China Trip - Summer Palace

The next day was Sunday - we visited an LDS English speaking branch. It was larger than we were expecting and fascinating to learn of each families story and why they were in China. We even got a ride back to our hotel with a family that had been there for only a year. She was very convincing on making Beijing sound like the best place on earth to live with a family of young children. (She had David sold, but not me. I'll just stick with the American Dream, thank you) We spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing. I did read two whole books on this trip!

Then Monday we visited the Summer Palace, the getaway location for one of the Emperors.  We were under a time crunch because we were paying for a driver by the hour, but this definitely was my most favorite location of the whole visit. (aside from seeing the Wall, of course) We could of spent all day here, but only had about an hour. It was so beautiful and peaceful, nestled right on a lake. And it was a nice change from the crowds.

 I wanted this picture to show how all the door way are in China. They each have this little thing to step over. I tripped a couple of times before I learned to look before passing through a doorway. I guess tradition says the Devil can run very fast, but he can't jump. So they put these little steps in the doorways to keep evil out.

 The Summer Palace went on forever. There were several little islands connected together and some others only accessible by boat.

 This guy was writing Chinese characters on the sidewalks with this neat water paint brush. 

This is the Olympic Birds Nest. It's very hard to see due to all the SMOG. Nope that's not fog you're seeing. We never saw the sky the entire time we were in China. SMOGY!!!  And even by the third or fourth day, both David and I were coughing a lot from the bad air. 

David had to leave that afternoon to get back to work, so I spent the next 24 hours alone in China! I was pretty nervous about the idea of it, especially the part about getting a taxi and getting to the airport by myself. But it was all fine. I read, watched TV, slept and lay in bed almost the entire time.  It was wonderful!!! And thanks to David for traveling so often, we had full access to the Executive Lounge, so food was pretty much at our disposal any time of day. It was so great! I figured all the walking we did made up for all the eating I did. And our hotel was fabulously over the top. They wanted to make sure everything was perfect for us, it almost got to be a little extreme. The day I stayed in our room all day long, they must have knocked on the door 5 times asking if I needed anything.

I wanted to add these pictures taken on my flight to China.  We took the northern route there, so I pretty much flew over the North Pole and down into China. I thought that was so cool! (no pun intended) I had to take a picture for the girls to show them I flew over Santa's house. Of course you can't actually see his house because I was so high up in the plane. ;) The ocean was completely frozen.

 And this is the Siberian Dessert - pretty much frozen as well.  I don't know why I thought this was so neat.... but it was. 

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible.  Thank you to David for sacrificing so much to make this trip work out. And thank you to my Mom, and Aunt Tamora and my friend Lucy for helping watch the girls. We couldn't have done it without your help!!

The Great Wall - Finally!

Ok, I could hardly contain myself this day. I was so excited to finally be going to the Great Wall. We hired a driver and a tour guide to take us. Our visit would include the Wall and the Ming Tomb. The drive was very long, two hours away, and very terrifying. Let me just say - there really are no traffic rules in China, or at least not enforced.

In this picture we are driving in two different lanes, which most people did. We saw multiple fender benders in our short stay in China. 

Okay, Okay - I know everyone has been asking about the Great Wall, so here it is!

 We visited the Badaling part of the wall - this is the most popular site to visit, hence the horrible crowd. But it's also the highest point of the wall within Beijing. We had to ride these cable cars higher up the mountain side to reach the wall. They were a little terrifying! 

 Here we are!

 Ok, now I've heard that the wall is really steep, but I never could have imagined how steep it really was! I was so grateful I had worn my dorky tennis shoes instead of my flip flops, or else I'm positive I wouldn't have made it to the top.  I had to stop half way through because I was so out of breath, felt incredibly dizzy and thought for sure I was going to throw up! And the last thing I wanted to do was leave my "mark" on the Great Wall of China! But I saw old ladies passing me, I mean really old ladies, so I couldn't give up.

 The pictures don't quite do it justice... Also, you can see how crowded it was. We could barely stop long enough for a picture or else we would be trampled by crazy Chinese people.

 Finally, a dream come true! 

Now let me just add a P.S. to this post - If anyone is planning a trip to the Great Wall, do NOT hire a tour guide. It was a total waste of money and we spent maybe 45 minutes total there. Although I am thrilled that I got the opportunity to go, I was disappointed by my experience. And if it didn't cost so much to get there, I would have gone back the next day to spend more time there.

After the Wall visit, we went to Ming Tombs, this where all the Emperors of each dynasty are buried. It was a rather boring place and we spent even less time there than we did at the Wall. I'm not even going to post a picture - just imagine all those red buildings from the Forbidden city, that's what it looked like. 

