Arlington National Cemetery

Ryan (7), Lutece (9), Gavin (5), Nick (9), Phoenix (7)

As you all know, the reason we left China early and returned to the DC area was to attend the funeral of Stayc's father. Stubb was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, and it was a beautiful ceremony; all of the comments and music were perfect.

Lutece and her cousin Nick are only two weeks apart. Amazing.

I took lots of pictures of the grandchildren (or cousins, depending on your perspective), and I thought it would be a shame not to post them, so here's a sampling.

When we and the VA DuBravacs arrived, the caisson and horses were waiting on the side of the chapel.  The soldier in charge of the lead horse was very friendly and kind. He talked to the kids about the horses and let them touch the horse.

Annie and me.

Shawn and Annie put up with hosted us for a week, for which we are immensely grateful. We repaid their kindness by contributing to Ryan's visit to the ER later in the week. I'm sure you want us to come visit you next!

Shalee brought flags for all the grandchildren to carry as they walked the mile from the chapel through Arlington National Cemetery to Grandpa's burial site.

All twelve of the grandchildren.

Phoenix in his very first sport coat and a tie that is much too big for him :)

 

Memorial Day

Every Memorial Day since we've lived in Lexington we have attended the Bluegrass Ward Memorial Day Fun Run. Last year was the first year we weren't actually in the Bluegrass Ward thanks to some fancy ward boundary shifting. At Lutece's insistence, we still attended and enjoyed the company of our many friends still in the Bluegrass Ward.

This year, Lutece again remembered the Fun Run and begged me to go. I told her it wasn't our ward anymore.* She didn't care. I told her we might not know anyone. She said the Bylunds might be there. I told her the Bylunds were in OUR ward now. She said the Thompsons might be there. I conceded.

So we went to the Fun Run and had a great time. We got to see so many friends we haven't seen in the last year. Afterward, we drove to the Old Lexington Cemetery, walked around the old graves, and remembered the men and women who have given their lives for our country.

Memorial Day was also the day Phoenix got a new bike. Wahoo! Last week, the kids and I went to nearly every bike shop in town (four!) and checked out every bike in their sizes. The bikes in Phoenix's size (20") ranged in price from $189 to $249.** CRAZY!! However, I've also been checking Craigslist, and on Memorial Day we went and checked out this gently-used Trek bike selling for $100. It was in good shape; it fit Phoenix; and he liked it. I offered $80, and the bike was ours!

One down, one to go.

* Tates Creek Ward was actually invited.

** I realize we could have also checked out Target and Walmart bikes, but we have purchased the kids' bikes from bike shops in the past and have been extremely pleased with the quality. Call me a bike snob if you will . . . but obviously not such a snob that I won't buy someone else's leftovers!

The Great Wall Fiasco

I've already mentioned that this trip to Beijing was easily our worst vacation in China. I've talked about our failed attempt to visit a different section of the Great Wall on Saturday. I've even mentioned tantrums, emotional breakdowns, and yes, dirty germ-ridden hands. Believe me when I tell you that this is a sugar-coated version of our trip. There's other stuff I've simply blocked out.

Our SECOND attempt to visit the Great Wall is one of those parts I wish I could block out, but haven't been able to. So here's the sugar-coated version.

On Monday morning, our last day in Beijing (our flight left China at 6:30 p.m. that evening), after much more research, Internet searches, discussions with hotel staff, and assistance from our Chinese-speaking friend and fellow Branch member, Brother Puckett (who also happened to be in Beijing for the weekend), Stayc felt prepared to make another attempt at getting to the Great Wall at Juyongguan (I was not convinced). Oh, that we had left well-enough alone!

We took the subway to a bus, which took us to another bus, which then took us to the Great Wall. The middle bus was an unexpected surprise, and the last bus took twice as long as we expected. By the time we arrived at the Great Wall, three hours after we'd left our hotel, we only had about one hour to explore before we had to turn around and take the long journey back. Ugh. Double ugh. I do not have enough "ughs" to adequately express how depressing this thought was.

We had enough time to climb the wall for about 20 minutes, up to the first high guard tower, before heading back down again.

Fortunately, when we got back to the parking lot to catch the bus back, we were accosted by a man and his car trying to make money. He offered to drive us to the closest subway stop for 150 yuan. We talked him down to 100 yuan or $15.00 (even though I was ABSOLUTELY certain we would pay whatever was necessary) and bypassed the buses altogether. It cut about 1 1/2 hours off our journey back to the hotel. Whew! It was so worth it.

The take home lesson? Learn from our mistakes! Next time you go to the Great Wall of China, pay the money to hire a private car and driver like we did in October. Do not . . . I repeat . . . do NOT attempt to get there on your own!!!!!

Of course, from the pictures, you would never know anything went amiss. Ahhh, the deceptive nature of photography.

Oh yeah, and the Wall was pretty cool.

p.s. Once again, the kids were amazing travelers throughout the whole experience. They read their Kindles since Stayc didn't want to waste the batteries on their iPods. Remember, we went from the Great Wall to our hotel to pick up our bags to the airport to get on a 14-hour flight. Honestly, I don't think the kids complained at all, which, now that I really think about it, is astounding. Our kids may be all kinds of annoying in some respects, but as travelers, they are unrivaled.

I Have Two Little Hands

. . . and that's where the similarities between Phoenix and the Church's Primary song end.

"Please don't touch the walls in the subway Phoenix." "Please don't run your hands along the park benches Phoenix." "Stand up straight and get your hands off the sidewalk Phoenix. People spit on that. Small children pee on it." "Stop running your hands on the wall Phoenix!" "PHOENIX!"

