Hey Guys!

We are here in China.  We left Thursday.  All the traveling went pretty smoothly.  Minus the fact that I threw up on the airplane 2x.  Its one thing to throw up but another thing to do it in front of perfect strangers on a plane;)  Maggie is a travel champion.  I have been so proud of how well she has done.

When we arrived in Beijing we were picked up at the airport by our Guide John.  He is so sweet.  He is wanting us to see as much of Beijing as we can so he has kept us very busy since we got here.  Its funny when we got off the airplane we were all the way across the world but China still seems so familiar to us.  Its like returning to a good friends house after being away for a long time.  Keith said oh man it smells like China. Its not a good or bad thing its just has a distinct smell but these things are all familiar things to us know.  It feels good to be back.

When we got off the plane our guide thought that we should see the Kung Fu show and try the Peking Duck bc those were 2 things we didn't do the last time we were here.  We went back to our hotel for 2 hours and went right to sleep.  Then John picked us back up.  The Kung Fu show was really neat.  Keith and I both fell asleep for a little bit but were able to make it through for the most part;)  Then we went and ate at the Peking Duck restaurant.  That was a neat experience.  The duck is sliced and put on a little tray on the table.  You put it on a tortilla type of thing and add cucumbers and onion and eat it that way.  It was good.  I probably would have preferred Outback Steakhouse but when you are China I guess its all about the experience;)

The next day we got up and left the hotel for a action packed day of sightseeing.  First stop was the Forbidden City.  It was so cool to see.  Next stop was the Jade carving factory.  Jade is huge here in China.  It was neat to watch how it is cut.  From there we went to lunch.  Of course it wasn't McDonald's or anything.  It was Chinese food.  It wasn't too bad and yet it is very different than what we would normally eat.  Keith and Maggie are quite adventurous.   They will eat just about anything.  Me not so much.  We headed to the great wall from there.  It was hot.  Like close to 100 degree hot.  We went to a different part of the great wall than what we saw last time.  Last time we could climb so far then take the cable cars or little sleds back down.  Of course not this time.... This part of the Great wall was sooooo steep.  Maggie and I were sweating before we even walked to the first tower.  We just had a seat and drank some water and watched Keith go up.  He was a sweaty mess when he finally made it back down.  He said Mag and I would have never made it;)  We were ok with watching.  From there we went to the traditional tea ceremony.  A lady showed us how to make a bunch of different kinds of tea.  We ended up buying one.  It was a fruity tea.  Kind of like hot kool-aid.  It was so good though.  From there it was on to the silk factory.  My knowledge of how silk is made is so much better now.  I had no idea.  Lots of cool things to buy there made of silk.  From there we went to the acrobatic show.  We were so exhausted.  Keith was asleep before it started and Maggie and I weren't far behind him. What I did see seems like it had been revamped a little from 2 years ago.  Very cool and worth seeing.  We were back to the hotel by 7 and asleep by 7;15 I would say.  I have been awake since midnight now.  Its so hard to get used to the time change and its hard to sleep.  Our air conditioner is turned down as low as it will go and its soooo hot in here.

Anyways, the last couple of days have been like a whirlwind of traveling and sightseeing.  Seeing China with Maggie and through her eyes has been fabulous.  She has been a trooper and we are loving this 2 weeks we have to spend with her almost completely cell phone free;)

 Here is Maggie after the Kung Fu show.  For 4 dollars you could pay and go on stage and meet the characters and get your picture taken with them.  Of course she was first in line!

 This is the restaurant where we ate or Peking Duck.  Very cool experience.

 Just bc she is kind of cute;)

 These next few are of the Forbidden City.

 Here we are at the Great Wall

 This is us with our guide.  We have really enjoyed his company.

 Yeah it didn't take Maggie and I long in the 100 degree weather to decide dad was climbing these stairs alone.  It is absolutely beautiful though.

 This is the traditional tea ceremony.  You can see all the different kinds of tea in the glass containers.

 Here we are at the silk factory.  We felt these silk worms.  They were so soft.  It was really neat and informative.

 

Ok hope all is well with everyone at home.  Its the middle of the night in China so Maggie and I are going to try and go back to sleep.  Connor, Sam, and Brennan -we love you guys so much. Today when we were sight seeing some people asked us if they could take their pic with us.  We were told they had probably never seen people that looked like us in person before.  It was kind of cool.  Maggie thinks she is a celebrity now;)  Tomorrow we are flying to where Sadie lives and the next day on Monday she will be with us.  Its crazy isn't it??  We are missing you guys and can't wait to be back home with you.  Be really bad for your grandmas, OK? Haha  Love you guys so much.  Mom