Killing Time in the City

All dressed up for the day

Look at me I am standing!

Work'in on Walk'in

See I can do it!

How dare you make me exert myself this way!

Jiaxiu Tower

The national entrance to the bridge leading

to Jiaxiu Tower

Lila and Aubree on the patio of Jiaxiu Tower

(The Sheraton is the tall pointed building to the right)

The gardens and palace on the other side of the bridge

Lila enjoying a break with the tower in the background

Can a girl get some privacy on the potty please!

I can't crawl but I can do a great belly laugh!

Growing more and more comfortable by the day

On Thursday, April 1st we were really getting tired of being in Guiyang and just wanted to move on to the last leg of our trip in Guangzhou. We once again started out the morning with the breakfast buffet. It was this morning as I sat there sipping my coffee, with my fancy linen napkin in my lap, staring down at a plate of food that had become way too familiar (fourth day in a row), and hearing the player piano playing the same old Elton John song echoing through the five star lobby that I thought to myself this could be the Hotel California. When you first arrive you think you are in paradise and by the fourth day you are waiting for someone to walk up and tell you that you can check out anytime but you can never leave.

Aubree was all decked out in her latest outfit Lila had purchased (I think we are on a pace of about two new outfits per day). On our way back to the room from breakfast we continued with our routine of having her try to walk the long hall to our room. They told us Aubree could crawl and walk but we are very skeptical as she does not appear to have much leg strength and her desire to be carried and held at all times probably means her foster mother rarely put her down.

We got back to the room and started packing for our next adventure with our guide Michael. This one was not too major as he was simply going to walk us down to the city's pavilion we had been looking at from our room window since we arrived.

We had a nice walk down to the pavilion that we learned was actually called Jiaxiu Tower and was over 400 years old. We entered through the national gate entrance and enjoyed learning more about the history of this structure from Michael. We were able to take an amazing picture of Lila & Aubree standing on the patio of the tower with a spectacular view of the city in the background. We then ventured the rest of the way across the bridge to the other side of the river and entered a royal palace and garden. There was a lot of history with this place but frankly neither Lila nor me were paying much attention. We did learn from Michael that the location of the tower, the river, the mountains and the other buildings in the area were consider to have very good Feng shui and therefore the apartments in this area were very expensive. On the way back we stopped to watch an outdoor performance going on in the park as quite the crowd had gathered. We asked our guide what was going on and he said it was a special promotion being put on by the city to encourage the citizens to help clean up the city and the river. The last stop was a local restaurant that Michael said we would enjoy. It was the middle of the afternoon so they were not open at the time but he took us in and showed us around and made a reservation for us. It looked quite interesting as there was a series of small canals that ran through the restaurant past all the tables. He explained you paid one price and then as plates of food floated past your table on small little boats you just helped yourself. It sounded like and interesting experience but neither Lila nor I could imagine that we would actually enjoy the food, so we tentatively said we would come back for dinner.

Once we were back to the room we again sat Aubree on the little potty we purchased at the local Wal-mart and told her "niao niao" (kneow kneow), which means to pee and sure enough she had herself a nice little tinkle like she had done a few time before for us. Yes, at 14 months our little girl is potty trained. We are told she can go number two on the potty as well but so far the diaper has handled those duties We finished the day by working with Aubree to try and crawl, but all she could do was push herself up on her arms and scoot backwards This was great fun though and she laughed and laughed as she tried.