Sunday in Guangzhou

Let me start by saying that anyone who wants to send me an email to say hello is welcome! I'm a bit like a kid sent off to camp - on the other side of the world!! :) Libby and I had a good "free" day today. At breakfast we ran into another family with our agency who also just adopted a 2 year old daughter. The mom and dad are traveling and they have 3 older sons at home. We made plans to meet after Breakfast to walk to Shaiman Island. I can't seem to get photos to insert in the correct order/placement but I bet you all can figure them out. The island is in the middle of the Pearl River and is a former colonial area with western style buildings and lots of "garden" / tree filled walk ways. It is about a 20 minute walk from our hotel and a nice escape from the bustle and noise of the shopping area where we are located. The island is where we spent our entire time when we adopted Andrew. There is a historic hotel there that was a frequent staying place for adoptive families - The White Swan Hotel. It has been under renovation for some time and is completely closed down and covered with scaffolding. We walked and walked, played at a playground, ate lunch at "Lucys" (another mainstay restaurant for adoptive familes (English menu!)) and bought some souveniers. There are statutes all over the island and it is a common place for Chinese couples to take wedding photos. We returned to the hotel and Libby is napping. It is almost 6 pm here. We will stay in and have room service again tonight - eating is our hardest time. But we will make a run to the department store on the shopping street which sells diapers on the 3rd floor. These are pictures above of Libby, Rose and lots of other similar aged kids posing with a statue of children. Libby got the "statue" part and I don't think moved once I placed her into position. It is this side of her personality when she is studying things and taking it all in that tricked me into thinking she is reserved and shy. She does stand back to study all the options --- but then she is really prepared to make her move! She watched and watched at the playground but once she had some idea of the "game" she is definite about tapping and pointing and pulling you where she wants you to go. She figured out the slide and wanted to be lifted to the hanging bars. I'm sure she will really like it when she has access to swings!