Mondays are Mondays no matter where you are- today's started off before breakfast with two unhappy children- Ellie, who cried so much (and for no particular reason that I could really see), and Jordan who, when I walked in to the room, was trying to put her hair up in a scrunchy but getting frustrated and threw it so hard that we couldn't find it for a good long while (which of course made Jordan even more upset). I finally spied it behind the TV cabinet (which is taller than me, so not sure how it got that far- maybe Jordan needs to get into baseball) and after squishing myself between desk and TV cabinet in a position I don't think my hips and knees are supposed to bend, got it for her- and of course, 2 minutes later she was crying again. Caroline needed to hold Jordan, so she had to give Ellie to me and Mom, and of course that set Ellie to crying too. Eventually everyone calmed down enough, although we didn't get down to breakfast until 8:15 or 8:20- quite late for us.
After breakfast we walked around the huge pond and grotto (complete with waterfall), looked at the art some more, and took Jordan to look at the pools. It was a lovely walk good for our digestion! But all too soon, it was time to go for the medical exam for Ellie. We walked a few blocks (and enjoying the beautiful cool weather and sunshine), where after a few minutes of waiting and Caroline's signing of the medical form, Ellie got to go to the three stations: Ear, Nose, & Throat; Height, Weight, and Temperature; and "Medical and Surgical" which was the measuring of her head, listening to her heart and breathing, and checking her body in general. Ellie checked out on everything!!! YEA! We were allowed to depart and return to the hotel at our own pace... so we stopped at Blenz coffee and got Jordan a hot chocolate (plus a western style potty break) and Caroline a coffee, and then proceeded to check out the greenway (where school children were doing their exercises, and on a public park there were more schoolchildren running races, adults and elders doing exercises, as well as some adoptive families playing). We also stopped in some stores to see what was what, and Caroline picked up some summer outfits for the girls. By the time we got back to the hotel it was lunchtime, so we made a pitstop at the Deli for lunch again- again, very yummy!
It was definitely naptime when we got back upstairs, so we all laid down for a little while. I was just dozing when Caroline tapped my shoulder- we were sneaking out to go back to Jennifer's place for Caroline to be measured, and I had wanted a short black dress as well as a suit too. Caroline chose some absolutely gorgeous fabrics (I'll let her tell you about them), and I chose a black with large purple-pink flowers for my cute sleeveless mandarin dress, and a lovely brown with gold vines and small colored flowers for the jacket, and a camel silk I had fallen in love with yesterday for the pants. YEA!!!!!! I have gotten 3 silk dresses in expensive fabrics (yes, I have expensive taste) and a suit tailored to my measurements all for about US$200. Worth every penny! These are the first large purchases i have made on this trip. (I'm hoping to pick up some jewelry at the pearl market trip, which is later this week although I can't remember what day).
Caroline and I ran at 4:30pm out of Jennifer's place to 2 other stores to find Ellie an outfit to wear for the red couch pictures and to find Jordan a good Jie Jie cheongsam dress to wear too. We made it back at 4:50pm to find Mutti, Jordan, Ellie STILL napping!!! We woke them up and got the girls together (Mutti, despite waking up, managed to do a great bun for Jordan's hair and also change shirts and touch up make-up- all in less than 10 minutes). We got downstairs right at 5pm for red couch pictures, and took a family picture (Caroline and the 2 girls), a group picture for 1080, and a picture of "just" the babies (which really had some moms crouched down because so many of the babies were a bit unhappy at being left by themselves). We wrapped up at 5:45 and went back up to change the girls back into regular clothes and meet back downstairs at 6om for the group dinner at Cow & Bridge.
Let me tell you, I asked for one meal, just ONE meal that was peaceful with no meltdowns- and i finally got it. Jordan was great, Ellie sat for the first time for a meal in her highchair and was happy tugging on her sister' sleeve on her left side, and on Mommy's on the right, and feeding herself. Caroline was able to finally eat a meal with food in front of her!!!! My food was great (braised tofu with fresh herbs, it seemed much like a Thai version of Ma Po Tofu). We strolled back to the hotel (me with my dessert of mango and sticky rice with coconut milk in my take away box) and stopped at the Deli to get Jordan a Haagen Dazs strawberry ice cream for her dessert.
I retired to take a shower, and right now Jordan is in her room going to sleep, and Caroline is in here with us (Mom is on the phone with dad) trying to get Ellie to chill out enough to sleep- although Ellie is more interested in trying out raspberries with her lips and tongue, talking to us (mamamamamama and bababaababba), laughing, and making her Happy Exorcist Baby noises. We'll be crashing shortly as tomorrow we meet at 9am for the group city tour, which includes a trip to a Buddhist temple (I hope we can get blessings!!!) and the old Chen house. Wheee!!!!!
Love to you all!!!!!!!!!!!
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