Day 7 - Green Hill Park

Caitlin only woke up once last night for a bottle and went right back to sleep - next to Daddy :) For the 4th day in a row, it's been foggy and misty.  The temperatures aren't quite what we had hoped for.  Last week it was in the 80's, but this week a cold front has blown in!!  Lucky us!  That hasn't stopped us from seeing a few sites. Today Belinda took us to Green Hill Park which is the largest in Nanning.  It is so lush an beautiful here, I'm sure with a little sun peeking through it is gorgeous here year round!  Our first stop in the park was on the top of the mountain at a Buddhist Temple.  We were only allowed to take photos outside the buildings, so we only have a few.  There was a Buddhist ceremony in honor of one of the gods' birthdays while we were there.  Their chanting was beautiful to listen to as it could be heard throughout the complex.  This chanting seemed to be familiar to Caitlin as she was mesmerized by the sound.

Belinda (back of her) Dad and Fred checking out an incense  burner outside the main gate.  People purchase the incense sticks and light them, sending their prayers to the Buddhist gods.  There were all different size sticks, the bigger the stick the more the gods will hear your prayers and watch down on you. 

View inside the incense cauldron.

Maze of flowers in Green Hill Park.

Belinda explained to us that " The flowers represent the beautiful woman and yellow represents the bull s&*# man". Okay?!

Caitlin was starting to get fussy, so we left the park early to get her back to the hotel for some lunch and her nap.  After her nap we had some family play time in our room and she really started to open up and enjoy playing with Zachary and Noah.

Our cutie!

Still not giving smiles away easily.

I think she might be a Star Wars fan in the making!  Zachary and Uncle Nathan will be excited for her to join their club!

Playing in the room in the afternoon.  She loves her little purse!

Quite the little snacker - a girl after my own heart!

Playing with gege.

Caitlin is not eating her congee (contrary to what her paperwork says!!) or anything from a spoon for that matter.  (We even tried oatmeal and rice cereal - but to no avail!)  She has however taken a liking to Cheerios, puffs, freezed dried strawberries and bananas, yogurt puffs, crackers and gold fish.  Thank goodness she's eating something.  I decided that we weren't up to eating dinner at the Shen Zhou restaurant on the lower level, but I would get some stuff and bring it back to the room.  So Dad and I wandered down to the restaurant while Zachary got some more QT with Nana and Grandma.  While we were waiting for our food, out of nowhere Caitlin wanted to get down and raced all around the room holding my hand!  What a relief for my back!!!!  She was having a great time with her new found freedom!  Even after the food was ready we continued making laps around the lower lobby and then moved our way up the stairs to the main lobby for a few laps.  At one point, Dad reach over and grabbed her little hand and she accepted it!!  So sweet!  There were a few times she lost her grip but would look up and reach out for his hand again.  She is like her cousin Ivy, favoring the men!  GO girl!  :)

We finally made it back up to Nana and Granpa's room (after the scary ride in the elevator - she hates being in small confined spaces!) for some dinner.  She CHOWED!!!!  She had fried rice with peas, fried dumplings and watermelon.  She couldn't get the food in her mouth fast enough!!  The heck with the congee - give me some real food!  

Later that night we all went back down to the lobby to watch her walk around (and around and around).  Zachary grabbed her hand at one point and then that was it; she loved walking with her gege and only wanted to walk with him!!!   She was smiling and laughing! What a beautiful moment!  They were having a great time until she saw someone that reminded her of her mama, then the crying started again.  

My heart feels her pain and I want so much to take it away, but I know only time can heal her pain.  I know too that we need to be strong and push through the rough times (and I have faith we will make it through - but please pray for our family - especially Caitlin), but we can't help be mad at what they have put her through by not removing her from her foster home earlier to ease the transition in to her new family - why would anyone think this would be good for her?!  Why?!  As well, there really is no support from the different adoption entities to help us navigate through this emotionally unchartered water.  It is frustrating to watch three other families here in our hotel with their children, whose children seem to be adjusting well. Unfortunately, not one family is from the US or speaks english so we feel isolated.  At least when we get to Guangzhou, we will be with 10 other families from our agency that we can compare stories and draw upon their experience.  

I have counted and there are 175 steps up and down our hallway (multiply that by 35-40 time and we've got some serious miles clocked!) - we know it all too well!! There really needs to be another way to get her to sleep at night!!!  (We weighed her today and she is 9.8 kg or but if you ask my back - she weighs a ton!  She's one solid and tough little girl!)  After she finally fell asleep, we put her in the crib for the first time - success!  She didn't wake up during the transfer.  Meanwhile we read bedtime stories to Zachary sitting on the floor in the foyer of our room so we would not wake her up.  

Baby steps...I know!