China Trip - December 19, 2004
Today we started out giving the baby a bath, which she loved. Then we fed her rice and formula and headed down to the breakfast room to feed her some more. We've noticed that her face seems to be filling out a bit with all the food, and she has a much bigger tummy. (But not to worry, after a few pee-only days, her production of #2 is in high gear.
Check out the writing on the bib!
Today was a beautiful sunny day, the first real sunshine we have seen the entire trip. This is the view from our hotel room.
After breakfast, we went to Yulin's room to have the babies' official Canadian immigration pictures taken.
After that, we all went down to the lobby to have our adoption group picture taken. Notice the Go-Go Santa outfits worn all over China by waitresses, hostesses and storekeepers.
Family Outreach International - December 2004 Adoption Group.
Then we went on a VERY COLD tour of the "Summer Palace".
The summer palace is a sprawling park filled with beautiful palace buildings, with a large lake with a 0.8 kilometer-long covered hallway, pictured below.
This is the "marble boat". The boat was intended to represent the Chinese government, and the water representing the people. The immovable marble boat was intended to represent the stability of the government.
The Summer Palace tour was very cold, but Elisa did very well.
Once we got back to the hotel, I noticed the following sign in the elevator, advertising the upcoming New Year's Eve party package including overnight stays with a "complimentary hang over cure with lashings of coffee."
After putting a zonked Elisa down for a nap (we're getting the knack for doing so with only a little screaming), we decided to eat in for lunch. I ran across the road to get some McDonald's french fries, and we combined that with canned tuna with crackers and a main course of peanut butter and crackers.
Then we headed out once again for a communal dinner at a Chinese restaurant across the street from the hotel. It was excellent. Everyone was so tired that the party broke up early.
After the dinner, back in the room, we had another long play session with Elisa. She just keeps getting more and more fun. She's determined to master walking, and is obviously proud of herself as she has gotten up to ten steps before diving into Mommy. She insists on doing so with one block in each hand.