Willowing At the South China Botanical Garden

My cousin Leslie wrote an email; within it, she mentioned that she had better stop asking me questions about The Little One so that I could get back to "Willowing"! I thought the expression was so clever that I plan on using it all the time (thus the name of today's post). Thanks Leslie :)

Today, we needed to get back to nature, so our extraordinary guide/translator, Sara, took us to a botanical garden on the northeast side of Guangzhou. The garden was everything we hoped it would be -- green, uncrowded, with beautiful weather (a bit breezy at times, but occasional strolls into greenhouses and a magnificent rainforest conservatory kept us warm). The precious little one was in perfect form and enjoyed seeing the plants -- she resisted when her dad tried to cover her head with the ergo babycarrier hood -- she wanted to see everything. We saw bromeliads, orchids, cycads, bamboo, ginger, etc., etc. Wee Willow enjoyed the whole garden without one fuss...perhaps she's a nature girl?

We did catch a glimpse of the rare and elusive pink panda in the Bamboo garden.

Afterwards, Sara took us to a great traditional style Chinese restaurant where we had fried rice, greens, lotus-flower root (yum!), spicy beef, and the best tofu ever! (though you might notice that Willow didn't like it too much). The shopping district where the restaurant is located was a buzz with people...thousands out and about shopping at around 5pm on a Friday night (remember, for most of you reading this, we're writing this from tomorrow). In the center of all this shopping is a square containing a statue of a horse on top of a globe. Quite beautiful, especially in the setting sun.

Tonight, Willow decided she wanted to stand up and try to walk ... she stood up in the tub (uh oh!); she stood up on the bed (uh oh!), and she stood up behind Mom, then up onto tippy-toes to see if she could grab anything off the computer table (life is going to get interesting ....). P.S. For you clever readers, please let us know how we could determine that the dinosaur in the photo was female? Until tomorrow, enjoy the pictures below, goodnight, and sleep tight.

This is a man-made railing inside the rainforest exhibit at the Botanical Garden ... isn't is beautiful.

This one is real.

Willow's honorary Uncle Tod told us that Willow would love water; he was right (baths, ponds, lakes, and waterfalls).

"Bamboo Hugger's" (note Willow's hand).

The elusive pink panda.

A patch of Croton plants (Croton is the town where Meryl is from).

Some of us loved the tofu, others not so much.

So tiny; so proud of herself.

On "tippy toes" (literally!)