What a Life...

While zipping around a lake in the Hutong area of Beijing at a break-neck speed of 8mph, I realized two things: 1) my children have accrued many airplane hours in the last 6 months - I know this because as Mike was driving the boat, Emma and Erin recited the customary flight attendant speech: "...the captain has turned on the seatbelt sign...please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts low and tight across your waist..." This rendition includes hand gestures, perfect posture, and what I may describe as a rather "uppity tone" AND 2) even in the open waters of a lake, in a battery powered boat, there is no common sense nor etiquette in Chinese driving.

Here is Emma in "flight attendant mode" on our rickety little boat. Both girls got to drive - it was definitely one of their favorite Beijing moments.

Our near head-on collision with a fellow boater in the tunnel - we were in the tunnel first! After some bumping and scraping we came out the other side unscathed.

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We returned to our China home in early October after a wonderful visit to the states - it was two weeks of family, food, shopping, food, friends, food, laughter, and...did I mention food? Life is good in the states! Everything is accessible (food, clothing) and clean (bathrooms, restaurants). On our last leg of the trip to the US, Erin asked who our driver would be in Arizona - how soon they have forgotten about life pre-China! While I was sad to leave Arizona, getting back here has been good too. As mentioned above, we took a weekend trip to Beijing and had a great time. Here are some highlights:

Here we are at the Forbidden City where we hired an English-speaking guide. There is endless symbolism and legend in Chinese culture (colors, dragons, numbers), she explained a lot and made the tour much more meaningful for us. And she took our picture!

We toured Beijing's Hutongs - these are very old villages located around the Forbidden City. Lots of culture and history to be seen (if you want to know more about the Hutongs: http://www.chinavista.com/experience/hutong/hutong.html). We traveled as a family in a rickshaw - our driver sure earned his money!

Here are the girls with our rickshaw driver - he was wonderful - he was very friendly and spoke a little English.

I just love this picture of Emma! Every time the girls broke into a fight or whined about something, Mike would tell them that he would leave them in Beijing to drive a rickshaw or hawk t-shirts at The Great Wall.

Ah yes, we DID ride the Beijing subway at 5:00 on a Friday...it is not for the faint-hearted! Mike and I had to plant ourselves around the girls so they wouldn't get squished (literally).

We rode the cable car up to The Great Wall. Seeing it go on and on in both directions is breathtaking. The Beijing haze was present but otherwise, it was a beautiful day.

(Note: When all was said and done, in three days we had traveled by plane, taxi, bus, van, subway, rickshaw, and cable car).

Mike and his girls with an incredible backdrop, don't ya think?

After a gloriously non-Chinese dinner at The Outback with our friends, we hit an international bookstore and the night market. This is where you can get anything on a stick (chicken hearts, sheep testicles, baby shark, for example). We settled for strawberries deep-fried in sugar - yum!

Erin in the middle of the walking street (no cars allowed). She had just enjoyed a Starbucks hot chocolate and taken a few photos with some locals. Too bad she's not having any fun!

Next stop: Shanghai for Thanksgiving! Crazy life, huh?

If you haven't visited our website to see our September pictures, go now! web.me.com/fendog

Check next week for our October pictures - more from Beijing and Halloween!