We're back in Arizona...and barely surviving!

I don't know if anyone will keep reading this now that our exciting trip is over, but I thought I would let everyone know I made it home safe. We left Beijing at 9:00pm Friday night and sat crammed in a plane, with NO empty seats, for 12 full hours. Luckily, I was able to sleep some, but the worst part was having to smell the chinese food they served on the plane. I will NOT be eating chinese food for a very long time.

We landed in LAX at 6:00 pm, Friday night. After a major hassle with getting Patricia's wheelchair off the plane and having a heated discussion with a Mexican Paralympian (in Spanish) who wouldn't get out of Patricia's wheelchair, we finally got through immigration and customs and were saved by Jennie in her silver minivan. I will never complain again about LA traffic...the streets were so calm after what we'd just experienced in Beijing!

Because we had just slept 8-9 hours on the flight, we decided to go ahead and drive home...at least that way when we finally did get tired, we would get to sleep in our own bed! I got home around 1:45 am and after giving Eric a kiss, I ran in and got my, not so little anymore, boy out of bed. I gave him a big hug and just held him. I don't think he totally understood I was home and after a minute, he pointed to his crib. I slowly gave him up and let him go back to sleep. It was soooo good to be home.

Since then, all I've been trying to do is adjust back to Arizona time. It is KILLING me. I stayed awake all of Saturday, crashed that night and then didn't get out of bed all day Sunday. I tried sleeping Sunday night...did okay from 12-4, but could not go back to sleep after 4 am. I taught preschool yesterday and managed to stay awake until 8:30 pm...but again was up again at 4am this morning. Not even Tylenol PM is helping. Eric is even worse off than I am. I think he came home with a little bit of a cold, which is making him achy and even more tired. But he too can't sleep through the night...he's usually up by 3:30. Hopefully we'll adjust soon...it's definitely not fun!

Everyone asks me, "Was it wonderful?" It was WONDERFUL and AMAZING. I am so glad I went, but I am also SOO glad to be home. Being gone for two weeks was just long enough to do what we wanted, but then just long enough to appreciate being home!

Street Market

Patricia thought we couldn't leave Beijing without seeing the Street Market. You know, the place where they serve all the crazy and disgusting things on a stick...sea horses, silk worms, honey bees, centipedes, star fish, scorpions, etc. It's only open at night, so around 5:30 tonight, we headed down there. It is definitely NOT a place where pregnant people should go. The smell was just as bad as the sight of the food. I was very squeamish the entire time. Patricia was approached by a guy selling fried bananas. He convinced her it was good and she actually bought it. She bit into it, and there wasn't a banana, so we figure they must have mushed it all up and put it into the dough they fried. She said it was good and sweet.







Our tour guide, Lin, was actually the one who showed us where it was. It was on the same day we had gone to the silk factory and the factory guide was telling us all about how silk worms are a delicacy here. So I asked Lin if he'd ever tried silk worms, and his reply was "No, I'm just normal person." Hehe, I'm a normal person too! :)

Around the corner from the Street Market is a street that is closed off to cars and it's full of shops. Kind of like an outdoor mall. We were able to find a KFC for dinner...shocking I had an appetite at all after what I had just seen. We walked around for a bit and then also found a Haagen-Dazs. We were super happy. I have to say I have loved finding ice cream places here. I think I've had some sort of ice cream almost every day here. I don't know if it's because it's something familiar from home, or if I'm going to be craving it the rest of the pregnancy. Probably better that it's not a craving!

I really took it easy this morning. I've been sleeping a lot, which is surprising since my bed is harder than a rock (Kellie and Bill can confirm that) and my hips/back hurt so bad after lying down. But what else can I do...I'm SOOO looking forward to my nice big, soft bed.

