Playtime with other Babies

J.W. Marriott...Our Hotel


McDonald's Menu

Grandma and Karsynn

CJ...a bathing beauty

Mamaw Davis and Karsynn

CJ Bei

Play Time!!!

McDonald's

Karsynn and CJ's first trip

to McDonalds

CJ on mommy's shoulders

Silk Factory and Rice Patties

Outside the Silk Factory


Mommy and Karsynn are "beat!"

KFC in Chongqing

Grandma and Karsynn playing

Nightlife in Chongqing Ped Way

Mamaw and Karsynn playing jumpy

Grandma and Karsynn playing on the bed

Bathing Beauty...her, not me

Rice Patties

Chongqing Countryside

CJ Bei on the bus

Allison and Karsynn at lunch...we love Allison

Silk Worm Factory

Stringing the silk

Silkworms

Inside the silk factory

Mommy, Daddy and CJ

Today was an easy day. We began this morning by traveling by bus outside of the city to see how the "peasants" live, so Michael calls them. There were rice patty fields everywhere and corn growing on the sides of mountains. Very strange to see. It was a very mountainous area and people live and farm down in deep valleys. After visiting the countryside, we then were treated to a visit to the silk factory. They talked to us about the silk worms and how they grew inside the cocoons. They showed us several steps in the process, which was very interesting. Today is Grandma Teresa's birthday, so at lunch today we were treated to Chinese birthday cake and Happy Birthday in both English and Chinese. Very cool! The cake was delicious. It had fruits like apples, grapes and pineapple in it. Very delicious, as Allison would say. She's so cute! We hope you are enjoying the posts each day, and most of all, the pictures of beautiful Karsynn and CJ.

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!!

Karsynn enjoying Grandma's Cake!


Grandma's Getting Old!!!

Yummy Cake!! They even sang Happy Birthday in Chinese!

Allison and Penny bringing the cake

Eling Park and Tea House Ceremony

Our Hotel...very nice!!!

Today was a slow day. We took a ride to Eling Park, which is the highest point in Chongqing. It is a very nice park, very calming. We were also treated to a Tea House ceremony, where we were introduced to three different teas and taught to take tea the appropriate way. It is very ritualistic, much like wine tasting in the US. We came back to the room and Daddy went to McDonalds for everyone. Karsynn had squash and bananas...YUMMY! She likes pretty much anything you give her. McD's is pretty much the same as home, except they use a spicy sauce on all sandwiches and cucumbers instead of pickles. Tonight is Pizza Hut in the room!!!

A bit about Karsynn

While I have a spare moment, I thought I'd share a bit about Karsynn's personality. She is a very active baby. A bit of a wiggle worm. She is learning to crawl but has not mastered it yet. She knows enough to get where she wants to go. She can also stand for a while in her crib and tries very hard to walk around the perimeter. Her legs are still very wobbly, though. She loves to babble. Her first English word was "DaDa" of course and Troy just eats that up. When she wakes up in the morning, she's all smiles. She loves to eat!! She'll try anything. She mainly eats congee, which is a watery rice cooked for a long time, and steamed egg. She's currently eating Nestle' formula with rice cereal in her bottle. She can suck one down in a matter of minutes. I'm so glad that she does not have a bottle preference. We brought three different types and she'll take any of them, unlike some of the other babies. She only cries when she's hungry, wet or sleepy. Otherwise, she's a happy girl. Last night, she went to bed around 10:00 and slept until 6:00 this morning, which is great. At 6:00. she was ready for a diaper change and a bottle. Now, she's on the bed with daddy playing away. So sweet. She has the sweetest little smile and giggle. She lights up the whole room. Her hair is jet black, unlike the other babies who have a brown tint to their hair. Her skin is so smooth and like porcelain and her eyes are so brown they look black. She has the sweetest little lips, which we fell in love with in her referral pictures. When she smiles, she has two top and two bottom teeth that show. Overall, she's a perfect baby. Very content. Very loving. Very much ours!!!!!!!!! She loves her mommy and daddy. It shows in her face when she looks at us. We are so lucky. God is so good. We can't wait for you all to meet her.

Enjoying Chongqing

Today, we visited a famous local museum dedicated solely to the Flying Tiger Airforce from WWII. The Chinese truly have a genuine admiration for what the Flying Tiger did for their country during the fighting with Japan. A famous local artist from the Chongqing University for Fine Arts also painted pictures on rice paper for each girl and wrote their names in Chinese on the picture. Very cool. They are being matted in silk and delivered to the hotel tomorrow. A great keepsake. We also visited a famous point in Chongqing where the Yangste River meets the Jialing River. Just last week there was bad flooding here in CQ, so we're very lucky it's over. We also had lunch at a local Hot Pot restaurant today. Hot Pot is a famous local dish, which is VERY spicy. Basically, they have all different meats and veggies raw on plates and you cook them in spicy soups in the middle of the table. The chicken was great!!! CJ and Karsynn enjoyed a playdate last night, while the mommy and daddy enjoyed McDonald's. They just touched and jabbered. So sweet.

Care Package

With all the excitement, I completely forgot to post about the Care Package Troy and I sent Karsynn to her orphanage. She got it! While we didn't get everything back that we sent, the director did bring the mini blanket that Grandma Teresa made for her and we got THE CAMERAS back!!!!! We sent two disposable cameras. One is completely full of pictures and the other only partly full. I cannot wait to get them developed. I hope there are lots of good pictures from the orphanage, since it is too far for us to travel to. Here are a couple more pics to enjoy. We are visiting the Flying Tigers U.S. Airforce Museum today. They used to land here in Chongqing during World World II and there's even a street named after a famous U.S. general, Stillwell, I believe.