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Ni Hao "nee-how"! I didn't think it was possible but today's China experience was even better than yesterday. First, today our breakfast experience included congee. Other adoptive families have talked about their babies liking congee so we wanted to try it. It's a hot cereal similiar to oatmeal with what I think was rice. We all liked it. Kyle and I also tried red bean rolls, shrimp vegetable rolls and noodles with scrambled eggs (I know I said no more eggs but they were obviously cooked). We liked it all. We are getting more adventurous each day!
For our tour we went to Tiananmen Square...
 ... and the Forbidden City. This is where the emperors lived. It was very beautiful and enormous.
 There are over 8000 rooms and if I understood correctly, each building is considered a room. We only had two hours to explore so it was a quick look.
at the Forbidden City 
around one of the temples  My favorite area was the garden. It was beautiful...
at the Forbidden City  The weather was very, very windy and cold. None of us were dressed warm enough. The dust is killing my eyes. Thankfully it warmed up to a more bearable temperature by the time we left. Next we took a rickshaw ride for a tour of the Hutong area. It was incredible!!!!!!
 Hutong refers to the old narrow rows of an older part of Beijing. We were able to see more of the real side of China. We saw all kinds of street markets with everything from fruit, veggies to eggs. We could see inside the little houses. We saw a complex that had belonged to a general and then we visited someone's home. We were served hot tea. I think it was Jasmine. It was the best hot tea I've ever had. The man who lived there is famous for raising grasshoppers and crickets. Cricket fighting (yes, you read right!) used to be a big sport for gambling. He has been awarded for cricket fighting championships! He was very funny and enjoyable.
 Crickets and grasshoppers are MUCH bigger here than in Missouri. He actually trains his crickets to move forward, backward and sideways. Who knew! He also had very nice feeding and watering dishes for them and tools, including a pooper scooper! The whole rickshaw experience has absolutely been the highlight of the Beijing trip. The street vendors were VERY aggressive today. They remind me of seagulls ready to dive on us if they see any hope of a sale. They were grabbing at Sydney and getting in her face. It got a little stressful. Kyle and I kept her between us as much as possible. I think they thought if she wanted something we would buy it. That said, everything is so cheap! The shopping is very fun. Tonight we are going to eat as a group at a Chinese restaurant. I know you would think that every restaurant in China is a Chinese restaurant, but not so. Last night, much to my disappoint, we ate at KFC. We went with another couple (no guide) and looked at about six different restaurants but everyone kept chickening out. Sydney was thrilled although she was rooting for McDonald's again. Tomorrow we leave the hotel at 5:45 to fly out to Guangzhou. It's a 4 hour flight. In the afternoon we will get the babies! I just can't believe that "Gotcha Day" is almost here. I'm a little teary today just thinking about it. We began this whole process on April 5th, 2005 so it's been almost exactly two years to get here. Thanks for all your e-mails. We are loving them!
'Til tomorrow,
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