Eating Spaghetti

The other 2 families in my group are great - we all get along really well. One of the dads is scheduled to leave on Sunday and then one of the moms is going to leave on Monday. So both families wanted to see if Meg could come to dinner with us and explain to the two 7 year-olds what was about to happen. Our guide (also named Michael) doesn't quite seem to understand some of these concepts - Meg's Chinese is better than Michael's English. So, since we were all a little tired of Chinese food, Meg took us to a nice Mediterranean (sp?) restaurant. I ordered a salad (with no repercussions - yea!) and spaghetti. I have included some photos of our boy - he thoroughly enjoyed it!! The waiters and waitresses from the restaurant all came to look at him - he was a mess! Luckily he cleaned up well! After dinner we walked around an outdoor mall and then I took Michael home and gave him a bath. He is doing much better at bedtime too - no fits for 2 nights in a row - PRAISE GOD!!

This morning since Rick was leaving, we are going to do our "tourist thing" this afternoon. We are going to see the Temple of Heaven and then go to a Chinese acrobatic show - should be fun! Meg came and met us for breakfast and then we went to a bookstore. I bought a couple of photo books - one about Beijing and the other about the Great Wall. Very cool pictures!! I also got a couple of children's books for Michael that he loves (and they were only $1). We then went to Meg's apartment to do a load of laundry...for free!! I did a load at the hotel and it was SO expensive. Oh well, I am set now until I get to Guangzhou where laundry will be much cheaper. So we hung out at Meg's studio apartment - it was really nice. Quite spacious and modern. It is located in an "artsy" area which was fun. A shopping center (located in the courtyard of her building) is scheduled to open in Aug. and I am sure that will be great. She seems very happy there. We ate lunch at her place, and guess what we had...PBJs!!!! She said we could order out, but I BEGGED her for the sandwich!! It was the best one EVER!! (and guess what Bompa? It was Skippy Super Chunk - your favorite!). Michael ate his all up and loved it!! He was actually quite messy about it, but oh well, he cleans up quite easily. I am just glad to know that he will eat anything when we get home - especially since my cooking is not great!! One more full day in Beijing, and then on Tuesday, we are off to Guangzhou - our last stop before coming home - yea!!! I am ready!!