Shopping on Shamian (Sunday, Nov 2)

***If you haven't already, be sure to scroll down and catch the several new posts that I've cranked out in the past 12 hours. I've been busy playing catch up because I know there's gonna be no time to get caught up once we get home and Caleb has an entire house to explore...***

No adoption trip to China is complete without a little shopping on Shamian Island! The shops are totally set up for lightening the wallets of adoptive parents! One thing I've noticed though is that it is much easier to buy stuff for little girls than it is for little boys. Don't worry though, we stocked up on Chinese silk outfits, jade jewelry, and various trinkets for the kids to play with over the next few years.

On our last trip we met Jordan and he wrote Kylie's English name in Chinese characters. What he actually does is take the English pronunciation and figures out what characters are the closest in sounds. The characters for Kylie's name were the ones for "victory" and "jasmine." Of course we visited him again (and spent some time and money in his shop) to have Caleb's name drawn as well.

The characters for his name are "victory" and "glory."

Shamian is such a quiet island (especially compared to the noise of the big city) and we enjoyed walking up and down the streets taking in the sights of everyday life just as much as we enjoyed shopping. We checked out several of the statues and it was fun to let Kylie get "up close and personal" with some of the ones she was pictured with last year as a baby.

She really studied the kids faces in detail.

For some time Kylie has had a pink princess cell phone ($2.97 at Wal-Mart) and shortly before we came to China we were standing in the check out at Wal-Mart (I don't usually like to shop there, but the pull-ups that fit her best ~ White Cloud ~ are only sold there) and she saw a yellow Mickey phone that she thought we should get for Caleb. Remembering how Beth's girls always wanted similar items, I figured it was a good way to spend $3. The phone was a hit with Caleb and the two stood in front of each other for two days acting like they were talking ~ until Kylie left hers somewhere. While we were shopping in one of the stores looking for a chop set for Caleb a pink Minnie phone caught Kylie's eye. At a mere $2 Ian and I decided it was well worth it! She was thrilled when she realized that it played Chinese techno music...

Our "little emperor" rather liked being strolled around and Kylie was content to let him ride as long as she had her phone.

After about an hour we met with the other four families in our group at the White Swan for our red couch photos. We did lots of different groupings, so I'll throw those on their own post. (One funny note about the red couch photo shoot ~ in the confusion of getting out of there when we were done, Kylie left her new phone!) Then it was lunch at Lucy's. Man did that grilled cheese sandwich taste good! During that meal Caleb may have reached a turning point because for the first time, he refused to eat noodles. When we got back to the hotel, I put Kylie down for a nap (Caleb had sacked out on the bus ride) and C.C. put her kids down too. Then she and I took a taxi back to the island for some more intense shopping without worrying about our children taking out a tea set. It was fun girl time and we both probably spent a bit more together than we would have on our own. However our kids will be smartly dressed in Chinese silk for years...

And in TOTAL randomness, the following picture is for all of my CCC friends. It would seem that even in foreign countries there is a "drip bowl" for coolers of liquid. This made me snicker at the breakfast buffet (perhaps the extreme tiredness I've been experiencing is taking it's toll on my humor) yesterday and I just had to share...