So much to share

I feel like I have lived a life time in the past two days. I am pretty sure we have seen more in the last 48 hours than we normally see in an entire week's vacation. I thought about breaking this up into multiple posts. But that sounded like extra work, so buckle in.

First stop: Tienanmen Square. It was hot, there were a ton of people, this was not the most outstanding stop of the day... None the less, enjoy some pictures:

This is how the Chinese stand in line. If you don't push, you don't get in.

All of the young girls from our group were asked by various Chinese to pose with them for pictures. The young man in the white and black shirt asked Caitlin, "Excuse please, my mother would like picture with you. Yes?" She was a good sport.

Stop 2: The Forbidden City-also crowded and not what we expected. But still beautiful.

Touching the gold on the entrance doors

Next stop- The Silk Factory. This was really cool. Everywhere we go they give us a detailed presentation. The girls LOVE these.

Learning about the life cycle of the silk worms and moths

Did you know the moths do not fly? They only mate.

 Helping spread the silk for a comforter filling.

Lunch time! Another AMAZING meal. The Peking Duck was fantastic. But really, everything was fantastic. And yes, I did try it all. Even the whole shrimp and the eggplant. Both pretty good, although I only had 1 of each... 

Carving the Duck...in the hallway.

Ah-mazing

Peking Duck is eaten in a rice paper. We called them Duck tacos.

No one was brave enough to eat the head, let alone the brain hanging out the other side...

But I did eat the whole shrimp (minus the head, our Chinese guide didn't eat the head so I took that as a cue) legs, shell, tail and all.

Next: Temple of The Heavens. This was reserved for the Emperor to come to offer sacrifices to the Gods for bumper crops. This place was pretty amazing.

Flat Drew and Flat Jacob on the echo platform

500 year old cypress trees

Tablets representing the Gods

On our way to the bus we walked through the park. Everyone plays cards, Chinese chess, Mahjong tiles, exercises or sings in the park.

Next-the Pearl Market. And, of course, another awesome presentation.

Click on the image to see all the pearls. Over 20 in each oyster. All 4 colors can form in each oyster.

Each of the little girls were given a pearl to keep.

After we returned to the hotel we decided to have dinner with a couple other families at Pizza Hut. Y'all, we are gettin' gypped at the American Pizza Hut. This is one serious restaurant in China. Soups, salads, appetizers, pizza of course, steaks, scalloped potatoes, chicken wings, specialty drinks and awesome desserts. The menu was a novel.

What a day. Can we go get our boy now, please? This has all been truly amazing. But it is hard to focus when we feel so close. Less than 48 hours...