Bumpy Start...Smooth Finish

It seems that with each passing day, Aubrey becomes every bit more the typical toddler. Along with that comes the usual stuff, but as she integrates into our clan, her behavior seems so normal, even when not what we were hoping for at a given moment. Also par for the course with two year olds, she is a joy to behold and getting more comfortable with us by the moment. We started with a really exciting occurance today.

As we were preparing to leave the room for breakfast, Aubrey reached her hand out for someone to hold on to. In this case, though, it was Aaron...a first. They walked to the elevator, on the elevator and all the way to the restaurant holding hands, and then back again after.Aaron was just as shocked as us, but thrilled to have her warming to him.

After breakfast, we headed out for a tour of the local botanical gardens. It's off season now, but we could tell the place would be amazing in bloom. There was also an indoor area that the kids really liked. Aaron received a bubble shooter gun as a gift from our guide Michael, and that's where we hit the bump. Aubrey of course wanted to play with it, too. The problem is that she wants to do everything herself, which in this case would involve opening the bubbles upside under her chin...clearly a messy method. So we had to intervene which set off the water works. It's fine, we are so used to causing scenes in China now that it hardly phases us.

first shoulder ride...not so sure about this

Say: "botanical garden!"

After a short cool down/temper flare up in the car, she decided she was cool with it, or forgot what had upset her in the first place, and set about being an angel for the rest of the day.

The Zen Chopstick master...she tried to eat ice cream with them later. Aaron occasionally resorts to other noodle eating methods

We had a nice, lazy afternoon. Daddy actually managed a nap...I'm nursing a little bit of a cold at the moment. Mommy and Aaron worked on homework while Aubrey Chen played around the room.

Around 5:00, we went for a walk to the local park. Aubrey fell asleep just as we were getting there, and the camera battery was dying, so we didn't get many photos. Aaron had a blast there though and we all can't wait to go back. It's a beautiful park and practically a snapshot of all the most interesting stuff in Shiajiazhung. (I am attempting to spell the name of this city differently each time I type it, I think this time it's actually spelled correctly) The were kids and kites, people doing Tai Chi, and guys doing this thing with a whip and spinning a top with it. It sounded like a gun each time they would whip their tops, about the size of a coffee can. We're going back on Sunday, so we'll get some photos then.

Can you spot which one of these is not a Monkey?

Finally, it was time for dinner. Dinner can be a bit of a challenge, we don't always want the expense/public scene of eating out, but in room food doesn't really cut it, so we improvised tonight. I went out to see what I could find and had quite the adventure. Shiajiazhung (sp?) is huge, but not like Beijing. English is not spoken as frequently here, and there aren't nearly as many western visitors, so really outside the hotel, you're on your own language-wise. Occasionally you'll get lucky, but not often. After a few failed attempts to decipher all Chinese menus, I got off the main street onto a side street that is literally one street vendor and small (tiny) shop right after another. There is just food and people everywhere, but nothing is labeled and some of it looks like a case of food poisoning just waiting to attack. I wound up at a place that had Wonton in English on the sign. It was a little stand with a few tables and not a word of English anywhere. After a few minutes of desperate miming, I left with a bag of something. I wasn't sure what was in it, but it smelled great. Emboldened by my success there, I bought a bottle of Tsaoting beer (excellent, by the way) and some potato chips at a market, an ice cream treat (wrapped, so safe) for the kids, and a few ears of roasted corn from a guy cooking it on the street.

Back at the room, we unloaded the bags to see what I had done. What I had purchased, was about a gallon of the best Wonton soup we've ever had, made with fresh cilantro and shrimp. The whole meal was super tasty, and cost about 35 Yuan, about $5 US, for the beer, chips, corn and soup.
More later, we're on our way to a Mountain/scenic area about an hour outside of the city tomorrow.