Tiananmen Square & Pearl Market

Tiananmen Square is right across the street from the Forbidden City. Sister Barber and I drove by but didn't get out. I took some pictures from the car. Her husband's company (a Mitt Romney Real Estate deal) provided her with a car and a driver when her husband didn't need him.


We drove to the Pearl Market right after. The streets were lined with stores. I thought it was really cute with the lanterns. It felt weird to be in Asia when it was cold.

Tons of China Pictures!

This was the first two hours of the trip. I have wanted to go to the Forbidden City for a LONG time. You would not believe how many pictures I took...This is the way condensed version. The Forbidden City is where many of the Emperors of China lived. They basically built an entire city for the Emperor and his concubines in the 1400s. You can read more about on Wikipedia. Jake had class that morning so I met with a girl who had served in Hong Kong who now lives in Beijing with her husband. We only got one picture of the two of us together and it isn't even that great but I thought I would post it anyway. There is Mao's Picture

These used to be covered in gold and they were always kept full of water in case of a fire.

Most of the tourists were Chinese.


They carved these stone dragons and in order to transport them to the forbidden city they covered the roads in water so it would freeze then they slid it into the city.

Very elaborate.
The gardens



Sister Barber and me


The city is surrounded by a moat.

What we do for fun at our house.

Happy October!

Jake has fall break this week. It has been fun and relaxing. Today we went to a pumpkin patch to find some pumpkins. It was about twenty minutes north of our house...in the middle of nowhere! It was an actual pumpkin patch on the side of the road. There was a sign that said pumpkins with the prices and a coffee where you put your money. There was a wagon filled with pumpkins where we took these pictures. It feels like my first fall away from Utah since Hong Kong doesn't have a fall. It's very pretty here but I miss the mountains!

Two New Tricks

That is Hannah spitting in the background not me ;)

He just learned to sit and clap.

Birthday

It was a busy and fun day for the birthdays. In the morning, Hannah and I went to the ward playgroup at a gymnastics place. They have this pit with styrofoam blocks and a rope above it. You swing on the rope and land in the blocks. Hannah spent an entire hour doing this over and over. It's a fun place because if you go with a playgroup it's only $1 per kid! I hope we spend a lot of time here during the cold winter!
(Thats a picture from their website...I will save you time trying to figure out which kid is mine ;)
After we got done, I came home and made the cakes. Jake's was nothing special, but Hannah asked for a purple Tinkerbell cake. She chose the sprinkles. I know it's nothing to brag about but I it's everything she asked for!
(It's on the chair because it was the only clean spot I could find in my kitchen)
We opened presents in the afternoon.
(Hannah drew a picture of Jake and her holding hands...you can tell Jake loves it.)
Later in the evening we had a BBQ with a bunch of strangers...Ha ha ha (everyone here is really nice!). We basically invited people we just met here (people in the ward or from the MBA program) and combined a party with the other family with two birthdays. It was actually tons of fun and we had quite a crowd.

Today we continued the celebration by going to Steak 'n Shake for dinner (the celebration never ends with two birthdays on the same day!). And then we let Hannah try out her new bike. She loves it (not bad for a $5 find at a garage sale. We had to buy training wheels and a new tube).

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to two wonderful people!