Xian - Huaqing Hot Springs

Our next stop was the Huaquing Hot Springs. See the description below. It was a hot day and the kids were getting pretty tired of touring by this time.



Situated at the northern foot of Mt. Lishan in Lintong County, 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) from Xian City, Huaqing Hot Spring is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) and his concubine Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). Its long history and location among the wonderful landscapes of Xian should entice any visitor to visit and bathe in this hot spring.

It is said that King You built a palace here during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC-711 BC). Additions were subsequently made by the First Emperor Qing (259 BC-210BC) and Emperor Wu during the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-24). During his reign, the Emperor Xuanzong spent dizzying amounts of his funds to build a luxurious palace, changing its name to Huaqing Hot Spring or Huaqing Palace. Over the course of 41 years in his days, he visited the palace as many as 36 times. The palace thus has a history of 3,000 years and the hotspring a history of 6,000 years! Ranked among the Hundred Famous Gardens in China, it also has the status as a National Cultural Relic Protection Unit and a National Key Scenic Area.

Xian - Terra-Cotta Warriors

After Beijing, we flew to Xi'an. Kirk met us here. Xi'an was the capital of China during the Tang dynasty. There was an emperor here who decided to build a huge army to protect him in his afterlife. A farmer discovered this Terra Cotta Army of Warriors when digging for a well. It is truly a breathtaking experience to see thousands of life size warriors and horses in these pits. They are not even finished excavating. It is believed that this army is all around this emperor's tomb and that there are maybe over 10,000 soldiers in total. No one has been able to excavate the tomb because it is protected. Kind of like you would see in Alias or Indiana Jones!

After, we had a great Chinese lunch and then we toured the city a bit. You can see from the sign that we were there 100 days before the Olympics start.

Beijing Trip with Grammy

This is the start of the world wind China tour with Grammy. She did not get an opportunity to visit Beijing the last time she was here. Beijing is the capital of China and there is so much history to see here. Just the kids and I took her since Kirk had work people here. We visited the Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, did a Hutong Tour, and visited Tiannemman Square. We completely tired the kids out everyday from touring! We also went to a famous restaurant in Beijing to have famous Peking Duck. This is roast duck and is very good. Similar to dark meat turkey. The kids loved it, Grammy not so much.

Night River Cruise on the Bund

Whenever Kirk and I are out on the Bund, we always say we want to take the kids for a boat ride on the Huangpu. We decided to do this for Alex's birthday weekend. We went at night so that we could see the lights. Although the weather was mild, the boat ride was windy and cold. It was neat seeing the Bund from a different view. The kids really liked it too, but Elizabeth fell asleep!

Alex's 3rd Birthday Party

We decided to have a neighborhood playdate for Alex's birthday party. I rented a bounce house and put it in the little playground behind our apartment. All of Alex and Elizabeth's friends from the neighborhood came over. Most of them girls, but a couple boys came too. We also had other kids who were playing join. They all had so much fun jumping around. Alex loved getting all of his presents. Thank you to all who sent them from the US. He was opening presents for at least a week after his birthday!

Alex's School Birthday Party

Alex turned 3. At his school, they celebrate schoolwide birthdays on a certain day. Anyone who has a birthday in the particular month gets to go to the celebration and the parents can also attend. This day there were about 20 kids and their parents in the school's multipurpose room. They showed us a video of the kids and the theme was the Olympics. Afterwards, we got on a bus and traveled to a local stadium. The kids got to run around on the field. They loved it!

Grammy Arrives

Needless to say, the kids get excited when visitors come. This was no exception to having Grammy come to visit. Elizabeth kept talking about it everyday for the week before she arrived. She would say "Mama, only 5 more days", " Mama, only 4 more days".....

I kept them up to take them to the airport with me to pick her up. Kirk had a work function and couldn't go. They were both so excited. Her plane was scheduled to arrive at 9 PM. Elizabeth made it about a mile into the trip and passed out. I couldn't wake her up when we got to the airport. Alex and I went in to meet her. He was so proud to be carrying flowers to give to her. Of course, he made me hold them when he found another little boy with a car to play with! Finally she arrived and he was excited. We made our way back to the car, but Elizabeth still wouldn't wake up! She finally woke up when we got back to the apartment.

Alex sings the ABCs

We were playing in our hallway this day with the alphabet foam letters and numbers. Alex started singing his newly learned ABC song. It is sooooo cute! I had to capture it on video because unfortunately this guy is growing so fast and I know that he won't sound like this forever! Alex loves to sing. He loves music. Especially classical music that he's learned from the Little Einsteins. I'm doing the all important job of also introducing other styles and artists to him. Like Beyonce!

