Peanut and PopTart: I’d like to get you…

on a slow boat to China! Well, the Jimmy Buffet song came to mind late last

night, but I think we would rather get ourselves on a fast boat to the
United States, or what some Chinese call the Měi guó! Today was an off day
as we had nothing officially to do, so we slept in as much as we could and
then made plans to go to The Peoples Park that is located just behind the
hotel!

Last night was another restless night for the dynamic trio, but Daddy got a
bed all to himself so a night of blissful sleep was welcomed by the writer!
After getting everyone together we headed down for breakfast, then the fun
ensued! While boarding the elevator Savannah made the comment that Aiden
had pooped himself. Low and behold that air at her level had already been
compromised and Ann Marie and I caught wind of the degrading ozone a few
seconds later! After an emergency change we finally made it to breakfast
with Dad carrying the freshly resurfaced Aiden! We all got settled in with
Aiden eating curried sponge cake when round two hit us! Aiden brought back
up a whole lot of water he had consumed in the room along with the sponge
cake all over himself and me! Well, we were all hungry and a wipe down
cleared the mess and we finished breakfast before heading back to the room.
Its amazing what parents can stomach that would make most single people
cringe! I think all teens need to take a structured course on what it takes
to be parents! We can call it Spew and Poop 101!

After we cleaned up and received our first load of laundry back from the
service we headed over to the park for a walk. The Peoples Park is actually
a nice little amusement park right in downtown that has many mechanical
rides and games for young children as well as a beautiful lake. There were
people of all ages performing music, dancing and enjoying themselves; truly
nice to see no matter what country you are in! After a few hours in the park
we stopped in the grocery for some more water, a refresh of the grape juice
and to get Aiden a bowl and spoon for his own that he can use when we eat.
Afterwards we headed back for lunch at the hotel restaurant.

Enter the second phase of having a child, denial of sustenance! We ordered
some fried rice, spaghetti and a burger thinking we could hit on something
Aiden would like as sometimes fresh veggies can be hard to come by. Well,
as you could well expect he didn’t like any of it and just wanted to eat
part of the burger bun! One cannot force food, so we decided to live and
fight another day! We then retired back to the room for a nap, which was
enjoyed by the kids. (editors note: a special thanks to one of our
friendly blog readers, who shall remain nameless, for getting us hooked on
the angry birds app!)

This afternoon we kind of laid low in the room and watched some TV and
overall tried to do some family bonding (as well as rest!). Aiden and
Savannah got the play-doh out and had a really good time as can be seen in
the pictures! We then packed up and headed to the local restaurant (not the
hotel) for some great food at nearly 1/3 the price! Dumplings, congee,
Sichuan spicy noodles, egg fried rice and Mandarin pancakes were enjoyed
immensely! Aiden is having a little trouble with eating, but we are really
attributing that to all of the change he is experiencing as well as family
overload! I am sure the little eater will be back in full swing by the time
we hit Guangzhou (or the next McDonalds)!

Tonight we just put the kids down for sleep with Aiden having his first
small spell of crying before bedtime. Ann Marie was a total trooper in
soothing him for about 20 minutes until his cry turned into a dull moan and
then into snoring. You cannot help but feel for the little man as we have
taken him from the only family he has ever known as well as all of his
friends. You could see the strain on him at dinner as he watched the other
little Chinese boys play in the restaurant, knowing that deep down there are
friends just like them back someone where Aiden used to reside. I hope
they, like Aiden, are resting peacefully tonight and one day find a family
that will give them as much love as we will Aiden.

Till then……

Michael (wǒ búhuì shuō zhōngwén, but I did stay at a Chinese hotel last
night!), Ann Marie (one heck of a Mother), Savannah (do you mean I cried
like that too Daddy?) and Aiden (you can call me Yang Yang) Kennedy