Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Kunming - Day 2: Sightseeing

We had kind of a rough night last night. Emma slept in bed with us and kept waking up and rolling around to see if we were still there. We just kept reassuring her and we hope she is getting the picture that we are not going anywhere!  Anyway, at 2 am she was up for the morning. Lovely way to start the day, thank God our adrenaline was still going from gotcha day!!

We spent the morning in the hotel -- breakfast at 6 am (the minute they opened up the restaurant), playing with toys in the room, and bath time.   :-)

Playing in the tub early in the morning

After the bath we got her dressed. Matt left the room to get her a bottle and came back to find this in our bed...cutest thing ever, right?!

Naptime

After her nap we took a walk to a park near our hotel, Green Lake Park. It was beautiful and Emma had a great time. As you can see, there were tons of seagulls. Our guide explained the seagulls fly south to this Kunming park from Russia every winter.

Green Lake Park

Green Lake Park

Now to be clear... Matt calls Seagulls 'dumpster chickens'. I don't really have a disrespect for the birds but Matt has always said they just dig in garbages. Anyway, in China they are apparently considred lovely birds. Our guide actually compared them to Angels. So I was glad Matt kept the dumpster chicken comment to himself.  In any case, Emma had a bawl...

After Green Lake park we headed back to the hotel for lunch and then at 2 pm our guide picked us up to visit another park in Kunming, Daguan Park.    This park was just gorgeous as well.  Kind of a mixture of a lovely lake & the jersey shore (think games/rides, roller coasters, etc).  At one point we ran across this situation....


Daguan Park - Adult Gerbil Toy

I really didn't understand what it was...I just knew it looked like something 'gerbil esque' and looked similar to an event from the show Wipe-out.  I proceeded to beg Matt to get in it. I actually tried to bribe him with various items but he wouldn't budge. I then called him a chicken and said he was in the Army and shouldn't be afraid of a blow up gerbil adult toy.  He still didn't budge. So I decided to just jump right in.



After I completed this $3 workout, our guide admitted I was the first adult he had ever seen do that.  Not sure if it was meant as one but I took it as a compliment. :-)

All in all it was a great day. Emma enjoying walking through all of the parks and we enjoyed seeing Kunming. It really is beautiful and the people are lovely.


But I am here to tell you...by 5 pm Emma was pooped. As we were walking out of the park, the Chinese senior citizens at the exit were laughing and kind of pointing at the stroller. 


We looked down and saw her like this. :-)

Anyway, it is now 9 pm and she is soundly asleep in her crib. We are not far behind her.  

Tomorrow is a big day! We will be seeing a few sites around town with a local!  My dear friend from grade and high school, Maggie Rauch, once lived in Kunming and she connected us with one of her friends here. We are really looking forward to meeting her friend, Jane, and seeing the city from her perspective.  I am amazed at what a small world it truly is.  Thank you all for your comments on the blog and on FB. We can feel your hugs all the way here in China!!

26 comments:

Kam said...

Beautiful! I'm so glad that things continue to go well! What a blessing Emma is! Sweet baby. I love the shot of her asleep in the stroller. Thanks so much for posting! We are all {I'm sure!} soaking it all and eating it up like candy! I know I am!

Much love~

Stacia said...

It looks like you are having such a great time! Hopefully you will all get more sleep tonight. :)

Evelyn said...

Adorable little girl. Good luck with everything! She is simply delicious.

And yet another example of small worlds: I played with Maggie at NYAC!!!

A2traveler said...

Who knew that your family could actually get even cuter? And I'm so excited for you to meet Jane -- hope she can help you feel more connected to Kunming.

And hi, Evelyn, crazy to see you on here ;)

bronwyn said...

Love the photos! It's fun to get a glimpse of Emma's personality. Her one tooth in the front is just so cute. Way to go Christy on getting in the gerbil thingy... you are braver than me! Hope you continue to have a great trip!! -Bronwyn

Christy said...

