The Mercer Munchkins: Day 13 (3/13) US Consulate and Pearl Market

Day 13, right? Bran here, writing these recaps on our phones as we were never able to get the laptop online at this hotel. It's a little cumbersome but it's all we got right now.

Big day today! We got up early and headed to the US Consulate. No phones allowed, not even our smart watches, so take my word for it when I say it was pretty cool. We took the oath along with 8 other American families, we're interviewed for the visa, then we were approved! Suzie won't technically be a US citizen until we get through the port of entry in LA, but as of today we're good to go! Her visa should be ready Thursday and then we fly out Friday.

After the consulate we scrambled back for a quick breakfast and back on the road to the pearl market. Six stories of shops, mostly gems, pearls, jade, diamonds, shiny rocks. Guangzhou is also known for its embroidery so we checked out some goods there as well. We found some cool stuff and headed back to the hotel. I caught a nap while we all relaxed for a bit. We got back together in the afternoon for a group picture then we walked to a nearby park.
As we've said earlier, Suzie cries the entire time she's in the stroller. Unfortunately Kassie is getting worn down as the only person Suzie allows to carry her, so we decided to go with the stroller on this walk and stick with it. It was tough as I pushed and Kass held Suzie's hand. Once we finally hit the spot where there were some rides for the bigs to check out, we thought maybe Suzie was more upset about me pushing the stroller (behind her) than she was about the actual stroller ride. We were right. This gives you an idea of how scared she is of me. Once Kassie pushed the stroller Suzie was almost stress free. Suzie always knows where I am, she's always looking for me in the corner of her eyes, and if I get too close it's over.

So the walk back was pretty nice, the park was beautiful and the kids enjoyed a few rides. They also made some friends at the playground. The weirdest part was definitely the topless dudes working out on the equipment. Not cool.

This was the first day the park was open after their new years celebration so they had many beautiful displays and decorations. It was amazing. For dinner we just picked up some snacks from the bakery and some noodles. It's 7p and the bigs are tucked into bed already so it's gonna be an early night. Suzie has been sleeping like a rock these last few nights so it'll be good to get some sleep tonite. She's always the last one to wake up as well so, she's a rockstar sleeper, like her mama.