Check out the gal in the Ball!

We are in Nanchang China! We received our girl on Sunday night China time, sis boom bam! Instant parenthood...well not that instant given the 2 year wait. Brooke is a dream baby, she is an extreme extrovert and is very healthy. She is a little chunko with Michelin man thighs. This is a spicy province and I ordered room service for us the first day and ate some spicy food and paid dearly for it. Just when I recovered we went to an "authentic" restaurant across the the street and I hit montezuma's revenge big time. I am the only one that has gotten sick. Firecrackers keep going off. In the morning is means there is a funeral and at lunch time it means there is a wedding. This city sees very few foreigners but it is a big city of 3Million people with huge lanes, squares and parks. The walmart was an adventure in and of itself. It seems going to walmart is a local night out as well as a shopping experience. There are about 30 adoptive families in our hotel from different US agencies. It is also a popular Chinese Business hotel and it is very busy. The hotel is definitely a 5 star plus. The amenities are incredible. Still we would like to be home with our daughter and introducing her to everyone. We miss you all, have a wonderful holiday. Please feel free to email us, we have free high speed Internet access in our room 24/7.

Today we visited the "People's park" and it was a very cold, about 40 degree day. It was a beautiful park with exercise areas, a lake, a stream, pagodas, tea house, stage etc. There was an amusement area where Sienna and the other kids in the group rode the Merry go Round. The funny thing was an inflatable ball attraction that you paid to go inside and be pushed into the lake. You are supposed to run inside the ball and stay upright. Supposedly it burns twice the calories of a normal work out. 2 of the older kids tried it out and were pretty winded after. There was also a 61 year old man doing gymnastics on the high bar. He held on by the crooks of his arms and spun around the bar maybe 20-30 times. That was amazing

The last thing that was unique today included a group lunch in a new restaurant where they videotaped us eating for a local Jianxi province TV show (think KTLA). After we exited the restaurant they had us come in again and be greeted for the cameras like we were just showing up hungry. So now we are all local celebrities.

The Chinese continue to coo over Sienna but now also Brooke. They think she is very cute. Everyone helps with childcare here. In fact the waitress tonight insisted on helping us feed Brooke.

Yesterday we visited a 1000 year old pagoda that is a tourist attraction here and 1 blk from our hotel. It was interesting to walk the streets and see the people in everyday life. I think in one block we saw a lady chopping us fish on the street, 2 gambling halls with men packed inside playing Marjhong, and duck drying outside of windows. Sienna said that she wanted to come home and she is a little home sick, but the dvd player helps. Right now she is watching Jungle Book.

We will catch up again tomorrow.