Back on American Soil!!

Hey All~ We're Home!!

We had a blast, but are so grateful to be back on American Soil. The girls and I learned so much and can't wait to show you all the fun stuff that we did. I will give you a taste of what we experienced, but it will take me awhile to go through our pictures and get them organized. Grandma took at least 500 pictures a day, so that gives you an idea of what I need to go through.

Again, here are just a few. I will be doing post for every site/day that we had, so be on the lookout for those!

This is at the Yu Gardens. It was decorated for the Spring Lantern Festival. So beautiful!! We are in front of the most famous, and I believe oldest Tea Houses in China.

This is also at the Yu Gardens. This big teapot was to represent the tea that they have that they believe gives you long life. We thought it was a beautiful fountain.

This is The Great Wall. All I can say is "WOW!" I am so amazed at this was built from before Christ was born until about the 1300s, I think. To think that something so old is still standing is amazing! Do you know what they used as cement????? Sticky rice!! Yep, they used sticky rice and some lye to make the "cement." Again, "WOW!"

This is the Shanghai Skyline. It was interesting to see all the modern buildings right in with the old China buildings. I have better pics to show that, but old China and new China are just all mixed up together.


This is at the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is where the Emporer's lived. It was basically their own little town where peasant/normal people were not allowed to go. Just beautiful!



This is at one of the many markets we went to. The girls were amazed at how their Auntie Jaimee could bargain. Sierra got a journal and Jaimee talked them down from 160 Yuan to 20 Yuan! Go Jaimee!! That translates to about $25 to about $3!


We went to an awesome restaurant in Beijing. The girls did great trying all the different foods there were to try. We all, of course, opted out of ordering the fried Scorpion and Baby pigeon soup with caterpillar fungus. We did, however, try the Beijing duck. It is the same thing as Peking Duck, but Beijing Duck is the correct name for it. Aspen and Sierra weren't too sure about trying it after they got to go down in the kitchen and see how it was cooked, but they still tried it and actually really liked it!! I'm very proud of them for being so opened minded about trying new foods!



Here we are getting our duck ready to eat. They have these very thin tortillas that you put the duck in along with vegetables and plum sauce. Here's our first bite of duck!! Yummy!! Oh, and Sierra also enjoyed the Duck skin with sugar on it.

Well, be on the lookout for my posts on our many adventures in China!! I can't wait to show all the pictures!!