Day 15: Six Banyan Temple, Chen House, best meal yet!!!

Today was another touring day with our fellow FTIA families. We met John (our guide) and the other families in the hotel lobby at 9:30 a.m. (after another over indulging White Swan breakfast!!!!).

There were 3 other families on the tour and 8 kiddos total. First stop was the Temple of Six Banyan Trees....an ancient Buddhist temple originally built in 537 in the Liang Dynasty. It is one of 4 Buddhist temples in Guangzhou. It was raining, and our 2nd Buddhist temple since arriving in China, so we weren't overly partaking in its wonderment. The second stop was the Guangzhou Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family built in the 1890's during the Quing Dynasty. It was built as a collective effort by the Chen families from 72 counties all over Guangdong providence to honor and worship their ancestors. OR, as Greg prefers to describe it for blog purposes, "just tell 'em it was a real snoozer"....I think we're kinda China'd out on the sights. We enjoy spending time with the other families and seeing the sights though...just ready to come home.

From there we stopped at "Carrefour" grocery store for snacks/groceries. It was fun seeing the bizarre variety of flavors and food available. We purchased mostly snacks and PB, bread for the room, a Pineapple Beer (for Greg), Pearl River Beer (aka Guangzhou beer for us - love it!!), various snacks (Pringles regular YAY!) and goldfish, gummies, M&M's, suckers and teddy grahams for BenBen. Ben is happiest when he's eating....and with a nearly 25 travel time home....lots of snacks will be flowing.

We ate PB sandwiches in the room for a quick lunch and put the boys down for naps (yes, both boys!!). I took laundry back to the "Chinese Life" gift shop and toured the island a little while Greg stayed back with the nappers. When I returned, the boys were still napping so Greg took his turn roaming/touring. He was adventurous enough to cross the bridge off the island and head back to the shopping area from yesterday. The boys woke after a nearly 3 hour nap and we watched Ni Hao Kai Lan on my iPad until Greg returned.

It was around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. by this point so we decided to walk down by the pool to see if our fellow FTIA buddies were swimming. We met them on the way, and after letting the boys swim for a while, decided on dinner at a local restaurant off the beaten path - with a wonderful reputation for cheap food, great service and excellent food. Sounded great!! For those traveling, it's on the 5th floor above Jordon's gift shop...no elevator. Just head to the back of the hall between Jordon's shop and up to the 5th floor. They have menus in English and Chinese, air conditioning and help yourself rice from a huge crockpot...and a cat running around. The people were very accommodating....happily pushing tables together for our large group. The food was EXCELLENT - best we've had so far - and cheap!!! DEFINITELY a top recommendation for Shamian Island. Plus, they offer takeout food AND TsingTao!....+ only 2 blocks from the White Swan. We had a great time!!! LOVE our travel buddies...truly a blessing on this journey. I'm sure you'll see our dinner highlight in Greg's photos -- a chicken dish the Teague's ordered with the head still attached. At one point Greg was using it as a puppet....I nearly vomited. Good laughs though...not sure the locals appreciated our "American" humor though!

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the "Chinese Life" gift shop for our laundry (great prices! - like $20 for a week's worth - 4 people) much better than the hotel and same day service - neatly folded and tucked inside plastic bags. Highly recommend!)....and of course, BenBen stole the show. All the girls in the store know his name and follow him around for kisses. He only wants his Mama though....LOVE!!!

Back to the room and quickly skyped the kids! Miss them soooooo much --- only 3 more days!!! Doesn't seem real! They look like they've grown so much since we've been gone! :( Baths for the boys then bed. I'm finishing the blog and right behind them.

Tomorrow is our U.S. Consulate appointment -- the swearing in, under oath, that will make BenBen a US Citizen once he lands on US soil. Our LAST appointment in this journey and we couldn't be happier!!! We've enjoyed this once in a lifetime opportunity....we will cherish these memories forever. We're glad we had the 3 weeks to bond and attach with BenBen....it seems like we've always had him - already! But we're ready to get home....see our Ellie Bell and Jack Jack and see BenBen with his entire family and "go go" - (his Chinese pronunciation of dog). Our lives will never be the same...it's hard to believe we met our precious lil man only 2 weeks ago today!!

We'll leave early tomorrow morning with another FTIA family at 7:05 a.m. and will return around 11:00 a.m. We'll lunch and nap and we have tours scheduled with the other families at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday is a free day (other than picking up BenBen's visa and packing - and maybe our "Red Couch" photos!) and Wednesday we leave!!!!!!!!!!!

BenBen has really been great these past two days. No meltdowns and very well behaved....95% of the time!! That's pretty awesome for any 2 1/2 year old!!! The whining is ceasing too -- it was like a cry, but not really a cry. DROVE US CRAZY!! Anyway, that is lessening as his/our communication improves. He's also learning to count (almost to 10 - in English!) and LOVES to laugh....he's a VERY happy little guy and charms everyone he meets. He has such energy and sweetness and big cheeks that everyone tries to kiss!!! He's getting better with walking but still quite clumsy and trips/falls a lot. He's mostly been walking lately (his big boy independent little self) vs. the stroller and we're glad to see him gaining strength (and some exercise)!! I gotta tell ya though....this kid sweats!!! Poor guy...gotta get him some dri fit shirts for our humid Evansville summers!!!