Hey everyone,
Just a quick last post to let you know that we have moved our blog to it's own domain name. For all the latest news and photos, please make sure you check out our new blog at we5chois.com
The reason for the move is that we are unable to access Blogger in China without the use of a VPN. With our new site, things should be a lot quicker and easier to update.
Please make sure you bookmark the new site and we look forward to seeing you there.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Monday, August 10, 2009
Hands Of Hope
For those of you that have been in the China adoption world for a few years, you will remember the Hands of Hope Campaign that was started by Amy Eldridge of Love Without Boundaries and Lynn Filmore of Angel Covers.
This was an initiative that was set up in 2003 to acknowledge the amazing children that had and continue to be adopted from China and to raise funds for those still in China. When we first heard about Hands of Hope, our first adoption was in the early paper-gathering stages. We had no clue who our new daughter would be or if she was even born yet, let alone that we would return to China 2 years later to adopt her brother. All we knew was that China was where we would be heading to grow our family.
The idea behind the Hands of Hope was to build a wall in China that would be covered in tiles donated by adoptive families and those connected to China adoption. It was to be a place where our children could one day return and see that they had roots and a history in China, and for them to know they were not alone.
Unfortunately the project hit some major problems moving forward and there was a time when the reality of the wall looked impossible. The people behind the project did not quit and after finding an alternate site, the wall eventually became a reality. Although, initially the wall was going to be built on Shamian Island in Guangdong Province (this is where all American adoptees pass through to get their US visa), it was actually built near Beijing thanks to the Philip Hayden Foundation at the Shepherds Field Children's Village.
Each participating family was given the opportunity to sponsor a tile on the wall with their own personal inscription. We happily drew up our template and sent off our money hoping that one day we would get to see the tile in person.
Fast forward to June 2009, when a family who would traveling to the area where the wall is, offered to try to find and photograph anyone's tile who was interested. I immediately looked up our information and hoped for the best. Until this week, I had forgotten about it, but over the weekend I got an email from the Fielding family. They had been inundated with requests (over 100) and were finally getting them sent out to each family. Due to the large number of requests, the Director at Shepherd's Field, Matthew Winn had personally gone out and located each of the tiles and taken the photos prior to Paul Fielding arriving on his visit.
I cannot tell you how amazing it was to open the attachment and see our actual tile for the first time. When Richard and I worked on the inscription, we were a family of 3 living in Florida, now we are a family of 5 living in Shanghai. It seems incredible that so much as happened over the years. One day, we hope to take the kids to see the tile ourselves, but until them we cannot thank Paul & Linda Fielding and Matthew Winn for bringing this piece of our family puzzle home to us.
For more information on Shepherd's Field Children's Village - click here
To view photos of the wall during construction see the Angel Covers website click here
Here is our tile....
......
......
........
It reads: By following our red thread to China, we come full circle and our family is complete.
The full circle is with reference to Richard's father Frank, who also left China as a child and immigrated to the US after being unofficially adopted by another Chinese family (he was a paper son). After joining the US Air Force,Frank traveled to Japan, where he met and married Richard's Mother, Yasuko. Unfortunately they both passed away before meeting their youngest grandchildren, but in our hearts Richard and I know that Frank and Yaskuo live on in the faces and personalities of our children. Aimee has a biological connection to them, which is evident just from looking at her, but even without biology Cadence is petite and cute just like Yasuko and Hansen has the same bone structure and look of Frank. I don't know how they do it up at the CCAA, but they matched us to the perfect children.
Unknown to the Fielding family, they sent the photo of the tile on 8.8.2009, which would have been Frank's 73rd birthday. I cannot think of a better day to receive this photo.
This was an initiative that was set up in 2003 to acknowledge the amazing children that had and continue to be adopted from China and to raise funds for those still in China. When we first heard about Hands of Hope, our first adoption was in the early paper-gathering stages. We had no clue who our new daughter would be or if she was even born yet, let alone that we would return to China 2 years later to adopt her brother. All we knew was that China was where we would be heading to grow our family.
