Our Adoption Journal: Day 3: The Great Wall of China and The Peking Acrobats Show

Everyone was awake well before 6am Wednesday morning, so we leisurely got dressed and got a little organized and then headed down for breakfast at 6 when it opened. It was a good buffet. The options were: hard boiled eggs, corn on the cob, steamed vegetables, sausage links, fish, bacon, fried rice with egg and vegetables, scrambled eggs, noodles, cereals, different types of breads with butter or jelly, cucumber, salad, congee, steamed buns, and of course watermelon. I helped each of the kids get their plate and then we took a long table in the off-shoot of the ‘L-shaped’ area where there was also a cute kids area (totally Ikea). Everyone ate a great breakfast and then we let the kids play in the play area for a while. Phil went and exchanged money in the lobby and then we decided to go back to the room to get our stuff and head down to meet our guide, David Wang, for the day.

We got back to the room, packed up the kids water bottles in their shoulder bags, Jemma’s bottles, diapers and wipes, etc. Phil changed Sammy’s diaper and then we left to meet David. The van ride to The Great Wall was about 2 hours. About an hour into the ride, Phil realized he didn’t have the envelope with David’s money in it that he’d been holding earlier that morning. After a brief time of panic, we prayed, asked David to call the hotel and tell them not to clean our room that morning and see if there had been an envelope dropped anywhere. Then we moved on - an act of God to allow us to enjoy a full day of site-seeing when we’d misplaced such a large amount of cash.

We got to The Great Wall and David showed us where to go for bathrooms with no line. The area as a whole was very calm and hardly anyone was touring the day we were there. The girls finally saw the much anticipated squatty potty. Phoebe was set to try it out, but I decided we’d hold off on that adventure for another day. We used the western toilet stall and were on our way. Phil and I put on the ergo and tula for wearing Sammy and Jemma. I’m SO grateful to our friend Lucy McBride for letting us borrow her arrow tula for this trip for Phil to wear Sammy. Sammy fatigues easily with his spina bifida. The tula fit GREAT - I’m amazed at how well a wrap could hold a 35 pound 4 year old!

David said if it was okay with us, he would be in charge of Titus and Phoebe, Lily could take care of herself and Phil and I would have the two littlest. It worked great! We took a bus ride from the entrance to the cable car ride. I am not sure the kids have ever been on a bus before, but either way, they were soaking it all in. Phil told the girls to save some camera battery for the actual attraction. LOL After the bus, we walked up to the cable car ride. It was quite the steep walk, but we made it and amused people on the way.

Once we got to the cable car ride, David told us the strategy for getting onto the moving cable car with everyone. Phil and Sammy went first, then Lily, then me and Jemma, and then David with Titus and Phoebe last. Easy-peasy!

It was slow moving out of the cable car building and then whoosh we were on our way up! It was breath-taking! The nice thing about the lift is that even though it wasn’t necessarily pokey, it was a long enough ride to really take in the views and enjoy the experience! Half-way up, the kids kind of started to joke about how high up we were and said they were freaking out. And of course Jemma learned a new word and kept saying it as well. It was amusing to hear her voice behind me saying, “I’m freaking out, I’m freaking out!” LOL To all their credit, we were VERY high up. And we were looking out the side and upper windows. Then we all turned and looked at where we’d come from - LOLOLOL! Let’s just say, we were high up and the adults in the car all enjoyed hearing the squeals as the kids “freaked out” more!

We arrived at the top and used the same strategy for getting off the moving car. And then we were there… Our family of 7. On The Great Wall of China. It was a moment.

The weather was sunny, clear skies, and in the mid-80’s - just totally gorgeous!

We hiked for quite a while until David said that this was as far as we should go or the climb back would be too hard. He told stories and taught us about the wall and that when they lit the fires to send the signals, they used “wolf poo” so that the smoke would be really black.

We just soaked it all in and then headed back to the cable car for the ride down. The only one “freaked out” for the ride down was Jemma. She was NOT digging the ride and said, “I so scary!” Poor girl cried, although I think she was also tired and hungry, too, which didn’t help.

We then went to a traditional Chinese restaurant where we had lunch: potato noodles with egg, fried rice, white rice, kung pao chicken, toasted green beans, and egg drop soup. It was OUTSTANDING!

After lunch, we had a couple hours drive to get to our next stop. We’d brought everyone’s sleeping item and neck pillows so it was nap time. Trying to figure out how to make everyone comfortable enough to fall asleep was a bit of a challenge, until we decided to take full advantage of the no carseats thing and let Titus just sleep on the floor. Phoebe, Lily, and Sammy were then able to spread out. Jemma slept on me. It was good to get the nap. I woke up a little bit before we got to the next stop. We let the kids keep sleeping a little while longer.

We were going to the Peking Acrobat Show and didn’t need to get our tickets until 3:20. It was really hard to wake the kids up. They had all gone to sleep for the night. David went and got our tickets and I took the kids to the bathroom. When I got back, Phil and David tried to explain to my jet lagged brain that we weren’t all sitting together and asked who did I want to sit with whom. We went into the theater, which was almost completely empty, and found our seats. Phil was in our first row and held Jemma. Titus and Sammy sat behind Phil and Lily, Phoebe, and I sat behind them. When we realized the show was starting, everyone rearranged and Jemma sat on my lap because she was just not having this time change thing and Sammy went and sat by Phil. Phil went and got us coffees.

I have to say that law suits in America have ruined some good things. China knows how to do hot coffee. I like hot coffee and the coffee hear is so hot you can’t even hold the cup!

Anyway, there is a hashtag for #OnlyChina and I experienced that. Only in China would you not be able to sit together when 95% of the theater is empty. I thought it would have been sold out or something… ya, not even close. LOL. I sent Titus to go sit by Phil and Sammy and stayed with the girls.

The show was phenomenal! There were all sorts of acts. One of the dancing acts was the water lily and just beautiful! There was a high roller act that was really great and some tumbling acts that were also a bit hit with the boys. Drums, a mask change dancer, and 8 motorcycles in a metal ball, too! Sammy says there weren’t motorcycles but that is because he was sleeping. Jemma was totally passed out as well.

We made it back to the hotel anticipating God showing up big time with keeping the missing envelope of money safe all day. As I walked into the hotel room behind Phil and the kids, my eyes were scanning the bed and floor. I was disappointed as I quickly saw that the envelope was not laying around. Phil opened the safe, pulled out the money belt, unzipped it, and said, "Kids, praise the Lord, the envelope is here." He then pulled out two envelopes, the one with our main cash stash and the one for David. Praise the Lord!

Phil went to pick up dinner while the kids played quietly with stuff in their backpacks and Jemma and I rested. He came back with “fast food”. He said he went to a fast food place and asked for chicken. They went back to the kitchen and came back and said, “No chicken.” So he said, “pork?” and then went back to the kitchen. They came back and said, “No pork.” They pointed to something on the menu and he said sure. LOL

I think all the kids ate and then he put them all to bed. I was just too wiped and went to bed!

The kids all slept until about 5am! Jemma fussed a few times for a bottle and then went back to sleep.

noodles and watermelon for breakfast - this kid's in heaven