Sunday, January 16, 2011

Adventures in China


Today we wanted to get off of the island and do a little bit of exploring since tomorrow will be mostly dedicated to getting ready for the boys by 2:30......oh wait.....never mind.....we've been ready for the boys for about 10 months now.

Well nonetheless, I remembered other families talking about a really fun childrens park somewhat nearby but in my non-existent book of wisdom I didn't know the name of the park,
nor how to get there,
nor retain the ability to speak Mandarin in order to explain where I am trying to go.

So you see my dilemma. 
And well, you know what they say...
when in doubt,
call your guide.

So there I am
in the lobby
I call Helen and begin to explain the things I've seen at this park.
The childrens rides,
the paddle boats,
the badmitton playing
and she immediately knows what it is I am trying to convey.
Bless her sweet little heart. 
So Helen gets on the phone with the front desk clerk, tells her where it is my previous unsuccessful pantomining was trying to convey, and 5 seconds later we are in a cab headed to the park.....that I still can't remember the name of.
(and yes, I'm sure I did look like a dork trying to act out paddle boating and badminton in the lobby....but we won't dwell on that. Plus I'm sure my entire performance was picked up on hotel surveillance cameras so it'll probably end up on Y-tube one day so you can catch it there.)

We had a fantastic time mostly driven by one word:

Hackybird.
Or is it two words:
Hackey Bird?
I dunno.
Regardless, you got to get you some of this.



A bit like hackey sack of course....only with kind of a feathery bird thing coming out which somehow makes it ten times more fun than a plain ole sack.



All in all we had a great day!



A little hackey bird with the locals, a few rides, watched some tai chi......still need to look up how to spell tai chi.....some badmitton and that was our day today.
(We won't go into tonight which involved dinner at Lucy's with Lilly's family which basically involved my children doing everything but hanging from the rafters.....which I'm sure they would have done...had there been actual rafters.)
But again, we won't go into that and instead we'll hope that they will agree to have dinner with us another time so they can prove that they do indeed have manners......somewhere.




Tomorrow's the big day!

12 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great day!! So great that you are in GZ the whole time. I would have loved that! I'm sure the weather is great!! I just can't stand the wait! Hurry up and get them, already!!!

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  2. Can't WAIT to see the big day!! Not sure who is more excited .. the rest of "us" (your posse' blog followers) or your family.. okay okay praobably your family.. but we all do come in a close second!!

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  3. Okay, so excited for both of us for tomorrow!! Going to bed as it is nearing 11pm!!! See ya soon!!!!

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  4. fun!!!!!!!!!!!! looks a little chilly?

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  5. Looks like a fun day! Tomorrow will be such a great day too!!!

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  6. The little toy thing is called chapteh in Singapore! Anyway, I'm so excited for you! This is the first adoption I'm "following" online since I started reading about adoption. Hope the boys adjust well and quickly to you!

    Zahra from Singapore!! :D

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  7. I am so excited that tomorrow you will finally have your boys!!!!! Enjoy every minute that you have in China.

    Thanks for sharing your journey.....I'm loving it :-).

    Kim

    PS. What agency are you with?

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  8. So happy everyone is happy, healthy and awake!!
    Bring home lots of those hackysacks! We had a blast with them there and once we got home too, and they made great inexpensive gifts for the kids friends.
    I bought a bunch more for x-mas this year from china sprout.com
    Looking forward to seeing your post tomorrow!
    Krista D

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  9. SO excited for you!! H is asking every single day, "when are the China boys going to be here?" We'll try not to invade too quickly once you get back and I will work on them learning their names! Thinking and praying for you and the whole family!! Pam

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  10. So enjoying your trip! Isn't it Monday there yet????!!! Sheesh, the suspense is killing me already.
    Our kids loved the hackyplaying at the park. I'm pretty sure we ended up bringing several of those thngs home. And we all loved Helen. A lot. Please say hi from the freakishly large family with the two little chinese girls who dressed like twins and lost their gotcha day pig and who went shopping for jade bangles with Helen. Yeah, she probably won't know who your talking about. Oh, well, know I'm praying for your little fellas. A big change is coming. A good one, but a big change nonetheless.

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  11. I'm so glad all is well. You brought back memories when we took all of our children on our first adoption trip. We never sat at a table with other people in our group because we took up a whole table! Sad, but true.

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  12. Cheering you on! Hope all goes well tomorrow!!
    Can't wait to see you with your two new sons.

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