So many busy days...

There seems to be so much going on every day that one day just seems to melt into another and it's hard to keep everything straight. Today was another day of tourning and shopping while we wait for our final immigration documents to go home. We started off with another great breatkfast in the hotel and then went to the Silk Factory. We learned that a silk worm lives for only 60 days from egg to mature cacoon and produces silk after 27 days. The worms eat and live on mulberry leaves. It was amazing to see how they make everything right from harvesting the silk from the worm to beautiful works of art in the form of Rugs, murals, clothing, bedding etc. After that we went for lunch at a place called the Minority Restaurant. It's called this because in China there are 57 minority groups beside the majority of Mandarin. This particular group welcomed us with drums and music and the food was great. It seemed like a combination of Chinese and Thai food. Our guide, Faye, has been so good at ordering for us by not getting anything too spicy or strange to our eating habits. At this restaurant, there was also cultural dancing entertainment during lunch and Jenny, who is the 10 year old daughter of one of the families in our group, was invited on stage to dance with the troup - she was great. After lunch, the rest of the group went to the Pearl Market, but Ron and I opted to take a cab back to the hotel. We have just felt that the days are so busy and poor Olivia seems to have to be woken from every nap and we really wanted to give her some good sleep time and us some down time. The cab ride was about 30 or 40 minutes across town and cost 40 RBM which is $5. Anyone who has been here knows that when you get in a cab, you just close your eyes, or keep yourself distracted, otherwise you will be gasping at the close calls every 30 seconds. As it turned out, opting out of the afternoon shopping was a good move for us. Olivia slept from 1:30 until 4:00 and has now gone down for the night at 7:45 pm. We didn't even go out for dinner. Ron walked down to a little Chinese fast food place that was recommended by Yulin and brought back some vegetable won ton and some chicken with rice and vegetables - different, but good. I was feeling really bad tonight when we had to opt out of going to the Chinese acrobats because Miss O was just too tired, but it turns out that no one went with babies. Only Jenny and her Grandma, Marg-Anne went. I'd love to do and see everything, but there just isn't enough hours in the day and the day is sure tiring with a little one in this heat and humidity - still 36 degrees today with 85% humidity. Tomorrow we will see Tianenmen Square, the Forbidden City and shop at the Silk Market which is the HUGE market we shopped at the day after we first got here. As much as we love it here and have learned a huge respect for the Chinese people, their way of life and their culture, we are ready to come home and start to be settled in our own home. I really miss my puppy, Emma and I just know her and Olivia will be great friends.

One more thing - Olivia loves, loves, loves the bath. She has no fear of water at all and squeals with delight everytime she gets in the tub.