Evening shindig

We went to an event last night, the four of us. It wasn't terribly fancy, like a white-tie dinner or anything. It was just a meet-and-greet at a nearby hotel. I wore a dress, and so did the girls-- though Penny was wearing cowboy boots with her jeans skirt. It was that kind of fancy.
We got there early enough to talk to the manager briefly and one of his associates came to sit with us. He was the manager of a new mountain resort in Changbaishan-- about 4 hours from here, or only 40 minutes by plan! We got settled in, drank some sodas, and waited for the meeting and greeting to start (translation: we wanted food!). We waited and waited some more, and then they started a presentation about the Changbaishan resort. Honestly, it looks like a cool resort, but if I'd known there was a 20 minute presentation before dinner started, I wouldn't have brought my two hungry kids. We were sitting as far from the exit as you could be in that room, so we couldn't just slip out. At this point we decided to just see how long they would last on nothing but Sprite for dinner.
The girls were slurping down their sodas like they'd just invented straws. When Penny was finishing her second glass, it spilled, dumping the rest of it down her leg and pooling in her boot. She started crying, and we carried both the girls out, weaving between tables and across the entire room, finally getting out the door.
The manager and two associates followed us out-- because as gracious Chinese hosts, they want to make sure everyone has a good time, and they insisted on seeing us out-- as gracious hosts do. Kevin went back in for the presentation and the meet-and-greet. My plan was to go home, but my hosts insisted on taking us to the hotel restaurant. I made excuses and tried to take the girls home, but they insisted. And we HAD come for dinner, and we might as well eat. So that was awkward, but I got over it pretty soon. The two ladies who took us to the restaurant stayed and chatted the whole time, mentioning not very subtly that they'd much rather play with a couple kids than to go attend the presentation. So we hung out, everyone ate, and then eventually Kevin came to join us.
Another lady joined us on our way out, and she talked to Penny a lot. This is usually an entirely one-sided conversation, since Penny is terrified of strangers. But tonight it was a little different.
Lady: "What's her name?"
Me: "This is Penny."
Lady: "Oh? Candy?"
Me: "No, Penny."
Lady: "Oh, okay. Hi, Pandy! How are you, Pandy?"
People talk to her all the time, and usually Penny just ignores them. But this time, Penny looked really concerned, especially when her name was starting to sound like "Panty." She looked straight at the lady and said, "My name is PENNY."
I believe that's the only time she has EVER talked to a stranger.