Yesterday, as Gord mentioned, was a very busy day sightseeing. Stacie was such a trooper! We started our day visiting with Stephanie, Sarah and Ryan on the webcam. It made me feel so much better seeing them and talking with them through our computers. : ) When we landed in Shanghai I was so very tired and was sad because I missed my kids so much. The familiar pang of saddness came over me just like it did two years ago when we first came to China. I don't know if it is because of the very long trip, jet lag, the feeling of oppression in this country, or emotions, but it reared its ugly head again. Thank goodness that after sleeping the first night and talking with the kids my outlook became very bright and we were able to enjoy the day.

Back to what we did yesterday.... We met our guide, Julie, in the lobby and after exchanging some money we were off to see Shanghai. I out that Shanghai is pronounced like Shonghai.

Our first stop was the Shanghai museum. It was amazing to see pottery that was 7000 years old. There were a lot of very old, ancient items at the museum. Stacie was very intereded in the bronze artifacts and noticed certain details that I had overlooked. By the way, traveling with a three year old is a lot of fun because you see things in a very different way. After the museum we toured Old Town and the Yu Garden. Old town is how China was 100 years ago and the Garden next to Old Town is 400 years old. There were so many people because of the holiday this week that it was hard to even move on the streets of Old Town. It was weird to see the building of OT have Starbucks and DQ.

We learned a lot about Chinese tradition and culture when touring the Garden. It was very peaceful place and Stacie slept through most of the garden tour that Julie gave.

Then it was off to Nanjing Road (a pedestrian shopping area) and then to the Bund - which is an area by the Huangpu River. We enjoyed walking along the water - and we had fun seeing many people look at Stacie and then look at us in curiosity. We received a lot of smiles and Stacie seemed to charm many people with her bright personality. She was so very happy during the day. Gord had a lot of boys looking at him because of his height - they were wo kind.

We had dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant overlooking the river and then we took an evening cruise down the river.

Stacie keeps talking about her brother and wants to know when we are getting him. When we landed in China I told Stacie that we were in China and she looked up at me with excitement and said "Oh thank you mommy, thank you!! Now can we get Eli?"

Today we are going up the Pearl Tower and then we will take the train to Nanjing. Even though we are so very far away I feel your prayers and please continue do so for us.

Sue