Friday, June 20, 2008

Today was a busy sightseeing day. We visited Tiananmen Square which houses the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong and the Monument to the People's Heroes. We then crossed the street and toured the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The beautiful structures of the palace were built without using any nails. Kevin was fascinated by this! Next on our agenda was the fabulous Chinese Acrobatic Show. This was amazing and very entertaining. However, Kevin was even more entertaining because at the height of the dare-devil acrobatics on stage, I looked over at Kevin and he was sound asleep! Who could sleep through such excitement!! I guess jet lag was catching up to him. Tomorrow we will walk on the Great Wall of China and visit the Summer Palace.

Beijing is a very interesting city made up of lots of sky scrapers and lots of traffic in many forms -- cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, and lots and lots of people! The driving is similar to New York City in that when people want to change lanes, they just do it! We have often read other family blogs about the traffic. Boy, they weren't kidding! It is a wonder that there are not more accidents. We did see a minor fender bender today, and we have seen many, many people on bicycles almost run over. Amazingly enough, the vehicles miss them!

One of the ladies in our group is receiving her two-year-old daughter tonight at 10 P.M. She is very excited. More of our group will fly out on Sunday to receive their children. As the time goes on, you can sense the excitement building as it nears all of our Gotcha days! Only a few more days until we can meet and hold our new little son!

Thank you for all of your comments in our guestbook and on our e-mail. We treasure each of your entries. They will become a part of this website when it is finished. As Philip grows older, he, too will be able to read the touching and beautiful things written. We cannot begin to tell you how much your words mean to Kevin, Ted, and me at this incredibly emotional and happy time in our lives. Signing off for tonight. Enjoy the pictures.