The idea behind the Hands of Hope was to build a wall in China that would be covered in tiles donated by adoptive families and those connected to China adoption. It was to be a place where our children could one day return and see that they had roots and a history in China, and for them to know they were not alone.
Unfortunately the project hit some major problems moving forward and there was a time when the reality of the wall looked impossible. The people behind the project did not quit and after finding an alternate site, the wall eventually became a reality. Although, initially the wall was going to be built on Shamian Island in Guangdong Province (this is where all American adoptees pass through to get their US visa), it was actually built near Beijing thanks to the Philip Hayden Foundation at the Shepherds Field Children's Village.
Each participating family was given the opportunity to sponsor a tile on the wall with their own personal inscription. We happily drew up our template and sent off our money hoping that one day we would get to see the tile in person.
Fast forward to June 2009, when a family who would traveling to the area where the wall is, offered to try to find and photograph anyone's tile who was interested. I immediately looked up our information and hoped for the best. Until this week, I had forgotten about it, but over the weekend I got an email from the Fielding family. They had been inundated with requests (over 100) and were finally getting them sent out to each family. Due to the large number of requests, the Director at Shepherd's Field, Matthew Winn had personally gone out and located each of the tiles and taken the photos prior to Paul Fielding arriving on his visit.
I cannot tell you how amazing it was to open the attachment and see our actual tile for the first time. When Richard and I worked on the inscription, we were a family of 3 living in Florida, now we are a family of 5 living in Shanghai. It seems incredible that so much as happened over the years. One day, we hope to take the kids to see the tile ourselves, but until them we cannot thank Paul & Linda Fielding and Matthew Winn for bringing this piece of our family puzzle home to us.
For more information on Shepherd's Field Children's Village - click here
To view photos of the wall during construction see the Angel Covers website click here
Here is our tile....
............
........
It reads: By following our red thread to China, we come full circle and our family is complete.
The full circle is with reference to Richard's father Frank, who also left China as a child and immigrated to the US after being unofficially adopted by another Chinese family (he was a paper son). After joining the US Air Force,Frank traveled to Japan, where he met and married Richard's Mother, Yasuko. Unfortunately they both passed away before meeting their youngest grandchildren, but in our hearts Richard and I know that Frank and Yaskuo live on in the faces and personalities of our children. Aimee has a biological connection to them, which is evident just from looking at her, but even without biology Cadence is petite and cute just like Yasuko and Hansen has the same bone structure and look of Frank. I don't know how they do it up at the CCAA, but they matched us to the perfect children.
Unknown to the Fielding family, they sent the photo of the tile on 8.8.2009, which would have been Frank's 73rd birthday. I cannot think of a better day to receive this photo.
Monday, June 29, 2009
See Ya Sanya - Say Hello Shanghai
Our last day has finally arrived and we are heading back to Shanghai late this afternoon. It will be good to be home, but we have all had such a fun time. I highly recommend a relaxing beach holiday to everyone. We will certainly have to do something similar again. The problem is there are always too many choices of places to visit and people to see, that we rarely go to the same place twice. We thoroughly enjoyed Sanya and who knows maybe, we will come back for a long weekend sometime.
