Day 2 Beijing Temple of Heaven

After the Jade Factory we went to the Temple of Heaven. Our first taste of ancient Chinese architecture. I was in awe. It was truly a beautiful place and busy. There were people every where doing Tai Chi, Yoga, and much much more.

These red doors with the gold knobs are a lot of places and if you rub the knobs it's suppose to bring you good luck.

The roof of the Temple of Heaven is blue because it is the most highest color because it is like the Heavens. The color of the roofs tell you where they stand in society.

These figurines are also on a lot of roofs. Depending on what animals are there, how many, and how big also defines the importance of the building.

Travis's brother Eric and his wife Krystin were able to come too. We had a good time hanging out together.

These sculptures were inbetween the stairs as you made your way up the the Temple.

Inside the Temple.

More inside.

This such a perfect beginning to a amazing trip. I was like a giddy school girl, in unbelief that I was experiencing this, walking down this walk arm in arm with Travis. A truly happy moment.

Day 2 Beijing Jade Factory

These are just some of the beautiful sculptures at the Jade Factory. There is a lot of symbolism in China and Jade is one of them. They believe it's a gift from the Gods and if you wear a bracelet you should wear it on you left hand so it's closest to your heart, like the wedding band, it represents health and well being.

There are 3 different degrees of Jade. "A" which is the best and the color will actually increase over time, because Jade is alive and actually can change as time goes by. "B" which is good but has some flaws and "C" which they inject with dye and will fade in just a few years.

You can tell Jade is real by holding it up the light and seeing the light shine through and the veins running through the rock, also it's cold, and if you tap it with something the higher pitched the sound the better the jade. If it makes a clunking sound its probably glass or plastic.

I had no idea how many different colors there were of Jade. I thought it was just green but it turns out it's purple, green, white, brown and all different shade of those colors in between.

I ended up getting a beautiful bangles that is white and green and Travis got a little Pichu that he wears as a necklace. What is a Pichu you might ask. It's a fictional Chinese animal that eats and eats and never goes to the bathroom. Everything he takes in never comes out and it's suppose to bring you wealth and luck. Another good luck charm, China is full of them.

Day 1 and 2 Beijing

After a long trip, we drove 2 1/2 hours south on Saturday night stayed at friends house. Got up at 4:30 to eat breakfast and meet the bus at 6:30 to ride another 5 hours south to our airport. Once on the plane we had a 13 hour flight and never saw the sun set during the whole time as we passed the international time line. We flew over what we think was the North Pole and the Arctic Ocean and lots and lots of ice. We were very relieved to be on earth again, even if it did mean going through customs.

Customs turned out to be a piece of cake, I guess it should be when your not hiding anything. This was just a beautiful piece of art in the Beijing airport. There is are like this everywhere it's pretty amazing. As we walked through the airport I was amazed at how beutiful it was. It was granite floors and all glass everywhere. We make our way to meet our tour bus and their are thousands of Chinese waiting for people holding signs. It was a bit of an awakening we were not in the US anymore.

Yet some more art outside of the restaraunt we went to the first night. The food tasted a lot like American Chinese, we later found out we would be eating a lot of this due to the size of our group and restaraunts being able to accomadate.

Pictures from our hotel room the first night. Our hotels were amazing.

Pictures from the bus the next day as we travel from place to place. Beijing is a beautiful city.

We say a lot of these magnolia trees. They are just so gorgeous. I guess they only bloom for one week out of the year, lucky us for good timing.

Happy Birthday Grady

Our little Grady turned 3 and is such a big boy. We were suppose to have a few friends over but I came down with strep so we had to postpone and ended up doing a last minute party with just my parents.

It was honestly one of the best parties we have had yet. Much more relaxed and enjoyable, and the kids although they may not admit it had more fun too.

I'm not sure why most of the pictures came out fuzzy, but I didn't realize until after.

I for some reason am cursed with candles, I for some reason can never find them on the birthday and then find them a week later exactly where they should be and where I looked. Oh well that's why his candles are huge like tea light candles.

Grady loves Lightning McQueen even though he won't sit through the whole show. He is incredibly smart and cute. He makes me laugh all the time, life just wouldn't be the same without him. We are so lucky to have all of our boys. But since this about Grady I would like to especially say how much we love, love, love, him. Happy Birthday Bugga Boo.

Library Fun

While we were at Megans we also went to the library for an activity.

They painted the plastic stained glass, played with a pool full of sand, and filled bottles with rice.

A great end to the trip we had.