Unexpected Road Trip

Friday morning I got an e-mail from my dear husband saying that a very good friend from grad school would be in Beijing for a short time over the weekend. Instead of really thinking too much through, we decided to book a hotel and go to Beijing for Saturday night. This would be a fairly easy process if we were still in the states, but while here, everything is a bit more difficult. First, I had to book the hotel, which in all honesty was just as easy as in the states. We chose to stay at the Ascott, the same place we are staying next weekend with Danny's parents so we could scope out the area. Next I had to call Danny's assistant multiple times so she could arrange drivers, figure out where the hotel was located and make sure all of our carseats would be in the car!! After getting a hotel room and driver secured, we had to pack lots of snacks because you never know when you will find something the kids will actually eat! Then we had to figure out what sights would actually be "kid friendly" in Beijing!! Finally, Friday night we were pretty much ready to go.

Our hotel was recommended by our neighbors and it was fantastic! We booked a 2 bedroom apartment for a little over $200, which I thought was very reasonable for a downtown hotel in a great location. I was a little jealous though because the kitchen had much nicer appliances than mine!

After we got ourselves settled, we were off to the Beijing Zoo. The zoo was a step up from Tianjin's zoo, but still not quite meeting the standards of a US zoo!! The zoo's here are huge. We probably would have had to stay there all day to see all of the animals! Our favorite exhibit was the panda exhibit, of course. They had quite a few and they were so cute! Danny was also thrilled because he found hot dogs in this exhibit!! After wandering across the zoo and seeing a lot of the animals on the way, we ended up at the aquarium.

The aquarium must be fairly new because it was very nice and clean. It was the perfect size to walk through and the kids loved all of the fish. We even happened to be in the right place at the right time because the dolphin and seal show started right as we were walking by the auditorium. It was a fun show, however we couldn't understand anything that was being said! Ellie was mesmerized by the dolphins!

After the aquarium, we went to Wang Fu Jian street, which is where they sell bugs on sticks...I'm pretty sure the pictures speak for themselves.

Next stop...back to our hotel! We took the kids swimming in a very warm swimming pool! We had the entire pool to ourselves and had a ball!! They can't wait to take Nai Nai and Pepe there next weekend!

On Sunday we knew our friend was going to the Great Wall early, so El said she wanted to go to the Forbidden City. I never dreamed my children would want to go there, so I was excited to go back. It is an amazing place to see, and of course it is so big that I could go 20 times and still not see everything. It was a bit different having children with us this time because there are so many steps. Over all the kids did great, except I forgot all of those snacks I packed, and Eens asked countless times for food!!

We went to our friend's hotel for lunch where we thought we would see him! Unfortunately, we got a call and he was still at the Great Wall and we had to head back to Tianjin...we never got to see him, but we had a great weekend exploring anyway!!