Our morning was spent packing, which is always quicker going home than leaving for vacation. I guess we all just throw everything in any old how. I don’t care how creased or mixed up it is going home. We had someone collect our luggage and store it in the lobby since we had a couple of hours to kill. Checking out started out easy, until the call was made to our room to check our mini-bar purchases. Now, I want to say we did not use the mini-bar, the problem was with a green bowl – I thought this was the decorative ceramic dish that I had stored under the sink to save it from being smashed during our stay. But my explanation was met with blank looks. What they were trying to tell us was the towel was green… Well, yes it was Rich has cleaned Hansen with it, after eating his Pea ice cream. Well, the pea would not come out, so we had to pay for it. After spending a small fortune with them over the past week, I was a little upset they would make us pay for a towel that they had yet to try even washing. Please has no one heard of bleach? After spending way too much time on such a small detail, I was pissed, so told them if I was paying for it, I wanted to take it home. One of the girls and I headed upstairs to investigate the missing bowl and the green towel. On arriving at the room, I immediately showed them the bowl, and was amazed to find out that the towel was actually a wash cloth. Please??!! Okay, well I was still taking it. Cady uses wash cloths as a blankie, so she would be happy. At this point the maid counts the washcloths and informs me that another one was missing – there were supposed to be six and even with the pea green one, we had a total of five. ‘Did I know where it was?’, No, did they know when it was lost? We have been here over a week, changed rooms, etc, etc. How the heck do I know? I figured Cady must have sneaked it in her bag (which was not downstairs) thinking it was her blankie. Off we headed for the lobby. I checked Aimee and Cady’s bags, but nothing there. Told Rich, just pay for a 2nd one, I want to get on with the rest of my life. I had spent way too much time running around the hotel looking for a couple of $2 wash cloths. 30rmb later, we were cleared to leave- our debts paid. No doubt there will be a note on our record should we ever return- wash cloth stealers! Rest assured, I will be counting the wash cloths on entry and exit next time - lol
We decided to take a stroll down to the highlight of Yalong Bay, the Shell Museum. It wasn’t much of a highlight and we were glad we had not made a huge effort to see it. I can honestly say we were done on 15mins. It was that small, we spend probably 30mins in the gift shop, while Aimee chose her last minute memory items – shells of course! We spent less time in the shell museum, than we had searching for the wash cloths.
After sweating around the museum, we went for a repeat performance at Coffee World and all ordered the exact same food as we had yesterday. Our driver collected us from the town center and took us back to the hotel to collect our luggage and headed for the airport.
Check in was pretty easy, except for when the check in lady handed Richard the boarding passes, without taking our luggage. When Rich questioned her, she said ‘No, luggage!’ ‘Um, yes, actually we have a lot of luggage; we are the Choi family…’ ‘No, no luggage!’ At which point, Richard loaded a bag on the scale and repeated “Yes, luggage!’ She quickly checked her reference guide taped to her desk and said ‘No premium luggage!’ ‘What..?’ ‘We don’t have premium luggage, just regular luggage.’ Apparently, the penny dropped and she allowed us to check our bags. Phew, that was a relief. Off we went on our way to catch the flight. Of course, in true vacation style, the moment we got to the gate, they announced a delay. Thankfully, it was only 35mins this time. Apart from an obnoxious woman with a baby who jumped the line and almost crushed little Cady as we tried to exit the terminal for the bus to the plane. The flight was without further incident.
As the plane started the descent into Shanghai, we could hear a baby crying and then screaming. This progressively got worse and appeared to get louder as we made our final descent. I was quite surprised when the baby and the mama rushed passed us ignoring the flight staff and the ‘remain seated’ signs to go who knows where. She sat in one of the jump seats upfront as the flight staff tried to placate the now hysterical child. This was not working, so she headed back to her seat again only moments before we landed. If this had been the West, she probably would have been arrested for ignoring safety warnings. I however was not surprised to realize that she was the same woman that had knocked Cady flying in her hurry to push in line at the terminal. Apparently, the rules applied to everyone other than her. I gave her plenty of space as she rushed back down the plane to get off before anyone else. As for the baby, I think she was in pain due to the air pressure and her mother’s crazy behavior just added to her panic.
It was good to be back in Shanghai and seeing Xiao He (our fabulous driver) waiting for us was a sight to behold. It is good to be home, vacation are hard work – lol.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Fun Friday
Well, our last full day of vacation has arrived all too soon. I am not sure we are ready to go home, but I know I will be glad to sleep in my own bed again. The beds in the hotel are great (not the usual brick-like softness China is normally known for) but they are still not as good as our bed at home. Back in Shanghai, we have the biggest, most comfy bed I have ever had slept in. Richard did an awesome job when he picked it out.
