Trip to China
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Sunday, November 25, 2007 Guangzhou Day…um…day…who knows? Ok, I’m starting today’s post because Tony is busy cleaning the cracker crumbs out of the bed. He was a good Baba and let the girls eat their snack in our bed. Matter-of-fact, he’s been a great Baba. He’s been busy making the girls laugh, helping change dirty diapers, and watching them while I shopped. Now if I could just get him to help me enforce the rules! Hahah! Today was another busy day…but one of my favorite so far, of course! We went SHOPPING!!!! We went to both jade and pearl markets. We learned about the different grades of jade and how to distinguish authentic pearls from fakes. It was very informational, which Tony enjoyed. I, however, was like, “Just show me the good stuff!” As for the jade, it is a tradition that at 100 days from birth, the child’s first birthday, or when the child turns 16, the parents give them jade. We bought the girls a jade circle pendant necklace for this occasion. We chose the circular shape because it represents long life and happiness in family. Tony was sweet enough to insist I get one as well. They’re simply beautiful. I’m wearing mine already. Each is tied with a red string. An ancient Chinese belief is that a red thread connects all of us. They say it may stretch or tangle, but it will never break. Well, I hope mine never breaks, or Tony will HAVE MY HIDE! Next, we went to the pearl market. Now, don’t get this fantastical idea that it’s this open air market filled with vendors of all types. It was actually a tiny store in the middle of a mall. But, according to Chinese tradition, pearls have great significance. They should be given to your child on her wedding day. It was pretty neat to get to see the variety of pearls in all colors, sizes, and values. We chose to have two necklaces made with beautiful pearls, and we also purchased matching earrings. We’ll save those for the day Tony FINALLY allows them to get married! (He’s pretty protective though, so those pearls will be many many decades old by then!) Both experiences were pretty fun, but buying for twins can get quite costly! For those of you who know Tony, you can understand how nervous he was about today. He knew some serious Yuan would be flying out of his wallet! It was funny though. He didn’t even bat an eyelash. These girls have him wrapped around their adorable little fingers! As for the twins, if we had 10 Yuan for every time someone said, “Ahhh, twins? Beautiful! Where from? Which sister is older?” we’d be millionaires! It has been fun, but I’m getting pretty tired of everyone touching my babies! We even had a sales lady try to get one of them to kiss her! After our afternoon naps, we had a play date with Lynn and her daughter Kiera! We went to their room today and played with the toys she had. The girls had fun and love to make Lynn laugh. Afterward, we did some light shopping. We bought a few traditional Chinese gowns and a pair of squeaky shoes. We also met up with many in our travel group for a VERY nice dinner along the river here. It was buffet style and had many western items. Tony was in Heaven! You could choose which meat you wanted from two huge tables and they grilled it right there for you. You had your choice of chicken, pork, lamb, beef, fish, salmon, and prawns. It was amazing! The girls mostly ate rice, potatoes, watermelon, french fries, and fish nuggets. Yes, I reread that sentence and we gave them THREE starches! We need to fatten them up! The dinner was great fun though and we finally feel full! After dinner we strolled with some new friends Tina and Scott and did a little more shopping. We got a few more Chinese dresses and MORE squeaky shoes! The picture you see is when we got back to the room and I put them on the girls. WOW. The girls laughed, danced, stomped, and ran so much, I know they’ll sleep well now! The sales people here are riots. They know you're going to haggle with them, so they're always saying, "Ahhh, for you, we give you a special deal." HA! Yeah right! I always reply, "Sure, you will. You give everyone your special deal!" But we usually do get them to come down a bit when they see that we're going to buy TWO of everything!

Afternoon snack on Mom and Dad's bed... Can't find the Colts game on TV Guangzhou along the river New squeaky shoes are FUN! Too much shopping at the pearl market... We're having a case of the snake wine shipped home...any takers

We also placed an order with a local artist to make a scroll for both Abby and Laney with their Chinese names. He had some beautiful examples, so I’ll be excited to see how they turn out. So, overall, today was a great day. The girls are soaking up so much. They can now blow kisses (when they want) and know the signs for ‘more’ and ‘drink’. They also know many hand games. Laney loves to pretend to get my eyes and hide them in her hands. This was a game she made up entirely and it’s so cute to see her get tickled at herself. Abby is becoming more and more of a Baba’s girl. She still gives me kisses, but he’s definitely her favorite. It’s a good thing I have Laney who still prefers Mama-time. See, God knew what He was doing! Tomorrow we are possibly going to the zoo, depending on the weather. We are also going to the Chen museum and gardens. Personally, we’re about toured out, but we want to honor our time here in China , so we’ll see. We’re already planning on Papa John’s dinner tomorrow night. It tastes just like home and we love it! Only 2 more days until our US Consulate visit and swearing-in ceremony takes place. Only three more days until we start the 30 + hour trek home. PLEASE start praying now that we have two very calm girls that sleep a lot, do not cry on the plane, and cooperate with us. Pray that we have ZERO delays. We’re ready to show off our babies and enjoy some quiet (not constantly on the go) time at home!!!! We miss you! P.S. Make sure you go back a day or two and look at the pictures we posted!

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