Friday, June 26 - Daming Lake

Today is our last day in Jinan, then we'll fly down to Guangzhou midday tomorrow for the remainder of our time in China, which is going to be a long time still!  Today has been going much better than yesterday though.  We went to Daming Lake this morning.  It's a lake with a park that goes all the way around the outside of it.  It's really pretty and there's lots to see and do - way more than what we had time for.  There is a small man-made island in the middle of the lake and we went in a boat to the island.  TongJie enjoyed the boat ride a lot!  In the main part of the park (not on the island) there is an amusement park with rides.  We told TongJie he could choose one ride to go on, and he picked a kiddie roller coaster and I went on it with him.  He chose the car that looked like a train engine to ride in, and it was the one right in the front.  He took his job of "driving" the roller coaster very seriously, it was pretty cute!  Ezekiel is not a fan of being outside in the brightness, so he spent the time with Jeff in the front pack.  We lathered him up with sunscreen on all of the parts of him that were exposed and had him wear his hood on his head.  He doesn't like wearing hats or hoods but he kept it on okay.  Unfortunately, he HATES the sunglasses we brought for him, which is too bad because I think they'd make him a lot more comfortable outside.  We'll keep trying every once in awhile, and he may change his mind someday, especially when he gets a little older and can understand better.

We had lunch in our hotel room of packaged soups we brought from home, then later Jeff took TongJie swimming and we thought Ezekiel might nap, but he did not.  He's been great at sleeping so far - much better than TongJie was!  We hope that continues to be a trend :)  Ezekiel has really taken a liking to Jeff.  It's not like he hates me or anything, but he definitely prefers Daddy.  Later we're going to the store to get some more formula and we'll probably try to walk around for a little while.  The weather here in Jinan has been pretty nice - overcast and humid, but not too hot.  Yesterday it rained, but we weren't outside much.