Cow and Bridge

Well, today was a totally unplanned and unstructured day. We did our usual lazy and extravagant breakfast. I am trying to encourage Melissa to start cooking a big breakfast for all the family but she seems somewhat totally resistant. After breakfast, Bill, Shelby, Piper, and I went back out for more shopping. We went to Jordon’s in order to meet our need for more stuff. We bought so much more stuff that we had to purchase another suitcase just to put bring the additional stuff home. I heard George Carlin passed away, so I thought I would use a bit of his “stuff” routine. I would not encourage any of you to listen to his tapes. After shopping, we convened at the pool, without Luke, as he was already down for his mid-day nap. For the record, he usually huffs-and-puffs for about 3 minutes before falling fast asleep. The weather here has been very hot, although today was much more pleasant than yesterday, which was quite humid. Some of us exercised later in the afternoon, but we mainly sat by the poolside. We finally figured out that you can order food by the poolside, so we had a very late afternoon round of Caesar salad, tuna sandwiches, and burgers—we need sustenance to get us through till dinner. Somewhere during the day I ran back out to pick up our laundry—two bags washed, dried, and folded for about $25—we need this type of service in Morton. Around 6:00p.m. we met almost all of the adoptive families in the hotel lobby for dinner. We strolled about 11 babies about 10 minutes to a Thai place called “The Cow and Bridge”. I am not certain what the name means—sorry, I should have asked. We ate quite well. Mainly rice and noodle dishes and some unique greens (not collard). For those who have never eaten Thai food, it is basically like eating wings, you pick either hot, nose running, or forehead sweating. I chose nose running fried lettuce and forehead sweating fried noodles with beef. The food, for me, would have been perfect if I had been able to chase it all down with coconut ice cream, which my brother Henry says is the only way to end a Thai meal. We returned to the hotel and spend a few hours, and a few RMB, in the game room of the hotel. It is like a small, tiny, version of a Dave and Buster’s. Some of the photos you see are from the game room. We checked the blog—love the comments and keep ‘em coming—and then played a few rounds of hearts. Piper is still counting cards and Cole keeps spoiling my ability to “run” the table. Everyone is in bed and I am just keeping this entry short because I am tired. We are beginning to think about packing—which is a good sign we are excited to come home. Tomorrow we should get final adoption papers completed so we can take Luke’s citizenship oath on Thursday. Tomorrow is also the traditional “red couch” picture day—that should be chaos with as many babies and families as will be involved. Those pictures will be fun for you all to see tomorrow.
Take care.