Today made up for all of the stressful, last-minute, diaper bag-grabbing moments that we have had since getting Kaitlyn. It was the first day that we didn't have to be anywhere at a given time. How wonderful!!!!

We slept until 8:00 a.m. The extra time in bed was great, considering that Kaitlyn woke up at 3:00 a.m. this morning with the munchies. We had a big breakfast and I ate like a cow, so did Kaitlyn. She will eat just about anything we put in front of her. This morning she had congee, watermelon, apple, banana, and some fried rice.

After breakfast, we hit the streets for a day of shopping. Our first stop was the shop next door to the hotel. They offer "loaner" strollers for the duration of your stay at the White Swan, so we took them up on their offer. We weren't sure how Kaitlyn would deal with it, but she loved it. One of the young girls in the shop immediately took to her. She asked if she could hold Kaitlyn and I said sure. Kaitlyn went to her without any problems and the two of them danced and twirled around the store for the next 30 minutes. We bought a Beijing Olympics T-shirt for Larry and a silk outfit for Kaitlyn and headed out for a day of exploring.

The area around the hotel is gorgeous. The weather isn't bad either (mid 80's and sunny). It reminds me of a mixture of Charleston and Nassau. There is a park about a block away. Every morning you can walk by and see many children and adults playing everything from badmiton to soccer. It's fun just to sit and watch all the activity. Kaitlyn is really a people watcher so she enjoys it as much as we do.

We visited several stores and bought something in each of them; dresses, squeaky shoes, formula and diapers were the major purchases. Kaitlyn LOVES the squeaky shoes. She can't walk yet, but she loves bouncing up and down and making them squeak. It cracks her up, everything cracks her up. Did I mention that she's a lot like me???

We had a huge break through tonight. She finally began enjoying the bath tub. She enjoyed it so much, that she got water all over the bathroom floor. She splashed and played like she never had before. It was so fun to watch her giggle. Unfortunately, the bath ended abruptly when she...well...um...did a #2. It caused quite a commotion because I had to yell for reinforcement. She seemed pretty proud of herself and didn't mind finishing the bath in the sink.

I forgot to mention the fact that Kaitlyn is a contortionist. This morning she woke up but we didn't get her out of the crib right away. We just wanted to see what she would do. She sat up and a few minutes later fell asleep sitting up. She fell face forward onto the mattress and eventually poked one leg out of the crib. She winds up in those screwball positions all the time. It's fun to go to sleep and wonder what position she's going to be in when we awake. It's getting close to 11:00 p.m. here and I'm getting tired.

Until tomorrow.

Nikki