More Great Wall photos!

What ever you do, don't look down!!

I pitty you fools....

I had to pay him 100RMB to be in a picture with me!

Yep, you betcha....we hiked up those stairs! I should have a rump like a quarter horse after that!

Jules having a break.

This watch tower was really pretty.

I get this look a lot!!  I have no idea why??!!!??

Coming down the mountain.

National past time!

Yep...can you say sucker...that lady that took my picture...well she got a hold of me on the way down.  She make me a good deal for a cola.  Since you so nice I sell it to you for 65RMB (that is equivalent to almost $10 US)  I got her down to 20 RMB which is still over $3 for a banged up, hot diet coke.  I decided to frame it!

The Great Wall of China...........the original stairmaster!

So on Saturday, September 15, we woke early and ventured out to the Great Wall of China.  We went to the Mutianyu section of the wall which was originally built in (550-557) and was rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty in1368-1644.  It was built as a protective screen to guard the capital and imperial mausoleums, but is known now for it's breath taking scenery.  It also has cable cars to take you up the mountain side to the wall, and a 'sled' ride named 'speed' to take you back down in one fell swoop!  We decided to take the cable car up, which was a great idea, because it is several hundred steps to even get to the wall.  Once we were on the wall the view was amazing, but I knew I was in trouble immediately, when I saw the first set of stairs to hike.  HELLO, genius here decided 2 days earlier to start a new work out called cross fit.  (Ya ever heard of it?  Well if you enjoy being mobile, I don't recommend it.)  Not only do we have a million stairs in our house that were agonizing, but hey, lets go hike the Great Wall of China so I can do a million more.  I could barely go from sitting to standing without moaning and groaning, much less having to use a squatter (that could have been the death of me).  Anyway, we made it as far as we could go on our hike.  We even went out to where the "old wall" was and hiked through the rough terrain to watch tower 22.  It really was breath taking......literally......they needed to have oxygen masks up there in stations to help a sister out!  It was definitely a work out but so worth it!  We all had a great time, enjoying each other and the view.  I figure if some of these women I saw could hike this baby in high heels and a kid on their hip, I could surely tough it out! 
We took a lot of pictures, that I will share with you, and had a few pictures taken of us with Chinese admirers.  We are somewhat of a novelty here (especially the girls)!  There was even a local that had his 2 year old daughter teetering and standing on the edge of the wall, with a couple hundred foot drop off, just to get the perfect photo.  Kelly and I turned and decided not to look and see how that one turned out.  Can you say CRAZY??????
We were going to hike farther to go down on the toboggans, but the girls were over it by that point and just wanted to get back down.  We will save that for another time because I heard it is really fun and a bit of a rush!!  We had a lovely day together on the Wall!!!

The map of Mutianyu

This was our cable car, it said on the window that President William Jefferson Clinton took this car up the Great Wall.

Enjoying our cable car ride!

Julia

Ella....and yes we hiked that whole thing!

We hiked to the top of that beast!

Oh thank goodness, we are going down for a change.

The view was breath taking!!!  LOL

OK...this part of the climb sucked.....the life right out of you!!

Another watch tower.

Ella taking a breather!

I can't even explain how steep this part was!

This nice local lady selling junk on the wall said "You nice people, I take your picture......then you come back and buy something."  Always a catch here!

Oh look more stairs.

Kelly, Valerie, Julia and Ella were here!  I promise....it was just scratched with a rock it will wash away in the next rain.

We hiked where not many others venture out to.  This is the old wall, and it was a bit dangerous in spots. 

This witch just got a new broom!!!

All I'm sayin is watch out, this sister has a new broom and isn't afraid to use it!!  I needed an outside broom to sweep the rubbish off of my sidewalk, so Mr Lou and Xiao Liu took me on a little shopping excursion.  We went to a local Chinese shopping area, which was an experience in itself, to get me hooked up.  I was so excited when they brought out these brooms.  These are home made, and what the locals use everywhere.  They even sweep streets with them here!  They were not very expensive at all....about $5 US each and are so pretty.  I know it's just a broom but you should see me go with it!!

