Happy Birthday Colin!

Well, birthdays are a big deal at the Rylands' house, so they start first thing in the morning!

Here we are singing Happy Birthday to Colin.  As you can tell, I am conveniently hidden behind the camera!
 

Colin reading his birthday card (in Chinese) and his birthday morning message on Google translate.



For his birthday, we gave him a new wallet with a small bit of spending cash, the set of Narnia books in Chinese, and the framed artwork of the Ox (his birth year symbol).

 

Tommy got into the fun too!


After getting the gang up and going for the day, we met our guide downstairs and headed over to McDonalds. We made arrangements for the birthday celebration and went up to the third floor of the Citic Shopping Plaza and ordered Colin's birthday cake.  Once this housekeeping was over, we enjoyed breakfast together and then caught our ride.  We started the day with Shopping. Mr. Adam (Lucy's Dad) asked if Elsie could take us to Mao Sheng Jewelry in the local Pearl Market.  We enjoyed seeing all the pearls (of all colors)!  Tommy wanted a "keepsake" from his trip to China. So, he took his spending money and purchased a large purple heart shaped cubic zirconia.  Mr. Adam and his wife had purchased pearls here for their two other daughters and wanted to get sweet Lucy her set here too.  We had fun watching the ladies string the pearls and attach the clasps for each order.  This is definitely the country for pearls.  Great deals here!

After leaving the pearl store, we hit the proverbial jackpot at a DVD store.  We picked up a few DVDs for the 14 hour ride home that come with Chinese subtitles.  We even got a couple that aren't even available in the US yet.  What we would normally pay about $20-$25 for in the states cost us about $3 EACH!  (And I didn't even need a COUPON!) LOL

After the short shopping excursion, we headed back to Shamain Island to get the TB tests checked for both kids.  All was well and we were quickly on our way over to the White Swan Hotel for some pictures.  For those who may not know, the White Swan is very famous in the adoption community since so many adoptive families stay there.  There is a "RED SOFA" that has bene in many a photograph, including ours!

Little Lucy and Colin at the White Swan



Here is the indoor waterfall in the main lobby of the hotel

and here is the large carving of a ship

So after we left the White Swan, we had a few minutes of free time before we had to leave for the birthday party.  We ran over to Jordans (a gift shop) and had a wonderful time with the owner.  He is a Christian and had some really neat things.  Tom got a mug with Matt. 16:3 on it in Chinese.  We also got Colin a Bible Story book in Chinese with a DVD also in Chinese & English.  These were items that he was selling for cost directly from his local church.  We were able to find a couple of nice simple gifts for the loved ones.  Of course, as it happens, the gift shop was right next to the ..... CHAMBER OF COMMERCE!  I couldn't resist taking a photo!  Perhaps we can write this trip up as research?  Bryan?  Just sayin'!

Now, it is on to McDonalds and the birthday party.  Don't laugh!  Both boys had fun and there were limited options for such short notice! LOL

Even though we weren't expecting it, we got the full treatment! 

 Our guide presented us with a special candle for Colin's cake.  It is something else!  Take a gander at this video.

We had such a fun time!  This afternoon we relaxed in the room and this evening, we had dinner at IKEA.  Great prices, decent food, but NO TABLES!  It was so crowded that we had to stalk people to get a seat.  Not much fun. Now we are sharing the leftovers of Birthday cake and getting into bedtime mode.  Colin is happy as a lark with his headphones on listening to his new CD.  Funny to hear him singing along with the headphones on. LOL 

Tomorrow is a free day and we will be totally on our own, so I'm thinking that it might be a movie marathon in the room sort of day.  Needless to say, we are all a bit sick of fast food. Almost everything we eat here comes with a remark from Tommy that, "This is ok Dad, but it's not as good as YOURS!" Of course, he is right. Tom is a wonderful cook and I suspect that we will not be eating out for some time once home.

Now that we are almost done with the official business of the adoption (Wed. is our last appt.) we are wishing we had tickets to leave before Saturday.  Looking into the options to leave earlier, but not sure we can.  Waiting to hear back from the travel agent now.

Hope you all enjoy a productive day! 

Keep those comments comin'!  We love getting up each day and hearing from "home".

Angie