Wonderful Wednesday.....

Fresh eels or duck for dinner anyone?

A photo shoot of a bride and groom, complete with her jeans under her gown :)

From sleeping to smiles always....

Look Mom - I am eating my veggies(and then playing with them :)

I love my Matthew - and Matthew got to see his first kitten today, look out Charlie and Smokey!!!

Did you know Bonsai trees were really Chinese, not Japanese?

Here I am world!

Folk Art Museum in Guangdong!

Pictures of the Buddhist Temple!

After a good night's rest for Matthew last night, he was ready to go bright and early this morning! It is amazing to us how he just wakes up, touches both Chris and I, and starts the day with a smile. We can all take lessons from children, that's for sure! We are loving waking up next to him even though we know it's going to be hard transitioning to the crib when we get home. Unfortunately, he is too big and can climb out of the crib here and they don't have any biggers ones, so it's too dangerous to keep him in there overnight.

This morning Lucy started our day off at a Buddhist temple in Guangzhou. It was quite beautiful, and she was wonderful about filling us in on the history and telling us a little about Buddhism. We learned a lot about the symbolism of the different Buddha statues and where you will find them in different stores and different places throughout temples, etc. Lucy shared with us that her grandmother is a practicing Buddhist, so had many traditions to share with us. There were quite a few monks there today, and people visiting.

Our next stop today was the Guangdong Folk Art Museum. Parts of the outside of the museum were actually original buildings, and it was quite amazing to see how things were structured. Matthew enjoyed the stairs since they were only a few at a time - he is trying so hard to learn how to walk up them, but we carry most of the weight, especially going down them! We saw some beautiful embroidery, embroidered human hair that made gorgeous pictures, ivory carvings that were so magnificient, and many other items that were hand made including some really neat hand sculpted pieces. Things were pretty expensive to purchase, but we did buy a print that was finger painted - wait until you see it! It is a picturesque scene of Guangdong's mountains and waterfalls. Very wonderful!

We were then off to a lovely restaurant for dumplings! Lucy made recommendations and we had vegetables, fried corn pancake which was so good, and beef and pork dumplings. Lucy and our driver got a big kick of how good of an eater Matthew was, and he was such a big boy in his booster seat at the table. Mommy and Daddy were so proud of him! And, all of you out there who know me so well should be so proud of my for trying to many new foods lately AND eating with chopsticks! They did bring me a fork and knife to cut Matthew's food into small pieces, but I ate with chopsticks and so did Chris! We are getting better every day!

We were then off to nice store that sold porcelain pieces and per Lucy one of the best places to buy Matthew's traditional Chinese outfit. We got him a black and red outfit with dragons on it, and Lucy helped pick it out, we also got him a pair of "squeaky sandles" that he can wear this upcoming summer! (For those of you who don't know what I am talking about, Squeaky shoes are huge in China and as the kids walk, they squeak! They really are quite cute!)

In the store, Matthew fell asleep and he managed to nap all the way back to the hotel and then even an hour longer once we got back!!! We were so happy he did that since he didn't nap at all yesterday. Mommy and Daddy curled up next to him as well and shut our eyes for a little while too - all of this sightseeing is tiring!!!!

After a giggly wake up after his nap, we decided to venture out on the island and enjoy the warm, sunny weather. We borrowed a stroller at one of the stores and Matthew loved it!!!! He smiled and laughed, waved to people passing by, and loved when Daddy drove it like a crazy person! We enjoyed time in the park, watching beautful Chinese bride and grooms getting their pictures taken, watched a school let out, watched people exercise, and just enjoyed being with Matthew!

We decided to sit outside and have dinner at Lucy's tonight which was nice. We enjoyed some American food, and Matthew did great once again! I forgot to mention more Chinese people asking us about "having a Chinese boy?" and the shop owner that we borrowed the stroller from remarked on how much Chris and Matthew look alike! I am really beginning to wonder about this now - just kidding :) but, it is so strange how many people have remarked on their similarities! We took a nice walk by the waterfront before heading back to the hotel, and Matthew pointed at the boats going by. It seems like he is really going to try and start talking soon - his mouth is moving a lot like he wants things to come out so we keep on trying to just repeat words so that he can try to sound them out! He certainly understands what we tell him, that's for sure! He has also learned to love the camera so we will have to get him a camera of his own when we get home! He also loves his cell phone and it keeps him occupied for a long time which is so funny!!!

We just had a great bath, and now are just trying to settle down for the night....tomorrow is a free day for us and we are looking forward to just relaxing and hanging out. We are meeting Lucy again on Friday morning to take Matthew to a little park with a merry go round and other rides - sounds like fun! We know he loves the stroller now, so we are sure he will love that too!!!!

For all of you that have been to China, we have heard there is a good Italian restaurant on the island, where would we find that???

Enjoy some pictures from our wonderful Wednesday!!!!