Wednesday, July 8 - Shamian Island (again)

The other family had their consulate appointment this morning, but it was earlier than ours was yesterday, so they were back at the hotel by 10:00 and we all went to Shamian Island.  We also were there last week, but it was with a different group of families, so we were happy to go again today just to get out of the hotel.  The weather is still a little cooler so outdoors has been more bearable.  We didn't really want to do more shopping, so we mostly spent our time at the playground and walking around.  We checked out the Starbucks, but it wasn't a very good experience because it was getting close to lunchtime and both boys were tired and grumpy.  By the time we got back to our hotel, it was almost 1:00 and Jeff tried to get Ezekiel down for a nap, but he fell asleep for just long enough that he was wide awake when he woke up and now he thinks it's time to play.  We'll see how that goes this evening.  TongJie was able to fall asleep even with Ezekiel making a lot of noise, so at least he is napping right now.

My plan is to pack up a lot of our stuff this afternoon and early evening because we will leave on the train for Hong Kong tomorrow morning and I want to be mostly packed by tonight.  Jeff might take the kids to the playroom later so I can start packing.  We should be getting Ezekiel's passport back this afternoon with his visa page inside, so at that point we will have everything we need to leave China and enter the US with him!  All in all, this has been a really good trip.  But, we're definitely ready to get home!  The next time you hear from us, we'll probably be in Hong Kong.