Thursday, November 6, 2008

Joy


We all slept until 5:30 this morning. Hooray!! We may switch over to this time zone just in time to go home. Mia is doing great. She is smiley and laughs (I will try to post pictures of that tomorrow). Yesterday when I put her on her tummy she screamed. Today she is making it across the bed to get a toy. Her arms still are not strong enough to push her up onto all fours but, the girl can move. She can roll and sit herself up (sometimes) too.



We hit another tourist attraction today-- Teng Wang Pavilion. It over looks the
Gan river. That is the biggest river in the Jiangxi province. They use the name of the river as the short name for the province. It was foggy so we did not have much of a view. I guess tourist come because of the view of the river with mountains in the background. They did a short traditional performance with music and dancing on the top floor. We all enjoyed it. The next picture is the view from one side of the Pavilion--- I think it looks like traditional China. However, most of what we have seen has been city. Jiangxi province is very rural and very poor with lots of rice farmers. Nanchang where we are staying has 4 million people (not rural).






Mia slept through the tour. After lunch she took a nap in her bed and Noah and I went to the arcade and walking street. Mark is not feeling well. He has a bunch of chest congestion. He slept while Mia took her nap then stayed in the room while I took the kids to the group dinner. We went to a new restaurant which was good. They had high chairs which was a huge help since Mark was not there. Mia is never still unless she is sleeping. I am not looking forward to the plane ride home.


After dinner Mia started blowing raspberries (I am not sure you can tell from the picture). Noah LOVED it. He would laugh, she would laugh and do it some more. They were both so full of joy it was great.





At 7:40 ( a late night for us) I took the kids to the fountain show with our group. The water, lights and music are all coordinated. It was very good. Noah said, I thought they were going to do a show in front of the fountain not have the fountain do the show (he was pleasantly surprised). Unfortunately, it is/was raining again. I hand washed our socks and underwear on Tuesday and it is still wet (yuck). Everyone is asleep. Mark has mostly been asleep since this afternoon so I hope he is better tomorrow.
The bad news is our camera battery is low. We lost our camera bag in the Forbidden City on our 1st day in China. We have our video and still camera but, lost the cords to charge the video camera and connect it to the TV and computer plus, my extra battery and one of my extra memory cards for our still camera. Noah and I went in five stores that carry camera film or batteries today ... no luck. Our guide thinks we might have to wait until we get to Guangzho on Saturday. So, I will try to catch Mia's smile and/or laugh tomorrow before the battery dies. We have a free morning and paperwork in the afternoon.

3 comments:

Tricia said...

Noah and Mia look so happy together. Siblings are so much fun!! :o) Hope Mark feels better after all that sleep. I will miss seeing pictures, but love to hear your latest news. Wish I could Fed-EX you a battery..but somehow I don't think it would get there as fast as we would like! (Plus it would probably be VERY expensive!) Hugs to you all - Tricia

Erika said...

It is so heart-warming to be on this journey with you. It has been a wonderful way to reminisce for us and to feel like we are there with you (we wish we were!!!)

We're praying for a very speedy recovery for Mark. And it's obvious from the pictures that Noah is a superb big brother! Lance sends a big "Hello!"

It is a gorgeous day in Nashville today but it appears that things are going to turn cold very soon. Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures and the news. We're thinking of all 4 of you every day.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry about your camera. I wish we could send you ours overnight.
I love the picture of Noah and Mia having a good time together. Tell Mark we hope he feels better.
It was rainy here in Arkansas today and much colder.
We love you!
Susan