Then.... we were taken to lunch, in a booby trap Jade Factory! The lunch was mediocre, and the jade sculptures were interesting.  We bought a few souvenirs here, but ended up spending more time here than at the wall and tombs put together! (this is why you need to skip the tour guide, I think she got commission off their sales)  David told he me he has never been on a tour in Asia that doesn't end in some sort of factory. 

After this, we asked the driver to drop us off at the Silk Factory. This were all the Americans get attacked by crazy Chinese ladies wanting your money! It was a fun place to shop around with all sort of different things to buy - electronics, clothing, toys, jewelry.... and it's fairly easy to talk them way down in their prices.  But they are brutal and I left feeling such an animosity for those people because they just won't leave you alone! I didn't even want to stop and look at most things because the ladies were ruthless. One lady even had David pinned by the leg in her booth trying to talk him into buying something he really didn't want. Oh, the experience! 

I was completely exhausted after this day - I was grateful the next day was Sunday. 

China Trip - my first full day

For our first full day of sight seeing we planned to visit Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City.

 I would have to say the square itself was a bit of a let down. It's a giant concrete slab covering several city blocks. There was high security there, but once admitted to the square, there was not much to see. Not even a bench to sit on... but it's one more place I can say I've visited. It's the largest public square in the world.

 It was very hot and we stopped many times to buy water

 The National Museum of China - another bit of a let down. We waited in line a long time for this one. Turns out there was a large exhibit on Louis Vuittone, whom beforehand I had never heard of. David recalled that he was a famous luggage designer. My first thought was, "why would David know such a thing, and why would such an exhibit be here?" Turns out he was right - we stood in line forever, to learn the evolution of suitcases! Ai, Ai, Ai!!! (note to self: don't come here again)

Next up was the Imperial Palace also known the Forbidden City - home to many dynasties and closed to the public all those years

 This Temple was considered one of the most important buildings and the way you can tell is by how many animals are on the corners of the roof. This one has 9 and the most a building can have is 10.

 We quickly learned that all the buildings looked pretty similar to each other. But I was amazed at the intricate details of each one.

 We were lucky when we found a western toilet, most the time we could only find the hole in the ground types.

 This place was huge and we probably only saw 1/3 of it.

China Trip

This trip was so amazing, I don't even know where to begin. Did you ever have one of those things on your bucket list that has been there so long, you're not sure it will ever be accomplished? Walking on the Great Wall of China was on my list of goals in life. I don't know where the fascination came from, but I had such a strong desire to visit China. So, when the opportunity arose and the stars aligned just right, I jumped on the plane for Beijing. David had already been gone for a week and a half to Asia, and I was so ready for a much deserved break from reality. But in the whole scheme of things, this trip just threw me into another whole different sort of reality, a whole other world that exists out there that was so foreign to me.

Exhibit A: Dinner - just after arrival in Beijing

Eating with Chop Sticks

Ordering Peking Duck off the menu. That tiny plate under David's hand is the ducks head

 And then actually putting it on my plate and then into my mouth. The waitress was kind enough to show us the proper way to prepare and eat the duck. And suprisingly, it wasn't bad at all! We ate the whole thing.

But then they continued to bring us dish after dish of... I don't know what, but we tried everything they put in front of us. I felt like a complete idiot trying to eat with those chop sticks, but surprisingly, I left feeling full.

Shades

So, which do you prefer? I like the pink, but Aliza was partial to the blue love struck shades.

Carmen's End of School Fun

Carmen's class in a trip to Big Meadow to learn to use their 5 senses in nature

Carmen's Kindergarten concert - it was so cute and actually very impressive!

Field Day - it was 100 degrees this day and way too miserable for me, but the kids sure had a great time

Charlotte pass out pretty quickly after getting home from field day. She piled all the cushions from the couch onto the floor and made a little nest to sleep in.

I Heart Faces Challenge - From a Distance

 From a Distance -

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Super Hero

Aren't All Moms a Super Hero?

This particular day I was very busy cleaning and doing laundry and I wanted to get it all done fairly quickly. Aliza had asked for me to get the dress up clothes out and then I didn't see her for most of the morning. She was quietly playing the in playroom and I was happy to have her out of the way so I could get things done a little quicker. But as I came around the corner from the laundry room I saw her wearing this Super Woman costume and pushing the baby stroller down the hallway. It immediately struck me as so profound - because really all moms are a super hero to the ones they care for.  It made me stop and think about the way my children perceive me. They look up to me so much for all of their needs. Am I really being the mom that they need me to be?

Carmen's Pictures

Since Carmen missed out on the fun day at the Downtown Mall, I took her alone to take some fun pictures and get cupcakes. She ate up all the attention!! And she really worked the camera too. She loved to pose for me!