So for our last day we have decided to take it real easy. We have no plans and we will just go with the flow. We even decided to skip breakfast this morning – shock, horror! After a real late start to the day, we decided to walk down to the main plaza area for some lunch. We have eaten here many times, but it has always been dinner. As Hansen’s prize for doing so well with his swimming, he was given the choice of where we would go to eat. His choice was Coffee World, a little internet café. I have to say it was a great choice they made the most delicious cappuccino frappe I have had in China so far. It was delicious even if the menu was pretty limited;. The only choice was either, tuna or ham & cheese in waffles, a bagel, a roll, or a pita wrap, not a great selection, but it definitely hit the spot. We wandered around the Crowne Plaza hotel, trying to find a place to mail our postcard to Nanny & Grandad, but that proved to be a wild goose chase. The lobby said the fitness center, the fitness center said the business center, and by this time, I was over it. We did finally find an inexpensive boogie board for Aimee (I had been looking the entire trip) and even though it was out last day, we splashed out and bought it for her to have one last hurrah. We then grabbed a taxi and headed back up to near our hotel to do some last minute souvenir shopping from the little stands outside the water sports booking office. Since she was using her own money, Aimee was so good and did all her own bargaining for her prized shells. She managed to get a basket full of shells, a shell whistle, a dress and two little animals made of shells for about 40rmb ($6.00) – way to go Aimee!
Poor old Cady was wiped out by the heat and had fallen asleep in the stroller as we made our way back to our room to change for the beach. I thought I was going to get a quiet afternoon snooze with my littlest one, but no sooner had I laid her on the bed, than her eyes popped open and she jumped up and had her swimsuit on as she headed for the door. Rich kindly offered to take all three kids to the beach and I stayed behind to read for a while.
I headed down to the beach just in time to my family packing up their stuff as they were going up to the pool. I made Aimee go back into the ocean, so I could actually see her use the boogie board I had searched for all week. As someone that does not swim, I love to see my own kids overcome their fears and really enjoy the water. Watching Aimee stride confidently through the surf to catch her next wave fills me with pride for her. She is no longer a little girl, she is growing up so fast and I could not be prouder of her.
At the pool, we had a great last swim. The kids love to be thrown around in the water and I think both Richard and I are exhausted from their requests for ‘one more time’. Hansen has come so far this week. He now throws himself into the pool with wild abandon – what a change from the scared little boy at the beginning of the week. Watching each of the kids this week, has made me determined to keep them swimming throughout the summer. We need to build upon their skills and allow them the freedom and joy that swimming brings them.
As the sun began to set, I wanted to get one last photo of the kids in the pool, but with the lighting not being the best, it was harder than I anticipated. The poor kids were exhausted after I had made them jump in the pool multiple times trying to get the perfect shot. I never did quite get it, but in the end I took pity on them and settled for one of the less perfect shots. We had a wonderful family hug in the pool and agreed that this was the Best Vacation Ever, before heading out for dinner.
Dinner was yet again at the Marriott, but this time we opted for the buffet. There was a delicious selection of all sorts – sushi, lamb chops, soups, pork, Hainan chicken, salads, sausages, seafood, etc, etc. For me though, the highlight was the chocolate fondue – yummy! The kids thought all their birthdays had arrived at once, when I said that they could also enjoy the fondue (even though it was 8pm and they know they are not allowed sugar after dark). Cady was as happy as a clam, as she grinned at me from ear to ear with a chocolate smeared face. On our chocolate high we jumped in a taxi and off to bed for our last sleep in Sanya.
