A Day Together at Shamian Island:)

Today we took all of the girls to Shamian Island to explore and get out of the hotel.  It was warm; quite humid actually, but nice to get out and stretch our legs for a bit.  We arrived on the island around 9:30 a.m. and enjoyed walking around for a couple of hours before we grabbed lunch at Lucy's.  Jerry had a fried rice dish that was quite good, Lauren had chicken wings, Jadyn had a grilled cheese and french fries and Kaitlyn and I had a fried noodle dish that was delicious!  Then the girls played for awhile on the playground behind Lucy's and we walked along the waterfront for sometime before heading back to the White Swan to grab a taxi.  Today is the last day the White Swan is open for business; they will be closing for one year due to renovations.  It is a very popular hotel for adoptive parents to stay at while in China finalizing the last stage of the adoption process.  We took some pictures at the White Swan of some of the beautiful items they have for sale due to the renovations; truly breathtaking.  If only there were a way to reasonable ship something back to the U.S.:)

Anyway, once we got in the taxi to head back to our hotel the girls were all exhausted.  Jadyn fell asleep right away and then Kaitlyn took my arm and started to lightly pinch my skin just like Jadyn does and she laid her head on my shoulder and fell asleep:)  It felt so nice to have her cuddle with me:)  I looked at Lauren and her eyes were flittering as she fought to stay awake, but within a minute or two she was asleep as well:) 

We got back to the room and Jadyn finished her nap, but the other two were suddenly wide awake!  I found a cartoon the Lauren likes to watch and Kaitlyn and I spent some time on the computer.  She watched me type a couple of comments to the blog and began reading what I was typing so I helped her to pronounce the words.  She repeated all but about 3-4 words!  It was amazing to hear her speak in English and she is so driven to want to know!  She then ran to get a dictionary and came back to the computer to type in some words which brought up a cartoon-type picture.  She was very excited to see it, then she typed in a website with free games and tried to show me how to play games with her!  It was a lot of fun:)  Eventually, I gave up the games and let her have computer time - she really enjoys the computer.  It didn't take her long to learn how to work our laptop and I know she will like the game systems we have at home:) She did Jadyn's hair in a ponytail again, then wanted to do mine; it is too short for a pony in back so she did one on top and tucked it under in a very cute way actually:)  So wonderful to have a daughter want to play with my hair:)

I put in Beauty and The Beast for the girls to watch, we grabbed dinner from the 7/11 and now they are on a walk with Dad:)  We'll come back together to watch Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue tonight, then tomorrow we are off for the girls to have their medical exams.  Both will need TB tests and Kaitlyn will need some shots.  Please pray that this step goes well; they were pre-tested for TB so we believe there shouldn't be any issues, but if there are we may be stuck in China longer than expected.  Also, the fact that Kaitlyn needs additional shots; she says she isn't afraid of them, but still - as a Mother you don't like to see your child subjected to any type of pain. 

Five more days and then we are headed for home; we love China and it's people - truly.  However, we miss our boys terribly.  They are doing very well, but are also anxious to meet their two new sisters!

Thank you for following along on our journey - to those of you yet to make yours; we wish you all the best!