This morning we went to another park. I had gone to this park in 2009 but it has changed some. It is always nice to get out. We spend a lot of time in the hotel and get stir crazy!


The park entrance






The theme of the park now is London. This is part of the Harry potter display. Very cool.





Clock made of flowers











Five years ago we brought Lily to this park and had her picture taken in the same costume.











London calling...





Oh boy did she love the flowers. But she got very upset when Daddy wouldn't let her pick a rose she so desperately wanted.





I {heart} red lanterns!

















Gift shop-





First taste of cotton candy? I have to say this was some weird tasting stuff. The purple tasted like chocolate. :0/





Cotton candy maker-





What child wouldn't love one of these awesome balloons. We tried not to buy her one but you could tell she was so excited to see them and her reaction made it totally worth it!





Showing daddy which one she wanted





She ran back to me with pure joy on her face. How can you not love this?? And daddy's protective hand on that string! Not gonna let the baby fly away.

Thursday we had our medical appointment. It's typically dreaded by adoptive families and our experience in the past wasn't that great. This was our first time at the new facility and it really went pretty well. Didn't take too long and she did great. She did get a little upset at her blood draw though but daddy was quick to comfort with hugs and suckers!





The ENT visit was brief. He did mention she might need to see a dentist soon. I've noticed. ;)


The nurses weighing and measuring our girl. She also had a vision test. She seemed to rock it!


Mickey themed floors. Wonder is Disney know? ;)


Met up with our guide from 2009. So great to see him and shared pictures of Lily all grown up with him. He's such a great guy.


My selfie with the lady that stared at us for every second we were there. We get TONS of stares everywhere we go. The younger lady started busting out laughing when she saw what I was doing.


Waiting our turn.

Thursday we went to the Chimelong Safari Park. I've always wanted to go and it was well worth it. We had such a fantastic time. This park has tons of animals and they are all out and about. Some of them you can get right close to. This park is also home to the only surviving set of Panda Triplets born in captivity. These babies were just born in July and we were so excited to see them. There were tons of other animals as well as a fake dinosaur trail SuLi wasn't very fond of and a snake exhibit that scared her and we had to run through. There were tons of school kid there and they loved saying hello to the Americans. We probably said hello to a hundred school kids. SuLi had such a great time. She just loves animals and the giraffe is her favorite.



The park entrance-






The Safari Train- such fun!











Our travel buddies Chris and Emily. They have been perfect companions for this trip. Their little boy is from Suli's orphanage.











I was literally this close to this zebra


















This chimpanzee stopped and posed for SuLi.





The Pandas were fascinating to watch.








This is the panda newborn nursery where the panda triplets went when they were first born.






I had to have this big blown up giraffe. For under $3 it can't be beat.





Baby white tigers.





The calamari snack shack.

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Today we went back to the civil affairs office to make it final. It can be very intimidating as you are "interviewed" by officials. But since this isn't my first rodeo I wasn't in my A game and had my guard down. In the first room the lady was asking questions with a heavy accent. I answered the first two questions no problem. Then she asked something I didn't understand. I thought saying YES was safe, well hello I just said yes to the question- will you ever abuse or abandon her??? John looked at me with big eyes and I looked at the official. She was smiling. She knew I had just not understood her and I said no, no I never will. And thankfully we both laughed it off. In the second interview I either let John answer or waited for his lead. No goofs in that one. SuLi was very nervous going to the office and our guide was reassuring her we were going and leaving all together. She never fully relaxed until we were all done and walked outside. That is when I captured this:





Obviously relieved and happy. And this time when we left we got in the right van. 😉

Then we went to Walmart. It was very nice and it's one of my favorite places to go in China. We followed the same guideline here as at home. You can't get out of Walmart without spending at least $100. And that we did. But of course got a lot for our money.






























Always interesting selections to choose from. We then we spent the rest of the day playing and went to another store to buy her some shoes. The ones she came to us in are waaay too big and the ones I brought her are too small. She is a big 5 year old! So now we have some cute Mary Janes to go with anything.






She is still painfully quiet and shy but we know she will gradually open up. We've gotten a few smiles and laughs. She a sweet child.