So for our last day we have decided to take it real easy. We have no plans and we will just go with the flow. We even decided to skip breakfast this morning – shock, horror! After a real late start to the day, we decided to walk down to the main plaza area for some lunch. We have eaten here many times, but it has always been dinner. As Hansen’s prize for doing so well with his swimming, he was given the choice of where we would go to eat. His choice was Coffee World, a little internet café. I have to say it was a great choice they made the most delicious cappuccino frappe I have had in China so far. It was delicious even if the menu was pretty limited;. The only choice was either, tuna or ham & cheese in waffles, a bagel, a roll, or a pita wrap, not a great selection, but it definitely hit the spot. We wandered around the Crowne Plaza hotel, trying to find a place to mail our postcard to Nanny & Grandad, but that proved to be a wild goose chase. The lobby said the fitness center, the fitness center said the business center, and by this time, I was over it. We did finally find an inexpensive boogie board for Aimee (I had been looking the entire trip) and even though it was out last day, we splashed out and bought it for her to have one last hurrah. We then grabbed a taxi and headed back up to near our hotel to do some last minute souvenir shopping from the little stands outside the water sports booking office. Since she was using her own money, Aimee was so good and did all her own bargaining for her prized shells. She managed to get a basket full of shells, a shell whistle, a dress and two little animals made of shells for about 40rmb ($6.00) – way to go Aimee!
Poor old Cady was wiped out by the heat and had fallen asleep in the stroller as we made our way back to our room to change for the beach. I thought I was going to get a quiet afternoon snooze with my littlest one, but no sooner had I laid her on the bed, than her eyes popped open and she jumped up and had her swimsuit on as she headed for the door. Rich kindly offered to take all three kids to the beach and I stayed behind to read for a while.
I headed down to the beach just in time to my family packing up their stuff as they were going up to the pool. I made Aimee go back into the ocean, so I could actually see her use the boogie board I had searched for all week. As someone that does not swim, I love to see my own kids overcome their fears and really enjoy the water. Watching Aimee stride confidently through the surf to catch her next wave fills me with pride for her. She is no longer a little girl, she is growing up so fast and I could not be prouder of her.
At the pool, we had a great last swim. The kids love to be thrown around in the water and I think both Richard and I are exhausted from their requests for ‘one more time’. Hansen has come so far this week. He now throws himself into the pool with wild abandon – what a change from the scared little boy at the beginning of the week. Watching each of the kids this week, has made me determined to keep them swimming throughout the summer. We need to build upon their skills and allow them the freedom and joy that swimming brings them.
As the sun began to set, I wanted to get one last photo of the kids in the pool, but with the lighting not being the best, it was harder than I anticipated. The poor kids were exhausted after I had made them jump in the pool multiple times trying to get the perfect shot. I never did quite get it, but in the end I took pity on them and settled for one of the less perfect shots. We had a wonderful family hug in the pool and agreed that this was the Best Vacation Ever, before heading out for dinner.
Dinner was yet again at the Marriott, but this time we opted for the buffet. There was a delicious selection of all sorts – sushi, lamb chops, soups, pork, Hainan chicken, salads, sausages, seafood, etc, etc. For me though, the highlight was the chocolate fondue – yummy! The kids thought all their birthdays had arrived at once, when I said that they could also enjoy the fondue (even though it was 8pm and they know they are not allowed sugar after dark). Cady was as happy as a clam, as she grinned at me from ear to ear with a chocolate smeared face. On our chocolate high we jumped in a taxi and off to bed for our last sleep in Sanya.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Magical Mystery Tour
As always our morning started fairly late and was followed with a yummy breakfast from the hotel buffet, before resting in the room. With only a couple of days left of this blissful relaxation, we are running out of time to do everything we want to. The funny thing is that you would think we would be recharged and full of energy after a week of doing nothing, but the truth is we are exhausted. With this in mind, while the rest of the family took it easy, I decided to secretly arrange a bit of a mystery tour for the afternoon with the help of our travel agent here in Sanya.
