Today our guide took us to Shaiman Island for some shopping. This is a very famous place in the Chinese adoption world. A big hotel called The White Swan is located there and it's where all the adoptive families used to stay. It's being renovated right now and is closed for the next couple of years. The medical clinic used to be here as well and I think the Consulate as well. A lot of families used to come to the island and never leave their whole visit. It's very Western in its architecture too. Our guide dropped us off at Lucy's (a famous restaurant there - more about that later) and told us when to meet her back there. We were on our own for shopping for a couple of hours. The first place we stopped was Peter's Place.
It was the first place we stopped so we didn't want to get everything there but we ended up going back on our way out since he had the best selection. He spoke very good English too and was very nice.
She always has those finger in her mouth. Even when she's not sucking on them. it's pretty stinkin' cute.
Here's someone else who's pretty stinkin' cute.
The island is really very beautiful. The architecture is amazing and a lot of people say it reminds them of the old south - Savannah or Charleston. There were tons of photographers and photo shoots going on. Our guide said it's like this every single day.
We left Peter's Place and headed off to find some other shops. The kids all wanted to get a souvenir and this was probably going to be our last good place to get one. We found one store I had heard about - Jenny's Place (easy to remember!) and got some squeaky shoes for the girls. E was really happy about it. :) G was happy as I was able to finally get her some shoes that fit! Every one of our guides commented on how she wasn't wearing shoes. Um, she doesn't walk so what's the big deal? Look at her checking out her new shoes though - too cute!
E wasn't screaming about G getting shoes, although that's what it looks like in this picture. She was screaming long before I put the shoes on G.
We went to 4 or 5 stores but didn't have much luck on the souvenir end of things. This was a common scene outside of the stores. Most of them are very small and definitely not used to this large family with three strollers!
We made our way back towards Lucy's to meet our guide and decided to stop back in at Peter's Place. S found himself a souvenir!
E was done with Shaiman Island by this point!
R found himself a souvenir hat and flute and C also got a flute. M found a pretty mirror and R and the girls each got a little bouncy ball.
We made it back to Lucy's with enough time to eat there before we met our guide. Lucy's is a well known restaurant on the island that is supposed to have a pretty good Western menu. The kids had some hamburgers and grilled cheese sandwiches and Josh and I had some cheeseburgers too. The little girls had some rice that they weren't too happy with and they ended up with some grilled cheese sandwiches too, which they LOVED. G is a big fan of french fries too. E, not so much. I was excited to eat her after hearing about it from so many different families but we didn't think it was anything spectacular. It was better than eating Chinese again though, that's for sure!
We had a little bit of extra time before we had to meet our guide and there was a specific statue I really wanted to find on the island so we set out in search of it. This park was just down the road from Lucy's.
This is the statue I wanted to find. So many adoptive families have a picture of this statue with their new little one standing in the opening (where S is). We have a few too many kids to fit in that spot and neither E or G would stand there so S snatched it up. All the rest just filled in wherever they wanted. There was actually a big group of people already at the statue when we got there but we waited patiently and after they were done we took our turn. Those people were thrilled to see all these American kids there and began snapping away too. We had quite the crowd gathered behind us by the time we left!
There are tons of statues all over the island. Here were just a few we thought were fun.
This one was right outside of Lucy's - the American-style restaurant. Coincidence?
One of the many signs we ended up taking pictures of on this trip because of the funny translations. No shotting!!
After we got back to the hotel Josh took the big kids swimming - finally - before it started raining. The girls and I stayed back in the room and they napped while I tried to pack a little. I always get the fun jobs!
I had to wake up the girls and get both of them out the door so I could meet our guide to pick up all our finished paperwork. I thought Josh would be back in time but he wasn't. Fortunately we met him in the hallway and he took G back with him while E and I went to meet Aron. Before we left the room, I put a new pair of squeaky shoes on her hoping she would walk since I can't push two strollers and it worked like a charm. She squeaked all the way down the hall, down to the 1st floor and through the lobby. It was pretty cute watching her. I picked up all our paperwork (yay!) and headed back to the room. We are almost ready to leave Guangzhou!!! We leave bright and early in the morning for Beijing.
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