Wednesday, May
13, 2009
A KID'S DAY
Hi everyone! Today was a great day and it was all about the
kids. First we went to a local street that had exercise machines
where both of the kids got to do some exercising right next to
people who stopped on their way to work. I mentioned in an
earlier post that Beijing had a lottery – they use the revenue
from the lottery to purchase and install all this exercise
equipment throughout the city – like a nautilus club for the
public, all throughout the city.
Afterwards we had a lot of fun at the Aquarium ( Beijing ’s Blue
Zoo), and today we were joined by Linda, which made it even more
fun for both Emma and Ethan, but especially Emma. Ethan was so
taken with the fish and the underwater tube, and the 3 kids ran
and danced for almost 2 hours. Our little guy is getting to be
very brave, going up and down stairs on his own, and even
running off into crowds…….not the best for mom’s heart, but his
is clearly strong.
For lunch, we went for Dim Sum again, and this time, we sat near
the fish tanks so Ethan could be entertained, while Linda showed
Emma how to make origami animals out of receipts. I loved the
ingenuity for self-entertainment. Afterwards the two girls
grabbed a karaoke microphone which was outside and sang Old
MacDonald to the crowds on the streets of Beijing……Emma’s star
repertoire has grown. They got a number of smiles and some light
applause before the owner decided it was time to take away the
equipment from the little people. And then there were these
lovely red lanterns hanging near the opening for the nearby park
- they were just there for people to take, and of course each
child received one – which kept them quite entertained in the
backseat of the car while driving.
We ended our adventure at a nearby indoor play area called Sunny
More – its like a giant PlayZone and we were two of only 4
children there. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign but the kids
LOVED IT. Two hours of non stop playing. Ethan of course had
never been to such a place, and to watch him explore and get
acquainted was amazing. By the end he was jumping in one of the
ball pits and running on the second level of the maze, but no
surprise that his favorite things were the cars he could ride.
We experimented at a new restaurant for dinner – we just
discovered it on the other side of the hotel. Unbelievably it
was the most expensive meal to date (even counting the duck
restaurant for 4, and it wasn’t anywhere near comparable in
terms of taste and quality), but Emma actually ate both a
Guangdong tofu dish (which really was good) and a Szechuan
shrimp dish. Not a place we would recommend, but it was fine to
try new things other than dumplings and noodles and the usual
stuff. And then on the way back to the room, we were stopped by
a horde of young women who work in the hotel shopping area just
so they could fawn over both children in their Jie Jie and Di Di
shirts.
And that was the day – very fun for the kids, and therefore very
happy for me.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Beijing ! We’ll head to the
Temple of Heaven in the morning, then some paperwork. I fear my
posts are getting less and less interesting, but maybe that’s
the way its supposed to be as we continue to get more and more
comfortable with each other…and we exhaust our sightseeing
options…..
Have a great day everyone,
Lots of love, Mama, Jie Jie (big sister) and Di Di (little
brother) |
Exercise Machines
Emma exercising
Ms. Suun, Linda and Emma outside the Aquarium
Hui Hui sees fish
Emma and Ethan dancing |
