One more busy day in China

It's Monday night here and we've had a very busy day - very intentionally - trying to make the time pass quickly and still enjoy that we are here. This morning we needed to stay in our rooms until 10:00 just in case, as the China Team was having our paperwork approved by the U.S. consulate. Everything passed just fine. A bit later two of the China Team members took us and one other full family and part of another to a huge wholesale marketplace. It had just about everything you could image. We were really glad we got to go but we can totally understand why they don't make it a regular full group outing. It's so crowded and crazy. This afternoon we went over to the park across the street. This is not a local park like you may typically image - it's huge -- we maybe covered a quarter of it and we were there for a couple of hours. It's very pretty - lots of bamboo trees and everything is decorated for the Lunar New Year. It was a beautiful day and a great way to spend the afternoon. This evening we had our farewell dinner. It was a lovely meal, with lots of Chinese Rice Wine, and then karoke and dancing - We had a great time. One of the best things about being in such a small travel group is that we really got to know people in the group and we really feel like we got to know the China Team better, because of course they didn't have nearly as many people to look after as last time (36 families) As ready as we are to get home we can easily say that this has been another wonderful trip to China.

As a last note that we haven't been able to fit in anywhere else - we have been having some fun taking note of some of the more humorous English names given to stores and restaurants here in China - most of which we were unable to photograph but I did manage to catch this "Nice Shop" photo while going to the park today. Two of our favorite finds are a store in Chongqing named "Vague Concept" - I'm not sure what they sell but maybe they don't either. Last night JanLee spotted a restaurant that surely gets the best of reviews - "The Village of Gruel".

Quinn, we can't wait to get home and cook with you and your new spoon. We talk about you to everyone in the travel group and everyone has seen your pictures. They all think you're great. We will write another short blog in the morning as we don't leave for the airport until afternoon. Please listen to Grandma and Pa-Pa about the going to bed on Tuesday night and then getting up to come to the airport to get us. Our plane gets in very late and we want you to be awake when we get there - sort of think of if as a long nap at bedtime. We love you! Sending more and more hugs and kisses and we're waving.