Birthday, pearls, and random shots of cuteness!

Hello Again! Sorry we have been slow to update the blog. The last two days have been busy around here. Well, yesterday I celebrated by 35th birthday (gulp!) in China with my beautiful early gift and her Daddy. We went to a whole sale market that sold beads, pearls, jade, clothing, and just about any other thing you can image! Ink about Eastland Mall times 6 floors crammed full of little shops about the size of your master bathroom. We were so thankful to have our guides there to show us the good shops and to keep us away from the over priced ones! Kara now has a beautiful pearl necklace and bracelet set that she will be able to wear for her First Communion and wedding if she would like. We also picked up a few jade pieces and Chinese dresses for Kara. We had a late lunch followed by a lovely two hour nap. Once we woke up, we headed down to The Irish Pub for dinner and when we retur Ed the hotel had sent up the most delicious yellow sponge cake filled with a whipped cream fruit filling and surrounded by a box made out of chocolate! Kara ate about as much as we did! The only thing missing was our sweet boys but we will celebrate again when we get back from China! Today we went to the Guangzhou zoo where we saw lions, monkeys, bird, elephants, but only one panda here. Why? Apparently it's mating season for the pandas and they have "loaned out" their studs in the hopes to keep the panda population growing! Our little monkey slept the entire time but she woke up in time for us to have lunch with some other families where we had a good time trading travel and adoption experiences: the good, the bad, and the ugly! Tomorrow we will head out to Shamien Island, an older area of town with many local people selling their wares. It will be great to get out of the hustle and bustle of the city and into a slower pace. I have included many pictures on this blog from the past few days. Kara has begun to walk while we have been here. She was taking about six steps but now she can walk and turn around. Of curse, this is only when she feels like it and would still rather hold hands or be carried. Some other pictures will show us out and around our hotel. I think you will be able to tell why they call this The Garden Hotel! Hi Alex and Kaleb! We love face timing with you each day and hearing about your days. Not too long and we will be home! We can't wait to see you and to cover you with kisses!