Day 13 - Free day & Group Photos

Caitlin and Zachary both slept in this morning, and Caitlin woke up feeling rough after yesterday's shots and quite possibly coming down with a slight cold.  (Snot everywhere!! - Poor thing!) So we decided not to join the group on the subway trip to the museum and instead just get outside for some "fresh air", that is, as fresh as polluted air can be!  The grandparents however,  went with the rest of the group so they could see more sites during their last few days here.  We went around the corner from or hotel to an exercise area / playground area for about an hour and then walked around area to check some things out. We found lots of cute squeaky shoes for Caitlin and Zachary found a mini Lego man! Amazing!!  If there is a Lego toy to be found, he will find it!!  

Caitlin and Zachary see-sawing with each other!  So Cute!

The intricate detail on some of their sidewalks here in China are absolutely amazing!  Someone painstakingly arranged these tiny rocks into this Yin and Yang pattern as well as many other patterns on the sidewalks all around the park. 

 

Dried Seahorses!!

While Caitlin was napping, Noah and I ventured out to check out the local street vendor cuisine!!  Dried seahorses or snake skins anyone?!  Someone in our group googled recipes for dried seahorses and there were actually several.  However, we believe these both are used in medicines over here.  Surely they are FDA approved medicine concoctions!!  We found some Chinese pancakes and other bread pockets filled with green veggies and egg which were delicious.  As well, we found bakery lane, or so we call it, as there must have been 4-5 bakeries on the same street!  We picked up 7-8 cookies and 1/2 loaf of bread.  Everything together totaled less than $1.00!!  What a deal!

Snake skins!!

We actually had to wake Caitlin up from her nap to take her back to the doctor's for the second round of shots.  When she woke up the nose was just running and she felt very warm! Sure enough, she had a fever and they would not give her her shots until the fever was gone - so we have to try again tomorrow!!  Ugh!  The clinic opens at 8:00 am so we have to meet Mr.Zhou at 7:50 am to get in and out quickly so he can then take our paperwork to the consulate.  Once we got back to the hotel we changed her clothes and met all the families in the hotel lobby to get a group photo taken.  Mr. Zhou led us over to the White Swan Hotel (a couple blocks away) for the photo.  

There are gold fish and coi fish swimming in the indoor pond.

Haddie, Amelia, Molly and Caitlin on the famous red couch.  We hoped to get all the kids together for a photo shoot, but it just didn't happen!  Haddie and Amelia are both three while Molly is 13 months and Caitlin is 14 months. They all looked so cute in their little silk Chinese dresses!  

Molly and Caitlin chatting it up. "You got to see the purses I found.."

"What do you think of this one Molly?!  It would go great with your dress!"

Nana and Granpa with Zachary and Caitlin (note our little snacker not missing a bite - even during the photo shoot!  :)

Grandma and Grandpa with Zachary and Caitlin (snacking some more! :))

The whole gang on the red couch!!  

We're so blessed to have been able to share this amazing experience with both sets of grandparents!  We couldn't have made it through these two weeks with out you guys!!!  We love you and thank you from the bottom of our hearts!!