XiangHu Park

Well, guess what. Greg forgot to take the memory card out of the pc and put it in the camera. He was so distraught. I told him not to worry other people took pictures. We had them take some pictures of us. Greg did take the camcorder and got some really nice footage. We would put it on here but he says that he needs a fire wire which he didn't bring with him. The park that we went to was called XiangHu Park. It was absolutely gorgeous. I wish you all could see some pictures. In the park some people were doing Tai Chi. Greg asked if he could do it with them and they were thrilled that he would even want to. They had some beautiful music that they played and when they were done they all clapped. We got the whole thing on video. While Greg was doing Tai Chi, some older Chinese women came up to me and were touching Celia. They stroked her face and her hands and would clap and give me the thumbs up. Veronica said that they were saying that she was a pretty baby and that she was probably born to a single mother and both parents were well-educated. They said that her ear lobes were thick which means that she is very healthy and that her upper lip being long means longevity. The big size of her head means that she has a large brain meaning that she is very smart. We think that they are absolutely right. Of course, we are the parents and therefore are partial. We went further into the park and there was a man playing a Chinese instrument. It sounded somewhat like a violin. He played a song so that Greg could video it. It was beautiful. He seemed embarrassed to play for us but he did it anyway. We went to a different area and there were 2 men. One was playing an accordian and the other was singing. When we walked by they started singing Jingle Bells in Chinese. It was hilarious! Here we were sweating with an umbrella to cover us from the sun and they are singing a Christmas song. They had a pond like area that had what they call "sleeping lotus" in it. It was very beautiful and Veronica said that the pink flower, which lookes somewhat like a water lily, closes up at 4:00PM every day. There was also a Bonzai section. It was an amazing park. Today at 3:00PM we go to the play area at our hotel and a calligrapher is going to write Celia's name on a large scroll that we can put up in her room. We are having one of the best times of our lives. We wouldn't take anything for this entire experience.