Monday Chen Clan temple/Folk Arts Museum

Today we toured the beautiful folk arts museum.  It was made by the Chen family for large family gatherings.  The courtyards were decorated with bonsai and other interesting foliage.  The carvings were amazing.  There were several local artisans there who were scroll painting, bottle painting, making chops, etc.

We ended our morning by shopping at the national store.  The shopping was a little high pressure for me, but not as bad as I remember it being on Shamian Island from last time.
Jia Wen had her TB test come out just fine, so thankfully we get to come home on time.  The weather is warm and mostly sunny.  Walking to the medical clinic we watched a car commercial being filmed in the park area.
After snacks in the room, we walked around Shamian Island to buy a few souvenirs for Jia Wen to have each year on her Gotcha Day.  Although we had planned to have Danny's Bagel for supper, they no longer deliver to the White Swan and they are now located too far away to travel by taxi.  We settled for Subway which tasted great.  Later in the evening we walked along the Pearl River looking at all the lovely lights while eating ice cream.  Jacob tried melon ice cream, Mikaela tried green tea, and I tried taro ice cream.  We all tasted the different flavors and thought they were very good.

Jia Wen seems to be bonding well with all of us.  Daddy is already having bath duty for both girls.  We really thought it would take longer for Jia Wen to be comfortable with us.  She opens up and jabbers up a storm in our hotel room.  Today while shopping she was walking along singing a little song in Chinese.  She likes hugging and kissing, especially on Joseph for some reason.  She mimics everything and is learning our names.  She knows the drill for going potty, although I mostly just tell her it's time, she doesn't alert me.  I'll say "potty?" and she mimics back "poggy?".  Too cute.
Oh, another cute thing is her voice.  It's deep and loud.  I mean absolutely no indoor voice.  I suppose that will be fun to curb during church service.
I do think she is starting to understand us a bit. If we tell her to get her shoes, she runs for them and starts putting them on.  She seems to understand a few other things like more, no, eat, etc.  We do use some chinese with her to communicate, too.  I don't really think there's a problem with her hearing or her speech.  It will be interesting to have her evaluated after returning home, though.