Weekend in the "Big" City!

As I mentioned before, since Danny had to fly off to the US on Saturday, the kids and I decided to spend the weekend in Beijing. The skies were so beautiful, we almost forgot where we were!! It is still very hot - 90 degrees, but much of the humidity is gone, so it is bearable to be outside again!!

We spent yesterday having lunch with friends, getting El’s makeover and my grey hairs covered (at what age is it no longer premature greying??!!)!! Our very dear friends watched the boys for most of the time while El and I were at the salon - it was very sweet of them!! We then had to shop a bit around Pinnacle Plaza, I can always find something I “need” at Jenny Lou’s! The kids spotted the bounce houses and lasted only about 20 minutes before they were in desperate need of drinks!! We treated ourselves to some yummy smoothies and then went off to check into our hotel!

Karen, John, and the girls were also up for the weekend! John was supposed to go to a conference, but he couldn’t quite pass up the opportunity to see what tai tai’s do in Beijing!! (I think he maybe is rethinking his decision to skip the conference - although he was a very good sport regardless of all the nonsense!) We met up with them at the hotel and went off to Yashow to find some tennis gear! The kids were great being pulled all over looking for tennis skirts (which they are not interested in at all!). The workers couldn’t quite figure out what was going on...a Western man with two women and five children!! I can only imagine what was going through their minds!!

Playing Ring around the Rosie at Yashow while the mommies tried on tennis skirts!!Playing school in Esprit where the mommies tried on clothes!Coop taking care of his "girl" - you must know, straight from Coop's mouth, "I've already fallen in love with her!"

After a semi-successful shopping trip we went to create utter chaos at Element Fresh. We had no reservations on a Saturday night and walked in begging for seating for 8. The poor manager scrambled around and within minutes pieced two tables together. The kids were starving by this time so we ordered smoothies and their food. The smoothies came, and after I messed up who got what, Eens spilled most of his while pushing it across the table and then Coop dumped his entire smoothie onto the chair!! I’m sure the manager was wondering why he had worked so hard to find us seating!! Thankfully our meals came quickly and satisfied all of the little tummies!

Whenever I am in Beijing, it is a necessity to get a foot massage. When we got back to the hotel I quickly booked three foot massages!! I had just enough time to get up to our room, clean the kids feet (they were filthy after being outside all day) and get back to Karen’s room where relaxation awaited!! Once again, what must the massage ladies have been thinking??

On Sunday, the kids and I woke to hear Danny’s voice in America (I’m always so thankful when he arrives!)!! We slowly got up and checked out of the hotel. I wanted to explore a bit and knew I had to choose kid friendly places to keep three lovely children happy! We went to a children’s museum called The Magic Bean. It was fantatic - just like the children’s museums at “home”. All the areas were completely hands on play. I foresee many trips here in the winter when we can’t be outside! My favorite area was the grocery store - it was all local foods you would find here!! Entire crabs, lobsters, and fish were wrapped up, along with bags of rice and seasonings one would use to cook Northern Chinese food!! We all had a great time and we would have stayed longer if another beautiful blue sky day wasn’t waiting for us!

After Coop filled his cart, he was too scared to pick out the lobster and crab - I don't blame him!!

Eens built a house and then pressed a button to see if it could stand through an earthquake.

Our next stop was Chaoyang Park which was directly across the road. We had visited this park before, but it was wintertime and too cold to do much exploring. We walked and walked! El road the log ride (Danny probably would have never allowed this!) and we all road in a dirty motorized boat that went 7 km an hour!! I loved every minute of it! The kids were so well behaved and I think just happy to be outside!! You would have never known we were in the middle of a huge city!!

We were starving by the time we finished our boat ride so we went to Fatburger (the best burgers in Beijing I must say!)!! El and Eens ate their entire burgers which were huge! Coop ate about half of his, but drank his entire Fanta!!

We then went for haircuts for the boys, a few groceries for me, and to pick up Mei from the kennel!! We were completely exhausted and totally rejuvenated to start a new week!!