Sunday, May 31, 2009

China: Day 3...

Otherwise known as: will these China updates ever end??

I loved going to China, but I have found it hard to devote the time needed to record all the little stories that I am going to forget 2 days from now! So, I am going to press forward...that way, I can get back to posting all the hilarious things Abby & Beks have been doing!

I know you are excited now!

On our 3rd day, we (again!) filled our bellies at the breakfast buffet & headed out on our adventures. We started the day learning about jade & going to the store they had for us to shop at. This is as good a place as any to discuss the places we went.
We had our very own tour guide, but he still had to take us to the place we were supposed to see. Overall, our trip was awesome...we went to local eating establishments & could shop at any little place, but we went to a lot of places the government has set up so that the tourists can see what they want you to see.

Anyhow, on to the jade...I did say I was going to finish these posts at some point!!


Hey look, it's Abby & Boz!

Oh yes, Boz is a world traveler!

Here are some of the workers finishing up an intricate design

Cute little elephant seats for Abby & Bozer
Luxuriant Grasslands Please Don't Trample

Even more luxuriant grasslands...ha

At the Ming Tomb...
Fernando had a couple of his better jokes here.
The Chinese would throw money into the tomb area for luck, and Fernando said he had called to volunteer to clean the $$ out, but no one had returned his call. HA. Then, he proceeded to say that if you want to throw your $$ away for good luck, you could just throw it here (he opened up his pocket) & it would work about the same!
He didn't try to teach the girls any expletives in those!
The other one he told at the tomb involved his commentary on what the people carrying the heavy loads down the stairs must've been saying...f-banger you, over & over. Yes. I'm not going to type that word on my blog, people. I don't type what I don't say. Plus, I have all sorts of family that reads this, so I don't want my high school/junior high cousins reading such things. :) Um, I am just thankful Abby didn't pick up on it. I can see her pulling that one out in Sunday School.

Next, on to the cloisonne store...we first got to see how they make the vases


I really think it's beautiful...we purchased some gifts for people here. Hmmm. Will you get anything from there? You'll just have to wait & see!!

The Great Wall of China!

We really enjoyed the Great Wall & were again so thankful that the crowds were small. Mommy is not crazy about heights, so it was good that it wasn't too crowded! Daddy would've laughed at her if she had to come down on her bottom (like she did on their honeymoon!). The views were amazing & we enjoyed the milder weather and nice breeze we experienced up on the wall!

The walk up to the top of the area we visited...


Brad trekked up with Abby in the Kelty! She slept part of the way!! Only Abby...

This is the direction Beks & Mommy went...we headed the opposite direction. Beks was very popular, but still managed to fall asleep. I caught one of the Chinese women pinching her leg to wake her up! Don't anger this mama bear, lady!

Daddy & Abby made it to the top!
Here's a pretty poor picture in the cable car on our way down from the Great WallSnacking on the cable car!

More food...this was YUMMY. Can you tell? Look at Fernando's cheeks. He was like a little chipmunk! This place was delicious. It was a hot pot & we had two different pots--one hot (spicy) & one not. Then, they brought all sorts of meat & veggies. There was so much food that Fernando had to take an entire plate of meat to go!

Our last night in China...our FIRST high chair!

Gibby asked Fernando why none of the places had high chairs. He said that people didn't take their children out to eat much. They typically had someone living with them that would stay at the house to care for the children. Helllllllllooooo...sounds good to me! ha. Actually, I don't usually mind eating out, but Beks is at a let's-not-sit-still-for-more-than-5-minutes stage. Fun times.

Boz had too much to eat...

More photography by Abby...she's getting better.
Daddy's head is actually in the shot.
That's better than my mom can do most of the time...hahaha. :)

Our last night, I remembered to take a picture outside the hotel...

Bloggy love,

Thursday, May 28, 2009

China: Day 2 , Part 2...

After lunch, we headed over to the silk factory to see how they make their silk products. Needless to say, Abby was not impressed with the worms.

At least she only screamed once!







Look at us...making a quilt

Temple of Heaven



I am going to make a scrapbook for Abby...
with Boz & all the places he has been!

