Beijing, Day San

Beijing day three was filled with more time with one of our favorite families.  We spent another morning at a local park dancing as the locals do,

street sweeping and checking out the local cuisine.  We passed on "donkey hide gelatin chicken", but may give a try when we are back in Beijing in a few days. 

We finished our time together with a 2nd trip to a crazy good Chinese restaurant,

before saying goodbye as they boarded a train for home.  So sad to see them go, but so grateful for the memories. 

 

The three of us spent the afternoon visiting Tiananmen Square and prepping for Eli's gotcha day!

 

 

Beijing

Our first day in Beijing was very laid back and lots of fun.  Our friends arrived by overnight train at around 9:00 AM.   After settling in, we headed across the street to a park where we found people dancing, wrestling, singing and playing musical instruments.  Love how people live outdoors here, fully in community.

 

The park had lots of exercise equipment that the kiddos had fun on while we all caught up on the whirlwind of life that has taken place over the past six months. 

The kids climbed around on rocks and wandered on trails.  The excitement for the AM was momentarily losing Sophia! 



The girls were memorized by a lady who was standing in the woods singing to music playing on her phone. 

Next stop was a delicious, authentic Chinese restaurant where we ate what our pals, the experts, ordered for us: marinated cucumbers, Kung Pao chicken, green beans, rice, friend eggplant and melt your face off pork. 

Next the Deans needed to go to the US Embassy, so we had some hotel room fun babysitting their kiddos.  

 

By about 5PM, jet lag hit like a mack truck so we headed back to our rooms to shower ourselves awake.  A taxi ride later, we ended up at a Tex-Mex place where Chinese waiters, wearing Texas flag print button downs and bandannas, served everything from tacos to pizza to goulash.  Matt learned the hard lesson to always be sure that the burger that you order...and have been craving...actually contains a burger.  April says, "If you haven't been utterly confused by life in China, than you've never been to China!"  Such a fun adventure in this land that we love.

 

Our fun and relaxing first day, was followed up by falling asleep hard.  Problem is, FALLING asleep is the easy part, STAYING asleep is not so easy .  We've all been up for hours.  Blame the jet lag, or...

 

that a van picks us up in two hours to take us to Evie!  Today, my friends, TODAY! 

 

Beijing, Baby

 

We made it!!  Our flight from Seattle to Beijing went great.  Thankfully, we snoozed most of the way with only minor grumpy, uncomfortable moments. A memorable moment was seeing the Northern Lights through our plane window.  Bucket list, baby!  Finally, about 20+ hours later, after navigating through heavy Beijing traffic, we made it to our hotel at about 1AM. 

 

Mark and Sophia then snoozed AGAIN all night.  I listened to them snore and laid in bed marveling that we are back in China, & in the same city as Evie and so close to Eli. (See ya later today, jet lag!)

 

Our first hiccup was that our hotel wouldn't accept our new version of the US 100 bills.  This AM we are off to a bank and are hoping for the best.   

 

After a breakfast of fried rice, noodles, dumplings and black tea, we are ready to see what Beijing has for us today. 

 

Sophia is doing so well.  We're definitely thrilled that we brought her.  The amount she's taken in already can't be matched.  China got major points when the breakfast buffet included ice cream!