Day 8 'Dalian

Today was all fun - no paperwork! Our driver and Kathy picked us up at 9:30 and we went to a seaside park that begins with an "S." I can't remember, much less spell, the names of any places around here. The park was on the waterfront of the Yellow Sea and it had beautiful sculptures all around. There was a marina with tons of boats and the area was surrounded by mountains. The favorite for the boys was a snack shack thing that sold food for pigeons among other things. The pigeons would climb right on top of the people, even those those who did not have pigeon food, much to my dismay. The pigeons that sat on me very cleverly sat on either my head or my back so I couldn't exactly see them, but could feel their feet. I was a little freaked out by it, but the guys loved it! Truly, it was a highlight for them.

At one end of the park is an oceanarium that has sea lion shows and dolphin shows which we happily viewed. Actually, Gage seemed to like the mermaid lady better than he liked the critters! We also went through the part that had polar bears, white wolves and white foxes - so cool! When you exit the dolphin show, you go through this tunnel on a moving sidewalk where there are fish swimming above and around you. Outside of the oceanarium is an amusement park where we enjoyed a few rides. All four of us did bumper cars while Kathy snapped pictures. I noticed a bungee jumping place which I mistakenly pointed out to Jake who signed right up. He was strapped on to the bungee harness which was on top of a trampoline thing. The guy running it, hung from Jake and bounced up and down to get him going. When the guy jumped off, Jake went really, really high! Each time he returned to earth, he would yell, "Can I do a flip?" and I would yell "No." This happened about 100 times because for some reason Jake was given 4 turns. I think the guy was pleased he was drawing a crowd. Anyway, Jake eventually did a flip which he claimed was a complete accident and his father defended him!

The driver picked us up and took us to Pizza Hut which was momentous because Gage had never had pizza before. Not only that, he had never had cheese before! He ate two slices which he first saturated with tabasco sauce - I had a hard time watching that. When Kathy asked him if he liked it, he said not really. Apparently he didn't care for the cheesy part which made me realize I will have to rethink a lot of my recipes. After all, in America what isn't better with a little melted cheese on top? The other interesting thing is that Pizza Hut is somewhat of an upscale place in China and is a special occasion destination. The decor is sophisticated although the menu and prices are similar to the US.

We did a little shopping after lunch and bought AiJun a Gameboy and a few games and he is thrilled with them! He is so sweet and thankful for everything. We went up to an internet cafe above the Pizza Hut because Gage wanted to play some games on Chinese sites that we can't get on our laptop, but the minimum age was 18. I have been in internet cafes before, but this one had hundreds of computers - really something. The lighting reminded me of a Las Vegas casino.

Gage is such a dear and is connecting so well with us. We are so very thrilled to have him in our family. His favorite English saying as of now is, "let's go." Jake has often said this to him and the two of them run off, but now Gage says it first sometimes. His voice is so cute - a little on the husky side - and when he calls me Mommy, I just melt. I still can't get used to looking at his face in real life after looking at his picture for 18 months. I try not to get caught staring at him! We are so blessesd