Sola Gratia: Beijing Day Two

Lunch at the Chinese Tourist Restaurant

This morning we headed out for the Great Wall. We stopped on the way at the Jade Factory. It was slightly warmer today. The wind was mild, but it was still quite cold. Andy and the boys wanted to go all the way up, but Kimberly, Moriah and I were content to climb up far enough for some pictures and then hang around on the bottom. It was beautiful and amazing.

After the great wall, we headed to a government run tourist restaurant for lunch. I think it's mandatory when leaving the Great Wall! We liked the french fries as a compliment to the Chinese food.

Next stop was the Olympic Village. There was a huge park full of people flying kites. They were beautiful and I thought it was very brave of people to be out doing that when it was only about 30 degrees outside.

Finally, we went to the Acrobatic Show. It was amazing, but Andy and I felt that the show three years ago when we were here was even more incredible. Perhaps they had pulled out all the stops that year because it was the year of the Olympics. It was still amazing. It doesn't seem natural to be able to bend the human body in that way!

We ended our day with a trip to Pizza Hut. It was kind of a funny experience as we were all so tired and hungry that we could barely function. Communicating with the waitress was a little difficult. But the pizza was so worth it. It tasted just like a little piece of home.

We enjoyed the bus ride as it gave us opportunity to visit with the other people in our group. It is amazing to have such a large group. I can't wait to see all of these families with their new children. We, too, are feeling the impending change in our family. We have mixed feelings...excitement, fear, joy.