New Red Threads

Check out my cool new clothes 8
Originally uploaded by mc10672

Today we went to Yuntai Park - it is a beautifully landscaped park with colorful beds of flowers, a beautiful lake and wonderful paths to explore. We share the park with lots of local kids on field trips who hold hands or are roped together and then yell "Hello!" to us every time we went by. ( I don't know if I have mentioned that the weather here has just been perfect...around 75 degrees, clear skys, balmy nights - so much so, many folks have purchased T-shirts and hats. ) We went to a Brazilian restuarant for lunch, it was terrific, and I have to hand it to these places who allow 30 or so hungry Americans to descend upon them, all clamoring for high chairs and leaving behind a pile of Cherrios, food on the floor and used Kleenex.

Many of the kids have colds, including ours, and David has the cold that Gracie and I are just getting over. He has it bad - but we are pretty much set in all the OTC meds we brought - this cold features a sore throat, runny rose then night coughing - Gracie and I are now in the coughing a little at night stage.

After our lunch, Rui reminded us that tomorrow she is handing over our paperwork to the American consulate and we just need to hang around near the phone in our room in case they need us for something. Otherwise, we should just show up for our appointments at 2:45 on Thursday and we will be done in a few hours. We are down to our last 72 hours.

We took another walk today - dropped off and picked up laundry today. We haven't gotten off the Island really, nor have we've gone to the famous "Pearl Market" - it is kind of hard to concentrate on shopping with a one year old in tow.

There are dozens of little shops catering to adoptive parents on this Island, all run by exceedingly earnest ladies who dart out of their shops when they see you approaching, all complementing your baby on its beauty, you for your youth, and promising you the best prices and most special bargins on the Island. I call them the "Entrepreneral Ladies of Shamain Island." Believe me, there are no shortage of cute outfits for babies on this island.

We've been eating at Lucy's every night - its so easy - and they have some great meals for kids - and loads of high chairs - meals include scrambled eggs or congee - or my favorite - noodles, chicken and egg, which Gracie loves. The have seating outside, and the weather is so great, and its wonderful to see the boats go by on the river.

We took our famous "red couch" photo at the White Swan lobby today. Our girl was the only one in little pants, mostly because I didn't think I could find a dress that would end up above her ankles, but she looks pretty royal in her custom made outfit-- and maybe she will forgive me someday for making her hair bows out of red shopping bags. Like Gotcha Day, Gracie didn't cry -- the photos are on Flickr, just seemed to be intrigued by some of the crying kids nearby. We all put ourselves together as well, and took some photos of each other and all of us with Rui.
I've also tried to include picture of Gracie showing her teeth - looks like she takes after my front teeth, two big front teeth with with a nice space in between...she has one on the bottom and another one coming in right next to it...but when I took a closer look, I noticed the picture is not of teeth - it Cherrios in her mouth.