Groceries, Qing Ping Market & Shamian Island

We had another amazing day in China.  We are seriously trying to soak up every second and just feel so honored to see and learn about China first hand like this.  Some homesickness has set in and we are definitely missing Amon, our littlest and family and friends, but China is really amazing.

Everett had a good night and slept like a champ.  He’s still sleeping a lot during the day too, but today he actually slept a little less.  We also saw more of his personality today which was really sweet and encouraging.  He is just freakin’ precious and we all cannot wait to snuggle the crap out of this kid 🙂

For breakfast he tried ALL THE BREADS!!!  It was adorable.  And he took the littlest bite out of each one of them.  So far oranges, bananas and yogurt are his go-to breakfast foods.

We went to a grocery store today which was so fun.  I love love love grocery stores in other counties.  I think it is a blast picking out all the snack foods.  Chips, candies, crackers, treats…just let me try them all.  We brought home quite the sampling and so far only had one major strike out…we thought we were buying dried orange fruit, but instead got dried orange peels…they are crazy potent.  We gave one to Shuai and he chucked it across the room.

We have only eaten at one place twice so far here in China.  Every lunch and dinner we try another new place.  Today we found a little ramen stand.  Everyone loved it…especially Shuai.  It was also nice for our whole family to eat on about $2.

After lunch we went out for some more sight seeing.  First we walked around the Qing Ping Market.  This was a blast!!!!  The market is basically a giant pet/herbal medicine market.  There were dogs, cats, fish, turtles, lizards, rabbits, hamsters and scorpions.  And WHOA…the giant bowls full of scorpions kind of weirded me out.  I just kept imagining them getting dumped out and what would happen after that, ummmmm, probably Armageddon.

There was also a whole section for herbal medicines.  We saw lots of super interesting dried things: sea horses, starfish, giant mushrooms, sea cucumbers, snakes and more.  The smell was really different…very medicinal…kind of like oils on steroids.

The last place we enjoyed today was Shamian Island.  It was beautiful.  Big trees and flowers everywhere.  Cobblestone streets.  Little touristy shops.  And fun treats like ice cream and cotton candy.  There’s a manmade canal that makes it an island and “shaiman” means covered by sand.  It used to be the main area for families adopting, but is really popular among locals because of it’s European architecture.  And I thought this was so interesting, but the same artist created all the statues on Shamian Island.

We walked around for a few hours and found some fun gifts for family and friends back home and each kiddo picked out a pocket watch necklace.  So random I know, but they love them.  And I finally found a mahjong game which was the one thing I really wanted to come home with.

(I spelled Shamian wrong.  Wah, wah!)

(We tried to get him to stand in line with the kid statues, but he was not having it.)

Shuai just rode around in his stroller the whole time.  Shopping is not his thing at all.  We bought him a little bubble wand and it was the best $1 we spent.  He absolutely loved the bubbles.  He reminds us so much of Amon, who loves bubbles too!!!

Josh and I tried to get a picture together.  Dang kids!

We’re all about to crash for the night after yet another yummy dinner.  Tomorrow we’re doing some more sight seeing around town and then Monday is our visa appointment.  We gathered all our documents today and filled out what should be officially our last piece of paperwork.  China has been amazing, but home is sounding really good.