Great Wall of China

The next day we chose to go visit the Great Wall early in the morning.  We visited the Mutianyu section.  It was once again a beautiful day but not as cold.  It was a haul to get Kate up there but we did it! 

Lily was getting tired and the sun was shining bright.

The crowds were not bad at all yet.

I love this picture!

I am really glad that we went to the wall.  It wasn't exactly like I expected.  I think I was thinking that it would feel like we were on top of the world.  I didn't get that feeling:)

Our next stop was Temple of Heaven.  That is actually a musical instrument the gentlemen is holding.

A great picture of dad and Jason.  We were losing our blue sky.

An old tree.

This is very common to see electrical lines like this.  Actually, this one looks pretty neat.

For dinner, we couldn't leave Beijing without having their favorite dish - Peking Duck.  It's not one of our favorite dishes.  However, we got a good laugh thinking about the scene from "The Christmas Story"!

Beijing

Back in March, we had our first visitor that wasn't stopping in because of work related purposes!  Dad arrived for a busy 2 week visit:)  We were all excited to see him.  He arrived on a Wednesday and on that following Friday we were flying to Beijing to begin an eleven day tour.  It was the first time for all of us to be in Beijing except Jason.  He had been there earlier in the year.

On our first day, we began at Tiananmen Square.  It was a chilly day but nice.  We actually saw blue sky because of the wind.

The square is huge.  There were lots of people and quite a bit of military.  In the following picture, we have the "Forbidden City" entrance behind us.  I should also mention that it was Lily's first time to join us on a family vacation.

Standing with one of the many Lion Guards

I don't think you can get the feel of exactly how big it is until you actually visit it yourself!  It is the biggest palace complex in the world.

Jason captured a nice picture of my dad and I.  I think I resemble him quite a bit!

Late morning, we rode on a rickshaw around the Hutong Area.  It was so cold that Jason did some bargaining for a few pairs of winter gloves.

Jason and Katelyn.  There were rickshaws lined up around the block.

They took us to a small house.  I think they have been remodeled for the sole purpose of making tourists think that they are actually eating in an authentic Chinese home.

Our table was covered with food dishes in about 10 minutes.  I have to say it was one of my favorite meals while on the trip.



The Cook



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we headed to the Summer Palace.  The statues are always just as interesting as the buildings.  

The Qilin - mythical creature of stag, lion, dragon.

The Summer Palace sits on a big lake.  I believe those are guard towers up on the hill.

Lucas, who hates to have his picture taken, was always being asked by someone.  Jason was able to finally capture how happy they get:)  I should mention that they don't always ask.  All of a sudden you notice that someone is standing close to you and you see someone in the distance snapping a quick picture.  It is quite funny sometimes.

We were walking fast around the palace.  We could have taken a boat ride.  The air coming off the lake was quite chilly.  We opted to walk fast to try to keep warm.  Lily was able to fall asleep. 

The artwork/painting in this covered walkway was beautiful.  I think if it was a warmer day, it would have been nice to really look at the pictures.

A Marble boat that has never set sail - I think that is what the tour guide said????

We all had a good day and were ready to head back to the hotel.

Kate - Osteomyelitis

Well, it's been so long since I've been on to blog that blogger has made changes.  The page to publish posts looks different and the way to add pictures......  I have another thing to get use to!!!!

Anyway, it's been a while since I posted to say the least:)  This past winter was very rainy in Shanghai.  I don't think we saw the sun for 2 months.  It wasn't very pretty and not much to blog about.

The end of February came around and we had some "excitement".  Kate came down with a fever but everyone was having fevers around us.  Just figured she had a virus because she didn't have any other symptoms.  2 days after she started the fever, she fell and started complaining that her arm hurt.  So I took her to the ER and the X-ray didn't show anything.  We thought it was just a bad sprain.  Went back to the hospital 2 days later with her in terrible pain and still fever.  Xray showed nothing but no one could even get close to her arm without her screaming.  Blood tests were abnormal but could reflect a virus.  We were sent home but scheduled to go back the next day for more blood work and follow up.  She felt much better the next day but still had fever and swelling in arm.  She was sitting at the table working on homework and I was seriously considering canceling the appointment because she seemed so much better.    

 I looked down at her arm and noticed the red spot.  I took a picture with my phone and we headed back to the hospital.

 They did a MRI and showed she had osteomyelitis in her arm.  Crazy!!  We weren't expecting that one.  I don't know what it is but Kate likes to test out the health systems in the country we are living:)  She was admitted to the hospital and they immediately began the IV antibiotics.  The good thing is she responded very well to the antibiotic and showed great improvements within 2 days.  The hospital, doctors and nurses were all wonderful.  In China there is no home health care so we had to stay in the hospital.  The hospital would never want to send you home with a line for fear of infection.  We still aren't sure how she got this infection.

After 10 days, she was sent home with oral antibiotics and didn't have to spend her "11" Birthday in the hospital.  That was the best present she got.  Happy Birthday Katelyn!!!