Continuing the Journey

The Pearl Market, McDonalds, Starbucks, and the Pool…

Doesn’t sound like a bad day, does it?! Our Monday started off a bit lazy…
…now that Molly has discovered the joys of cartoon movies! (She was watching “Monsters, Inc.” in this shot, but we also watched “The Swan Princess” and “A Bug’s Life” today. I think she’s hooked!)

We boarded the White Swan shuttle bus around 10AM, and Molly was quite excited…

…that Mia and Olivia let her sit with them in the big girls’ seat! (Doesn’t she look proud of herself?)

When we got out of the shuttle bus, it appeared we were in Guangzhou’s version of Times Square…

…complete with entertainment…

…as this pop star wanna-be entertained the crowds as they passed. We headed into the mall…

…which was huge and not well air-conditioned, and went to our first stop…

…where we got a lesson on how to judge the quality of a pearl…

…and then got to watch the girls in the store…

…as they tied knots between each pearl and made necklaces and bracelets to order. I truly enjoyed the experience…

…and did end up buying some gifts for my girls while we were there! Considering the enormous selection this place had, I showed tremendous restraint to only buy the few things that fit into that small bag. They had beautiful pearl rings, but I resisted the temptation. (It was tough…)

After shopping, we decided our kiddos needed to visit an American staple…

…so we had lunch at a very crowded McDonald’s. Molly and Olivia were in a silly mood, for sure. (Sorry, Taylor and Rachel, but they didn’t have green bean pies this time! We were gonna get one and eat it just for you girls!!)

After lunch and a quick nap, we headed back to the clinic where all of the kids in our travel group got the “all clear” on their TB tests! Yes!! Walking back from the clinic, I spotted a familiar sight…

…and couldn’t resist getting a Mocha Light Frappucino with raspberry syrup. Ahhhhhh…

We did a little window shopping on the way back to the White Swan and Molly (our little shoe addict) just couldn’t live without these…

…which we were glad to buy (they cost about $2 in U.S. money) to get her feet out of those smelly pink Crocs once in a while.

We got back to the hotel and had some time to kill before dinner. Since the TB test results had been read, the kids could finally swim…so we headed to the pool. While Molly was not a big fan of the pool in Zhengzhou…

…it didn’t take her long to decide that swimming really IS fun! They were in the pool for almost two hours!

After dinner at Lucy’s with a bunch of our travel mates, Daddy hung out with Jim and John…

…and Molly and I headed back to the room for bath time. Due to their instant bond, Daddy had been bathing Molly every night. Last night I decided it was time for me to take it over…and it has done wonders for our bonding! Today, she started whispering secrets in my ear and she even asked me to pick her up when we were walking back from Lucy’s. And a little bit ago, when Daddy was chasing her around the room, she ran over to me for a protective hug. LOVE IT!!

Of course, she will only come to me on HER terms…and Daddy is still her first choice

…but, really, they do have a lot in common!!

Tonight we’ll have a pool theme for our closing pics…

…and I’m off to bed. Four more sleeps ‘til our family is reunited!

Next up: Red Couch photos!