Amusement park fun

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

This morning Simon took us to a nearby children's amusement park. Since it was nearby, we took a taxi for 7 RMB rather than the usual mini-van for hire. The amusement park was fairly empty as it was a weekday morning. Other than ourselves and a scattering of other mothers/grandparents with children, there were groups of school children on a field trip, all dressed in their uniforms.

For a relatively small area, the park had a variety of rides. Each ride cost either 5 or 10 RMB per person. Kathryn's first ride was the carousel. She chose to ride in the pumpkin carriage with Mom.

She also got to ride in two car rides. The first one was on a simple track that ran faster than expected and had some sharp turns. Mom (who rode with Kathryn) was a little worried about Kathryn's safety, but Kathryn had a ball.

The second one was a multi-leveled loop with a bridge. Though it was small and compact, it used the available space well and was really cool in Dad's opinion. Kathryn also rode a flying bee with Dad that circled around and around. She could control its up/down motion via a button, bouncing them up and down -- she really liked that. There was also a mini-train that traveled through a jungle-like setting. Other rides included a kids roller coaster, bumper cars, mini-cars that kids can actually drive, and a mini-parachute drop ride. These were for older kids.

The amusement park was primarily for Kathryn. Kimberly could really only just watch her bigger sister. That was not enough to keep her interest since she fell asleep after a while.

Afterwards, we walked through part of the toy and dried food markets. The toy market, as were most of the older-style markets in the area, were filled with tiny stalls where each shopkeeper sold their wares. Many of them were specialized (e.g. miniature AM/FM radios stall, flashlight stall, baby toys/bottles stall, imitation Disney products stall), but there was no organization between the stalls. You just had to wander around through each of the narrow aisles and, if you were lucky, you might find a stall that sold something you were interested in. Many of the toys sold were cheaply made, and many of the "name brand" products (e.g. Sony) were most likely NOT genuine.

We returned to the hotel via taxi. Before Simon left, he gave us the notarized documents that officially declares Kimberly's adopted name to be "Kimberly". Tomorrow, Simon will be picking up Kimberly's Chinese passport (issued under Kimberly's Chinese name).

After staggered nap schedules for Kathryn and Kimberly, we went shopping for gifts and for friends. Afterwards, we had dinner at "Station One" on the north east corner of Shamian Island... or at least we tried to. Both Kathryn and Kimberly were tired and fussy. Kimberly would not sit still in her stroller or the high chair. Mom and Dad each tried to hold her as she wiggled and eat at the same time, but she would not settle down. We cut our dinner short and returned to the hotel. Both kids were put to bed a little early and they fell asleep quickly.