Here's Daddy going in to make a deal.
We got the girls handmade elephant purses...so cute!

Tea anyone?

Paula & I sat down for a tea ceremony while Daddy & Fernando entertained the girls!

There were some really neat ones. I loved all the flower teas we tried.
Actually, all the tea was yummy!
We just didn't have the chance to find some reasonably priced tea...
next time?!


One of Bekah's new boyfriends...she is such a flirt! :)

We enjoyed a nice dinner before the opera. Brad volunteered to go back to the hotel with the girls. Smart man. The opera was not for me...oh, to have that hour of my life back!

Abby thought the small glass of beer was apple juice.
Hmmm...not a good thing.
Let's just say that she doesn't see why people could ever drink that stuff. Nice.
Bloggy love,

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

China: Day 2, Part 1...

I have family members threatening to disown me if I don't update this blog (you know who you are Arizona!), so I better get with it!

Bekah decided to be in charge of wake up, and she was raring to get the day going. She woke up at 5a.m., and Daddy was kind enough to walk her around the hotel until a somewhat reasonable hour. After the incredibly early awakening, we started the first full day of our China adventure at the hotel breakfast. Yum-o. It was an interesting combination of American & Chinese cuisine. I loved it because you could have a beautiful salad made with fresh greens & loads of fruit...right along side your made to order omelet! Oh, the girls loved it because they had bread of every kind (even bread pudding!), so our little carb addicts were supremely happy. Fun times.

After we had our fill, we were picked up by Fernando & the driver...who does have a name, but we couldn't understand him & we just smiled and gave a lot of sign language while communicating with him!! We headed out to the Forbidden City. Let me tell you, that place was ENORMOUS! We spent just a small amount of time there--it would have taken an entire day to visit all the different portions, so we just hit the highlights!

For some reason, I fell in love with the doors in China.
They were so cool!

The rooftops were very intricate, and colors were vibrant.

It didn't hurt that the Olympics were held here last year &
the country spent the last 4 years painting every inch of all the historic places!

Abby loves to cooperate for pictures.
Thank goodness Boz likes to have his picture taken!



Here they are...the paparazzi.
The girls were very popular.

Blue eyes aren't exactly common there!
They also have light brown hair, so they could draw quite a crowd!
This is the one time Daddy physically removed the girls from the crowd...he had had enough!

We actually had pretty small crowds at most of the attractions. This was the one place that we encountered a large number of tour groups.

So, I skipped going to look at some of the more crowded places.
Fernando kept wanting us to go check things out, so I attempted to look/take pictures over the heads of some Chinese tourists. The people there are similar to the people here in Korea, but even pushier...especially in the crowds.

I came back from taking this dismal picture & told Fernando I'm not a fan of the pushing.
He said that the secret is to start a coughing fit right behind them & watch them all scatter. HA. Did I mention that I really enjoyed Fernando & all his words of wisdom.

Just so you know, it really works!

Funny.

This guy had a little singles ad on the back of his shirt & it read:
SINGLE, MALE, (thanks for that...I wasn't sure!), 23, GSOH,
N.S. WLTM SIMF, 18-30, FOR F-SHIP-FUN, ENTERTAINMENT,
CALL ME 0123923

Good thing I didn't want to call him...I have no idea what most of that means!




Walking up the ramp to Tiananmen Square

Here it is...definitely not as crowded as I pictured it would be.

Looking back across the road at the Chinese flag & the first gate into the Forbidden City.

Had to sneak this photo...I'm so 007. HA.

Our super cool van...literally! It was HOT while we were in China, so it was wonderful to have our very own van that picked us up wherever we told the driver to meet us!

Yum. Did I mention that I LOVED the food while we were in China?

I guess I just like food, but it really was good. We had duck here, along with some other tasty goodies. The funny thing is that we always got at least 4 entrees because we paid almost as much for Abby's trip as ours. It worked out in our favor as far as the food went! :)

Brad sampling the duck

More fans for Abby to meet & greet. I'm thankful she handled it all so well!

Our motley crew...
Okay, I will be adding another exciting update soon. Must catch up...

Bloggy love,