When in Beijing

We were given a warm welcome Sunday night at our Beijing hotel

by cockroaches.

Other than that...we had a perfect trip. Traveling, kids, and all! It was so fun to play a tourist for the weekend and to have Mister all to ourselves. When in Beijing we...

play with dad

stop for a few pictures

rub the lucky door

visit the Forbidden City

walk by hundreds of rooms, beautiful architecture, and bumpy floors

see the gardens where the concubines liked to take a stroll back in the day

play with friends old and new

admire (but not try) bottles of Beijing yogurt

watch the amazing Chinese acrobats

and pray they don't die

watch Miss A loving it

see cool buildings

kick to our heart's content

and spend the night eating delicious pizza and playing with good, good friends.

Dear Beijing, thank you for the perfect weather and wonderful memories.

We Get Around

Fact: Traveling in China has been an adventure.

Buying train tickets seems pretty complicated.

The bullet train is probably the best way to travel longer distances. Plus, the seats turn around so you can have a party with your friends!!

The Maglev is SO fast.  

Long train rides make great friends. Miss A and this cute Russian girl played the whole way to Beijing.

Subway stations are easy enough for a toddler (but sometimes not for me!).

Also, this is a completely acceptable ensemble in China. 

Bringing lots of water and a handsome interpreter helps. 

A cute baby can't hurt, either.

Strollers are a convenient way to travel...except when the ground is made of carved stone bricks, or when you have to carry it up and down the subway stairs, or when you are a rambunctious toddler.

Greyhound style buses are much cheaper ($2/seat) than taxis ($30) for a 2 hour ride to the Great Wall. It's great as long as you are tough enough to hold your own in a line of people who don't believe in lines and as long as you bring an umbrella for the wait in the hot sun.

When you are trying to take luggage and babies and a stroller to the great wall, it is a good idea to get a ride.
I feared for my life on this one.

Miss A might have been a little afraid too...

Finally, the "best" of them all. A sleeper car. The name is quite deceiving. We took one of these for our 10 hour overnight ride home from Beijing. Picture it: Our family and 4 other Chinese guys. Our two children sleeping against the wall up top while I spread across the edge to keep them from falling. Mister sharing a bottom seat with luggage and another person... Little sleep was had.

Fact: I am excited ecstatic to have a car and drive it too.

Spring in Nanjing

People have a saying about the seasons here--and by saying I mean I've heard the exact same thing from everyone who speaks English to me.

"Nanjing...two seasons: winter...summer...no spring."

We've been making sure to take advantage of the nonexistent/short spring.

Mister had some time off for the holiday so we went to Xuan Wu Lake with some friends. Miss A found one of her favorite friends along the way.

The wind made for lots of kites and bubbles!

Some pretty great sales techniques (wearing the merchandise).

I wish I could capture the crazy amount of people at the lake. There are millions of people in Nanjing. Can you imagine even a small fraction of them coming to the city's most popular lake? 

One side of the lake.

How could you not enjoy a day out with these two??

Our navigator 

On our walk home we met Garfield (he's very popular here),

we rode an elephant,

and one of us took a nap with his sister's cute hat to keep him cool.

 We're soaking up the sun and our last 5 (can you believe it FIVE?!) weeks in Nanjing.

Two Holidays

It is quite fitting that China's "Tomb Sweeping" holiday coincides with our Easter. While they were out visiting and caring for their ancestors' tombs we were celebrating the emptiness of another tomb.

Easter was simple and beautiful for our little family.

China knows how to do parks! We visited this beautiful, huge park with some other members of our church for a picnic and Easter egg hunt.

Mister played in the "Bunny Bowl" (then we hobbled around the rest of the weekend).

We discovered bubbles!

We were a little unsure of the uneven ground...

but Miss A got the hang of it and loved the egg hunt. 

This chubby boy was loved on the whole time.

The next morning we celebrated something even better than easter eggs and beautiful flowers--

"He is not here: for he is risen..." Matthew 28:6