Mother's Day & Six Banyan Temple Blessing

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms and moms-to-be out there! Today was a grumpy day for Mae, but a nice one for us. She got up at 6am today and we headed down to the famous buffet at 6:30. Hong Kong spoiled me and I’m not that impressed with it as a result. It was ok. Then she got in a quick 40minute nap before we went on our tour. It was a good one. First we went to the Six Banyan Temple and had the babies blessed by a monk. That felt very ‘right,’ like a last farewell to the religion they were born into. Then we went to the Provincial Arts and Crafts store, where I found a beautiful Maj set and a great pants/jacket for Mae’s White Swan/1st birthday photos. She had a bit of a meltdown there, so our rep Kathy led me to the tea room to feed her. Of course the ladies wanted her bottle hotter…um…geesh! After her bottle she pooped, and then fell asleep when we reached the Chen Family Temple. I found an artist who painted with black paint with the side of his hand…amazing…and he had done one of the Xiang River! That was great as it was something I really wanted to take home to frame. Then we got home but since she had cat-napped, she wouldn’t nap. So we went to a place recommend by a shopkeeper that we liked…Shanghai cuisine. It was great! I had a delicious soup with scallops and Mae had vegetable congee and tofu noodles (!). Home again for a nap in the stroller and then off to have the Visa photo taken. That was at the same place I brought the camera with the orphanage pictures on it to be developed. I was very disappointed to learn that the camera itself was bad, and only one pic was able to be developed out of the 10 it looked like they had taken. I am going to take it somewhere at home just to be sure, but she gave me the film back and it doesn’t look good…so disappointing. Then we all came back to Susan’s room. We spread the doona covers on the floor for the babies to play on and we ordered from Danny’s Bagels. Mae is a good Jewish girl and loves her bagel and cream cheese! Lots of beer and wine flowed, and we all watched the video of Gotcha. It was nice to just relax with everyone. The babies seemed quite happy to hang out together. Around 7 everyone started melting down so we broke it up and got Mae to bed. Tomorrow is a big day: Physical Exam and Visa paperwork. I really missed Paul today and finally found a phone card, so I will call him tomorrow, in the early evening Denver time. I miss my family!! But we are having a good time here…much more relaxed and none of the babies are very sick at all, just mild colds. Good times.