Two Thumbs Up for the Beijing Zoo!!

Honestly, if I had planned our itinerary, the Beijing Zoo might not have been on my list.  I mean, we have zoos in America.  And when we left today, I really thought the main reason we were going was to see the pandas. 

                           

We did see the pandas, first thing, and they were amazing!

                          

Pandas eat bamboo and so do we!

                        

What I didn't expect was how beautiful and relaxing it would be.

I think that older child adoption is different than infant adoption in so many ways.  You might not want to walk around the zoo all day with a baby.  But Wen Xin had never been to the zoo, so it was perfect for fun and bonding.

                                         

                                         

                                         

He asked for a balloon.  Well, at first he whined.  But our guide helped us explain that when you want something, you need to ask Mama and Baba politely.  We were happy to buy it for him.  I so want him to see himself as a loved son, and not just a kid from the orphanage that got a day at the zoo.  He loves this balloon and is still playing with it hours later.  It's a wolf - the villain in a children's show in China.

                              

                                           

In closing, here's a monkey, especially for Katherine, Wen Xin's mei mei (little sister), who was born in the year of the monkey and is monkey through and through.