lot of Americans here who are adopting. We ate lunch at a Thai restaurant and had Pad Thai and it was good, but had to take to go after Jake threw a fit and would not stop crying, he got up at 5 and did not really nap. We just dropped our laundry off at a local laundry store???? We have Jake's medical appt at 8:30 and he has to get a TB test since he is 2 today and it's required for 2 and up. There is a roof top pool here, but it's raining today so we hope to go tommorow. We'll post some pics of the island later.