Patricia and I went down to the spa this afternoon. All I wanted was a manicure and she wanted a pedicure. They took her in one room and me in another. My manicure ended up being a nightmare. I am already hesitant to go into manicure places in the USA because the girls are all oriental and I never know if they are going to understand what I want. Well, take that and now be in an oriental country! She really didn't have a clue what I wanted. After trying explain that I wanted a french manicure, to which she told me no, and then trying to pick a color from the very small selection, to her looking at my nails and me having to explain to take off the clear coating that was already on there...we finally got underway. It was a very basic manicure...and she had to redo a nail right at the end that smudged the instant I had to sign the receipt...oh well. It was something to do. Patricia on the other hand got a 60 minute foot massage with her pedicure. I was jealous.

Tomorrow we are headed home! We leave the hotel at 5:00pm and will hopefully be in the air for a 12 hour flight by 9:00pm. I finally let it hit me that I get to go home and started getting so homesick, especially to see my little boy. I haven't even been able to call home while I've been here because I knew it would be too hard on me emotionally. So I can't wait to be home and hold him. I'll see you soon, Bubba!

Closing Ceremonies

Closing Ceremonies was AMAZING tonight. I feel so lucky that I was able to be there to watch it in person. If you have some time, you should check it out on universalsports.com. Beijing has done an amazing job putting these whole games together. The thousands of volunteers were so friendly and helpful, everything was so organized and clean, and their ceremonies were amazing. I was literally touched tonight and just sat in awe in my seat. Unfortunately, because of where we had to sit, we were under an overhang and Patricia wasn't able to very many good pictures. But I highly recommend you checking it out.



The only part that was kind of disappointing is that the athletes didn't parade around the stadium. They were ushered into 1 of 4 entrances, and then their seats were right near their entrance so I wasn't able to see Eric at all tonight. One of the entrances was right by where we were sitting, but he didn't come in that one. Oh, well.








This morning Patricia and I were super lazy. I think all my activities are finally starting to catch up with me. All I wanted to do is sleep! We made it down for breakfast, but then came back up and I took a 2 hour nap! We ate a late lunch before we headed down to Bird's Nest for the ceremonies.


Tomorrow, we are going to sleep in, probably even going to skip breakfast and eat some of things we have in the room. Then we have talked about trying out the spa here in the hotel. Hopefully it will be a nice day of relaxation.


Eric flies out tomorrow. I know he's excited to come home...it's been 3 long weeks for him. I know that Logan is just as excited to have his daddy home too.

Day of Shopping

Today was a day full of shopping. Eric was able to meet us at our hotel today, and he experienced how crazy taxi rides can be as he felt like he was taken in circles and charged way more than our normal rate. It's so frustrating. After he got here, we went to a shopping market, different than the one Patricia and I accidentally ran into last week. We had heard this one wasn't quite a busy, or the salespeople quite as pushy. So we got in our taxi and headed down there. It was a lot nicer, and although the salespeople tried to stop you to look at their things, it wasn't quite as bad as the other one was. We were able to get a lot of things we were hoping to purchase while in China, and Eric was the master barterer, although he wouldn't say he was. They always start out so high, and we just have to remember to start out just as low. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours and then we decided to go get something to eat.

The other night on our way home from the US Embassy, Patricia and I saw a Pizza Hut and a Baskin Robbins. We knew it wasn't too far from where we were, so we got in taxi went there. I have to say, the pizza was DELICIOUS! It tasted so good. And then of course, we had to go get ice cream from Baskin Robbins. It was a great day!

This picture is for you, Vickie! :)

After that, we came back to the hotel for a bit so I could crash before Eric and I went to Tiananmen Square together. Eric just wanted to see it and say he'd been there, and since it's only about a 10 minute walk from the hotel we decided to head down. On our walk there, a Chinese guy walking alongside us started talking to us. He is an English teacher in Shanghai and was here on an exchange with other teachers from Beijing. He talked to Eric about the Paralymics, and what we've seen and done. It was then that we told him we were going to the square and he informed us that it was closed for the day! What??? We were bummed. I guess they have it all closed off for a firework show they are doing tomorrow night in conjunction with the closing ceremonies. Dang it. We went ahead and walked down to the square so Eric could see some of it, he took some pictures, although it was really cloudy and hazy today. Then we stopped in some of local souvenir shops on the street and decided to head back before it got too late. All of a sudden though, the sky turned completely black and the wind started to blow, and before we knew it we were caught in a thunderstorm. Luckily we made it back before it downpoured, but it's been a crazy storm all night.

