Fun, Fun Day!

 Some morning arm wrestling

 Sat yun-sen Memorial

 Brayden and Wenyi (the Scott's daughter)

 

 gorgeous

 Liuhuahu Park

 Playing Batminton with the locals

 "no net" batminton and hacky sack everywhere

 Tai chi with swords

 Dancing

 Tai Chi

 Chinese Chess

 Lunch!

 Wipeout Canada in bed

And some shoe shopping!

 

Wow today was a FULL day that was FULL of fun!  First of all, we all slept through the night last night (but were up at 5am)!  You should have seen all of us trying to keep our eyes open "just a little longer" last night!  I kept telling Bradley not to lay down.  It is really a hard thing to do when you are limited to a hotel room with very limited television.  The only shows we really have to watch are The Voice (which we are watching right now), Dog Whisperer, Cash Cab, and Wipeout Canada.  By 8pm last night we called it quits; couldn't stay up any longer! 

 

This morning we met Sarah along with the Scott family to head to the Memorial and the park.  The Memorial is for the first president of the Republic of China.  He is also who Brayden's orphanage was named after, so that was really neat.  The place was gorgeous.  It is used for concerts and conferences.  The designer of the building died in his early 30s so he was only able to design this building and one other but boy was it beautiful.  I love Chinese architecture.  When we went to leave there the driver could not get our 12 passenger van started.  So Mark and Chris Scott push started it and we were up and running!  Haha!  We headed to the Liuhuahu park.  This is my favorite thing to do when we go sightseeing because you really get to see the locals in action.  All the retired people spend their day at the parks exercising (tai chi, badminton, dancing, socializing) and it is really something to see.  We had fun playing badminton and hacky sack with the older people.  We purchased Bradley and Brayden their own badminton and hacky sack and it was a great purchase because it has given them something else to do besides those DS's.  They go out into the hotel hallway and hit them back and forth. 

 

Sarah really knows her stuff and could tell us a lot of the history of the buildings.  She was telling us driving over that since she is a child born after the "one child policy" she is allowed to have two children (I had never heard that before so that was interesting).  She said that the poor could not have more than one child because if so they would have to pay the government 100,000 yuan (15,800 US dollars).  They could never afford to pay that so they have to only have one child or abandon them.  She said if you do not pay the govenment you do not register the child which does not give them an identification card to get into school.  Without schooling in China you have nothing.  She said rich people could have two children because they can pay the money the government requires.  She then told us that if you live in a certain district you have to go to the school in that district, much like where we live.  However she said if you want to transfer school districts, you have to pay 50,000 yuan (7,900 US dollars).  So the poor often get a low quality school because they cannot pay to send their child to another school district.  Schooling is free for 9 years for the child, after that you have to pay.  Very intersting.

 

After we returned we ran across the street for some McDonald's.  Brayden was happy to go there.  He wanted a chicken sandwich.  He ate the bottom first then the top bun with the lettuce and mayo and then the chicken.  I think next time we will get him chicken nuggets.  Haha.  All 4 of us ate meals with drinks for $10!  When they were done they headed back down to the pool for a swim.  The water they say is freezing though so they weren't gone long.  Tonight we walked a few blocks down some side streets with the Scott family to a small shoe store.  We bought shoes for each of the kids and a pair for me for $35 total!  Can't beat that deal!  Then they invited us to go to Pizza Hut with them for dinner.  That was fun.  While there Brayden spotted a friend from his orphanage with her new family!  I had heard that they were staying in our hotel but had not been able to meet them.  Brayden was so excited to see her.  She has "cold feet" about leaving China and so hopefully her seeing and talking to Brayden helped calm her fears.  Poor thing, I would be so scared too.  We exchanged information so we can stay in touch with each other; they leave on Saturday to New Jersey.

 

Brayden is coming more and more out of his shell which was nice to see today.  He even started trying to say a few English words and communicate with us more.  He has laughed with us pretty much all day.  He's such a fun kid and I can tell he is going to fit into our family perfectly!  He reminds me a lot of Kennedi which should be a lot of fun once he's completely comfortable with our family.  Haha. 

 

Tomorrow is another day of sightseeing.  Sarah is trying to come up with something the kids will like to do because they were pretty bored at the park today (guess seeing something they see all the time isn't interesting to them).  One week until we fly home!