Day 3 in Taiyuan

First Carousel Ride














Sebbie's Carousel ride












Her boat ride was scary at first, then she liked it.













Sebbie's Elephant Slide










Today was a day off from anything official. Emily took us to Taiyuan's amusement park, which operates year round, located in the center of town. It was a cold, dreary day, with lots of smog/pollution. We did a lot of walking and Maggie Xudi was a real champ. Still dancing and skipping in her new shoes. She didn't like the Safari ride much, but warmed up to the Carousel and the Boat rides. She really enjoyed watching her BaBa (Steve) and GeGe (big brother) in the bumper cars. No governors in the bumper cars - they were really fast and we had to be careful not to bump at full speed or whiplash could've been the consequence. After the amusement park, Mommy and Sebbie were in need of some comfort food, so Maggie enjoyed her first chicken nuggets and french fries. She was quite dainty in poking the end of her french fries in the ketchup. GeGe even shared a bite or two of his ice cream. Maggie has seems to like any kind of food we offer, her favorites so far are noodles, eggs and tofu.

After a late and short nap, we were off to the department store a few blocks up the street. The main street our hotel is on is the main shopping district and there are malls and stores crammed in everywhere. Taiyuan is a "small" town of over 3 million people, and the streets and shops are always crowded with people, cars, taxis and bicycles. I have yet to see a new bicycle, all seem well used, dusty and in dire need of oil on the chain and air in the tires. The shopping mall is about the size of a large Fred Meyers, but inside the store are about 300 or more small stalls or little tiny stores, selling everything imaginable. Today, Maggie Xudi got her first hair barrettes (Hello Kitty, of course), purse and small pouch (Hello Kitty too, guess who else in our family just loves Hello Kitty?). She loves her clothes that she wears too--an assortment of really nice hand-me-downs from soon to be friends Alice, Madeline, Teagan, Sophi, Linnea and Kate (friends back in Oregon). I would love to know what is going through her little brain with all these new clothes and possession. Of course she does talk almost non-stop (another chip off the 'ol Mommy block) and tells us when we need to help with her buttons, or to put on her hood when we go out in the cold, or when her socks aren't on just right. We've received the most scolding when we mess with her highly organized and stacked blocks--Poppers is going to love this skill and interest that his new granddaughter has! After shopping, she enjoyed another American comfort food--a pizza from Pizza Hut. The Chinese are rather proud of their pizza at $8.00 for a really small pie! But it was yummy, or so she told us.

A few minutes ago, as we were trying to encourage her to sleep, she was pulling the covers over her head and giggling with a really fun belly laugh, then throwing the covers back with a huge smile on her face. She smiles with her lower lip and then giggles like crazy. She is definitely having a good time. Her first bath was tonight with Mommy and cried a bit at first, but then with some hugs, she started to relax and then proceeded to wash and scrub her feet and legs. Oh, the other highlight for her is to push the elevator buttons. She even knows now, just by watching us, to push the #10 button. She laughs when it lights up.

Tomorrow she will experience her first plane ride when we fly from Taiyuan south to Guangzhou in the province of Guangdong. We are supposed to receive her Chinese passport shortly before leaving for the airport. In Guangzhou, she will have a medical exam on Saturday (US doctors, we think) and then we go to the US consulate for her citizenship paperwork a few days later.