Before ever coming to China, I had heard about this weird ‘fish therapy’, were you lounge in a spa pool filled with tiny fish, as they nibble away any dead skin. Sounds gross, but it is something that had to be done. My reputation depended upon it. Richard had long told me I would be too chicken to actually try it, so I was about to prove him wrong. I arranged for a minibus to collect us from the hotel and deliver us to the Nantian Hot Spring Resort about 45 mins from our hotel. Richard and the kids had no idea what was in store, but they happily packed their swim stuff and some dry clothes and went along with the idea. Instead of heading along the coast as we had done previously, the driver took us into the mountains and finally dropped us off at one of Sanya’s Top Resorts. Here in China there is a strange measuring system that determines the entrance price for kids. Of course, it is not consistent, but at the Spa it was kids under 1m are free, kids between 1m and 1.4m are half price and kids over 1.4m are full price. I think that since we had 3 kids it was more like, buy two get one free, since all three kids were in the 1m – 1.4m range, but they only changed us for the older two. I love the inconsistency of China. In Shanghai, most places make you pay full price over 1.2m, which of course, long legs Aimee has been for a long time (she costs us a fortune – I can see Cady never paying full price in China).
Anyway, tickets in hand we entered the locker rooms to prepare for our adventure. Locker rooms in China are single sex, but there is absolutely no privacy. Naked women of all shapes, sizes and ages were wandering around the room – It was like walking into some teenage boy fantasy. The girls and I made a hasty retreat and headed for the pools. The idea of Nantian is there are various temperature and size spa pools that you can wander in and out of all day. The grounds are beautiful it really is hard to believe this is China. Again, there were few people around, so it was a pleasant afternoon of relaxing.
Our first point of call was the fish therapy pool. I wanted to try it, so that we could focus on having fun as a family for the rest of the day. However, as we neared the pool, Aimee decided she wanted to try too. The pool was very large and there were already parents and kids inside, so I told Aimee to join me. After sitting still in the water for a matter of minutes, the fish start to nibble on any available skin. It is one of the weirdest feelings in the world and is incredibly tickly. It doesn’t hurt at all, and feels much like the sensation you get when you have been sitting on your legs and they get all kinds of pins and needles – like tiny little electric shocks. It took us quite some time to stop giggling and get used to it. Seeing us laughing Cady decided she wanted to try too. It was hard for her to sit still long enough, but she loved it too. Next we dared the boys to join us. Hansen could not sit still at all, but I think Richard secretly enjoyed it. After about 15 mins, we headed out in search of the kid pool and some fun. I have to say the fish therapy was cool, but the amount of fish poop floating around, put me off truly relaxing. It was funny to see the tough looking Chinese guys, doing their best not to giggle like girls when they first got in the pool.
We headed to the kid pool and spent some time one the water slides and using the guns to drench each other. Richard and I took turns to watch the kids, while the other got a chance to check out the other pools in peace. Some of the different pools were the coffee pool (which was basically a pool filled with black coffee), a coconut milk pool, a hot tea pool, the scholar pool, the health pool, Chinese herb pool, beauty pool, etc. My two favorites were the beauty pool – which was among the hottest available and the ice water pool, which of course was freezing cold. I find it really hard to sit and wallow in the bath at home, so relaxing in the pools was not for me at all. I gladly switched with Rich to watch the kids. Before heading home, we decided to have one last go at the fish therapy or the ‘fish poop pool’ as we had renamed it. We then headed back for a quick shower and then into our minibus for the short ride back to the hotel. About 5 mins from the hotel, poor old Cady fell fast asleep and I had to carry her to the restaurant for dinner. She laid on the couch as the rest of us ordered and then ate our dinner. She finally woke up, but insisted I feed her like a baby since she was so tired. With our beautiful soft, fish cleaned skin headed up to our room for an early night. All three kids fell asleep pretty much as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Tomorrow is our last full day in Sanya...
