Noodle arms and kisses :)

Another day closer to home.  Ah, that is such a sweet thought.  We are thankful for our time here in China to get to know the culture and land and people that Ellie comes from but we are definitely missing home.  We are so ready to be all together as a family again.  We are ready for familiar sights and sounds and smells and tastes.  We are definitely ready to blend into a crowd again too!  It becomes exhausting to be stared at and talked about all the time when you don't know what they are saying or thinking.  I am thankful that Ellie is such a happy girl that they can at least see that she is happy with her strange American parents.  ;)

Today we were thankful for a laid back morning.  It was windy last night so it was the most clear of the smog that we have seen it.  We have been here since Sunday and today was the first day we realized you can see the mountains beyond the city from our window. :)

This afternoon, we headed out to visit a museum about the history of the Shanxi province.  I generally love museums and would have really enjoyed it today but I am not sure who thought that a 20 month old child would want to visit a three story history museum.  Once again, she would not let daddy hold her at all so at this point in the day, I can barely lift my arms they are so worn out from carrying a wiggly little toddler for several hours.  Even typing feels like a lot of work right now.  ;)

About half way through, momma's arms needed a break and Ellie was feeling pretty restless too so we decided to take a little snack break on a bench.  Two floors up, two cleaning ladies came over to the railing and stared at us the whole time.  I eventually decided to just take a picture of them doing so.  ;)

The ladies hanging out up on the next level watching us.  

Ellie, totally unaffected by our audience.  :)

For dinner tonight, we ate at one of the restaurants in the hotel.  I was craving a hamburger and french fries like crazy but sadly, the hamburger was not quite what I had hoped.  The french fries were good though and Ellie began her "Americanization" tonight with being introduced to french fries dipped in ketchup.  :)  Both of which I am sure she had never had before.  She reached for a fry on my plate and after that first taste, she was hooked.  Then Baba dipped on in ketchup for her and she kept just licking it off the fry and going back for more.  :)

Then it was time to snuggle up with Baba for her bottle and bedtime.  I cracked up when I saw how she had her ankles crossed, kicked back and relaxing with her daddy.  She really made some big strides with daddy today as long as we were in the safety of the hotel room.  :)

Best part of the whole day though?  By far it was that I got my first kiss from her.  A big open mouthed, slobbery kiss.  :)  So adorable!  Daddy even got some today too.  :)  Love this little girl.