Tonight it is Dad's turn to blog. Today on our walk to the medical offices to complete one last step in the adoption process we were walking along and came upon a park full of people doing their morning exercises. There was even what looked like adult size playground equipment that they were all using to exercise. A little further down the park we also came upon three groups of people doing badminton, hackey sack, and aerobics to music. The aerobics/Ta Che reminded me of when people do the Cha Cha slide. We also came across middle school kids mingling around their school bus, preschool children taking a morning stroll in the park and a group of young men who appeared to be in "ROTC" learning to do marching drills. They were all wearing what appeared to be one size fits all uniforms that were too big for all of them.

After the medical exam, which Leah passed with flying colors - even the eye exam that took much explaining by the technicians but she finally understood that she was suppose to mimic the hands on the eye chart. We were then off on a walking tour of the market streets that are populated by the locals. One could find many unique items there, including things we at times did not want to know what they were because they were store fronts in the medicinal street. We saw things like scorpians, skinned snakes, lizards on a stick and a variety of roots, dried vegetation, seeds etc... Then we came upon more of a trade day area, where one could buy fish, turtles, puppies, kittens, hamsters, chicks, ducklings and a variety of other stuff dealing with animals. Then we moved onto a open walking mall that was much like the one we walked in Nanchang. At the very end we split from the group for the James was not feeling good and we needed a snack to keep the kids going, luckily the ever present golden arches appeared with fries and drinks.

While the kids were doing homework with Kim, Daddy and Leah went out shopping around the hotel. I took my new little girl shopping to teach her how to barter with the shop keepers. She was happy to come away with kissing pigs and a monkey. I believe her smile truly helped me barter them lower, was not quite sure what she was saying to them in Chinese, but it worked.

We finished off the evening eating at a Thai resturant. After studying the pictures, we decided on a pot of noodles and chicken that tasted much like chicken noodle soup. It suprisingly hit the spot. Now the actual Thai noodles we ordered was "1" pepper spice on the menu, but we would say it was more like 2+. Leah liked it though and showed us how to add them to the chicken broth to make them a slight degree less spicy. Next we had coconut shrimp rice and an India chicken pizza, which remineded us of spinach pizza. It was more like a quesidilla though since it was dough on each side and pan fried, but again was a pleasant suprise. When we got the bill we were surprised to find out we were charged for our wet wipe napkins. Oh well, maybe by the time we leave we will have learned all the ins and outs of this unique country.

In closing I would like to thank the staff of very caring people at New Day Foster Home, who loved my new daughter like their own, for she truly understands what family is and is becoming an Ayers through and through. It is hard to wake up each morning without a smile on ones face for she is clearly over joyed with life and begins each morning with the energy of the ever ready bunny. She laughs at the silliest things, for example when we were playing in the play room the other day I accidently hit Leah with the ball in bottom and she immediately said with a big grin, what sounded like "Oh no you didn't" and went for a bigger ball to throw at daddy.