This afternoon we went to a beautiful spot in the city called Century Park. Here is the entrance.

Amy called this structure a “broadcast tower”. You see the needle on top and the upside-down cone beneath it? Under that cone is a dining room with a 360 degree view that is 100 meters - roughly the length of a football field - above the ground. This is where we had dinner. Tables lined the outside wall of the room on a very slowly rotating floor. By the time we completed dinner, we had made a little more than one complete revolution so we had a spectacular view of the entire city. Unfortunately the sun was going down and good photos were impossible.

I don’t know what this gentleman was looking at.

I mentioned to Amy that we haven’t seen grass this green in a l-o-n-g time because of the drought conditions back home. The landscaping in this place was beautiful.

There was a very serene lake in the middle of the park with paddle boats.

Strange looking boats indeed. Some of them looked like little UFOs. It was funny to see them meandering around the lake.

I love the contrast in this picture between the young and the old.

Split pants still make me giggle. We were mooned!

We tried to get the girls to pose. Easier said than done. Eliana was tickling Karys in an effort to get her to smile.

Karys was latched onto big sister.

This little lady couldn’t have stood more than 4 feet tall.

Am I a lucky man or what?

You can’t see it in this picture but the young man reaching over the water has a very thin fishing line. He’s fishing for goldfish.

There was an area in the park where some older people were exercising. This group of men were gathered around a set of high monkey bars demonstrating feats of agility and strength. Show offs!

Our van driver’s little 5-year-old daughter joined us later. Eliana was her typical shy self when they first met but then they started playing together and exploring the park. They got along well despite the communication barrier.

This guy was spinning tops with a whip. Impressive...and loud.

We were at breakfast when I noticed a Caucasian couple walk into the hotel restaurant with two little Chinese girls. One thing we’ve learned, especially in THIS province, is that just because a person is Caucasian doesn’t mean he/she is American. The majority have not been. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any other Americans since we’ve been here. As it turns out, this particular couple IS from the US of A.

Tema returned from filling her plate at the breakfast buffet and excitedly told us about meeting the wife. Her and her husband are from Connecticut.

We had only been eating for a few minutes when the wife, Amy, walked up to our table. Bless her heart...she seemed very relieved to meet us. Her and husband Steve received word from their agency only a couple of days ago that they were traveling and they flew in yesterday. We don’t return to Beijing until Friday so I’m sure we’ll get together and let the girls play sometime. They are just one floor above us.

We were to meet Amy in the lobby at 11:30 for lunch. Even though breakfast wasn’t fully digested, we were downstairs by 11:45 and walked maybe 10-15 minutes to the restaurant. After lunch we stopped by a mall that was an endless maze of stores. Eliana brought a stuffed animal back to the hotel.

One of the things I wanted to do this trip was take pictures of everyday life in China. Here are a couple from our little excursion:

On the return trip to the hotel, Eliana was thirsty so we plopped the kids down at a little corner vendor where we’ve been buying our juices and water.

Tom...these are for you, buddy.

Eliana wanted Karys to sleep in the bed with her last night.

Eliana moves around when she sleeps. She moves around a LOT! She slings arms and legs and is occasionally turned upside-down in the bed when we check on her in the mornings.

Carmi and I agreed to let them share a bed.

Eliana must have been thinking about Karys all night because, as far as we know, big sis stayed on her half. At least we didn’t hear any squeals of being smushed from little sis.

They went to bed around 10:00 pm. It’s now 6:45 am and Eliana has been up for a while but Karys is still sleeping soundly.

I hope this is a good sign.

This journal offers a peek inside the Henderson home where you'll find two Little Empresses. Eliana stole our hearts on October 29, 2002 and Karys forever became a part of our family on September 17, 2007. Is a Little Emperor in the future?