Day 10 Going To The Zoo

Sunday, September, 2010

We didn't get much sleep last night because Olivia didn't feel good after getting three shots. We got up early and got ready to go to the Xiangjiang Safari Park. Grace called us at 6:30 a.m. just to check on us and to see if Olivia was doing okay after getting her shots. We decided to go ahead and go to the zoo. Grace picked us up at 9:00 am and we headed off to the zoo. On our way, we stopped and picked up another family who was going to the zoo with us. We had met them yesterday when we were standing in the long lines at the doctor's office. The Douglas family mom Terry, son Danny and daughter Nicole. Nicole was adopted when she was 12 months old. She told us that she came from China. She told us that she is 5 years old and she is starting kindergarten. Nicole entertained us during our trip. The father was sick and their new adopted son didn't feel good after getting his shots so they stayed back at the apartment. It was an hour drive to the zoo and Olivia fell asleep right away.

The park is very beautiful and extraordinarily large. The first half of the park, we got to ride a safari bus and got see the animals living in their natural environment. The second half was more up close and personal meaning it was a very long walk and Nicole was ready to see the pandas and go home. Olivia was still tired from the previous night and wasn't to worried about the animals that we saw, but she enjoyed her nice ride and eating her snacks. On the other hand, Kevin's snacks were stripped from him at the gate at our surprise because Grace told us to bring our own snacks for lunch. Grace went to take our snacks back to the van and then she decided to smuggle them back in for us and she did. So, Kevin was a happy camper when she returned to us with a big smile on her face opening her bag to show Kevin she had his beef snacks. She just earned a big tip today from Kevin. We ate our snacks that we brought, but Nicole didn't have a good experience. She wanted her mom to buy her some noodles and fries for her and not eat the snack that her mom brought. Her mom went to the counter to order and the ladies wouldn't wait on her. They waited on everyone else but Terry. Terry came back to our table and asked Grace to come to the counter because there must be a problem. The ladies took her order and also took her money, but they only gave her some cold fries that Nicole wouldn't eat, but of course Olivia ate them for her. The ladies told Terry that they were out of noodles so she would have to wait for them. When the noodles were ready they served them to everyone else but Terry. Finally, Terry asked for her money back and poor little Nicole didn't get her noodles for lunch. We shared our snacks with her so she would have something to eat. She was a good sport and didn't even realize what was going on. She really liked Kevin's beef snacks and he didn't might sharing with her.

When we returned back to our room, Olivia enjoyed looking at the photo album that we had sent to her back in February. She would really get excited looking at our pictures and her bedroom, calling us mama and baba. When she gets excited she starts talking in Chinese.  We wish we knew what she was saying because she looks so happy. Olivia was feeling a lot better after we got back to her room and she could run around in the room and color.

We went to Lucy's restaurant tonight for supper which serves western food. Kevin was a happy man. We both ordered hamburger with cheese, fries and Coke. Olivia got the kids meal which included chicken strip, half hot dog, fries, fruit and ice cream. She liked the hot dog, chicken and ate a few fries. She wasn't interested in the watermelon tonight, but she has liked it before. They brought her a small bowl of ice cream, which she has never had ice cream. I gave her a tiny bite and she didn't like it at all. We think she didn't like the ice cream because it was cold. There was some whip cream on top so I got her to try it and she liked it. We will definitely be visiting Lucy's again before we leave. We returned back to our room and got ready for bed and finished our blog. Tomorrow we will be off to the doctor's office to check Olivia's TB skin test and get four more shots.