I heart China

So, today. The zoo. The zoo was pretty fun. It was really pretty and had lots of trees and pathways and lakes and ponds. It had a lot of animals. The monkeys were screeching up a storm when we got there so we went to check them out first. But in addition to the animals was the heat. Good LORD, the heat. It is like nothing I've ever felt in my life. I was pouring sweat in about the first minute we were there. I had to steal Maggie's hankie to mop my brow. The best way I can describe it is if you put a big pot of water in your oven, turned it on to about 200 and then you got inside and shut the door. Somebody said it felt like Texas but I have never been to Texas so I don't know about that. But it was darn hot. We had rented a stroller from the hotel so we wouldn't have to lug Maggie all around the zoo in the 200 degree heat. She, however, had other plans.

Oh well. At least it held the diaper bag which is rather sweat inducing itself. And at least Maggie had on a cute hat. And yes, I put sunscreen on her. So we pushed our little stroller around and carried Maggie who was not too interested in the animals. Here is the most exotic animal we saw.

I'm not really sure what that was doing there. I was afraid it was a snack for a tiger or something but it wasn't in a tiger pen. Somebody said, "Is that the pandas?" I was like, "No, but you will be impressed when you come up here and look at what IS in here." There was a big retaining wall so it wasn't some dummy that didn't know what a panda looks like.
Then we had to take a little break because of the HEAT. I'm sure our guide who is from Guangzhou thinks we are all a bunch of wusses. We went to this little snack shop and got drinks and I had some yummy ice cream. Maggie can sort of drink out of a water bottle so I let her have a few sips.

This of course, resulted in water. EVERYWHERE. Which resulted in an outfit change. Which resulted in much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Or gums, I guess.

Then Amy told us we'd better step on it because we needed to see the panda and it looked like it was going to rain. We passed a bamboo forest so David and Maggie pretended like they were in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." I *think* she might even be smiling a teensy bit in that picture.

And on we pressed. And then the sky started lowering and darkening and Amy said we could sit under umbrellas while it rained. Then it didn't rain and we noticed the gigantic red elephant so a bunch of us went to check it out. Then suddenly, our entire group disappeared except for one other family and we had NO idea where they had gone! So we went back to the entrance to see if they would show up there except they didn't and then it started to rain. I have never heard thunder like that in my LIFE. It was the loudest thunder in the world. Maggie was terrified.

Not. She slept through the entire thing. Then when it finally started to let up, Dan and Eric went to the other entrance to see if the group was there. They were, indeed, but had apparently not found a good place to hide out like we did because they all looked kind of wet. We were supposed to go to Pizza Hut but we ran out of time so we just went back to the hotel. David was starting to not feel very well so we ran to McD's to get me lunch. Instead of fried apple pies, they have green bean pies! BLECH. I did not get one of those. Maggie was hollering by the time we got back to the room, so I packed her up and Brooke and Emma went shopping with us. Oh wait. I forgot. There was still no pooping going on so I went and got a suppository from Amy. Um, EW. That is some nasty stuff. Actually, I must admit that Maggie was on the verge and I was totally cheering her on! How lame.

Then we left to go shopping. I put Maggie in the Hip Hamomock since she would not have anything to do with the stroller and I knew I could not carry her all that way. First we walked down the street to the Dong Fang shops which had lots of cute Chinese outfits and squeaky shoes but I did not feel like getting anything there. The salespeople are extremely nice here but are also very helpful. I don't want to say pushy because they are never rude but they REALLY want to help you find just the right thing. Or maybe they just want to make a sale and I'm dumb. Then we went walking down the street and around the block. The block that our hotel is on is HUGE. We walked through this totally residential area and I wished that I had a camera. It was amazing. There were little shops and teeny 1 room restaurants. There were so many apartments all with laundry hanging on their balconies. There were people everywhere. I wish I could read Chinese. It was so cool. But also extremely hot because remember, the heat. I felt like I got to see a little piece of real China today. Then we went back to the hotel so we could get a cab and go to the Friendship Store again. We needed some more baby food and I needed to get a couple more long pants for Maggie. We got the concierge to write where we wanted to go on a little card and we headed off. Man, we thought we were hot stuff. Everyone says the cab rides are crazy in China but it seemed okay to me. Maybe Brooke and I were talking too much. Maggie drank most of a bottle in the cab because she must be in the middle of 500 things going on to do anything. We went up to the top floor to get some baby stuff and then went to the 5th floor to get water, sodas and baby food. We also needed some more toothpaste because we did not pack wisely. I got some green Colgate because green means mint, right? Apparently here it means leaf flavored or something. Then we packed the stroller full of our purchases and went to get a cab back. No sweat. We are seasoned travelers with our babies and 10 ton bags of water bottles.
When we got back to the hotel, Maggie and I were both drenched in sweat so I decided I would bathe her before I changed her clothes. Well, I laid her on the toilet lid to take her diaper off and as soon as I did, she started peeing! Argh! She aimed right for the bathmat though. Good girl. Then I put Maggie in the tub which she was NOT happy about. AT ALL. She SCREAMED. Then she got some water in her mouth and started choking and about broke my eardrum she was yelling so loud. Then I noticed it. She had pooped in the bathwater. UGH. I about died. Then I got her up and put a diaper on her and David took her. She pooped again! WOO HOO. I am so glad. Then she and David left to go cruise the lobby where she apparently fell asleep for an hour. Well, I suppose we should think about dinner now.

I made Maggie walk today. Which she can do with help but of course, with the wailing and gnashing of gums. Always.