Golden Pebble Beach and Shopping

After breakfast, we went to a well-known beach resort here in Dalian called Jin Shi Tan (Golden Pebble Beach). The beach is full of exactly that – small golden-colored and many other colored pebbles. We rented a large umbrella and a table with chairs for the day. Our rental cost over $40, which I thought was quite expensive for here. Most likely we were charged more because we were foreigners (quite obvious when you have more than one kid). At first the weather was very cloudy and windy. It even rained for a little bit. We were fine under our umbrella, and a couple other families sought shelter under our umbrella with us. Afterwards, it all cleared up and we were able to enjoy our day at the beach. This beach resort is huge. There had to be a couple thousand people there – it reminded me of Ocean City. One difference though, the restaurants sent ther waitresses/waiters to people on the beach to take their orders. We had several people show us their menus, and Kenton ended up ordering some lunch, which was brought to us over an hour later. A day of sun, warm breezes, rolling waves – one couldn’t ask for a more relaxing time.

Afterwards, we stopped by a huge store called Xin Ma Te (New Market). It is almost a replica of Walmart, just without the English. There weren’t as many foreign products, but they had everything there – everything a Walmart would have, plus fresh foods, meats, cooked foods, small cafes, and many boutique shops. We didn’t have much time, but I definitely want to go back and browse through the small boutique shops.

The boys: Our hired driver arrived, and we were about to leave for the beach. The boys were running around outside, when Brian tripped and fell down flat on his face. His face was all bloodied up – his forehead, his nose and cheek. He ended up scraping the skin on his face pretty badly, especially the nose. Kevin mentioned that Brian isn’t as cute anymore.

At the beach, Kevin and his cousin were in the water for almost 5 hours. They enjoyed the jumping the waves, and letting the waves hit and roll over them. My sister-in-law had brought two pairs of swimming goggles, so Kevin and his cousin used them. She also bought a swimming ring for Kevin. Kevin enjoyed relaxing in the water on the ring, but he said the waves and beach kept slapping him back and forth, like a ping-pong ball. Brian and Justin sat near our umbrella the whole time playing with the pebbles – throwing them, looking for large rocks and making rock gardens, and just putting the pebbles on each other and on me. They were occupied the whole time with those pebbles. Kevin also helped by finding huge rocks in the water and bringing them to his brothers.

Justin had an upset stomach on the way home. He was screaming in pain for several minutes. It turns out that he has diarrhea again. Hopefully it will clear up soon. Kevin’s back and shoulders have a bit of sunburn. He was hurting in the evening, but after I slathered Curel lotion on his back, he seemed to feel better.

The boys fell asleep shortly after dinner. It was a full day of enjoyment in the China Sea.