Elephant Park and a quiet day...

Today we wanted to get away from the crowds of people, so we took a cab to Elephant Park this morning. The park was very nice but as you can tell from Hanna's hairstyle - it was extremely windy! The girls had fun running around the park. Hanna has successfully taught Rylee how to canter and they continue to develop their relationship. Everyone was a little on the tired side today so we spent most of the day hanging around the hotel.

Rylee's personality is really starting to come out. She approaches life with enthusiasm and gusto. She wants to run everywhere she goes, but her little legs aren't strong enough to hold out that long yet. She has no idea how to be carried, so when you pick her up you have to wrap her legs around you and she still doesn't hold on at all. We resorted to a stroller for a while at the park today and she loved it!

Rylee has completely charmed the workers at the hotel restaurant. They all know her by name and cater to her at meal time. They play peek-a-boo with her and everywhere we go, we here soft voices calling "Xiao Bao". She loves to laugh and does it often and today she has been coming to me for comfort when she hurts herself. It turns out this happens frequently because she is very active!

She continues to stash food in her purse and today she had on an outfit that had several pockets. She has figured how to climb up and get to the snacks that are on top of the refrigerator so before we left for breakfast she filled all of her pockets with food. She still managed to stuff a few more fruits in those pockets before we left the restaurant.

Rylee has been talking a lot more today and this afternoon she decided it was time to teach Hanna the proper way to pose for pictures. She counted to three in Chinese, shouted something and flashed the Victory sign! This child could not possibly be any cuter!

So then Baba decided that it was time to teach Rylee to give thumbs up. She thought this was a riot and has been giving him the thumbs up sign, along with the appropriate giggles, all evening! She also chastised him after dinner tonight. She went in for a snuggle (no prompting even from him - woo hoo!) and when she pressed her cheek to his, she pulled back and started talking and poked her finger in several places on his cheek all the while shaking her head "no"! It was completely obvious that she was telling him that it is unacceptable to go a day without shaving and that it does not feel good on her baby soft cheeks! He promptly assured her that he would never skip another day shaving again!

Tomorrow we take Rylee on her first plane ride. We get her passport in the morning and then we fly to Guangzhou to finish up the rest of the paperwork. It is a little bit sad to be leaving the area and we have already decided that as soon as we are able and Rylee is a bit older, we will have to come back for a homeland tour. There is just too much to try to absorb and take back for her, so much that we didn't see. I guess it is just hard to leave the place where you found the very greatest treasure!