Brutal day!

Super Lu back again to report on today's events. Today was brutal! Not the schedule, but the heat and humidity. The crew had an early breakfast and then headed to the consulate for the Visa appointment. They had to wait about 15 minutes until the guards opened the doors to begin the day. Bobby had a minor meltdown as the heat was just too much for his tired little self! Beth felt like she was melting as did Emily. David never complained. I have to admit that this reporter was glad to get inside the building and into some air conditioning!

As I reported earlier, David said yes and so his Visa is now being processed and should be printed tomorrow with Visa pickup scheduled in the afternoon. The U.S. consulate has had some issues with the Visa system (especially in June and July) so all are praying that all the glitches have been fixed and that the Visa is delivered back to the family tomorrow!

After the Visa appointment the family headed back to the hotel to have the boys change out of the heavier weight polo shirts into lighter weight clothes. After a nice break in the air conditioning, our crew met in the lobby with 2 other families and headed to the Safari Park. This reporter will not lie, it was miserable heat and humidity wise. I popped out for the train ride, but most of the time, I ducked into the book bag next to the ice water where it was cool! The park was also extremely crowded since it is still summer holidays here in China.

The boys enjoyed the train ride and there was a nice breeze as we rode along. There were many animals to see! It was hard to get pictures as the train driver kept moving along at a fairly quick pace.

After getting off the train the group stopped for some ice cream and then headed down the Jurassic Forest trail. Bobby loved it, but David was not a fan of dinosaurs popping out at him and the dinosaur noises! He kept a tight grip on his mom's hand and hid behind her for most of the hike through that section!

Done with the scary dinosaurs, the Lemur exhibit was next. It started to rain So the group stayed for a few minutes under the shelter to stay dry. The rain did not seem to stop the Lemurs!

The rained slowed to a light drizzle and the group moved on. As they went through the orangutan exhibit the youngest orangutan's climbed over the crowd and started playing. How cool was it to stand directly under these cute youngsters!

The heat and the humidity had all the families dragging. They headed to the Pandas hoping to see the triplet pandas, but the crowd was so chaotic they could not get anywhere near them! They were able to catch a glimpse of some of the adult pandas.

From there the group headed back to the entrance to catch their ride back to the hotel. A huge shout out goes to the 2 dads in the group who helped push Bobby up the many hills at the Safari Park! With the brutal heat and humidity, we would not have made it through the park without them! 

David had been pointing out every Panda toy we have seen for days. He was able to pick out a stuffed Panda at the Safari Park. Once back to the room, he went straight to his bed and tucked his panda in!

Tomorrow is a free day with only the delivery of the Visa scheduled. So until tomorrow, this is Super Lu signing off!