Rewind...continued

On March 17th S.J. and R.X. were quite tired and stayed home during the day so they would be well rested for a visit with S.J.'s maternal grandparents in the evening. Having said that they still had the energy to go to a bike shop and MacDonald's with Dad.

S.S. and I went to the Temple of Heaven. This temple was built for an Emperor during the 1400's. It is quite an extensive structure and it's hard to believe that not one nail was used in its making.

S.S. and her new friend from Timmons, Ontario

A traditional stroller is not a very common thing to see but...

...split pants are. Too cute!

This picture was taken at the entrance to the Pearl Market. S.S. and I had a great time here as we bartered for super deals. I stuck to my guns and got everything for 1/3 of the asking price or less. Favourite quotes from merchants included, "cheap lady" and "you're killing me." We had so much fun that we never did get to the top floor where all the pearls were and we almost missed the bus. If it wasn't for S.S.'s great sense of direction I would never have made it out of the store. As we did however, the bus was leaving the parking lot and I was having an "Ikea, start the car" moment when we ran after it, arms full of bags and yelling "Stop, wait for us!"

The evening belonged to S.J. as we went to a wonderful restaurant to visit with his grandparents. We had had the pleasure of meeting this set of grandparents on one other occasion in Ottawa. Our visit this night was no different as they are super kind people, very warm and gentle. S.J.'s grandpa never stopped smiling and S.J. seemed very content.

I will always remember the quiet way in which S.J. spent time with his grandparents and at one point told them he loved them in Chinese. There were tears and it was hard to say goodbye as we left these 2 wonderful people at the bus stop. Who knows when we will get to see them again.