Day 9...

Today was another site seeing day, but first...food!

After breakfast we met Helen to go visit Shamian Island.  This was a very pretty "island" used as a port by British settlers back in the day (at least I think that's what she said!). There were several really cool statues of the settlers interacting with the locals.  That provided plenty of photo ops for us...and the girls provided plenty of photo ops for the locals!  ;)  

looking cute and on our way!

It was nice and sunny, but crazy hot!  

We were there about 30 seconds before this happened!  I mean, who wouldn't want their picture with these cuties?!

Jeter was not as into posing as his sisters were!

Another great dip opportunity!

We really enjoyed walking around and taking it all in.  There were several shops so we were able to pick out some souvenirs, along with some traditional outfits for Jeter and the girls.  Ryne and Jeter also changed into new shirts because it was so hot!!

We ate lunch there at a place called "Lucy's" which was a famous diner on the island. I think it was famous because it served American food, which people like us flock to!  Lol. The food was pretty good, but nothing like a good whataburger!  :)

Jeter and I shared some fried rice!  It was pretty good and I found out that he shares food about as good as Jeremy does!  lol!

After lunch we walked around some more and found a play ground.  The kids were happy to play for a little bit.

This little guy did not want to leave the playground, so this happened!  

We started making our way back to the van, stopping for pictures along the way.

we made it back and we were pretty excited about the ac!  ;)

We were all ready for some downtime in the room, so that is where we headed...

Then it was time to go play in the play area for a little while...

Ryne met a new friend!  The play area was located in the long term apartment area.  This little girl and her mom had been in China for a year and had 2 more years left before returning to India. They were super nice and fit right in with our crazy kids!

After playing for about an hour we decided to let the kids check out the pool and dip their toes in.  That was the idea anyways, but this was the reality!  ha!

but I mean when it brings this much joy how do you say no?!

Since they were completely soaked we walked over to the little play area so they could play and air dry a little before going to our room.

this cutie needed a snack!

we found more friends to play with...

The sun started going down so we headed to the room.  Everyone needed baths and showers so I tackled that while J went out to pick up pizza from Pizza Hut.  Love clean kids in cute pj's!

Other than being so hot, today was a really good day.  We are all making progress, and each day it gets a little closer to normal. There are definite moments of chaos and temper tantrums, but it seems like they are subsiding - with constant snacks in hand! :)