Chen Clan Folk Art Museum & dinner at the Banana Leaf (Monday,Nov. 3)

**Yes, multiple posts are showing up today, but it is the first time in over 24 hours that I've had time to sit down at the computer, so I'm trying my best to get caught back up. We'll see how far I get before sleep overtakes me...**

I forgot to share a fun picture from the White Swan Red Couch photo series. Kylie loved her dress so much that she insisted on wearing it the rest of the day. (I knew that morning that I should have let her wear her white flip flops when she asked instead of insisting on her pink crocs). She didn't care one bit that her shoes and her dress clashed and she was spinning around in her delight that we let her leave the dress on. The only bad thing about her joy is that Caleb was in the stroller ~ don't worry though, he may have been getting dizzy from the spinning, but he was laughing!
So back to the Chen Clan Folk Art Museum. It was once the home of the VERY wealthy Chen family, and students in the clan would come in from the countryside to study for their big tests here. Now it houses somewhat of an art museum for local folk art in various forms including ivory carvings, amazing embroidery, fans, and old furniture.

We quickly wandered through some of the exhibits, but with two very active kiddos (by the way, we've started calling Caleb Taz ~ when you meet him you'll understand why!) we decided to step into the courtyards as our family enjoyed our first bits of blue sky and sunshine since we left Beijing the previous Sunday. The good weather boosted all of our spirits and I got some great pictures in addition to the elephant photo shoot!

Detail of the amazing roof line. I'd love to know how much man power went into creating this place!

Family shot at the lion statue. (Kylie has her hand in the lion's mouth because there is a stone ball inside ~ I'll have to ask Maggie if she knows the significance of it).

Caleb trying to take the ball out of the lion's mouth ~ his favorite toy is a ball!

One of our travel companion families looking stunning as a family in red!
Tina, Luke, Clayton, Zach, & Ken
Kylie in the courtyard showing us how high she could jump!
Caleb's silly side showing through.
(By the way, he's wearing an 18 month top and 24 month pants that are Circo brand from Target. The shirt is baggy and the pants are too long, especially in a country of squatty potties! ~ for those that wanted to know about his sizes...)
Both of my kiddos at a statue in the courtyard. Note Kylie's little jade bracelet ~ she is so proud of it and shows it to everyone, even strangers who stare at us on the street...
Soon Webster's is going to start using this picture to define mischievous!
An impulse buy for Kylie ~ not a bad deal at $4, she's been carrying it non-stop!

As it was our last night all together in Guangzhou, we had a group meal at The Banana Leaf, a Thai restaurant near the Guangzhou Friendship Store. I'd heard about the Banana Leaf many times and was excited to get to go there. The food was good ~ not the very best Thai I've ever eaten, but good ~ and the entertainment was fun. I ended up in one of the "hot seats" and after several minutes of putting off the dancing waiter, I finally decided to give in. It was clear that we, as obvious adoptive tourists, were being targeted and I took the fall for Heather who really didn't want to get out of her seat. (I figured that between all the video cameras that I saw out while I was dancing along that this would make it to someone's blog even if I didn't publish it...)

It was a bit too loud for Kylie's taste and she hid her face in Ian's shoulder, but Caleb was totally jammin along and tried to climb out of his highchair several times to join in the fun! He's nothing if not gregarious!

A long day with VERY short naps left our kiddos super tired and they sacked out almost immediately after bath time.