Before ever coming to China, I had heard about this weird ‘fish therapy’, were you lounge in a spa pool filled with tiny fish, as they nibble away any dead skin. Sounds gross, but it is something that had to be done. My reputation depended upon it. Richard had long told me I would be too chicken to actually try it, so I was about to prove him wrong. I arranged for a minibus to collect us from the hotel and deliver us to the Nantian Hot Spring Resort about 45 mins from our hotel. Richard and the kids had no idea what was in store, but they happily packed their swim stuff and some dry clothes and went along with the idea. Instead of heading along the coast as we had done previously, the driver took us into the mountains and finally dropped us off at one of Sanya’s Top Resorts. Here in China there is a strange measuring system that determines the entrance price for kids. Of course, it is not consistent, but at the Spa it was kids under 1m are free, kids between 1m and 1.4m are half price and kids over 1.4m are full price. I think that since we had 3 kids it was more like, buy two get one free, since all three kids were in the 1m – 1.4m range, but they only changed us for the older two. I love the inconsistency of China. In Shanghai, most places make you pay full price over 1.2m, which of course, long legs Aimee has been for a long time (she costs us a fortune – I can see Cady never paying full price in China).
Anyway, tickets in hand we entered the locker rooms to prepare for our adventure. Locker rooms in China are single sex, but there is absolutely no privacy. Naked women of all shapes, sizes and ages were wandering around the room – It was like walking into some teenage boy fantasy. The girls and I made a hasty retreat and headed for the pools. The idea of Nantian is there are various temperature and size spa pools that you can wander in and out of all day. The grounds are beautiful it really is hard to believe this is China. Again, there were few people around, so it was a pleasant afternoon of relaxing.
Our first point of call was the fish therapy pool. I wanted to try it, so that we could focus on having fun as a family for the rest of the day. However, as we neared the pool, Aimee decided she wanted to try too. The pool was very large and there were already parents and kids inside, so I told Aimee to join me. After sitting still in the water for a matter of minutes, the fish start to nibble on any available skin. It is one of the weirdest feelings in the world and is incredibly tickly. It doesn’t hurt at all, and feels much like the sensation you get when you have been sitting on your legs and they get all kinds of pins and needles – like tiny little electric shocks. It took us quite some time to stop giggling and get used to it. Seeing us laughing Cady decided she wanted to try too. It was hard for her to sit still long enough, but she loved it too. Next we dared the boys to join us. Hansen could not sit still at all, but I think Richard secretly enjoyed it. After about 15 mins, we headed out in search of the kid pool and some fun. I have to say the fish therapy was cool, but the amount of fish poop floating around, put me off truly relaxing. It was funny to see the tough looking Chinese guys, doing their best not to giggle like girls when they first got in the pool.
We headed to the kid pool and spent some time one the water slides and using the guns to drench each other. Richard and I took turns to watch the kids, while the other got a chance to check out the other pools in peace. Some of the different pools were the coffee pool (which was basically a pool filled with black coffee), a coconut milk pool, a hot tea pool, the scholar pool, the health pool, Chinese herb pool, beauty pool, etc. My two favorites were the beauty pool – which was among the hottest available and the ice water pool, which of course was freezing cold. I find it really hard to sit and wallow in the bath at home, so relaxing in the pools was not for me at all. I gladly switched with Rich to watch the kids. Before heading home, we decided to have one last go at the fish therapy or the ‘fish poop pool’ as we had renamed it. We then headed back for a quick shower and then into our minibus for the short ride back to the hotel. About 5 mins from the hotel, poor old Cady fell fast asleep and I had to carry her to the restaurant for dinner. She laid on the couch as the rest of us ordered and then ate our dinner. She finally woke up, but insisted I feed her like a baby since she was so tired. With our beautiful soft, fish cleaned skin headed up to our room for an early night. All three kids fell asleep pretty much as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Tomorrow is our last full day in Sanya...
