Wow are we tired...

Our day started with a drive by of the Olympic Village... it's the Bird's Nest!

Our next stop was the Jade Museum... right after we snapped this picture of a huge carving from a single piece of jade, we realized it had a sign saying 'do not take pictures of this'... oops....

A 'squatty potty' in the Jade Museum... probably another place you shouldn't be taking pictures... but there was no sign saying not to...

The GREAT WALL! It is aptly named.


Looking down over what we'd just climbed...



And then we stopped for lunch... anyone up for sweet and sour fish? Yeah, we didn't think so... only a 7 year old girl at our table was brave enough to try it, and she thought it was good...


And then we visited the Summer Palace... ironically named considering how cold it was....brrrrr

Some of the detailed work at the Summer Palace...



The Buddhist Temple at the Summer Palace

The Empress' Marble Boat at the Summer Palace

A bridge at the summer palace...

Piggy's Big Day

Here Mr. Piggly Wiggly is on guard duty on the Great Wall.



It's a good thing Mr. Piggly Wiggly isn't afraid of heights...



Here he is at the Summer Palace. Whew. It was tough getting on to that bridge after all that walking along the lake... especially with his little piggy feet.

Acrobat Show

We just got back from the world's greatest acrobat show... these pictures are from the finale. We didn't want to snap pictures while people were 30' in the air doing back flips. It was suggested that the flash might be distracting...

Seriously, this show was incredible! We've never seen such athleticism, and the tech theater effects that they combined with the performance were amazing. This company is the same company that has been in existence for centuries, and performed for the Emperor (for generation upon generation) and for the Olympics.

Mrs. Desing wants to give a 'shout out' to Mrs. Brumagin's 5th Grade class at Brant Elementary. We hope you're all doing well!

More Forbidden City Pics

Here are some more pics from the Forbidden City... it's HUGE. It has 9,999 rooms, and after walking through it, that's not an exaggeration...

Tonight it's off to an acrobat show! (by the way, thanks to John and Lisa for letting us borrow their camera to get these pics!)

Here's a Tian'anmen Square picture... a pretty famous landmark...



Here we are in Tian'anmen Square...



Mr. Piggly Wiggly invades the Forbidden City...



Another picture from our visit to the Forbidden City... that Mr. Piggly Wiggly keeps getting into the shots...

Mr. Piggly Wiggly

We decided that we needed someone to share this journey with... fortunately, international regulations do not require passports for foam pigs under 7 ounces, so we were able to get Mr. Piggly Wiggly through customs with only minimal questioning.

Here he is checking out the hotel room. He's excited that tomorrow he gets to visit the Forbidden City with us...

In Beijing!

We're here. Our flight went very well... we actually got in about an hour ahead of schedule because we got a good tail wind... or head wind... I have no idea. Regardless, it was a good wind, and we got here just after 3pm Beijing time (2:00 AM Buffalo time). I'm doing pretty well, as I slept for over half the flight, but Mary had more trouble sleeping, and she's dragging a little right now.

The hotel is gorgeous. We're on the 12th floor.

Our guide suggested that we force ourselves to stay awake for a few hours and try not to crash until a 'normal' bed time so that we acclimate to the time change more quickly. We're going to walk around Beijing for a bit and see if we can get a new digital camera on the cheap... of course, all the directions for it will be in Chinese, but it will just be part of the adventure.

Mary snapped a whole bunch of pictures with our old camera on the ride into the city from the airport, and many of them turned out well... here are a few!

Mike and Mary

Chicago Airport Update

(Note: We wrote this while in the Chicago airport, but couldn't get a connection to post it there)...

Well snap!

We made it successfully to Chicago, and as we were waiting for our Beijing flight, we decided to take out our digital camera and snap a few pictures… only to discover that at some point over the last few hours, the camera got knocked around inside the carry on bag, and the LCD display is cracked… oh, the agony!

Seriously, if that’s the worst thing to happen, we’re doing pretty well. Fortunately, dad just gave us a card that holds 500+ pics, so I’ll just have to snap five pictures of everything, and hope we get one good one. I checked the camera and it still works, but we can’t see the LCD display. Ah well. Mary picked up a disposable just so we have a backup in place, and another couple in our group offered to let us use their camera as needed. That was VERY nice of them.

Less than an hour until we board the flight to Beijing.

Mary's Poem

Mary wrote this poem for our Gracie...

We waited for you for many years;

We waited for your laughter, and to dry your tears;

We hoped and we prayed to be blessed some day,

With a daughter or a son who would be a lot of fun.

So we waited and we prayed

And we journeyed to a place

Where we found our daughter

And we named her Grace.

We knew from the start

She had captured our hearts

And a family was born

From love and a prayer

That was answered with care.

We brought our beautiful baby girl home

And are grateful to say

“We love you Grace”

Every day.

Our Hotel...

We'll be staying at the White Swan Hotel while we're in China... here's their site, in case you're interested.

http://www.whiteswanhotel.com/

Here's a picture of Gracie... so we can practice getting photos here as well.

Here it is...

Here is the blog we've set up to communicate with friends and family while in China to get our Gracie! We're leaving on (or around) February 25... more to come!