My Little Dumplings!

On Friday, the girls came home from school and got a lesson from our Ayi, Xiao Liu, on how to make proper Chinese dumplings.  She was so sweet and patient with the girls and even let our neighbor kids get in on the action.  Ella was a whiz at making them.  She is my little helper and loves to learn to cook and bake, so this was right up her alley.  Julia humored us all and made one dumpling.  She would much rather eat them and  have someone else make them for her.  I don't know if it is too soon to tell, but I am pretty sure I can see which of my kids is going to be more domesticated and which one better get a great job or marry rich!!

Ella and Xiao Liu making dumplings.

Julia decided to check out the action (and see if there was anything to taste test)

Ella has it down.  Perfect my little dumpling!

I had to get this on film.....it may not happen again for a very long time.

Oh yeah....pa-chow!  See mom, I can be a domesticated goddess.......but I prefer to be just a goddess and get take out!

The neighbor girls get in on the action!

Zhu ni sheng ri kuai le De Kel Le!!

Happy Birthday to you Kelly!!  The big su shi yi (41)!  We had a beautiful, clean air day here in Beijing, with blue skies and clear enough to see the surrounding mountains!  Shared a great meal together, had some cake (ok..Kelly ate half the cake himself....that's a little more than some), sang Happy Birthday in Mandarin and took our pooch for a walk to the dog park to enjoy a breath of fresh air! 
We love you BaBa, Daddy, Coach, Kelly, lou gong!!!  You are the best!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Julia Keeping it real as the Goal Keeper

On Tuesday, September 11, we all got to attend Julia's 6th grade soccer match.  It was our first time seeing her in her ISB Dragon's Uniform.  The team played Dulwich Academy, which is a British school here in Beijing.  Half of Julia's ISB team was on a mentoring trip, which took the majority of the decent players.  The first half was kind of ugly, actually the whole thing was but we will choose to see the glass as half full here.  Julia scored 1 goal for her team, and this little girl for the other team was running around our defenders like Lionel Messi and by the end of the half it was 5-1.  Julia had been running non stop without a break and was huffing and puffing pretty hard.  The goalie for our team (who does not usually play that position) was in tears, so Julia offered to go in and play keeper. (IKR.....I know that her Moline United teammates are laughing right now)  Julia is a good player, but if you know her, you know she does not like balls coming at her face!  She is most likely to duck!  She went out there and literally had about 35 shots taken at her.  Much to our surprise she did great!  Every time she made a save or had to punt the ball she would turn around and smile at us.  Only 2 squeaked by her but she did us proud!  After the game she was all smiles.  I asked why she played goalie and she said, "Mom, are you kidding me?  Did you see the score?  There is no way I was going to let them run the score up any higher."
Most of the kids on the team have never played soccer before and they definitely need more practice, but they came off the field smiling and still having fun, so isn't that what counts???  Oh who the heck am I kidding.  This sounds good and I really want to mean it, but anyone that truly knows Kelly and I knows how competitive we are.  It was killing me on the inside but again, I missed my calling, because I gave one heck of an Academy Award winning performance and just smiled and said, "Way to play girls!"  And I meant it.....not really, but kind of!  They really truly are a great bunch of girls though and have many other talents.  See.... cup half full again!!

ISB Dragons logo on the school

Here is your proof...............Julia playing Keeper (gloves and all)

 

Bite me!!!!

The mosquito's here are insane!!!  I have never had reactions to mosquito bites like these in my life!  There was one on my leg that swelled the size of a 1/2 dollar and then I woke up yesterday with this doosy.  It is looking a little better today (picture included)
I was facetiming with my family this morning and my sister made me feel so much better when she said, "Maybe some crazy Chinese spider bit you and laid eggs in your face!"  Thanks Veronica!  That just made me get the warm fuzzies all over.  I may not sleep at all tonight now!!!

This is definitely better today but was all swollen and itched like the dickens!!