A visit to Guigang

Thanks to everyone for sending us messages. Our days have been pretty full but it's still really nice to read everyone's comments from home every day.
Ava's doing terrific. She sleeps through the night mostly but has woken up around 4 am both nights. But she is quickly coaxed back to sleep. She's got some congestion and she's teething but she's very good natured about it. She's got two teeth on the top and two on the bottom, by the way. Today we went to Guigang with one of the other families. Guigang is the city where Ava's orphanage is. While we knew we couldn't visit the orphanage, we wanted to see the city. The countryside is pretty spectacular. The hills (mountains?) look kind of the same shape as arrowheads to me. They make for pretty dramatic scenery. Plus lots of terraced fields with people and oxen and carts. Mostly, people were harvesting sugarcane. The earth is very red and they also make bricks in that part of the country. Guigang is actually pretty big with wide boulevards and lots of people. We're really glad we went.
I guess we really didn't tell you too much about the day we got Ava. It was quiet and kind of nerve wracking multiplied by 10 families. We were all in one room and they finally brought the babies in one by one. Our Ava was second to come out and they handed her to me. She just looked around and took it all in. By the time everyone had their babies there was crying everywhere. Except for Ava. She was the only baby who didn't cry. She's been very kind to her old mom and dad. She just observed the whole scene, wasn't upset by the other crying babies, and she even gave us a laugh or two. All of the babies (5) from our orphanage were dressed in similar outfits which were gorgeous. Colourful striped tops and great flared pants with frills. They looked like they were a dance troupe from Tiny Talent Time. We were kind of surprised because the clothes all looked new.
Tomorrow is a free day for us. We'll take a stroll around Nanning and do some shopping. Rob continues to be Ava's conveyance of choice. His arms is getting tired so I'm hoping I'm in with a chance soon. Here's some photos and we'll also try to get a video up of her today. We can't see our blog, by the way. So we don't know what it's looking like. Hope it's all easy to follow. Bye for now.

p.s. The woman with the grapefruit on her head is our delightful guide Lilly. And 10 points to anyone who can spot the guy in his underpants.