Shamian Island

We spent our day today on Shamian Island, which is a peaceful place with beautiful parks, flowers, gift shops, and restaurants galore.  We met a family this morning at breakfast who is here with their two sweet daughters and newly adopted adorable son.  It was discovered that we were all headed to Shamian, and we decided to meet up with them for dinner at Lucy's.  Our families bumped into each other walking around so we did some shopping and bartering before dinner.  Their youngest daughter absolutely melted my heart when she excitedly asked her dad to take the Panda Bear stuffed animal out of his backpack since she had bought it special for Mackenzie.  At breakfast, Mackenzie was fascinated by this little girl's Panda Bear and so she bought one for Mackenzie.  So sweet!!!

For those of you who know me well, this will not surprise you, but I HATE bartering.  I would rather look at a price tag and decide whether or not I want to buy something.  The first shop we walked into, I am sure I had a neon, flashing sign above my head that read, "Sucker".  The husband asked Jacques to sit down and have tea and snacks with him, while the wife took me into the basement to shop.  BAD IDEA!!!  This sweet woman spent over an hour with me walking around the shop while showing me all of her treasures.  I picked out a beautiful, hand painted wedding box for Mackenzie and Lily.  Chinese parents fill these precious boxes with items like Jewelery, rice (as a symbol that the daughter will never go hungry), candies (as a symbol that her life will always be sweet), and any other treasure that is special to the family.  It was such a special time for me to think about each girl's personality and pick out a special box that suited each one.  I love the Chinese people and their rich culture, and want to share as much of it with my daughters as I can someday.  The main reason I hate bartering is because it makes me feel like I am robbing these sweet people of their livelihood.  I don't look at it as me getting a deal, but rather like I am stealing from them.  The next few shops we went into I told Jacques he was not allowed to sit down for tea, and put him to work bartering for me.  Holy cow, I'm pretty sure Jacques could somehow convince these people to give him money for their items.  Needless to say, Jacques got us some amazing deals the rest of the day! 

Emily and Kelley Shopping on Mother's Day

My sweet sweaty babies

The girl's "sharing" Mackenzie's new Pleasant Goat cell phone

A trip to Shamian would not be complete without buying some
$5 squeaky shoes from Jenny's

After a long, exciting day spent bonding with our sweet girls,

we headed back to our hotel for a bath,

tooth brushing, and bed.

The only thing that could have made this Mother's Day better,

would have been to have my two big girls here with us too!