A Walk in the Park...

Today, we had our first full day with Sir Quinn. He slept from 6pm to 6am (yipee - let's hope such sleep patterns continue). We had another spectacular breakfast in our hotel (Best Western Mayflower in the Wuchang district - 1 of 3 districts in the city). This has been a common theme during our stay in China (bringing back memories of our previous trips). The breakfasts are buffet style and offer so many choices - fruits, cereals, vegetables, noodles and fried rice, dumplings, french toast, eggs, banana bread, and the list goes on and on.

To start the day, we headed again to the Wuhan Civil Affairs office to wrap up Quinn's paperwork and get fingerprinted and footprinted (in Quinn's case). We asked a few questions of the orphanage staff and found out that Quinn is somewhat of a picky eater (he doesn't seem to like colourful foods, which may explain why he kept picking out the red fiddly bits in his noodles and turned his nose up at watermelon, though he does like apples, oranges and bananas).


Following a noodle lunch in our rooms, we then set off for a lovely afternoon walk through East Lake Park. East Lake, situated on the south bank of the Yangtze River, is the largest lake within a city in China, and covers 33 square kms. Along with the gorgeous weather, the park was beautiful, showcasing the many varieties of plum trees in bloom. Jennifer and Steve were having great fun comparing photos of the scenery. Some examples of each "artist's works" is attached (Steve's (2) on the left, Jennifer's (3) on the right) - you be the judge. All of the children had a wonderful time - no play area, no electonics - just some warm, lazy sun, and a pinwheel each, blowing in the breeze. Quinn was a treat again today. We have never been around a happier child (though we know they are out there). He is perpetually smiling or laughing. Though he will have his hands full, Steve is going to have a blast with Quinn during his parental leave. Quinn can't get enough of his Leaf jersey - it wasn't part of the clothes we selected for him today, but he managed to find it and put it on. Go Quinn Go!!

For dinner, we headed to another dumpling house. We struggled to order the food, with nobody able to understand English or our translation cards, and a menu in Chinese with no pictures. The "surprise" food turned out to be very tasty. Ordering is half the fun in China!!

Tomorrow, another relaxing day. Looks like we might get our first real rain since starting our adventure later in the afternoon and on Thursday, but we plan on flying some kites on Wednesday morning, and visiting the Yellow Crane Tower in the afternoon.