Video: On the Way to Rebecca (Monday, March 5)

Here we are on the bus drive to the civil affairs office in Chongqing city to pick up Rebecca! Our travel companion Janelle shot this video with her camera, and we are very grateful to her for sharing it with the whole travel group. Thanks Janelle!

Welcome Home Rebecca!

Rebecca arrived home and became an American officially around 10:30 am yesterday (Friday) morning. Wendy Tobias gave us the wonderful gift of transportation, bringing the whole family home in the pouring cold rain from Dulles airport. Many balloons, flowers, and gifts awaited our daughter at home in Alexandria.

The whole family had a good nap, then woke up for a light dinner before going to bed. Rebecca woke up once during the night, but did a great job sleeping until 5am this morning.

I am going to try posting images and video from our great China adventure over the next few days. But don't worry: Cathy and I plan to continue this blog with news and pictures of Rebecca at home as the coming days and weeks progress. Stay tuned...

A Model Air Passenger!

Rebecca did just great on the three-hour ANA flight yesterday from Guangzhou to Tokyo. Clearly, she likes buisness-class better than economy!

Rebecca Has Her IR-3

We had the successful oath ceremony the day before yesterday at the US Consolate in Guangzhou, about a 45 minute shuttle ride from the White Swan Hotel. Lots of babies and new families made the trip from the White Swan, several bus-loads full! Rebecca is now poised to become a US citizen when she passes through customs in Dulles today!

If It's Friday, It Must Be Tokyo...

We're in transit this morning, having spent the night at the ANA hotel in Tokyo. It's Friday morning, March 16th here, and we're at the NRT airport about to board our flight to cross the Pacific and fly to Dulles. The journey will take us about 12 hours, but we'll arrive an hour ago this morning!

Red Couch No. 3: The Whole Barker Travel Group

Red Couch Photo No. 2

Red Couch Photo No. 1

Here from left to right are Samantha, Luke, and Rebecca!

Photo By the White Swan Waterfall

Now I'm Ready for the "Red Couch" Photos!

I Love My New Silk Dress!

A Nice Portrait Shot

You Can't Buy this in the United States!

All Three Barker Babies at the Market

One huge market...

We've noticed that many market streets in China have large sculpted art-works. Most are well worth a close look.

Animals on Sale

There's all sorts of things and beings on sale at the Market, and many Americans are shocked and amazed. There are many kinds of spices and herbs, dried sea life and other dried animal parts, and many types of live animals, often including endangered species. Fortunately, the latter category is has reduced greatly in recent years.

A Visit to the Qingping Market

Here's the whole family with our guide, Lifeng, at the traditional market that lies across the highway from Shamian Island. It is one of China's largest and most famous markets, with all sorts of traditional Chinese medicines and goods!

The famous "Red Couch"

There's a tradition of having a group photo of all the new babies on the red couch in the second floor lobby of the White Swan. We'll take our Barker group photo tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10:30am, but here we are in this photo checking it out ahead of time. Tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday), we'll all go to the US Consolate here to take our oath of US citizenship. That will clear the way for Rebecca to enter the US as a full citizen when we land back at Dulles at the end of this week.

Feeding the Fish

Rebecca really enjoyed feeding the huge fish in the water-fall stream in our hotel. Boy, those fish really swarm when you throw some bits of biscuit into the pond!

Those Medical Exams Sure Are Exhausting!!!

We stopped at some shops on the walk back to the White Swan Hotel, but Rebecca was too exhausted to take much more in...

...and I've Grown!

Rebecca has grown since her last measurements were taken about two months ago. She has gone from about 21 lbs. to 23 lbs now. That's a good size for an 11.5 month old girl, but Rebecca is not the heaviest of the Barker babies. That distinction goes to Luke.

Rebecca is also taller now. In the last two months, she has grown from 28 inches to 30 inches now.

My temperature is normal!

The "Dreaded" Medical Exam

Rebecca would not be allowed into the US without her medical examination, so, along with the other Barker families, off we walked at 8am this morning (Monday) to the hospital on the island that does all the baby exams. On the way, we stopped to get her visa picture taken. Rebecca did great with the picture: one shot was all it took!

The View at Night

We're right by the water here, the Pearl River. Actually, the White Swan is on a little island, Shamian Island. The island has a distinctively Western atmosphere and there are many couples here with new babies. Everything is lit up at night, and the mood is wonderful...

Two Outdoor Pools!

There's a second neat waterfall in one of the White Swan's outdoor pools. A little too cold to swim in the water outside right now, though. The air temperature is 57 F.

These fish are not as real...

There's lots of artwork in this hotel, much of it very beautiful indeed.

The Waterfall in the White Swan Hotel, Guangzhou

Rebecca loves looking at the many fish in the waterfall-pond here in the White Swan Hotel. She is having the most wonderful time!