China, Day Two: The Great Wall

I don't think there was ever a time growing up where I imagined I'd stand on the Great Wall of China. What a cool experience!


We chose to ride the chair lift up since climbing to the top with 2 kids didn't sound like a fun time:

The sights were beautiful on the way up, despite the smog:

On top:

You see that kid with his arms in the air on top of the tower? That's Caleb:

Amazing:

Caleb (wearing his "I climbed the Great Wall" medal) standing next to a cannon:

Both boys by the cannon:

It was about this point that Justin left us to go explore further on his own (the rest of the pictures are ones he took):

(Look closely and you'll see the closest thing to "Fall" we've seen in 3 years):

I'm so glad we had this experience.

China: Chinese Acrobats

We were able to go to the Chinese Acrobat show while in Beijing, and it was cool, beautiful, and slightly disturbing (see 5th picture down) all at the same time. A really neat experience!

China: Tim's Texas BBQ

When my friend, Keri, went to Beijing with her husband and posted pictures of a place called Tim's Texas BBQ, it immediately became a "must do" on our trip. It was, in a word, amazing.

Lilly, our tour guide, pointing out Dr. Pepper on the MENU! A very rare sighting outside of Texas:

There was Texas memorabilia everywhere. It was surreal. Like walking into a Texas BBQ joint or Texas Roadhouse, except in the middle of crazy busy China:

You can only imagine how happy this made me:

And this, of course, too:

No schools/teams in Texas were left out of the decor:

It tasted just as good as it looked. Incredible! (The brisket was the best...sausage and ribs not as good, FYI.)

It was a surreal, happy place for a few homesick Texans. (And, no, Justin, I'm not talking about you. I know you will always consider yourself a New Mexican.)

Pumpkin Patch 2011

I still have China pictures to post, but I figured I'd get these up here before it's Christmas! The Singapore American School has a pumpkin sale/patch every year. It's not the same as going into a big field in Texas and picking out pumpkins, but we're so thankful to have the opportunity to have a pumpkin patch in Singapore!

Levi showing off his tiny pumpkin:

My 6yo...how did he get so big?

All my handsome boys:

There was even hay!

Caleb and his friend, Pierce:

Happy Fall, Y'all! or, you know, whatever.

Beijing, Day One - Pagoda and Hutong/Hou Hai Area

We crossed the street from The Forbidden City and climbed Jingshan hill to get to the pagoda at the top of this picture:

And I couldn't resist taking a picture of this girl posing for her mom:

View of The Forbidden City looking down the hill (and, yes, that's smog.  gross.):

Looking at the other side of the city, the Hutong Area:

The lake:

Caleb standing in the middle of Beijing!:

We came down the hill and found the tree, called the Guilty Chinese Scholartree, where the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty hanged himself to avoid being captured and executed. Read about the tree here.:

Levi was in a particularly bad mood this day, so I had to capture any picture of him smiling:

Family pic by the female lion (see the baby under her foot?):

Again with smiling Levi! A rare occurrence that day:

Hutong:

You can get churros in China!  They smelled sooooo good, but it wasn't worth the pain for me to eat one:

We ate at Hutong Pizza, which was really good:

And then I had to stop at Starbucks to get my Beijing coffee mug!

The Great Wall is next!