Gaungzhou..Here we come!

It is so hard to believe that tomorrow we lave for Guangzhou already. The days are going by so quickly. Yesterday(Wednesday) we had a great day. We took a shuttle van and went to an ancient city in Chongqing. It was so neat to walk throught the streets and see allof the old building and the shops. It was an old town where the people of the city live. They sold food on the streets, made their handicrafts and worked. We even saw what appeared to be a hardware store. The people are all very friendly. I know I posted about it yesterday, but just wanted to write some more. It is amazing that financially they have nothing, yet they seem to be so content. The children and their familes all seem to be very close and they just make due with what they have.
In the evening, we all went to a Hot Pot restaurant. It was unbelievable and nothing that we ever expected. We all took cabs, but Matt and Dawn's taxi dropped them off in the wrong sopt and then pointed them in the direction to go. Meanwhile, Eric and I, Mary and Mandy our guides, and Wendy and Nancy are wiating at the restaurant. Mandy left to go find them. I guess she just ran throught the streets looking. While at the restaurant, Mary says to the rest of us, " Don't worry, we don't know where they are but we will find them!" Well, Mandy found them and they showed up 1/2 hour late.
The restaurant was amazing. Kind of odd to bring babies to a restaurant with posts of boiling liquid at every seat! We made the best of it though and really enjoyed dinner. THere was a huge, beautifully decorated table and every seat had a pot with 1/2 spicy and 1/2 plain boiloing liquid. The center of the table was FULL of flowers and around them revolved all of the raw food that you cook in the liquid. LOTS of funky stuff to eat....stomach, eel, all sorts of food you can not identify. Eric ate cow esophogus!! can you believe it?? THey did eventually bring out plain beef, potatoes, vegies, shrimp etc for us.
We then walked around a pedestrian shopping area that appeared to be like New York with all of the neon signs. We loved it, as we have every experiance here so far.
Ava had another great day and a great night! She is still eating like there is no tomorrow. Eric fed her tons at the restaurant last night. He gets the biggest kick that she eats constantly and will try everything. So far, it seems like the only thing she did not like were peaches. More and more each day her personality emerges. She is such a tiny little thing though. It is hard to believe in 1 week she will be 16 months old. Most of the clothes I brought are too big, but they fit ok. I think more 9 month would be better for her.
Today all of our families went to Matt and Dawn's room for a couple of hours and the girls all played together on the floor. It was so great to see them all together! Then, Eric, Ava and I had lunch with Matt, Dawn and Lucy in the hotel. Dawn finally got to eat a meat because Lucy slept for most of it. Tonight we are all having the buffet together...it is German night....should be interesting in China!
There may be pics of Ava on Wendy's blog (under the links section...Ava's friend Mara) Hopefully I will get some posted when we get to Guangzhou.
Frank, Maria and Nicholas....Have fun at Nonny and Poppy's house!! We love you guys. Thanks Norman and Jeanne for watching them. We will see everyone very soon!!