Happy Chinese New Year 2009 - the entrance to the park!Well, today was officially our fourteenth day here in China and most everyone else that have been here on their trips here are on their way home. The White Swan is very empty and there are only a handful of families here right now....kind of strange. It does make sense though with the decrease in children that are avilabale for adoption - someone said the CCAA has over 30,000 dossiers and that there are nearly not enough orphans for all of those people to get a child. We also have seen quite a few families of Chinese descent adoption little babies! Chris and I truly feel like we are the youngest people here right now doing this adoption thing, and we are thankful that our new friends from Arkansas have wanted to hang out here and there. Barry and Dana have 3 sons(19,15, and 9) and have adopted a beautiful 7 year old girl from the orphanage where Matthew was! They are too, soaking up the extra week of time here, and clearly starting to go stir crazy like us! We can only walk the island so many times!!!
Last night we met and sat in the playroom of the hotel , and tonight we did that and headed back to the lovely Italian restaurant we found on the island for dinner! It was lovely and the food and service were great! It's a little pricy but worth it! We LOVED to wood oven pizza, that was so good! Chris had lasagna last night and opted for pizza tonight! Dana ordered squid and shrimp and the eyes were still in the shrimp - kind of creepy! Chris asked her if she like her food looking back at her????
Guess we need to backtrack to last night where our dear little Matthew once again hates bedtime and thinks its time to play. We tried to put him in the crib, but he can crawl out of it, so we really need to see if they have a bigger one for tonight because this is tough! It wasn't until 1030pm that he finally fell asleep! Oh, to be home and have a routine for him soon......the one room hotel room just doesn't cut it!
Today was a nice day though, and we went to a lovely little amusement park set around a bunch of lakes. We learned how the Chinese people spend their retirement in the park doing their exercises, dancing, sinking karaoke, and playing cars. It was quite a site to see, and the whole morning was very enjoyable. Matthew went on his first train ride, and rode a couple of other rides including getting in a helpicopter all by himself. We think he liked the tilt a whirl dolphin with Daddy the best! He then played on the slides, and it took him a while to figure out how to get down the slide and opted for his belly in the end! Everything is so new to him, and he has to watch things and see how they work first before he can do them himself. We then put him back in the stroller and had a lovely walk by the lakes, it was very warm and humid today that's for sure! We then stopped at a huge grocery store and stopped at the Pearl Market where Chris bought me a beautiful pair of earrings for Valentine's Day....very sweet. They even came in a black velvet box! It was so crazy to see an entire 5 story mall FULL of PEARLS and jewelry! Very neat though...
We then headed back to the island and had a later light lunch at Lucy's - Matthew napped a little in the stroller, so he was raring to go when we got back. We spent time outside, and then discovered that Matthew LOVES Elmo when we got back to the hotel. We put in the DVD and he was mesmerized! That was the first time he focused on any sort of movie, etc. We were excited about that for the flights home! Speaking of the flights home, we had thought we weren't getting into Philly until Saturday, but it's actually Friday night! We forgot that we go back a day flying - OH DID THAT MAKE US HAPPY TO FIGURE OUT! Of course, we are still nervous because we still don't have Matthew's passport and Chris has been making some calls today trying to figure out if it was picked up or not. PLEASE pray that it has so nothing gets delayed, and that we have it by the end of the week-end!!!!!
OK, back to Matthew again.........he is just learning so many new things every day, and imitates whatever we do! He can blow kisses now, and just is such a big boy! We are just waiting for him to start talking - hopefully soon! It seems like he tried to move his mouth to get words out, but not quite yet!
Well, good night to everyone at home - will talk to you all soon!
Last night we met and sat in the playroom of the hotel , and tonight we did that and headed back to the lovely Italian restaurant we found on the island for dinner! It was lovely and the food and service were great! It's a little pricy but worth it! We LOVED to wood oven pizza, that was so good! Chris had lasagna last night and opted for pizza tonight! Dana ordered squid and shrimp and the eyes were still in the shrimp - kind of creepy! Chris asked her if she like her food looking back at her????
Guess we need to backtrack to last night where our dear little Matthew once again hates bedtime and thinks its time to play. We tried to put him in the crib, but he can crawl out of it, so we really need to see if they have a bigger one for tonight because this is tough! It wasn't until 1030pm that he finally fell asleep! Oh, to be home and have a routine for him soon......the one room hotel room just doesn't cut it!
Today was a nice day though, and we went to a lovely little amusement park set around a bunch of lakes. We learned how the Chinese people spend their retirement in the park doing their exercises, dancing, sinking karaoke, and playing cars. It was quite a site to see, and the whole morning was very enjoyable. Matthew went on his first train ride, and rode a couple of other rides including getting in a helpicopter all by himself. We think he liked the tilt a whirl dolphin with Daddy the best! He then played on the slides, and it took him a while to figure out how to get down the slide and opted for his belly in the end! Everything is so new to him, and he has to watch things and see how they work first before he can do them himself. We then put him back in the stroller and had a lovely walk by the lakes, it was very warm and humid today that's for sure! We then stopped at a huge grocery store and stopped at the Pearl Market where Chris bought me a beautiful pair of earrings for Valentine's Day....very sweet. They even came in a black velvet box! It was so crazy to see an entire 5 story mall FULL of PEARLS and jewelry! Very neat though...
We then headed back to the island and had a later light lunch at Lucy's - Matthew napped a little in the stroller, so he was raring to go when we got back. We spent time outside, and then discovered that Matthew LOVES Elmo when we got back to the hotel. We put in the DVD and he was mesmerized! That was the first time he focused on any sort of movie, etc. We were excited about that for the flights home! Speaking of the flights home, we had thought we weren't getting into Philly until Saturday, but it's actually Friday night! We forgot that we go back a day flying - OH DID THAT MAKE US HAPPY TO FIGURE OUT! Of course, we are still nervous because we still don't have Matthew's passport and Chris has been making some calls today trying to figure out if it was picked up or not. PLEASE pray that it has so nothing gets delayed, and that we have it by the end of the week-end!!!!!
OK, back to Matthew again.........he is just learning so many new things every day, and imitates whatever we do! He can blow kisses now, and just is such a big boy! We are just waiting for him to start talking - hopefully soon! It seems like he tried to move his mouth to get words out, but not quite yet!
Well, good night to everyone at home - will talk to you all soon!
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2 comments:
I hope they can find you a bigger crib! We had to just let Caleb sleep with us in our bed at the last hotel we stayed in because the crib was so small that he kept hitting the edges and waking up. One night he slept very still, but the others he rolled all over!
Will your guide be taking you on any more "field trips?" If not, ask someone at the hotel to write a card for a taxi driver to take you to Seven Banyan Temple. It is beautiful and very peaceful and even though we aren't Buddist, we were glad we went. Also maybe try the Yuntai Gardens. They were BEAUTIFUL and well worth the time.
By the way, it isn't on the menu, but if you ask at Lucy's, they will make you a grilled cheese sandwich and that's quite good when you are craving a "real" taste of home!
Well, seems like you guys are making your time fun atleast! Your pictures are still pretty amazing. I like the family photo together! Love youu :]
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