A Day in Kunming

Tim writing. We all slept well last night. MeiLi woke up once or twice and cried a little bit but Mary quickly comforted her and she went right back to sleep. We ate at the breakfast buffet with some of the families in our group. Then we boarded the bus and went to the ethnic minority villi ages. It is a cultural center with many minorities and their cultures represented. Because it is a weekday and it is not really the holiday season here, there was not as many shows or cultural demonstrations. Still, we got to talk to several people and the girls at the shops. At one point I stopped to talk with 4 middle aged women having lunch together at a table. I jokingly said to them "现在我是很饿！(xiànzài wo shì hěn è!)" which means "now, I am very hungry!". They then offered me some boiled potatoes dipped in spice and laughingly insisted that I have some. I told my guide to tell them I was was just joking with them but nevertheless, I ate two potatoes and they were delicious. Several people stop and seem amazed to see us with the babies and Chinese girls. I greet them and can speak enough Mandarin to tell them we are adopting the babies & toddlers and that the older girls are already USA citizens. Most of them give me the thumbs up sign, smile and say things about how kind we are and thank us. After we came back from the minority village, another family and us decided to brave the trip to WalMart again to get a few supplies and toys for our girls. We stopped at KFC and got some chicken, mashed potatoes, corn & fries. That was basically a late lunch. On the street walking to & from I had MeiLi in the backpack. After that we came back up to the hotel room; Mary rested with the girls and I went back with some families to the local "Green Lake Park". It was delightful. I only took video on my Sony HandyCam so no stills to post but I will describe it. There were people dancing together. We called it Chinese line dancing and it is something the elder people like to do together. There were several people playing Mahjong. There were groups of people sitting around with traditional Chinese instruments playing music. There was an older couple sitting by the lake on a park bench .. he was playing an instrument called the "Erhu" and his wife sang along to the melody. There were many young couples in love just enjoying being together watching the lake while seated on park benches. There was nothing negative at all in this city park. We all walked back to the hotel and I and another family took the elevator to the 21st floor to see the revolving lounge. The view from there is great and I will perhaps take Mary & the girls up there tomorrow evening for a soft drink & some appetizers. I am using only my HandyCam now because I mistakenly thought that my digital camera charged off of my laptop and the battery went dead. So I did not get many still photos today but mostly video instead. We are getting stills with Mary's camera but I did not get any complete family photos today (my bad - sorry), Mary took a few of me & the girls. Today was just a wonderful day. MeiLi has been quiet and reserved and content to ride on my back today. Tonight in the hotel room she is getting rambunctious and actually tossing a few toys around and laughing & talking a lot (albeit we don't know her language). Karah and MeiLi are just now getting ready to go into the tub & it is Mary's turn to bathe them. They are squealing with delight and gathering their toys for the tub. I also had a turn today about an hour ago, there was this somewhat familiar odor coming from MeiLi and I looked over at Mary and twitched up my nose; Mary responded by raising her eyebrows. I then pointed at Mary; she then pointed at me and said "I did it last time" So, it has been a couple years since I had to do this. Oh, the joys of fatherhood :-)