Guangzhou night of Saturday February 6 and Sunday, February 7th

Well, we're pleased to report that things got better later on Saturday.   After the kids had napped we got ready to go out to dinner. Before leaving we let the children play in the hallways.   There is a playground on the 4th floor but the weather here has been raining and the playground is outdoors and so the hallways are the best we got.   After a lot of tears in the day, I was thrilled to see these smiling faces and to see Indigo and Isaac holding hands and having fun.   We went to dinner at a very local place - just crossing the street is a serious adventure.   We had been told by our guides that this place had English translations on the menu.   Dinner was very enjoyable - we had delicious pan fried noodles with beef, some other rice noodles in a broth with ox brisket, some chicken congee for Isaac, some green garlickly vegetables, a Guangzhou fried rice and steamed chicken with rice - the chicken was not you average rotisserie!   We were the only westerners in there and were obviously a source of great interest - everyone seemed to be watching us.   We walked back to the hotel, narrowly missing being hit by a taxi and up to the hotel.  The lit up child on the fish is part of the new year decorations at the hotel.  In the hotel, there is also some photos in the lobby and Indigo sitting on a big chair - Isaac would not sit on it last night.    We were in need of another bath - as you can see by Isaac's spider shirt - he gets filthy!   This was bath number three and we ran the tub and Indigo popped in.   We put Isaac in and he cried and cried - David tried jumping up and down on the other side of the window from the bedroom and it sleemed to slow the sobbing.  We also had all the arsonel of cups and bath toys.   I had to do his hair which contained major food particles and he just hated that and sobbed terribly.   However, things got better.  I had the cups with the holes on the bottom and got him watching the water coming out and then held his hand on the cup and held it up so he could watch.  Indigo was a great big sister trying to make him happy.   He finally started to play with the toys but he still had shampoo in his hair so he had to cry again a bit while I got a rinse and then we just let him play and as you can see from the pictures we made huge progress.   By the end I thought he was going to pitch a fit when we took him out but he was just very good.   Both kids into jammies, he was not interested in the bedtime story.   Neither child would fall asleep and David fell asleep in the room first and then I had help Indigo and then she fell asleep and I lay wide awake listening to the awful slurping of Isaac's thumb sucking.  I ended up stuffing tissue paper in my ears and did fall asleep.   At about 3 a.m.  I woke and David was up trying to turn this light out between our room and the bathroom.  Nothing would make it go off and one was also on in the foyer of the suite so we were both awake awhile and I worried about the kids waking up.    We both fell back asleep and fortunately were woken by Isaac as we had not reset the alarm - had never needed it so far.   It was 7:!5.   It turns out that there was a time power outage from something like 1-4 am and there was a notice about it on the desk but we had not paid it much attention.   I guess the light that was on perhaps was a battery or generated light.   Had another wonderful breakfast and then back to the room to change the children into Chinese dress.   The hotel has a beautiful garden off the breakfast room and we went out there to take some photos.  Unfortunately the weather was horrible and it was drizzling so we just took a few photos but you can tell it's beautiful.   We can't wait to go out there again if/when the weather improves.  Then we met in the lobby with all the families for a group photo - you can see it came out pretty well and the magnificent gold papercut as the backdrop.
We ran back to the room to change again and then out to the bus for a trip to the mall - there some serious shopping ensued for jade, pearls, some hand embroidered goods and some music and movie cds/dvds.    We did not have enough time although it was more than enough for the kids.   I need to go back...   You can see a photo (not great) of a woman in the pearl shop tying knots between each pearl as the necklace was being strung.   On to the bus and back to the hotel - quite a lot of traffic.  Isaac fell asleep and Indigo fell asleep for about 5 minutes before arriving back at the hotel.   Tried to follow up with a nap and both actually lay in respective beds for a while but no napping.   Daddy went out and got our first round of McDonalds (second for the kids) and we had that in the room.   Now, Indigo has watched, only for the second time since being in China, some Kailan on her dvd and Isaac is playing with some small cars/tractor/trucks and a mini travel train set Grandma gave him which Indigo is playing with too and they are both munching on apples.   Also, a major challenge for us with him is to stop him from throwing everything.   Tonight we're going to be having a group family dinner so that should be fun.   Hopefully the children will behave like decent beings after their light nap schedule.    We're loving and appreciating the comments we're receiving.   It keeps us connected to home and helps to motivate us with journaling our journey - we're not missing the snow storm and just hope everyone is safe and having fun playing in the snow and that it all melts before we have to try and negotiate our driveway.   Becky - you may have to send me a few jpegs of snow pictures as I could not get to your blog - well, I got to the blog but could not see anything at all.   Hope all the football fans enjoy the Super Bowl.   Love, Melanie, David, Indigo and Isaac
Photos from evening of February 6 and morning of February 7 here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7322989@N05/sets/72157623369434816