Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace and Pizza Hut

Last night was kind of rough for sleep....Colin ended up in the bathroom reading a book around 4am because he just could not rest....having said that, we are all amazingly wide awake at 4 in the afternoon. This morning Pryce decided to try some noodles for breakfast....he loved them! That was our first adventure. Then we met our guide Jerry (aka the boys "bodyguard" as they like to call him) for our tour of the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. The Temple of Heaven was amazing. It is basically a huge park where a lot of locals go to do Tai Chi, cards, sing, and basically just hang out. The Summer Palace was great too....the architecture at both places was just amazing. To be honest, it was really cold and incredibly windy. We loved having the opportunity to get out and see some of the history but we also loved having the opportunity to get back in our warm van. We saw the Olympic stadium on the drive back.....really cool. Then we found a Pizza Hut for lunch....just like in the states....again, I am not a huge Pizza Hut fan but it tasted really good. I think the highlight of the day for the boys was their swimming time in the hotel pool. The pool has this whole Greek theme going on....the boys loved it! We just hope that there wasn't a lot of water swallowed by the boys. We have a few more awake hours to get everything together....I think we are going to Baskin Robins for dinner. Tomorrow is our Great Wall tour and then we are up early the next morning to catch our flight to Chongqing....yippee, not much longer now to MK day....Colin was asking today how much longer....they are really ready for their baby sister and we are ready to hold our little girl!

Tai Chi and water painting

The Temple of Heaven

The Sumer Palace

Olympic Stadium - AKA The Birds Nest

The boys swimming....(The caps are mandatory at the hotel, aren't they stylish?)

The Accident

The boys love to watch out of our hotel window at the activity on the streets below. They call the window of our room the "beautiful spot". Yesterday Ryan and I were in the hallway outside our room talking to other families who had just arrived. The boys were in the room watching things going on outside....suddenly they came flying out into the hallway screaming "we just saw a car accident and it was awesome!" They can describe to you in great detail how the white car turned and hit the back of a taxi, and then a silver car hit the back of the white car and then the silver car backed up and it kept on going through the traffic....unbelievable, they didn't even stop to acknowledge the bumps. Then they were watching outside again last night and watched a car turn into a bus. So, for those of you who may be wondering what we think of the driving skills in China, they aren't so good. Not only is it a free for all when you choose to drive a car here, the horn is just as important as the steering wheel.

Squatty Potty

I just have to make one post on the infamous "squatty potty"....I had my first encounter this evening at the acrobat show. In the US, women wait patiently in a long line for a bathroom. Well, here in China, there is no line for the bathroom....you pretty much choose which one you want to use and push everyone and anyone out of your way to get to it as quickly as possible. As I was standing in the "line" I noticed two things....one, everyone was prepared with their "tissues" and two, inside the stalls were squatty potties. I panicked. I turned to a Chinese girl beside me who was prepared and asked to borrow a tissue....thankfully she spoke English...either that or she saw the terror in my eyes....then I focused on getting in the bathroom. All in all, it was an experience....one that I knew I would have to face but one that no one can truly identify with until they themselves have been forced to use the squatty potty.

Now, with other events....we chose to do the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner tonight. We met the Mohr family in the lobby, we hailed a taxi, drove about 15 minutes, took pictures out front with the Hard Rock sign, went inside to eat and guess what? THEY ARE CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS! Incredible. So, we went back to McDonalds. Those of you who know me well, know that I do not do McDs much, but here it has proven to be gold. After dinner we went to an amazing acrobat show...I wish that we had taken our camera to take pix....the most amazing thing was watching 12 girls all ride one bicycle....the boys liked all of the performers flipping and flying around....they have been practicing their own version of the show on our beds since we got back to our room....I will let you know how that works out for us.

Colin and Zach from Nebraska at the Hard Rock Beijing....Pryce was busy taking in the rest of the city...

Hutong Tour and more

We all rested well and woke up this morning to a beautiful day in Beijing. We went to breakfast and everyone actually found something that they liked to eat....I have replaced my daily Coke with hot tea....very good, even Colin and Pryce liked it. We then went to the Hutong area of Beijing. We rode on rickshaws through the hutongs and stopped in to visit a local family. They served us tea and really seemed to enjoy our company....they thought the boys were cute of course and laughed at the things they had to say....they even offered for the boys to come back and stay with them for the Olympics....now that would be something. After our tour, we visited a porcelian shop where they actually make the porcelian....the porcelian was beautiful. Colin chose to sit at the potter's wheel and make his own porcelian bowl. Pryce said no to that but chose to paint a plate instead. Of course the director wanted us to buy the items but the plate alone would have cost us $65....not exactly the deal we were looking for. Ryan talked him down to $45 but we still left without the plate. We then came back to the hotel and met up with our new friends, the Mohrs. They will be traveling with us the entire trip and are also adopting a baby girl from Chongqing with a cleft lip and palate....the girls are only 2 weeks apart in age. The Mohrs also have a 5 year old son that the boys have really been enjoying spending time with so far. We made our first trip (and I am sure not the last) to McDonalds for lunch....just like in America, McDonalds was located inside the WuMart....so of course we went to WuMart after lunch....COKE finally, they have COKE....and water of course, we needed water....anyway, all is well here so far....the boys are working hard on their schoolwork as I type, then we will rest....tonight we are planning to go to HardRock Cafe for dinner and then onto an acrobat show....take care everyone and thank you for the prayers....

We have arrived....

Hello to you all! We arrived safely about an hour ago to our hotel in Beijing. Everyone did great on the flights, including Beth. Of course we all made a bet on whose bag would get searched first going through security...the boys won, it was Beth's both times....and security even chose her to do the full body search.....unbelievable. The boys were most impressed with their visit to the cockpit of our 747. We were most shocked by the fact that in Japan you can actually board the plane with a hand held lighter yet they would not let us take peanut butter on unless it was placed in a plastic bag....who would know. Of course, Pryce and Colin met a Chinese girl on the plane that they were both taken with....she taught them a few new Chinese words and they made her laugh a lot. It did not take our guide anytime to say to me "you have your hands full, one is a lot but two - they are busy" Anyway, thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers....we are so thankful to be here safe and sound.


No wonder we got here so fast......

What do you do after 20 hours of playing Gameboy and Nintendo DS?.....Play more.

China Bound

In one hour and 9 minutes, we will be leaving (potentially) for the airport....WOW! In six days, we will be holding our little girl and sister for the first time. This process has been so amazing! It is really unbelievable to me that it is finally going to happen. Surreal is the best word to describe it. Please pray for us, our safety and health. Also, please pray a special prayer for Mason-Kate. I can only hope that she will feel our love the minute we hold her and know that she is in a safe, comfortable and loving place!

Until Beijing....

Mason-Kate

Mason-Kate's name....those of you who know us, know the story but others are wondering how we named our little girl. I love family names. Mason is a family name on my dad's side of the family. I used to work for an attorney whose mother's name was Mason. I can remember the day that I talked to his mother for the first time on the phone and she told me her name....from that point on, I was sold on the name Mason for a baby girl. Fast forward several years (and two little handsome boys later) to April 2006 when we began the "paper chase" for our adoption from China. I was still hooked on having a little girl "Mason". Ryan, on the other hand, decided he liked the name "Kate". Beautiful name, but I wasn't sold on it. So, we would talk about the adoption or paperwork that was involved, etc., etc. and I would always refer to the baby as "Mason" and Ryan would smile and say "Kate". Well, the boys like to please both of us so when they would refer to the baby, they would use both names together and thus we have the name "Mason-Kate".