Wednesday, July 1 - The Amazing Indoor Playground

Sarah called us in our hotel room yesterday afternoon to see how we were doing and if we needed anything and she asked if we'd like to do anything this morning because she was free and would have use of a van since all the other families have already left or are getting ready to leave.  I said, "sure!" because we figured anything would give us something to do and get us out of the hotel for awhile.  She asked if we wanted to try to find a playground or something for TongJie, and if we wanted one that was indoors, so that sounded even better.  So, this morning we met her at 9:30 in the hotel lobby and we went in a van to a mall here in Guangzhou that has an amazing kids' area.  It was like a kid's dream come true, especially for TongJie, who has been kind of cooped up in hotels for the past week or so.  There were big huge slides, trampolines, a ball area where you could shoot foam balls out of cannons, lots of climbing structures, and just all sorts of cool stuff.  TongJie loved it!  Ezekiel was not fond of the bright lights and loud noises, and he didn't really want to get down and try to walk, so me and Jeff took turns holding him in an area that was not as bright.  He did enjoy bouncing on the trampoline a little bit in our arms, so we did that with him when there weren't other kids on the trampoline.  It was a very fun morning!

We got back to our hotel room around noon and had oatmeal for lunch and I put Ezekiel down for a nap.  It's nice that our hotel room has a living area and then a bedroom and bathroom that can be closed off with a door.  That makes it nice for when Ezekiel is sleeping and the rest of us want to be up doing stuff.  He's a pretty sound sleeper too, which is also nice.  TongJie and Jeff were going to go do something, but TongJie fell asleep on the floor in the living room.  He must be worn out from all that playing and climbing this morning!

There is another family that is here now that we haven't met yet.  They have their consulate appointment next week like we do, so we'll get to spend time with them.  We will meet them tomorrow.  They are here in Guangzhou already because their child is from this province (Guangdong Province) so they will be here the whole time, instead of spending the first part of their stay in another city like we did in Jinan.  We were originally scheduled to have Ezekiel's medical exam on Saturday, but Sarah said we can just go ahead and do it tomorrow since the clinic won't be as busy on a Thursday and the other family will be ready tomorrow so we can all go together.

After the boys wake up, we're going back to the Trust Mart because we need more baby formula.  We're going through it faster than I expected, since that's all Ezekiel is eating (well, with rice cereal mixed in).  We'll probably go swimming again too, and then find something to eat for dinner.  Eating at restaurants is starting to get old, but so is eating soup and oatmeal in our hotel room.  It will be nice to be able to prepare and cook our own meals when we get home.  We went to that same noodle place again last night and I just got one vegetable roll, Jeff got the same thing, and we got a different kind of noodle soup for TongJie.  It was about $5 in US money, and it was a lot of food.  We can't get a meal for all of us for $5 at home, even at a restaurant like McDonald's, and this food was way better than McDonald's.  So, even eating at restaurants isn't that bad I guess.

We have nine more days here after today, so we're over halfway done!  I thought I'd be feeling a lot more stressed and anxious to get home by this point, but so far it's going pretty well.  We'll see how we're feeling after a few more days though, ha ha.  Having been here before has really helped us this time around.  We know more of what to expect in China and with the adoption process, plus this time around we're not brand new parents.  Having TongJie with us is making it a lot easier too in many ways, and definitely a lot more fun!  I can't imagine how anxious I'd be feeling right now if we had had to leave him at home.