Park Day and Shamian Island

Today was a great day!  Chris and I were much more proactive with Fu Lian's behavior and were much better prepared to foresee when he was overstimulated, tired, hungry, etc.  We have been able to learn Fu Lian's personality much better over the last couple of days, and today proved that we can have a great time together, when planning properly, and we can even confidently venture out of the hotel.  Thank you to all who prayed and told us to not give up.  :)

We went to the park across from the hotel, which is one of the most beautiful parks we have ever been to.  We purchased a ball of Fu Lian to kick and bounce and throw and run with.  We had a wonderful time admiring all of the natural landscape, green space, music and dancing from the locals, and simply being a family exploring a park.

Pick up game of Kopinski soccer, almost enough for a full team!

Fu Lian and Bri at the park

Kopinski 5

Beautiful tree that reminded us of S. Carolina :)

Watching boats at the park

After some rest, we took a taxi cab to Shamian Island.  It was so beautiful there, with the Pearl River on one side of the island to admire, and the quaint hotels, buildings and landscape throughout.  We walked for a long time and played on their play equipment, took pictures with the statues, and were photographed ourselves more times than we can count.  My kids are getting a bit too comfortable with their 'fame' here.  Next thing, I'm sure they will start to sign autographs. :)

Jonny found the parallel bars on the island

Another playground on the island

Daddy and his boys

Brianna and her fan club

Pretty church on Shamian Island

Sean and Ethan exercising

Big kids being crazy

Daddy helping Fu Lian on the parallel bars

Getting 4 kids to sit still for a picture was hard... 5 kids is nearly impossible.  

Shamian Island

We did make a few purchases from the shops on the island.  Jonny has wanted a chess set since we got here, and was finally able to purchase one.  The boys played chess the rest of the evening.  Fu Lian calls us all by name now and for the first time said "I love you" in Mandarin to me.  He is a sweet affectionate boy that loves to skip and gallop.  He is not a competitor (yet) and wants everyone to win.  He prefers fruits, veggies, and water chestnuts (and sometimes dumplings) over any other food.  When given a sandwich of any kind he deconstructs it and eats it one layer at a time.  He prefers forks over chopsticks.  His visual needs do not slow him from anything, other than going down steps, which he prefers to hold a hand or railing with.  He understands English more than we know he does and uses it to his advantage.  He is extremely quick when running, if only we could get him to go in a straight line.  But Brianna is prepping him for cross country already! The iPad is his favorite game and is used to reward his good behavior.. hey it works!