Making it Official

Officially a family of seven

Yesterday, when we got Luke, we essentially signed a 24 hour guardianship agreement.  The adoption was not yet finalized.  So today, we would be heading back to the Civil Affairs office to finalize the adoption.


 We started the day with the wonderful breakfast in the hotel.  I walked Luke through all the options and I think he was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices.  His one request was "hot milk" which the wait staff happily assisted with.

Luke signing paperwork 

We met our guide Kelly, along with the McCarthy and Raczkowski families for the trip back to Civil Affairs.  It was a rainy morning and we grabbed umbrellas to keep dry.  At the Civil Affairs office, we had to finalize the adoption and then meet with the notary official to sign more documents.  Because Luke is thirteen years old, he had to answer some questions and sign his name to the papers as well.  It took almost two hours to get everything signed and ready to go for all three families - or maybe it only felt like two hours with all the kids.  There were 11 kids between the three families.

Lele Star Wart collection.  It's not a knockoff - really!

After we finished up, our guide Kelly took us to an international market that has a lot of toys as well as many other items.  It's like a mall with stores essentially like stalls that run one into the next.  Or you could compare it to an indoor street vendor market.  It's tight and packed full of goods.  We spent a bunch of time at the knock off Lego store where they sell Lele brand bricks with popular items like Star Wart (yes, I did spell that correctly) spaceships and droids.

International market with lots of toys. Seven stories tall.

Picking out drinks at the convenience store.

At one point, Alex ran off in search of Baymax without either of us.  Thankfully, it was only a brief moment of panic before he was found.  The boys also enjoyed the drone store.  Our guide helped negotiate a deal on a larger purchase and later that day we had UFOs all over the hotel!

By the time we finished up at the toy store, everyone was pretty hungry as we had stretched beyond normal lunch time.  Kelly took us to a nearby noodle shop where we ordered up some noodles and fried rice.  The adjacent convenience store got quite a bit of business as we ordered familiar and not-so-familiar drinks.

Ian waiting for his noodles.

Once we returned to the hotel, the kids wanted to go out and see the waterfall behind the hotel.  They were convinced you could climb to the top.  So I went with the kids and Bobby McCarthy and his kids to check it out.  By now, it had stopped raining, but everything was still damp.  We did find a set of stairs for the waterfall, but there was a no entry sign and we ultimately decided it was not a good idea to take the troops on this hike so we explored the ponds and an area in the back of the hotel which is quite scenic and peaceful.  Well, maybe if it's just a couple of adults.

Luke looking at the pond behind the hotel

Pizza at OGGI's with the McCarthy's

For dinner that evening, our family went with the McCarthy's to OGGI's pizza to celebrate.  Their son Matthew and Luke both enjoy pizza so it was a good choice.  With our group of 13 we basically filled up their restaurant.  We've noticed that restaurants in this area aren't well suited for large groups.  Another thing we've noticed is that they appear to be heavily staffed.  During our time at OGGI's, there were at least a half dozen wait staff just waiting to serve customers and there couldn't have been more than 10, maybe 15 tables in the whole place.  The pizza and time with new friends was a nice way to celebrate the finalization of our adoptions.