Saturday, May 17, 2008, 11:00 PM

Don't forget you can click on any picture to enlarge them and see them better. Just use the back button to return to the post, if you close the window it will close out of blogger.

Can someone tell me if the video from last post was working? It did not work for me when I tried to play it from here. It was of Matthew and Ling jumping....

Well, I was afraid I wasn't going to get a chance to post today. Everyone has gone to bed but me, and usually by this time I have had a chance to blog about a good chunk of the day, and just need to add a few more tidbits, but today seems like it was extra full. At the suggestion of some previous travelers, I try to keep Blogger open during the day, so I can add things as the day goes by, but between site seeing, meals, handwashing the laundry, organizing the room and general child care, spare minutes are few and far between. Mary Alice and Matthew like to use the computer to pass the time, so sometimes when I could do it, the computer is not available. The best time seems to be after the others go to sleep, but that means I sometimes realize I am typing with my eyes closed!

Here are some photos from this last night and this morning.

Daddy and Ling waking up after a nap


The chocolate bar croissants that Mary Alice and I like so much


Ling loves JuJu's glasses (JuJu is Mother's brother--uncle) Cindy is JuMa


The meal at the Chinese Restaurant

The duck skin that Matthew tried (it is on a bed of colored rice chips)



Lisa, do you recognize the shirt?

This morning we went to the Forbidden City. It was incredibly awesome to see the detail depicted in the artwork. The buildings are very beautiful. Everyone was very interested in us and Grace wrote out a note for me on a Niagara Falls Post card that explained that we were in China to adopt our sweet girl. The Chinese think that we are wonderful to come and do this and they shower praise (in Chinese) on us. We just smile and say "She Sheh". We talked with a policeman who spoke English and he teaches English as a Second Language at the academy. He said he thought that good fortune would happen to people who do good things and was very happy to meet us and learn about our adoption. He said he has often wished he could adopt a Chinese orphan, but since he has a child of his own, a son 1 1/2 years old, he cannot do it. He hopes to someday move to America, but he says only if he has enough money!


Here is a group of Korean Girls, who asked to have their picture taken with me. I gave them a postcard of Niagara Falls and they actually screamed with happiness and glee! They were so glad to meet people from America! And when Matthew said "Kamsahamnida" to them (thank you in Korean), they couldn't believe it!!! And they screamed again!



There was an area in the Forbidden City where the kids could dress up in costumes of the time. They all really enjoyed this and looked so cute!


Even Eric got into it! He will probably kill me for posting this, so it may disappear at some point!

After the Forbidden City, we shopped a little. It is very overwhelming and all we bought was ice cream. It was good, but it doesn't taste like home. Look at the mall, so many levels and stores!

These are the Olympic Mascots. Each one has a name and when the character names are lined up in order, they spell Welcome to Beijing!

We went to Pizza Hut for dinner. Most of us were very content to order cheese and cheese/pepperoni pizza, but Eric, Cindy and Marty were more adventurous and ate the pizza with octopus, salmon, and wasabi sauce. Yum....

This picture is for Jeffrey, Jeffrey, Shane and Joe, Matthew's buddies. It is Matthew trying the octopus from the pizza. He is saying "It's really good!"

The lump in the front right is Mary Alice......

Ling continues to amaze us with her expansion of her language skills. She will try to say everything we tell her, and has learned "help", eat, more, up, soap, poo poo, pee pee, apple, and so many other words. She knows that her words work now, and she is eager to use them. We are beginning to require a verbal approximation of the beginning sound before we give her what she points at, and she is very compliant and happy to talk.

It was a little chilly when we walked back from Pizza Hut, so I put on a sweatshirt that Gramma Marion gave Ling. It's white with little hearts on it. She loved it! She was so proud of the zipper and kept zipping it up and down. When we got into the elevator, she admired herself in the mirror all the way up to the 13th floor!

Mary Alice got Ling to go down for her nap today, and she helped her take a bath and get dressed. She is a great big sister.

Uncle Marty (JuJu) is a pediatrician, so he has checked out all three children and administered various antibiotics and creams. He found that Ling has a chronic Sinus infection, so she started on Amoxicillin. Her chest and ears look great. Ching Ge is feeling much better now and his cough is much improved. Bao Bao is feeling better now, too. She is really enjoying Stacey carrying her and does not want to be disturbed from that! She is darling and very observant. Stacey and John have found that she loves instant noodles, so they were stocking up tonight on the way home from Pizza Hut! Ching Ge is learning lots of new words, too. He really enjoys spending time with his family and our children, especially Matthew. he is a very active boy and loves to play physical games. He is also very affectionate and enjoys holding hands, having his back scratched and giving kisses and hugs. He said good bye to his foster family today (apparently, they have 26 foster children!!!!) and each one hugged him goodbye. It was a very draining and emotional experience for Coco to go through. Ching Ge seemed to deal with it well. We did not get a chance to meet them because we went shopping.

Well, here I am, falling asleep again at the computer. It takes about an hour to upload the photos and arrange them in the post and write about the day. I am very careful not to fall behind in it because I know I will enjoy having it in the future, but it is tiring to be so faithful. Plus, now I am hungry again!! The buffet opens in 6 hours, yay! Until tomorrow.....Zay Djen Good bye.