A Visit to the Park

Today our group decided to visit a local park. It was our first bright and sunny day since arriving in China; it had been rainy and overcast. But a bright and sunny day in Southern China in July tells you that is it HOT!!!


It was a short bus ride and when we arrived in the parking lot we saw a begger that we had seen outside of Walmart. This particular begger was memorable because he had a monkey.

The children, of course, were fascinated with the monkey. Yesterday when Ryan saw it he got exteremly excited talking to me in Chinese and pointing. I'm sure it was the first monkey he had ever seen in person, or animal, whichever the case may be.

I brought my double stroller because I knew we would be doing a lot of walking. Ryan still wants to be held but I put him in and showed him I was right there. He cried for about 10 seconds and then stopped. It didn't mean he was happy though.

Jenna and Ryan sitting in the back of my Sit and Stand Stroller. The back seat is only designed for one child but when you have two children with extremely small booties you can fit 2.

Notice how happy Jenna is because Ryan is small enough that they both fit. Notice how happy Ryan is. ;>)

Emma is always pretty happy to ride in her stroller, as long as she's moving. Here we had been stopped for a few minutes.

The double stroller itself caught many local's attention but when they saw 3 Asian children in it they were astounded. I got many thumbs up signs from people and one older gentleman followed us for awhile as he asked question after question from Evelyn about me, my children and my stroller.

Finally we broke free from the pack of locals and we meandered into an exercise area. I was quite impressed that my mom decided to try it!

Here are Evelyn, Julia, Brook (a daughter of one of the other families) and Mom. We all had fun trying things and watching other people and then we moved on.

Next we came upon a Chinese man who had 2 goats tied up with carts attached. A little girl was was feeding one of the goats. Jenna saw this and really wanted to feed them too. Evelyn said it would be ok.

Jenna was thrilled but even more so when she found out she could ride one. First I said no, but Ashley and Brook rode them so I finally relented and let Jenna ride too. I asked Ryan if he wanted to ride but he wanted no part of that.

For only 5 RMB (less than $1) Jenna got to ride in a big circle. I wonder if she enjoyed it. (See photo above if you have any doubts)

Next to the goat riding was a small pond. On the pond was a large blow up ball the Evelyn said you could walk in on the pond. Brook, ever the adventurer, wanted to try it. Jenna wanted to try this too. It was 20 RMB but I thought if she wanted to try it, and it was safe, why not encourage her adventurous spirit. Besides, I could totally see Darrell doing it so maybe she's going to be just like her Daddy.

Brook went first and had a hard time standing up so she eventually just crawled. Jenna soon joined her.

Jenna had seen Brook so she didn't even try to stand up and just crawled. She didn't stay out for very long because Brook came back in and it was hot in there.

A happy girl who is VERY hot. Evelyn said at this point she thought it was 100 degrees outside and it was only a little bit after 11:00!

We were all very hot and tired at that point so we were soon back in the van and back to hotel for lunch.

More tomorrow morning...