LOVING your updates!!! Thanks so much and I am so thrilled she is doing so well. Honestly, she is having one of the smoothest transitions I have ever seen. It is amazing how well she is bonding to you and how great she is doing-- wow!! I love seeing all the sites and cant wait to see them in person. Have fun tomorrow with Jane. Sounds like a lot of fun and how cool to see it from a locals perspective. Way fun-- make sure to save her email so we can see if she will take us out when we are there with Emery!!

Anyway, I am so happy for you guys!!!!

Christy :)

Deitra said...

I don't know how I missed the inflatable tube but that is so funny! Your guide has to be enjoying hosting you guys- and your adorable little Emma with the big smile. Have a wonderful stay.. so neat to see the seasons change (Green Lake Park) through your pics> loving following your journey.. xo

Astraea said...

I love that you did the Human Gerbil, hilarious! Sounds like you had another great day!

sharon said...

CHRISTY, keep updates coming..
OK and seriously... I have to find that human gerbil blow up thing.. IS THAT YOU IN IT IN THE VIDEO, that is the FUNNIEST THING EVER and I LOVE IT... watching it, you going back and forth, is like watching my progress on our haiti adoption!! GOING NOWHERE! and Emma is ridiculously cute, you have to send pics all the time, she is so darn cute in that tub, everywhere, pooped out, walking, she has found HEAVEN with you guys... I am so happy just watching this!!!

martha B. said...

She looks like she is doing so great!!! Frances keeps pointing at her picture and says "baby baby baby!" over and over again :) Loving all of the updates.

yourplatekate said...

Keep the pictures coming! We are just SO in love with this little pink cherub! Can't wait to meet her and look into her eyes.

She looks SO happy and so do both of you. How thrilling after such a long tough journey.

God is good.

yourplatekate said...

btw, I dropped off your blog posts somehow and had to find it through your fb page.

Kate said...

Annie says OMG! She is so freaking cute - love the enormous smile!

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Emma is so cute. Cannot wait to meet her.

Isabel

Mortensen Family said...

Congratulations! Your daughter is so smiley! Praying for you!!

Nicole Renée said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Wow, what a beauty she is ... seriously lady - your daughter is GORGEOUS! And wow, so, so happy. Amazing really ... cannot get over the joy and sunshine in her face. So sorry about the sleep stuff though - sleep issues are no fun. Praying it will get better for you and she will begin to trust that you are hers for good! Keep on lovin' on that precious babe, your hard work is paying off!

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered about including a little bit
more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything.
Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great visuals or videos to give your posts more,
"pop"! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this website could certainly be one of
the greatest in its field. Amazing blog!

Also visit my webpage :: html Email Templates

Anonymous said...

Good post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Kudos!

Feel free to visit my web blog - email invitation templates free

Anonymous said...

Pretty! This was an extremely wonderful article.

Many thanks for supplying these details.

Feel free to surf to my website :: sample email templates

Anonymous said...

Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it
is really informative. I am going to watch out for brussels.
I will be grateful if you continue this in future.
A lot of people will be benefited from your writing.

Cheers!

Take a look at my site - outlook email templates

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if you ever considered changing the structure of your site?
Its very well written; I love what youve got to say.
But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people
could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of
text for only having 1 or 2 images. Maybe you could space it
out better?

Feel free to visit my webpage ... mass email marketing software

Anonymous said...

Hey there! I'm at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading through your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the outstanding work!

Here is my web-site :: developer

Anonymous said...

Hello mates, its impressive piece of writing concerning cultureand entirely defined, keep it up all the time.


My blog: geological

Anonymous said...

Thank you a lot for sharing this with all of us
you actually know what you're speaking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also seek advice from my site =). We can have a link exchange agreement between us

Review my website :: Relevant Webpage

Anonymous said...

I do agree with all of the ideas you have introduced in your post.
They are really convincing and will definitely work.
Still, the posts are very brief for newbies. May you please prolong them a bit from next time?
Thank you for the post.

Look at my blog post - http://beautifulemails.
com/email-templates-free/ - -

Anonymous said...

I like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work and exposure!
Keep up the fantastic works guys I've added you guys to my personal blogroll.

Here is my web site; visit the up coming internet site