After that Eric headed back up to the Athlete Village and Patricia and I relaxed in the hotel by watching a movie. Tomorrow night is closing ceremonies. It's crazy to believe our trip is coming to a close. Patricia and I were just talking today about how quickly its all gone by. Don't get me wrong, I will be completely excited to go home, hug my boy, sleep in my nice soft bed, eat chips and salsa, etc...but overall, this trip has been amazing.

I was able to download some pictures from Eric's camera today, so here's another picture of me on the Great Wall. This is just before you get to the 2nd guard tower. You can already see how high up we are, and we went even further, making it to the 3rd guard tower. What a crazy experience. Fortunately for me, I am not too sore today. I only feel it if I'm going down stairs or a ramp (go figure!). Maybe my 1 hour hot bath last night really helped!

This is a another picture from Eric's camera that I took yesterday of Eric eating at the local restaurant. See we have proof! He actually ate Chinese food! Don't let the chopsticks fool you though, that was the only bite he used them with. The rest of the time he used the fork...cheater!

The Great Wall

Lin took us to the Great Wall today! Oh my is it GREAT! This is us at the bottom of it. Patricia stayed back knowing she's never be able to do it on crutches, so Eric and I decided to see how far we could go. Lin took us to a part of the wall that isn't a tourist part, mostly just locals. He said that there aren't as many steps up, but that makes the wall very steep. I would go about 10-15 steps and have to rest. The steps are not equal in height. Some are very short, others are quite high. I was lucky I have long legs, but man did we get a workout.

Every so often up the wall, there are guard stations. We made it up to the 3rd guard station, which in the picture is the one on the top right next to the two trees. There was probably one more station we could have gone too, but we were both quite tired and knew we still had to make it down. It took us 2 hours to get up and about 30 minutes to get back down. By the time we got to the bottom, my legs were shaking and felt like jello.

This is a picture of Eric and I (not a very attractive one of me...but I had just climbed the great wall!) at the point of the wall where we were done. The guard tower in the picture was the next one...we decided against it. :)

After the Great Wall, Lin took us to another local restaurant. We were all worried how Eric would do with the food, especially him. He had a couple of granola bars in the van before we got there just in case. The food was similar to yesterday, but not quite as good. The chicken today was like a tiny spicy and it was really good. There was also a pork that was good, but not a lot of it. It was the only thing Eric would eat, so he ate most of that and Patricia and I enjoyed the rest. I was just proud he tried some things. With both the chicken and the pork, he said it would be better wrapped in a tortilla. Hmmm, is he from Arizona? :)

After we ate, we got a tour of a jade factory that is attached to the restaurant. It was really cool to see how they carve the jade. Everything there was really overpriced, and we are hoping to find some better deals at the silk/pearl market tomorrow. At least there you can barter. Lin said all the jade there is guaranteed, so that made me feel a little better about buying from there.

Next we went to the Summer Palace. A 700 acre park with a huge lake in it that was built for the Emperor and his family to live at in the summer. It was beautiful. We even got to take a dragon boat from the end of the park back to the beginning, which was nice to cut out some walking!

Lin took us back to our hotel and I crashed! I went and soaked hot water in tub for an hour! Patricia and I have just hung out here tonight taking it easy. It's been a GREAT day!

You Pick It, You Die

Today we took our tour of Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Tower to Heaven. All through our tour, our guide was talking to us about the sacred nature of everything. Then we came across these pomegranate trees. I said, I bet we can't pick those. He said "You pick, you die". Literally. You would be executed. How crazy is that! We loved our tour, and we love our guide. Oliver Lin...what a great guy and an even better tour guide.


The Forbidden City is amazing. The architecture is unbelievable. Lin told us a lot about the history of the buildings, the emperors, and everything else that goes along with it. It's one big courtyard after another with the Emperor's palace right in the middle. All the different courtyards act as protection and there's even a mote that goes all the way around the square.