Sigh.

There isn't enough hand sanitizer in the world to handle the combination of China and Phoenix.

Temple of Heaven (and Hell)

Where do I even begin to describe our visit to the Temple of Heaven? Much like our previous day in Beijing, it was riddled with good things, bad things, and even worse things.* Still and all, it was a beautiful place and I'm glad we were able to see it, despite the tantrums, miscommunications, and travel fatigue that seemed to plague us on this outing.

I think we were all tired and not a little worn out from the previous day, not to mention anxious and emotional about leaving China. Phoenix had his first and only tantrum of the weekend in the subway en route to the Temple of Heaven. Poor kid. Poor parents.

While Stayc and I listened to the impromptu Chinese choir in the park, Lutece and Phoenix played on the rocks surrounded by signs that clearly stated "No playing on the rocks."

When in China, do as the Chinese do.

Instead of describing the rest of our visit, I think I'll just show some lovely pictures of the Temple of Heaven. That's what I would prefer to remember anyway :).

 

 Ah yes, what a lovely Temple.

* I actually just wrote the most depressing blog post based on this day and then decided to delete all of it. It was simply TOO real. Not even I want to remember how difficult this day was. Sigh. But look how pretty the Temple is!

p.s. I think this is why it's taking me so long to post the pictures about this trip. I keep waiting to give myself distance from our last visit to Beijing, hoping it will help me forget all the bad parts. Not yet. My new tack is just to post the pictures without the commentary :).

The Lama (not Llama) Temple

Our little hutong hotel was located just a block away from the Lama Temple in Beijing (which was incredibly convenient since there was also a Lama Temple Subway stop :). On Sunday, after church and lunch, we made our way to the Temple.

 

I never thought I'd say something like this a year ago, but . . . seen 100 Buddhist temples, seen 'em all.

Ok, not really. They are all unique in their respective ways, but the awe-factor is just not there anymore. I think we need a little distance from Buddhist temples to really appreciate them again. 

In the meantime, we will amuse ourselves by pretending to be a many-armed Buddha, of which there were many at the Lama Temple. Don't judge us because we are silly.

No One Does Cotton Candy Like the Chinese

 It's true.

After a long day shuttling around Beijing in search of sites we never found, we decided to return to familiar territory for a very, very late lunch (which ended as an early dinner) at Hutong Pizza, a locale we discovered on our previous visit to Beijing.

Since we knew the area well from walking its winding alleys last October, we also knew just where to find the cotton candy vendor. These kids TOTALLY deserved cotton candy after walking nearly a half marathon in one day without complaining at all.

It is very possibly the best cotton candy in the world. Light, delicate, sweet, airy, and ginormous, it's hard to beat.

Last week when we visited the National Zoo in Washington DC, Lutece saw some cotton candy and asked the saleswoman how much it was. She walked back over to me and said with incredulity and not a little derision, "It cost $5.00 and it's less than half the size of the cotton candy in Beijing!" That's my haughty little world traveler!

The Summer Palace by Default

On Saturday morning, we had exciting plans to visit the Great Wall of China again. Our visit to Mutianyu on our last trip to Beijing had been the highlight of our weekend. Since we'd already been to Mutianyu, we decided to see a different part of the Great Wall, and after much research, we chose Juyongguan (the Juyong Pass), the most recently restored section of the wall (1990s) that is closest to Beijing, but still not heavily touristed. Sounds good, right?

Wrong.

After spending three hours on subways and buses trying various *meticulously researched* directions on how to get to Juyongguan (only 37 km outside of Beijing!) we finally gave up. Yes. We gave up. We simply could not find our way there.

At that point, all I wanted to do was go back to our hotel and cry, but as that would have made a bad situation worse, I shouldered on through and we decided to head to the Summer Palace instead.*

I'm really glad we did. Even though it was a crowded and hazy (read: smoggy) Saturday at the Summer Palace, we had a great time and it was well worth a visit.

We walked around the lake and then along the Long Corridor, finally ending up at the various temples situated on Longevity Hill.

At the very top of the Hill, outside the highest temple, the kids paused to watch a man paint names out of pictures. They must have sat there for 20 minutes completely fascinated by watching him draw other people's names in Chinese pictographs.

Stayc finally asked how much they cost. Ten yuan ($1.50). I didn't believe him, but he insisted. I told him it must be 10 yuan per letter/character. "No," he insisted, "it's 10 yuan. I'm sure." So the kids each had their name done . . . their Chinese name, since, as Lutece aptly put it, "The Chinese characters will be so much prettier than the English letters."

The final price? Forty yuan each. Yep. Ten yuan per character. (Totally worth it, by the way. These will hang in the kids' rooms.)

From the temple complex we walked back around the lake to Seventeen-Arch Bridge.

We wanted to take a paddle boat out onto the lake, but alas, the breeze was so strong that all the paddle boats had to be brought in by motor boat and business had shut down for the day. Maybe next time :).

When we tried to get back to the subway after a lovely afternoon at the Summer Palace, we quickly realized that the bus that brought us from the subway to the Palace did not run in the opposite direction. Crazy bus system. We ended up walking a good two miles back to the closest subway stop. At least it was a nice walk along the canal.

With all the transportation glitches we experienced this day, I no longer wonder why most people opt for full tours when visiting China. Sheesh. We estimated that we walked at least 10 miles this May Saturday in Beijing. (I don't even want to think about how much time we spent on the subway system.)

* Notice my use of the first person singular here. In fact, Stayc and the kids stayed in fairly good spirits during the entire Great Wall fiasco. I wish I could say the same for myself.