Thursday

Our little girl is officially three! And we had a great day. Wahoo!

We enjoyed a ceremonious last buffet breakfast and our very hungry caterpillar ate to her heart’s content once again. We joked that she’s in for a wake up call when we get home and she doesn’t have twenty-five choices for breakfast each morning.

We dressed her in a traditional Chinese silk dress, complete with matching shoes, then ventured outside in the heat for a few birthday photos (which are not uploading properly for some reason – bummer). She loved exploring the garden and the koi pond. Sadly, the dress now has jelly bean drool stains down the front. Oops. Anyone have tips for laundering silk (that may or may not be real)??

At noon the hotel delivered a cake to our room for the birthday girl. I had fairly low expectations, but it was INCREDIBLE. It came in a stenciled box tied up with a ribbon, and it took us a while to realize that the entire thing was edible - made of chocolate and fondant. She loved it!

The rest of the afternoon was spent packing, with a short break for a Chinese lunch. MSG made everything better. Oh, wait. That’s just the brain altering chemicals talking (right, Kaleb??).

Our immigration packet arrived on time from the consulate, so we bid farewell to our friends and guide (along with a last sighting of Mr. Potato Head man) and had an uneventful (thank you, God!) drive back to Shenzhen.

She charmed the front desk workers at our new hotel, hopped into the elevator, and marched down the hall…until we entered the room, where she stopped dead in her tracks. Eyes wide, body frozen, bottom lip out…and tears started flowing. They were the first solely SAD tears we’ve seen from her. She regressed to not taking off her special shoes again, and melted into our arms for comfort.

Dinner was at the standby restaurant with our dear friends again. Same table, same potato skins. But this time, our daughter was different. Wary, cautious, quiet. She warmed up to our friends a bit, but came right back to us. It is to be expected – and is good! – but still made me a bit sad. They were such special people from her past, and always will be. Just in a different way now.

We grabbed a quick bubble tea and headed to our room for bed. The noises outside the window are the same as our first day (minus the barking dog, thankfully). Shenzhen feels like home…well, as close to a China home as we can get right now.

A wonderful place. A great day.