Considering all the stairs, the area was pretty well wheelchair accessible. Lin told us they had done all of that for the Paralympics. Patricia even got to ride a stair climber! It was pretty cool! :)

Just as you are leaving, there is a garden for the Emperor. It's full of rocks they took from the bottom of a lake, and then they pieced all the rocks together with sticky rice...yes, sticky rice!

Here's a picture of the rocks that are all pieced together. But I also had to put this on here because we thought this little boy was the cutest little thing ever.

After we exited the Forbidden City, we had lunch at a "local restaurant". Can I just tell you how scared I was. I don't consider myself to be a super picky eater, but I just didn't want anything too exotic. Lin took us to the Wahaha Restaurant. It was huge (4 stories) and absolutely beautiful. He ordered food for us, made sure we were settled and then took off. The first thing they brought us was actually really good, some kind of yummy orange chicken (even better than Panda Express!) :) the next two...not so much (some sort of soup and then eggplant) and then the rest was fabulous. There was a plate of cabbage with some sort of vinegar flavor, and then shredded pork and carrots in a soy sauce. I was one happy girl. For once since being here, I was full and it wasn't because of McDonald's! I even ate the whole dinner with chopsticks!

Here is Patricia with our spread. From left to right, going clockwise: watermelon for dessert, the cabbage, the yummy orange chicken (see there's not much left!), the eggplant (a lot left), the pork and then the soup. It was great!

After lunch we went to a huge park with the Tower to Heaven in the middle of it. This is a place where the Emperor comes twice a year for sacrifices and to pray for the crops in the spring and then again during the winter solstice. The park itself was beautiful, full of cypress trees. And then the Tower to Heaven was amazing. It's a big round building and Lin told us it was built without using one nail. So cool.

After seeing the Temple of Heaven, Lin took us to a silk factory. It was crazy to see how a little moth can make silk and then what they do with it. They stretch it to make clothes and quilts. Patricia was really impressed and got a silk quilt, a silk quilt cover and pillowcases...all for only $400! She can't wait to go home and put in on her bed.



We came back to the hotel, I got to take a quick nap before we took a taxi down to the US Embassy where we were meeting the team for a dinner with the Marines. They were BBQing for us...YUM! Two good meals in one day! They had chicken and ribs, with baked beans and potato salad. It was so nice to be around people that all spoke English and eat American food. They even had a foosball table, and of course I lost to Eric twice, but I did beat him once!

Oh the Mobs...of People

I know I say this everyday, but I CAN'T get over the number of people here. If I thought the Olympic Green was crowded before, I was proven wrong today. I'm not kidding when I say that I waited in a MOB of people for 40 minutes at McDonald's tonight for dinner. Oh the things we will do for the comforts of home. You should have seen it. It was insanity.

Patricia and I took it easy again this morning, and then our routine followed much the same as yesterday. We went up the archery field to watch one of Eric's teammates compete and see the medal matches. Then we took the bus down to the Olympic Green where we finally got our McDonald's. Then we were lucky to have Eric meet up with us and we all went to the Indoor Stadium to watch the USA women's wheelchair basketball team compete against Australia in the Semifinals. That was a lot of fun. The whole time were were on the Olympic Green, Eric just kept commenting on all the people and that we should take a picture...um, we have every night we've been there, he's just not experienced it yet. I call it my sea of black hair because I'm taller than everyone so when I look out, it's all I see! :) It took Patricia and I quite awhile before we could hail a taxi tonight there were so many people also waiting for one. Finally we got one and got back to the hotel around 10:00pm.


Tomorrow we have our first tour day. We are going to the Forbidden City and the Tower of Heaven. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to share. But for now, here's a couple of Eric and I!



























I just had to throw in a picture of the MOBS of people. Can you see what I'm talking about? This is outside the National Stadium. It also happens to be cool picture of the moon and the flame. Thanks Patricia for taking such great pictures! I love your camera!