Where to Shop

They travelled to "Old Shanghai" today and LOVED it. This is the kind of shopping hubby loves. They tell him how much it costs, he tells them how much he will pay, they say no, he walks away, they say ....SOLD!! He's in his element when he gets to barter. I think he'd like to bring that bartering system to the US. I'm serious!

The heat was blistering today. The kids are drained! A quick trip to the Haagen Dazs store fixed them up a bit! They took the river cruise, without a translator. Liam was interrogated by a chinese family on the boat. He handled himself well, kept pointing to Rich and telling them he was his baba but apparently that was not enough information for them. They kept at him and as Liam was becoming uncomfortable, Rich pulls out his handy iphone,..well.. because.. "THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT". He speaks into his Jibbigo Mandarin app.. and says "dont worry, some people are just curious"... And he does it so the people could hear it. Liam smiled, the people turned away and Liam was spared further questioning. Poor kid!

Rich knocked off a bunch of stuff on that list I sent him with. (25 years of marriage, of course the guy knows how to shop):-) The kids loved the experience too. It would have been more enjoyable if not for the heat. Liam fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting back into the van. He's drained.

Liam told the translator that he indeed would like to go back to the orphanage to say goodbye one more time. Rich tried to confirm a visit for thursday, but Liam's class and friends are going on a field trip. To the EXPO!!!! Apparently this orphanage has many corporate sponsors and these kids get out quite a bit! How great is that! Maybe there will be less gaps for us to fill in for him. It's hard to judge just what kind of life experiences, frames of reference, and common knowledge orphanage kids come with. Many have limited experiences. Shanghai kids are very fortunate, the orphanage really appears to do very well by the kids. So now the plan is for a visit on Friday morning. I wonder how they will feel about a cake for breakfast...

Rich has already apologized in advance for the low photo count from today. (must be really low). He said the heat was hard on the kids, nobody felt like getting into the pictures. So..... my expectations are low. I will post whatever I get a little later so check back for the good stuff!

Liam lets his guard down more and more each day. He's becoming increasingly confortable and doesnt feel like he needs to be "the perfect kid" (of course he's the perfect kid) He is being silly more, fooling around more. It's nice to see him having some fun and not being so stoic!

I miss my family! I can't wait for them to come home.

Update.... some pictures have arrived.