Saturday, A Free Day

We are all done in Hangzhou as far as paperwork and appointments so today was a free day.

Poor Bob succumbed to CCS, China colon syndrome. He also had a fever and decided to stay in bed for the day. I also think he was plumb wore out!

Joshua and I went solo for the day and I was hoping this would be good bonding time.

We decided to go to West Lake and ride a boat out to the man made sland. West Lake is surrounded on three sides by mountains and is bordered by the city on the other. I learned that the lake is no deeper than a few meters. I hope to have more pictures later but two things happened as we boarded the boat. One, my camera battery died. Two, in this humid environment, the camera lens fogs over frequently and results in foggy pictures.
It was Joshua's first time on a boat. Rewarding doesn't begin to explain how I feel when I am allowed to experience the firsts in a child's life. The island was beautiful. Joshua loved feeding the ducks and large Koi fish. We emptied out all our snacks we had brought as he was having such a good time.

After a while, he got very quiet. I mean VERY quiet. He would not tell us why. I am concerned how we will know when his breathing or heart are hurting him as we have yet to learn his thresholds of activity. I guessed that he was worried about Bob back in the hotel and/or the heat was bothering him. It is extremely hot and humid in Hangzhou and Joshua already sweats because of his condition. Seeing him shut down like that made me cry. I told our guide to let him know that it is okay to be worried or upset and that we only want the best for him.

After the boat ride, we went "shopping" again as we could walk to the Carrefour. Since we did not have a time table, we browsed the store. We took Joshua to the food section to check out the variety of food. Oh, we laughed when he made it very clear he did NOT like the smell in the fish section. I thought it was cool to see all the different kinds of fish, he thought it was gross. We bought a few treats for home and some soda for Bob's stomach and headed back to the hotel.

Since Joshua was all done for the day, our guide ran down to KFC and got him a chicken sandwich and fries. He polished off every single morsel.
After checking on Bob who was still sleeping it off, we headed for the pool to try out those goggles.

Any kid who has his picture taken that much deserves a little justice.
We had our first "moment" in the pool Joshua decided to try out some screaming. To give him credit, there was a cool echo and he laughed after each screech. We worked it out later when I made my point, in very poor Chinese, to please not scream.

Is he a goofball or what? He really is as cute as he looks.
Happy to report that Bob felt better by the end of the day and bounced back beautifully. Very glad we had our own little personal drugstore-to-go in the suitcase. It served us well.

Tomorrow we pack up and head to Guangzhou, China for the second week of our adoption trip. Joshua will experience his first plane ride. We have tried to prepare him but who knows what he thinks is going to happen.

I'll let you know how he does.