Family Time in Guangzhou

Family Time

Today was a great family day, although we did it in stages.  This morning, Connor and I let the girls sleep in and we went with the group to a place called Yuntai Garden.  It is a beautiful ornamental garden that covered several acres and had an interesting mix of lifesize animated characters, including Disney characters which I'm sure are licensed (please imagine my facetious tone for that last sentence).  As Connor has watched KungFu Panda 12 times on the trip, we had to get some pictures.  We took our badminton racquets because it is the norm to play badminton wherever there is an open space and we are trying to beat our record of 28 consecutive hits.  Spending dedicated time with Connor is really good for him and after the up and down night with Jiji we were ready for a little "guy time."  The weather at the garden was really nice, and it isn't so much that it is much hotter than Charlotte, but the humidity makes the sweat run down your face like crazy.  I don't think Andrea or Jiji would have lasted very long anyway, so it was good that they opted to sleep in and stay in the AC.

On the way to the rendezvous with the group, we passed a sweet older lady selling live scorpions out of some buckets.  We stopped to look at them and she picked up a big one with chop sticks and wanted Connor to hold the chop sticks!  Connor's quote was "I just learned how to hold food with chopsticks, I'm not holding a scorpion!"  I offered the lady a couple RMB for letting us take pictures, but she refused and was just happy that we were entertained by her little enterprise.  Speaking of chopsticks, Connor baited me into losing some cash in a little chopstick competition.  We were at a restaurant today and he asked me if I thought he could pick up a peanut with chopsticks using his left hand.   I laughed and told him I'd give him 10 RMB if he could do it.  To my surprise, he picked up the chopsticks and snatched a peanut out of the bowl with the precision of a surgeon on the first try!  What a hoser!

After the garden, we came home to Andrea and Jiji and we all took a family nap.  I won't pretend that a mid-day nap isn't a very enticing perk of the adoption trip!  Jiji and I woke up about the same time and we spent the next hour playing together.  We had lots of fun putting a toothbrush inside a bottle and shaking it and then spinning it on the floor.  It really makes me wonder how much I need to spend with Hasbro and Playskool when we get back to the states!  She is just adorable when she follows me with those big eyes!  I think we share a special bond because I'm the only one who lets her stick her fingers in my mouth; although she gave me a pretty good "fish hook" yesterday so we may start phasing that game out.

After naps we got up and had some quality time in the pool.  Connor is passing off swimming requirements and I keep reminding him that this is the best scout camp he could have gone to.   The pool is on the 14^th floor of the hotel and there are some fun views of the city.  Jiji loved being in the water and was kicking her little legs all over the place.  She thought it was pretty funny when Mom got in the water too.  We watched Connor and Andrea race each other across the pool.  I guess I will let Andrea post the results of the race between the two of us as I don't like to write about my own victories.  J

The actual adoption process is going along well and our guide will be going to the consulate tomorrow to take in our paperwork.  We reviewed it with her yesterday and she said that it looks like everything is in order.  There were several times with she and Andrea slipped into another language that involved lots of form numbers and acronyms.  I am so glad she know her stuff because if it were up to me I would probably still be in the JFK airport waiting for a flight out!

Well, Connor is racing her around the 9th floor in the stroller and I just heard a giggling girl go by so I better go see what is going on.