ThompSons and a Daughter!

Last part of Day #1 and Day #2 pics

I thought I was at least caught up with Day 1 in China, but no. Here's the last part of Day 1.

Silk worms eating mulberry leaves

Silk work cocoons - they boil them to soften them,

then crack them open, throw away the silk worm larva to just leave the silk behind.

Machines that spin the silk

It is very strong and able to be stretched over wooden frames

Ladies making a silk comforter from the silk just harvested

This is the Olympic stadium - the Bird's Nest from the 2008 Olympics. We didn't get a pic, but the famous Water Cute was right beside it.

Dinner that night at Wisca - We wouldn't eat there again, plus we were exhausted this evening from jetlag.

Day #2

Breakfast buffet; Aidan and his yummy breakfast. He couldn't have been more excited about the shot glasses of yogurt. One morning, I think he ate about 6 of them.

The park outside Temple of Heaven in Beijing; People doing Tai Chi

This man tried hard to sell us this little toy that you kicked around. He kept demoing it and kicking it to the boys or us to kick back to him.

The walk to the Temple of Heaven with another outdoor corridor. There were lots of elderly people playing cards, games, and making music with very interesting intruments.

Temple of Heaven - It's a beautiful building thought to house the "God of Heaven". It made me recall a Bible verse about the One, True God, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does NOT dwell in temples made with hands". (Acts 17:24)

If you look closely at the left of the picture inside, you can see the huge thrones - very ornate.

People kept asking to have their pictures made with the kids (ours and Aubrey Bujnosek - who was a sweet girl who belongs to a family who traveled with us).

No China pics would be complete without a squatty potty pic. It's kind of like a urinal on the floor. There were no Western toilets at the Temple of Heaven.

Also, at most squatty potties, there was no toilet paper so you have to come prepared and bring your own, but here there was one big roll outside the main restrooms before it splits off to women or men. Poor Aubrey decided at these restrooms she didn't have to go as bad as she thought! ;)

After the Temple of Heaven, they took us to a place that housed works of jade. It was such incredible artwork.

That's a boat carved out of one piece of jade.

Believe it or not, this is embroidery done on silk - not a painting. They had a whole wall of different gorgeous works such as this.

These are 2008 Olympic medals all made from jade since this is China's most precious stone.

Lunch Day 2 with the Bujnoseks.

Open air fruit and veggie market on the way to Great Wall

Vendors on the way up to the Great Wall; Even Jacob held our hands in Beijing. It was all so unfamiliar to them.

First glimpse of the Great Wall

This is how we got up to a reasonable walking distance. Hands down - the highest and most steep cable cars I've ever seen.

We're on the Great Wall!!

Another pic of a sign where we could only guess the meaning. ???

The boys liked the challenge of getting up there. I volunteered to take Jacob, Aidan, and Aubrey up there not knowing how challenging it would be. There was no way to get up without strangers giving you a hand to get up at the top of the stairs - way too steep to step up on your own. We also needed a bit of help getting down.

Jacob and Aubrey maneuvering back down the narrow aisle

The views were absolutely stunning! And to think how very long it is and how old it is. So incredible!

The Bujnoseks with us minus Jason who was at another vantage point taking pics.

For dinner, we had to have something non-Chinese for a meal! Again, they're not big on drinks at all! You get one small drink - no refills and they give everyone Coke - even if you try to point to something different.