Today was a beautiful
family day!! I'm just trying to soak up every moment I have with my
sweet family while we are in China with no distractions. Today was a
free day so we started with a late breakfast (have I mentioned how
amazing the breakfasts are here, yet?!!) and then FaceTime called
family. Technology is so cool that we can be half way around the
world yet still be able to talk and see their faces. We then headed
to Shamian Island to do some shopping. In order to get there we all
loaded into a taxi and off we went. The taxi cost us 20 yuan (about
$2.50) each way. Super cheap! We went into the first shop where I
bought tons of stuff including Chinese dresses for each of the girls,
dolls, gifts for family, and gifts for the girls down the road. Ava
freaked out in the first shop because she was scared of the
mannequins. And Ella was also not super happy. Again most likely
due to some fear but also the heat. We shopped around a little more
before Kim and I decided that we may have to come back and shop just
the two of us. After a couple hours of shopping we headed to grab
some lunch at Lucy's Cafe and then walked to a nearby park on the
Island. We spent some time letting the girls go down the slides.
Ella lit up going down the slides. You could tell she was in her
element. We then spent some time walking around the park where you
could see the bay and the Dragon Boats. This was a fun time spent
dancing together to live music, taking pictures, and just enjoying
our time together.
We headed back to the
hotel in early afternoon to make it to the pool before it got too hot
outside. We were going to beat the heat today!! Ava is a fish and
couldn't wait to get going. I didn't want to push Ella to quickly
though. She wasn't too found of the pool the first day. But as soon
as Ava had her suit on, Ella was asking for her's to be put on. So
off we went all ready for the pool. Matt and I took turns hanging
out with Ella on the lounge chairs and playing with Ava in the pool.
But after some time Ella decided she was ready to get a little closer
and it wasn't long before Matt had her in the pool! She didn't stay
in the pool too long but did sit on the side where she could put her
feet in and splash the water. What a big step! We were having so
much fun that I think we spent almost 3 hours in the pool this
afternoon. By the time we were done we were hungry!!
For dinner, we headed back
to the noodle restaurant. It was so good last time and really how do
you beat $8 to feed an entire family. Plus both girls loved the food
and ate really well and after a busy day they needed food. The
dinner was wonderful again. We pretty much ordered the same dishes
tonight but added dumplings. Ella loved the dumplings. I bet she
ate at least 6-8 dumplings on her own plus noodles! Ava loved the
rice and ate a few noodles as well. Both girls were so tired that
they looked like they might fall asleep in their dinners. While Matt
and his dad stopped at a local store to pick up a few things, Kim and
I headed back to the hotel to get the girls to bed.
Bedtime has not been the
easiest with Ella. She sleeps all night long once she's asleep but
it takes her a little time to calm down at night enough to sleep.
Tonight Ava asked to watch a movie while they laid in bed for sleep
and we agreed knowing that they would likely be awake a little longer
than planned. Ella did pretty well for awhile until she wanted to
start getting out of bed. Ella does not like being told no so this
did not go over well. After several attempts to get her calmed down
she did crash. We knew she was exhausted but she just needed to give
herself a chance to sleep.
Today was our best day so
far with the girls getting along and playing as well as Ella
continuing to adjust to us. It's been fun and amazing to watch her
settle in to our family in really a quick amount of time. She fits
just perfectly!
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