July 3rd

Up bright and early this morning. It came way too soon, especially since Kailei woke up at 2:30 in the morning and was wired. Zeb took her and walked her around the hotel waiting for the melatonin to kick in.

Breakfast was a madhouse but we managed to gulp something down prior to our orientation meeting. I'm not sure if it was much of a meeting but we did get some gifts and met our group guides.

By 8am we wwere off . Our first stop was a jade factory. Who knew there was so much to know about jade? Anyway, Keara spent her entire wad of money here on a bracelet and dragon necklace and was quite happy with her purchases.l Kailei got a jade bracelet as well. I didn't manage to get much shopping done since I was helping the girls. I'm sure there will be other chances.

After the jade factory we headed to the Great Wall. You simply can't imagine being there. It is just amazing. That said, it was hot...VERY HOT. I really wanted to walk more than I did but between the heat and it being past lunch I felt a little qweezy. The girls hung with me as Zeb hiked up to one of the towers. We sat in the shade drinking room temperature water with one of the most awesome views ever.

After our visit to the wall, we headed to a cloisanne factory learning the process of how it all get made and then eating lunch at the restaurant upstairs. Keara and I aren't huge fans of the food so we are thankful for rice. We are never sure exactly what we are eating but a disposal plate seems to appear when the girls find items that they don't like.

At one point Kailei said,, " I think I just burped up tofu."

Tiananmen square was our next visit. Kaieli had a HUG meltdown along he way. I wasn't sure if she would be able to join us but she crashed and fell asleep. We had to borrow the Peterson's stroller because she is heavy and after walking quite a bit, she was getting too heavy for Zeb. We took a picture there and she was sleeping but at least she was in the group shot.

After the square was a rickshaw ride through the Hutong. Everyone really enjoyed that. We were by a lake and it really gave us a peak into the night life. There were tons of bars with velvet couches on the patios and live singers in every one of them.

We rode to a local family's home and enjoyed a home cooked meal.

We were really beat at this point and I had to work hard to keep Kailei awake on the bus. Zeb and Keara crashed but I could only deal with one of them. After we returned to the hotel, Keara and I had some more Baskin Robbins ice cream and I blogged as much as I could before falling asleep.

We all slept great and I'm finishing this while eating breakfast. Im sure we have another big day ahead of us but Keara and I are looking forward to having dinner on our own and not eating Chinese. :)

Our friends the Peterson's and Trautmans are doing well for the most part. Beth is pretty motion sick and that has had its typical side effects. Our guides are very nice. Claire is the main gal, Leo is from CCWA and then we have Nacha (she majored in spanish so has a spanish name).

Gotta run. TTFN