Tuesday, May 8th

Tuesday was a mellow day, which was exactly what we all needed after a fast paced week.  We started out with a late...almost missed the expensive buffet we already payed for...breakfast.  We would have gone to the Chinese breakfast buffet which was open for another hour, but our guide and another family was already waiting for us.  We thought we were meeting at 10:30 a.m.  Turns out it was 10:00 a.m.

We didn't mind rushing the buffet, though.  It meant Sweet Pea had let us all sleep in until 8:45 a.m. and we'd talked to SnapDragon and Sunflower back home.  I'm missing them like crazy, but they are having a good time with Aunt H.

Note my hair at the beginning of the day...

After breakfast we went upstairs to get Sweet Pea's sun hat and then went with our guide, her assistant in training, and another family to the grocery store...the RT.

Apparently while we are the only family in Province from our agency, this other family's agency and ours use the same travel service so we are sharing a guide.  They are from Canada and are bringing home their second son from China.

Sweet Pea did well in the front pack and was very curious about everything going on around her.  She was still pretty solemn...we didn't yet know what a playful, happy, loud baby she could be (except for the glimpse we got of it from 3:30-4:30 a.m. that morning.)  But neither did she fuss or cry.  No one commented on her bare arms...they just kept saying, "What a fat baby!"

One of the food vendors on the way to the store.  It was a fast walk.  In Beijing we'd gone to the store 3 times by ourselves.  Left to our own, we walk slower.  This store was on a busier street, but the one crossing was similar.

Still we were glad to have a guide with us at this point.  Oak, particularly, was tired of navigating new situations without assistance.  We need to expend our energy on the adventure of parenting instead of investigating a new country and culture.

 I mean, look at this face!  She is what this trip is all about.

Anyway, the RT is a giant store...3 floors...kind of like a WalMart, except:

no self-respecting Wal-Mart carries Cherokee brand of clothing.  

We wandered around with our guide and the other family and purchased all that we needed...including cans of coke, water, swim cap, potato chips, instant noodles, dish washing liquid, wipeys, and diapers.  

We tried to get Huckleberry a juice snack he wanted to try, but it turns out you buy by the pound and since we had not weighed it we could not buy it...though there were plenty of check out counters.

This is only about 1/2 the counters.  We were clearly there on a non-busy time.  Everyone at work, I guess.  The escalators were flat so your cart could go between floors.  The wheels locked onto the floor of the escalator.  Still we didn't want to go back upstairs to weigh his juice...
 
So we went to McDonald's for lunch.  The other family, with two little kids, wanted to and we were so hot (it is very muggy in Nanchang) and tired we didn't care where we ate.  

We gave Sweet Pea her first french fry because it appears to be an American adoption tradition, but being as she is only 9 months she wasn't all that interested or capable of eating it.  She did gnaw on it for a little bit to give Mama the shot.


Then we went back to the hotel, and since it wasn't yet Sweet Pea's nap time we decided to see if she liked swimming.

Even if she didn't enjoy it we figured it was a chance to use the robe from my friend, Julie, before she grew out of it.  But she did do pretty well as long as we held her tight and didn't move too fast.  I didn't take pictures, but I will need to get some at the pool if possible.  As Huckleberry says, it is really cool...well, temperature wise, too, but that felt GREAT...no, cool design with the ceiling decorated like stars.


Then Sweet Pea and I left the boys at the pool and came upstairs for a nap...well, she napped.  For the first half hour in my arms, then both of us lying in the bed, then alone.  I think I could have put her down after about 3 minutes, but I enjoyed that 45 minutes of holding her.  Then I just couldn't resist taking a few pictures of my precious baby.

Unfortunately she wasn't facing the light.  When the guys came back she woke up, so I was sitting in the trusty arm chair with her when the phone rang.  It was a friend from my Spring Time in China facebook group inviting us up to their suite for dinner.  Of course we went...and we had a fabulous time.  

***(Picture to Insert if granted permission.)*** 


Another family they had met was there and it really was wonderful to meet others from the states, swap stories, and just have a lot of laughing and fun.  Oak was also able to help my friend's VPN working so it was a win-win all around.  (Though when we told Huckleberry we were having pizza for dinner he said, "but that's soooo NORMAL!")  Sweet Pea sat on my lap the whole time and even started her chatting and giggling as the evening progressed.  Overall perhaps a relatively more "normal" day, but half way through our trip, that was exactly what we needed.

When my husband took this picture he said, "What happened to your hair?"  The humidity...the humidity.  Today I wore it up in a pig tail so I'm a little less like a lion, but only a little less.


(I've passed on the hellos to Mary...she seemed pleased and a tad surprised, "how do you know them?"  Ah the wonders and joys of blogland!)