2008 Beijing Auto Show

On Sunday Sean & I attended the Beijing Autoshow. It rained that day and caused total chaos. The drive to the exhibition center should normally take under 1 hour but because of the rain and general disorganization of the event, it took us almost 3 hours to get into the show. Once there we were dropped off at the wrong building in the pouring rain. We were lucky enough to find a guy selling umbrellas so we were able to keep somewhat dry. The auto show inside was pretty good. They were introducing a record number of new models in China. Early in the day many of the executives brought in from around the world to do the introductions were delayed in the traffic. As we were leaving we noticed that the building where all of the suppliers were located was flooding. We were lucky to catch a cab to get out of there. I am glad that they alternate the Autoshow between Shanghai and Beijing every other year.

Kirk's Trip to Beijing, Summer Palace & Great Wall

Kirk and a good work friend, Sean McGuire from Dura were in Beijing over a weekend for an Automotive Conference and to visit the Beijing Autoshow. On Saturday they were able to get away to visit the Summer Palace and a section of the Great Wall.

The Summer Palace was constructed during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). It was set up as a luxurious royal garden providing royal families with rest and entertainment. It was originally called 'Qingyi Garden' (Garden of Clear Ripples). Like most of the gardens of Beijing, it was taken by Anglo-French allied forces and was destroyed by fire. In 1888, Empress Dowager Cixi embezzled navy funds to reconstruct it for her own benefit, changing its name to Summer Palace (Yiheyuan). She spent most of her later years there, dealing with state affairs and entertaining. In 1900, it suffered again, being ransacked by the Eight-Power Allied Force. After the success of the 1911 Revolution, it was opened to the public. These days it is a popular park for people to visit to get away from the congested city as you can see from the photos and video.

Sean and Kirk then visited the Juyongguan Pass section of the Great Wall. This area was a miltary stronghold going back to 770BC. This area was connected to the Great Wall as early as 389. During the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368) the first emperor Zhu Yuanzhang instructed that the wall in this area be rebuilt for protection from the Mogolian Tribes. The structure of the wall is much the same as it is today though it has been restored several times, most recently in 1992 and 2000. This section of the wall does not have a cable car to take you up to the top so Sean and Kirk had to climb all of the way up. They both soon realized they were out of shape.

School Trip to SheShan Park

I always cring when I hear about school field trips. Especially for 3 year olds. It was no different when I got the notice about Alex's school going to a park for a field trip. They also said that siblings could attend. It worked out that Elizabeth didn't have school that day so she could go too. Kirk was out of town. I had a meeting early and then I could meet them later. So Xiao Ju took both of them on the school bus to the Shanghai Sculpture Park. Kim Young couldn't go since she just had Cormac so her Ayi took Orla and Ciara.

When I arrived just after they had their lunch, the Ayi's looked a little bedraggled. I think they were tired from chasing the kids around. We made our way to the beach area and the kids had a ball playing in the sand. This park is so nice. There are many different areas and activities to do. A Beach, a wading pool, playgrounds, a big tree house, etc. We didn't make it through the whole park before it was time to go. In fact, the kids were so tired, that they were ready to leave.

YuYuan, Bund, Urban Planning Museum & People's Square

We went exploring today with Romo. We took him to all of the popular Puxi sights. Alex had a ball running around YuYuan and people still stop and ask to take the kids pictures. We also walked around People's square and again Elizabeth and Alex had fun running around the fountain area. It was a really clear, sunny day, great to be outside exploring the city.

Concordia Black Tie Dinner

Again this year, we attended the Concordia Charity Auction. This is basically prom night for the Concordia parents. It was at the Shangri-La again. We sat with the our friends Missy and Luke, Heather and Jim, Kevin and Angela, and Molly and G2. We also ended the night hanging out with Robo, Stacy, and Romo at Jade on 36. It was a fun night, but this year we didn't buy anything.

Crystal's 5th B-Day Party (Elizabeth's BFF)

I am about one month behind in my blog updates so bear with me. Elizabeth's best friend Crystal had her 5th birthday party. Now Crystal is an only child who's parents adore the heck out of her (as they should). They invited 28 of her closest friends to her princess party. All the kids had fun making masks, eating chicken nuggets, but the best part was a magician. He even had a real dove. They also played many games. Elizabeth was the last to leave as she was having so much fun with Crystal. What a great friend!

Alex

Alex is fully potty trained now. All the way down to the "playing the video game to pass time" tactic.

Someone has a crush on Elizabeth

This is Ben Pigott. Ben is in Elizabeth's class. He has proposed to her once already. As we were leaving school the other day, he gave her pink roses. He is a very sweet boy and who knows what could happen in 20 years!