God leads and we follow...to China!: Day 14

We started off the day with breakfast at Starbucks. The kids have been waiting for this day since we arrived in Guangzhou. We have been eating breakfast in the room every day this week. Then we headed onto the subway for the much anticipated zoo day. It is always a highlight of the trip because of the giraffe exhibit. Not only are there at least seven giraffes, but you can also feed them real branches! The giraffe feeding is so much fun because you get super close to the giraffes and are given a large amount of leaves to feed. Maelee was not a huge fan, but the rest of the kids loved it! The other zoo highlights were the lesser panda (aka the red panda), the elephant, alligators, tigers, lions, and monkeys. It was sad to see some of the animals still living in concrete quarters with nothing to do. The zoo seems to be working on making the exhibits more enriching for the animals.

After the zoo, we took the subway to Shamian Island. We love to see the sights and go souvenir shopping! We hurried back to the hotel to meet our guide at 4:30 pm. Good news! Maelee’s U.S. visa is in hand! Thank you for praying! After the visa was safely in our room, Deanna and Claire headed out with our guide to the pearl and jade market and then a final stop at the super market. Deanna purchased a pearl necklace and earrings to gift Maelee when she is older. Meanwhile, Matt held down the fort back at the hotel. Papa John’s Pizza and play time were in order. All in all, it was a pretty good day with the paparazzi in full force again!

The kids are finally to bed and we are packing. Tomorrow our mandatory 48 hour visa waiting period is over. Hooray! We fly to Shanghai tomorrow afternoon.