Exploring Zhengzhou

The last two days have been rest days while we waited for our paperwork to process and Steven's passport to be issued. It was SO nice not to have any long bus rides or mounds of paperwork to sort through.

We were able to explore the city of Zhengzhou with the kids, enjoying the local parks and getting to stretch our legs. The roses are in bloom all over the city, and they are beautiful. Yesterday we went to two different parks and enjoyed the spring flowers and plants, sculptures and walking paths.

Steven's favorite thing to do 

is walk (with help). He's eager

to get on the move! 

The view is pretty good from up here too! 

We found an archeological park that had a large dig

covered by a plexiglass ceiling you could walk on.

Eleanor really enjoyed, "seeing the ground!" 

It was the site of an ancient and long gone palace. 

Year of the Goat/Sheep!  

There were lots of families feeding the pigeons, 

so we dropped some crumbs too. 

Poor Eleanor was trying to keep her 

legs as FAR from the pigeons as she could 

while yelling, "Pigeons are NOT my favorite!" 

This rock is shaped like a TURTLE! 

Today we went out again, but it is May Day, a work holiday here. So, it was really crowded with families. The crowds were a little overwhelming for us, and again we were swamped with requests for photographs.

We might have powered through it, but we ran afoul of one of the local customs. Kids here in China don't potty train, at least not the way we do. If they need to go, they just drop their pants and go, right there on the sidewalk. Whatever you do, when walking in China, avoid puddles at ALL COSTS. By the third kid we saw doing this and then running off and the sitting on the same benches we were sitting on, etc... well, we wrapped it up early and went to the hotel to take hot, soapy baths.

Beautiful Adelaide and the beautiful roses. 

Eleanor climbed the dragon stairs! 

Goofing off in the subway (which was super clean

and really easy to use).  

The girls adore taking care of Steven. Adelaide

is feeding him puffs while we wait for lunch. 

Since Mom got grossed out and cancelled

park time, we treated the kids to frosty

cones at Burger King. Yum!  

No worries! The Hilton set up an 

indoor (pee free!) play area in the hotel. 

Tomorrow we pack up our things for a plane flight to Guangzhou, where the US embassy is located. We'll work on getting Steven's visa there. Just one more week and we can come home. We're really looking forward to able to have green salads and ice cubes again.