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday morning we broke with tradition and instead of heading straight to breakfast we decided to try our luck with the underwater sightseeing trip. The jetty for all the water activities is right next door to our hotel, which apparently is the cause of much noise and nuisance normally, but with the light number of visitors now, we have yet to really notice a problem. Richard went down to buy the tickets, while the kids and I got ready. We met up just as what looked like a bus load of tourists arrived. It was the most people I had seen in a whole week and they were all headed to the same place as us – Hooray! Thankfully, they had booked some other event, because when we arrived at the actual ticket entrance they did not follow us to the underwater sightseeing bench to sweat. After about 10 mins a small boat arrived and we headed off out to sea. As Richard and I tried to figure out how we would get into the submarine, another boat appeared and seemed to be trying to out run us. Images of pirates and Johnny Depp raced through my over active imagination, but I was disappointed to see the captain was an old guy wearing a tatty straw hat… As our boat came alongside, we realized that the photos we had seen were not from the inside of a submarine, but in fact a boat with windows in the hull. Either way the kids were not disappointed as we headed down below to take our seats. I have to say that the coral and sea life were a little lacking, but the kids loved being underwater and seeing the fish up close. There were maybe 30 seats in the boat, but in true China-style, the only other 3 passengers decided they had to sit in the seats right next to us and talk to each other really loudly – lol. I love the Chinese.
We spent a total of about 20mins under water, before heading back to switch boats again and head for dry land. I have to say it was more than enough for me, I am not known for my sea legs and I was already feeling a little nauseous. It was a fun experience and I am happy the kids enjoyed it. Of course, it was then time to have breakfast, nap and prepare for an afternoon of playing at the beach and pool.
The beach is really nice and is so empty of people that it is really relaxing. Yet again, Richard seemed to be more interested in building sandcastles than the kids, who played happily in the surf. He says that he finds it therapeutic… Not sure about that when Cady gets that devil look in her eye and stamps all over it. Of course, she is not being malicious; she just loves her daddy chasing her all over the beach as she squeals in delight – too cute. For me, the image of Richard playing with kids in the waves is my favorite memory of the whole trip. It is great to see him(and them) relaxing after the past few weeks of midnight conference calls, late meetings and 16 hour days filled with stress. I am so glad we chose a beach vacation rather than a touring one.
As the sun began to set, we headed back up to the hotel pool for an hour or so of swimming and lounging. Today, I decided was the day Hansen was going to swim. He had gotten a lot braver the last time, but I wanted to expand on that. He and I spent the next hour, practicing. He seems to overcome most of his fear and will now happily try to get from one side of the pool to the other. He swims great, but he really has to work on his breathing. He has mastered everything else and is actually a pretty strong swimmer. He was so proud of himself when he finally managed to make it across without stopping to breathe. We will continue to work on this in the coming days. As it got dark, we headed for dinner on the terrace of the hotel restaurant and had a sing along with the live Filipinos band before heading upstairs to bed.
We spent a total of about 20mins under water, before heading back to switch boats again and head for dry land. I have to say it was more than enough for me, I am not known for my sea legs and I was already feeling a little nauseous. It was a fun experience and I am happy the kids enjoyed it. Of course, it was then time to have breakfast, nap and prepare for an afternoon of playing at the beach and pool.
The beach is really nice and is so empty of people that it is really relaxing. Yet again, Richard seemed to be more interested in building sandcastles than the kids, who played happily in the surf. He says that he finds it therapeutic… Not sure about that when Cady gets that devil look in her eye and stamps all over it. Of course, she is not being malicious; she just loves her daddy chasing her all over the beach as she squeals in delight – too cute. For me, the image of Richard playing with kids in the waves is my favorite memory of the whole trip. It is great to see him(and them) relaxing after the past few weeks of midnight conference calls, late meetings and 16 hour days filled with stress. I am so glad we chose a beach vacation rather than a touring one.
As the sun began to set, we headed back up to the hotel pool for an hour or so of swimming and lounging. Today, I decided was the day Hansen was going to swim. He had gotten a lot braver the last time, but I wanted to expand on that. He and I spent the next hour, practicing. He seems to overcome most of his fear and will now happily try to get from one side of the pool to the other. He swims great, but he really has to work on his breathing. He has mastered everything else and is actually a pretty strong swimmer. He was so proud of himself when he finally managed to make it across without stopping to breathe. We will continue to work on this in the coming days. As it got dark, we headed for dinner on the terrace of the hotel restaurant and had a sing along with the live Filipinos band before heading upstairs to bed.
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