day 1... part 2

What a day! I'm sure for those of you who know me you won't be surprised by what my favorite part of the day was... dinner (so I'm starting with the latest thing we did and working back). Mckenzie and I were treated to the most yummy food I've ever tasted by Gayle and her darling daughters Lydia (Reeses age) and Addie (sp?- Meili's age). I met Gayle on a yahoo group and she and her girls live in Beijing (they are from the states). Anyway, dinner was amazing!!! (did I already say that ?) and the company was great too! It was fun to talk about the church here, shopping, food, and kids. We are going to get together again tomorrow afternoon/evening after we go to the Great Wall, lunch and the Summer Palace. Thanks so much, Gayle!!! (oh, dinner consisted of peanuts covered in seasame seeds, green beans like you've never tasted before, asparagus, really hot and really yummy chicken, lemon chicken, tofu (with a sauce like the Thai sweet/hot sauce we buy), pot stickers, crepes that were stir fried with cabbage (the crepes were cut like noodles) and rice - I think I included everything - anyway, it was wonderful)
Ok, on with the day.
We went to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square. It was a lot of walking but luckily the weather was just cold and not windy (tomorrow is suppose to snow and be colder) Mckenzie was like a rock star. We had a group of boys stop us and ask if she would be in a picture with them... didn't know what to say, so i said yes and then asked them to let me take one as well.
My camera battery went out right as we were walking into the Forbidden City. Luckily, another family had an extra one. We are with 3 other families. They are all very kind and it has been fun getting to know them. All 3 have their spouses and all 3 have all or some of their children... There is a cute little 4 or 5 year old girl (adopted from China), a darling 6 year old little boy who was at the same orphanage as Meili, and two boys (ages 11 and 14). Our guide is great and all is well there.
We then went to the acrobatic show. It was very similar to the one that we went to a few years back (at CSI) except the background stuff (sorry... my mind is mushy and I can't think of words) was much more amazing here. We had an hour or so before the show started and so Mckenzie and I walked around a bit... it was amazing to watch the cameras (of mostly Chinese boys) come out to take pictures (of her)... I'm glad you are not here Scott (not really) - I think it would be driving you crazy :)
We are both exhausted. In fact as soon as we got back to the hotel Mckenzie headed straight for bed and was asleep in about 2 seconds.
I did receive an update on Lili today. The info was very similar to that which we already have... it did say that she is still on a bottle (i'll have to go buy some) and that the person she is attached most to is her foster DAD.... I'm so glad I received this little bit of info here because if I had received it earlier I would have made Scott come- I hope she will like me............ Also, says she has a Mongolian spot on her bum and sounds like she may have a cold and runny nose right now. Oh, and she can say "dad"... great... hope she will learn mom soon! ..."she is active"... she'll fit right in, she sleeps with her foster mom for 10 hours (this I can handle) and takes a 2 hour nap (I hope she will need me to sleep with her during this time as well :) ) No birth note was with her and she is not a picky eater. I can't believe that in two nights I will be putting Lili to bed. Unbelievable!!!
Well, I'm off to bed. I hope you all enjoy your Friday - ours Friday was great! Love to you all, Melanie (Loye, I received your e-mail... you can post comments on the blog and we will receive them or you can just e-mail me - whatever is easiest - I'll get them either way - I just am not able to e-mail anyone) Sorry if this is rambling and if it does not make sense - I'm tired!!!