Playing at People's Park

Yue Lan Helps Eric buy tickets for a ride. 

One of the best places to go to in NAnning is The People's Park.  It's like Central Park in NYC...only a bit more Chinese!  And by that I mean there are no rules or regulations for rides and such.  So, of course we love it!  The only thing...it occurred to me as we were pedaling this crazy bike-like contraption on a track that was fifty feet in the air, that we were the only people riding the rides.  I wonder if there is something the locals know that we do  not!  Oh well, we survived...

Riding the Carousel.  You can't tell very well, but Yue Lan chose a pink unicorn...very girlie!

This is how the locals steal your money...the vendors lure kids in to play games one after the other and then, at the end when your kid is done, they demand payment.  Luckily they are only about .$75 a game.  Still, it adds up!  You have to learn pretty quick how to say a firm "No" or they will pester you FOREVER!

This is the crazy bike contraption I talked about earlier...kind of crazy!

After we rode all the rides we felt were okay for a child with a still undetermined heart condition, we decided to explore the park.  It is HUGE and has everything: play grounds, a petting zoo, an aquarium, a bird feeding place, lakes you can take boats/paddle boats on, walking trails, and even exercise areas which we played on for, like, forever!  It was all too fun! 

Yue Lan "won" a bottle of bubbles after playing a bazillion games, and I could not believe how much she enjoyed them!  Seriously, you would think she had just won the lottery or something.  She even found some little kids to blow them at to triple her fun!

Walking around the park was okay for her, but after climbing a few stairs (like 8), she was panting and loosing energy FAST!  So, Baba came to the rescue and offered to be her personal mule.  At first she was hesitant, but after she tried it, she had a great time!  As a matter of fact, she kept wanting to be carried the rest of the day!

The exercise areas really were a blast.  And there was this one piece of equipment (which Hazel is posing on below) that was great for stretching my back on!  I tell you, the beds in China are HARD - like, why don't we just stop pretending and just sleep on the floor, hard!  Thankfully, my back felt great after sprawling out on this thing!

Hannah is doing the back stretch, too!

She may be part Monkey like the rest of the kids in our family considering how much she liked climbing all over everything!

After about 4 hours of playing in the park, we were all very hungry.  So, we decided to take Hazel to Pizza Hut for her first pizza, EVER!  Now, I have to tell you, the Pizza Huts in China are really nice restaurants.  They have a really large and diverse menu, but we decided to stick to the basic pepperoni pizza.  And she really liked it!  Although, I think she liked the chicken wings better.  No worries, we have plenty of time to train her in the fine art of pizza appreciation.  

I haven't told you about the best part of the day yet.

It occurred as we were winding our way through the park heading towards an exit.  We stopped to look at something and I said "Wo ai ni, Yue Lan" (I love you).  Trust me, it was not the first time I said that.  I probably say it 50 times a day.  She usually just looks at me and turns away.  No worries, I expect that.   

But this time, she looked at me, then kind of buried her head in Hannah's side and said shyly "Wo ai ni, Mama".  

I was too happy!

Then, Eric jumped on the bandwagon and got one too.  So did Hannah.  We were all thrilled!  Looks like we just took a giant leap forward.

I love the miracle of adoption!