Zoo Day and First Smiles for Mommy and Daddy

 Thursday's outing was the Guangzhou Zoo and Children's place department store. I have read that many of the zoos in China aren't really up to American standards but the Guangzhou Zoo is outstanding.  The animals were all very healthy looking and full of personality. The grounds are beautiful and well-kept. As you can see there were no crowds!  What a surprise that was.  They did have among the clientele two dogs, but they were in more of an entertainment area.

 Of course they highlight of the trip were the two Pandas.  Ariana slept through most of our walk through. It was nice to be outside with plenty of shady areas.

 Ready to go down to the breakfast buffet.  I am the cutest one there although I did hurl a plate across the dining room and smash it today.  Oops!

 Late in the afternoon Thursday we had a real breakthrough.  Ariana decided to get very playful and we saw some smiles and lots of babbling.  She even let Daddy hold her while she did a little "walking".  I think it will be a while before she is walking on her own. This is the first time she has had any interest in being down on the floor. 

The area of Guangzhou where we are staying is called Shamian Island.  It is very  beautiful and has roots with English and French, something about the Opium Wars.  I need to look it up to know exactly what. You can see the architecture has a very European feel and there are plenty of trees.

I love my stacking cups but haven't figured out how to stack them yet.  I so want to put one inside the other but can't figure out how to keep my fingers out of the way.  My fine motor skills are way behind but I am making great progress every day. 

Everyday there are lots of photoshoots all over the island.  Mommy keeps finding pictures of the beautiful models on the memory cards.  I am sure daddy wants to document everything for Ariana.  Hmm

The smile that is melting Mommy and Daddy.  Never mind the food we are both wearing.  I see a lot of Photoshopping in my future.