Tiananmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Hutongs, Temple of Heaven

Here we are in Tiannamen Square, the largest public square in the world. Behind the older 4 in this first picture is the first gate into the Forbidden City from the square.

This is one of many pictures with Chinese school children requesting to take photos with our family.

 Here you can see Chairman Mao's picture on the outside of the gate. The Chinese people post his
picture everywhere, in their homes, businesses, etc.

On one side of the square is the Chinese history museum...

Even the older ladies want to take pictures with our girls...our 3 generation extended family including   an asian , an african and a caucasian red head stop the Chinese people in their tracks...

Who says ancient Chinese history is boring??

After leaving the Forbidden City we stopped for lunch beside a beautiful lake before heading to the Hutongs

We rode rickshaws through the Hutongs which are the old residential neighborhoods of Beijing

We were able to go inside one of the homes and see the courtyard style home and the way the family lives today...

Enjoying a visit with Mrs. Feng in her home

After the Hutongs we headed to The Temple of Heaven which was where the Emperor would make sacrifices and pray to the gods for a good harvest

And we enjoyed a tea ceremony after...

We ended the evening with a Kung Fu show after dinner at the Red Theater

Our days in China are quite exciting and full!!

The Great Wall and The Water Cube

After a few hours of "trying to sleep" in the hotel our first night, we had a nice breakfast buffet  and then headed to The Mutianyu section of The Great Wall. It was a bit cloudy but we could see a good bit of the wall stretching out in the distance. We rode cable cars up to the first section. The plan was to ride the toboggan down but unfortunately it began raining before we were ready to ride down and they had to close the toboggan due to the slippery surface making the track too fast. But we were so thankful to have taken our pictures before the rain came!!

After enjoying our time on the Great Wall, we headed to see The Water Cube and The Birds Nest which were built for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. 

The kids enjoyed a water park which was built inside the water cube after the Olympics were over. 

Much fun was had by ALL!!

Travel Day One -China Summer Vacation

                                             Mimi and Paw-Paw...the leaders of our clan

Noah took his basketball with plans to take it all over China...

A little coffee for our long journey...

We met a nice young college student in the airport who was traveling home and was quite enthralled with the girls...

So excited to be heading back to China...

Finally arrived in Beijing after over 24 hours of being in transit... a little weary, but oh so glad to be back in China!!!

Outside the restaurant for our first meal in Beijing...

We enjoyed a traditional Peking Duck Dinner..

Mimi learning how to place the duck, celery and onion in a pastry to wrap and eat like a taco..

Our crew of kids before leaving the restaurant..

Walking to the bus we passed a Chinese pharmacy. Our 3 pharmacists pictured outside the pharmacy.

Goodnight after a long but wonderful first day in Beijing!!

Summer Vacation to China

We are blessed to be heading to China this summer to once again enjoy the beautiful land of our first daughter Lottie's  birth. This time my parents are taking us on the journey along with my sister and her family and all of our family. We have 13 total in our entourage!! We will journey to several different cities throughout China taking 5 in country flights seeing both the North and South of China and many of the highlights of the country. We will also visit the orphanage where Lottie spent the first year of her life and enjoy loving on the children there. A trip of a lifetime!! We will try to document the journey here on the blog if you would like to join us for the journey!!