Guangzhou

Peoples Park in Nanning City

Maimie the movie star

In front of the Nanning Zoo

Kids with Echo in sunflower patch at zoo

Today was mostly spent traveling to Guangzhou. We left shortly after breakfast to meet our driver and Echo to head for the Nanning Airport. It was somewhat bittersweet to be leaving Maimie's province. We have so enjoyed the experiences in Nanning and will never forget this wonderful region. Maimie did so well on her first plane ride and managed to sleep for nearly the whole hour of the flight.
The White Swan is all I imagined and more. What a neat hotel to be able to experience for the last half of our stay in China. We will take some photos tomorrow to post. It's situated in a nice quiet area of Shaiman Island. There are all kinds of lovely shops that I hope to patronize soon and often. This evening we ate at Lucy's for some cheeseburgers and french fries and fried chicken strips and onion rings. It tasted great after missing lunch due to our flight being delayed. As the evening grew dark, we walked along the Pearl River looking at all of the lights and decorations. We are finding out that more people speak some English here than in Nanning. It should make things much easier over the next few days.
I did find out some interesting information as well. Guo Zhen's nanny told me that she had been fond of one of the other children. She said his name is Guo Zhong. (Mo in Wisconsin, I hope you read this!) He has a bilateral cleft, and has not been repaired yet--I had Echo check for me. How sweet that I've spoken with his mommy to be!
Last evening, Maimie had her first bath that didn't include weeping and gnashing of teeth. She actually splashed and didn't want to be taken out of the tub.
She has 4 bottom teeth and 2 top. One of the top teeth is crooked and just as cute as can be. Also, she is cutting at least one more tooth on top. She has drool on everything all of the time. Her little feet are so cute and fat that they look just like Flinstone feet! I wish I would have brought some pink nail polish for her little toes. She is just starting to let Steve and the boys interact with her a little bit. Everything she does is just so cute and marvelous and amazing. We see more of her personality each day and she is so onery. She smiles continually and makes us all smile too. We just can't get enough of her--she's absolutely edible, as my friend Dana would say.