Day Trip with the Li Family

We went to a Botanical Garden with Sam's coworker, Steven Li, and his family. As always with China, it was more than we expected...

The Botanical Garden turned out to be more like a small carnival: rides, kids activities, sand pits, games, a big blow-up jumping castle, and more. Here is Eve waiting while Daddy is winning her a stuffed elephant. If you look in the background, there are small animals in cages on the ground. You can pay 10 yuan (about $1.50) for 6 hoops that you can try to hoop any of the animals and take them home. They've got gerbils, turtles, fish, parakeets, bunnies and more... and you could potentially take 6 of them home for $1.50! We did not elect to play this game because I didn't want to take care of any of them once we got home, but they were super cute and tempting regardless. We stuck with the stuffed elephant -- very little up-keep required =)

Here we are picnicking on the grass. We brought our own sandwiches, but were pressed upon to eat the spicy dried fish Mrs. Li brought anyway... =)

These were so cool! You can buy a little outline for about a $1, and then the kids can paint it in with the squeeze paint. Then they cook it for a few minutes and it becomes a window sticker! Super fun and super cute! I think we ought to try this in America...

Eve playing in the sand. Notice the little girl behind her. She just came up really close and squatted down and watched Eve the whole time. She didn't smile and wouldn't respond when we talked to her. I guess she just wanted to watch the little foreign kid...

Eve's favorite was the blow up castle. She went crazy in there! She fell over every 2 seconds and has probably never enjoyed something so much! She went running around like crazy! I had to take her jacket off because she broke a sweat after about 3 minutes running around in there!

Of course there were tears when we had to leave, but we will go again soon I'm sure. It was such an enjoyable outing and fun to spend time with new friends!