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6.25.2011

Tired but happy


Sorry for the lack of posting, I've been oh, so exhausted since we arrived.  We're close now, but the kids have been having a tough time sleeping through the night...

Today was a wonderful and exhausting day.  We woke to blue skies and slightly cooler temperatures for our day at the Great Wall.  Pete, who came along with us and served as our guide for the day said that he had never been to the wall with such high visibility.  We were more thankful than ever for the torrential downpour we had Thursday night (seriously, I've only ever seen rain like that once before in my life and it lasted over an hour) that knocked the "haze" that clouded the city when we arrived.  


 The last of the stairs that lead up to the wall.



While this was my and Ian's third visit to see the wall, we've been fortunate enough to be able to see different sections each time.  Mutainyu was our destination for today.  We opted to take the cable car up to the top and it was worth the $10 per adult ticket (kids under 1.2 meters ride free).  Our kids thought it was as fun as a roller coaster.





We were thankful for the light crowds at this section.  MUCH easier to take fun photos!


This section of the wall provides insane views of the wall snaking off the mountain ridges in several directions as there are "branches" off the main wall coming in at this particular section.  As I said before, the clear skies today made it breathtaking.  We hiked around for as long as we felt was reasonable with lots of kids and then took our roller coaster back down.  There is a toboggan available at that section of the wall, but as kids were a big part of our travel party, we opted to skip it.  Gotta save something for later, right?



Me and my honey.








Hear no evil..





The wall snaking off in the distance.



We left the wall with tired legs ~ the walk from the parking lot to the cable car is pretty long ~ but were "tired happy."

Next came the Ming Tombs.  Or one section of them as there are several.  It was one thing in the area that Ian and I had not seen and we were interested in going.  Interestingly enough, it was designed by the same emperor that designed the Forbidden City, so it was very familiar.  You pretty much could have lifted out the buildings that were there and placed them in the Forbidden City and no one would really be the wiser.  However the history inside along with some of the artifacts were pretty interesting.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to walk "the sacred road" so we missed the camel statue featured in Big Bird in China.  Kylie ~ and myself if I'm going to be perfectly honest ~ was a little disappointed about that.  While I'm glad to have seen the tombs area, and the drive out there was amazingly beautiful, in retrospect I think I would have opted to come back after lunch instead of going on out to the tombs.  They were much further apart than we anticipated and it made for a much longer day than we imagined.



First building inside the temple.





The view from the top at the tombs.  The scenery was amazing!





Not quite what they meant by "how to train your dragon"...



For dinner we decided we were tired enough to pass up McD's for peanut butter bagels, beef jerky and leftover noodles and jiao zi.  Somewhat strange combo, but it worked for us in our tired state.

Tomorrow we fly out to Daniel's province!!!

11 comments:

Sennie said...

So wonderful to be able to follow along, thank you! Praying for a smooth transition and safety for all.

Di said...

It looks amazing! Safe travelling tomorrow and I hope you get to see some of the sights! And of course have a happy meeting with Daniel!!

Jenn said...

Love all the photos!!! Praying for you and your sweet family!! Exciting times!!!

Amy Murphy said...

OH! What an amazing day you had! I'm sooo jealous! I hope that one day I get to go to the great wall. It looks like you are all having a great time while you wait to get Daniel.

heather said...

Oh my goodness that last picture of Caleb is so cute! I will have to show that to Spencer later. :) Loved the "new" view of the Great Wall - amazing. now I have another thing on my list for "when I return". ;) Can't wait to see the pictures from tomorrow my friend. Praying for a good night sleep for ALL.

Robyn said...

I am so excited you are finally there and Daniel will be with his family! It is a day I have prayed would come for this precious child! I am so glad God called you to be his family! I will be praying for you and look forward to seeing pictures of you all united!
Blessings!
Robyn Beall

Gwen said...

Love the pictures! We also went to the same section of the Great Wall. What a beautiful day for sight seeing you had! So amazing!

Jenna said...

Would that be my favorite Pete in the whole world- the one who gave us OUR tour of the wall?

OH, I already love following along- it takes me RIGHT BACK! But, not gonna lie, I get teary every time!

Can't wait to see pics of you with Daniel- and you ALL in Urumqi!!! Sitting on pins and needles here!

Praying for you all!!

Deborah said...

Thinking of and praying for you all. And of course waiting on pins and needles to hear you have him in your arms at last! We missed you at the airport but loved the sign. :) All is well at the Baus house. Much like you, we are tired, but oh so happy. See you soon M6. We love you!

Nancy said...

I am so glad I didn't miss you meeting Daniel yet! I am so behind in my blogs. I was gone a good part of the week in SC and probably drove right past you (but you weren't home).

That is awesome you had such great visibility. How cool that each time you've been to China, its been a different experience!

Love the photo of you & Ian. You look absolutely gorgeous, definitely a glow!

Serving the King said...

Kristi! Just found your email in my yahoo spam filter. :( So sorry I haven't responded! Ack! Thanks for the encouragement about where our Joshua is, I appreciate it! Can't wait to follow along as you meet Daniel!