10 June 2014 –
Even though it's a school day the girls are coming with us to the Tianjin section of the Great Wall. The Stader Family created a bucket list of "must-see" places in China for their visit and (naturally) the Great Wall was on that list. :-)
Taking the golf cart up to the entrance of the Great Wall:
See? There's the entrance!
Okay, kids! Time to stop and pose…we're *almost* on the wall….
Yay! We're on the Great Wall! Isn't it stupendous???
Here's my version:
Here is Eric's version:
Run kids, run!!!
Not to worry…we grown-ups will catch up with you sooner or later!
We picked a rather moist day for our hike on the wall. We ended up making several dashes for the guard towers when it started to rain. (oops, we forgot our rain gear!) I also learned that Noah is a FANTASTIC and amazingly ACCURATE weather man! He very accurately predicted how long each passing rain would last. We ended up eating part of our lunch in one of the guard towers while waiting out one of the rain storms. There were a few times on our hike when we just decided it was okay to get wet and keep marching in the rain. It was a very damp day!
Fun photo op! This section is quite steep…Dani and Lilly are actually standing up straight! (they're not leaning)
Apparently it was also a very damp day in Tianjin as well! As we were driving to Din Tai Fung for our celebratory dinner of Chinese dumplings we noticed how deep the water was on some of the streets in the city. Twice we spotted a car that appeared to have lost a wheel (the water was so deep – we think that the drivers of those cars accidentally drove into an open manhole…whoops!).
Look at what was waiting for us in our special room…reserved for us by our wonderful and good friend, Frances:Any guesses what we're celebrating????
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm???????
Mark and I are celebrating NINETEEN years of marriage today!!! (seriously, 19 years??? WOW!)
While I knew about the room reservation the flowers were a beautiful and wonderful surprise! <3 I later learned that several friends were all involved in ordering and delivering those flowers to our dinner that night. Thank you, thank you, thank you! You know who you are and I love all of you!
Funny thing, the Staders had NO clue that it was a special day for us. It was fun getting to celebrate and share our special day with friends! Plus, I don't think I could ever turn down a reason to eat dumplings at Din Tai Fung! One of my favorite restaurants…. (my mouth is starting to water just thinking about them).
Mark, Dani and Eric browsing the menu. Decisions, decisions!
The bamboo steamer boxes with dumplings. My favorite ones are the kinds filled with soup. Yes, they're challenging to eat without getting dumpling goo splattered all over yourself.
Me with my sweetie…I can't believe he's put up with me for nineteen years and counting! Check out how HUGE that gorgeous flower bouquet is! Mark – LOVE YOU!!!! Can't wait to see what crazy things we'll be up to on our 20th anniversary!