Won't you come along with us to Beijing for a fun, family-friendly Saturday outing???? We promise it will be amusing for the entire family!!! Plus, we're going to meet up with two other families – the more the merrier!
🙂
Hurry on over to our house- the car will arrive any minute now to swoop us up and whisk us away to Beijing. Oh- and pack a picnic lunch. We're going to have a picnic in a park!
Perhaps "whisk away to Beijing" is wishful thinking! Unfortunately, the route our driver has chosen takes us right smack through Tianjin…along with the other million or so nutty drivers who are cramming themselves along- every square inch of the way. Ugh. Please refrain from pulling out your hair. Seriously!
Time for potty stop! (my coffee from this morning needs out!!!) Check out this sight close to the potty station:
Ummm…m'kay. Ready to move on???
We're going to meet up with our friends at Chaoyang Park. Actually, we were SUPPOSED to meet them at Sun Park but there was a bit of confusion with our drivers. I think we figured out that Chaoyang Park= Sun Park but we thought we were going to the Temple of the Sun park. Ooops.
Well, we all made it- even if we aren't where we thought we should be at least we're all together and that's what matters most!
Huh…guess you have to pay to get into Chaoyang Park. Oh well. Do you have your picnic lunch??? Good. We're going to take it with us into the park and hopefully find a shady spot under some trees for lunch. It is HOT, HOT, HOT today!!!!
Let's go find a shady area to park our behinds and eat some lunch!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!
It's a giant Ladybug!!!!!!!
This seems like a very Asian kind of building:
The Asians do have a sense of humor, don't they???!!!!
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!!!
Unfortunately, that saying wasn't referring to the "ice cream" that was for sale at this ice cream stand. I will say it was edible. Although the smallest person in our family didn't even think that- she tossed hers away! And that's about all I can say about that!!!
Okay, here's the deal: we need to entertain the kids until the moms can get checked into the hotel room (oh, did I forget to mention that part? Oops!) and have an early dinner. You'll soon see why an early dinner becomes important!
So…in keeping with keeping children entertained we let all the kids play with this outdoor "exhibit" that was located in front of the Sony Explora Museum. We didn't have enough time to go in and explore the museum but I think if they have more of this:
in the museum then it would be worth going to! The kids had a blast running around it (it used auditory senses).
It's finally time to go! Time to walk back to the car and get out of the heat for a little bit.
Hey! Next time we come here we should rent one of these "bicycles"! That would make getting around this park a lot quicker!
What the heck? I sure hope that these signs- which are sprinkled all over the park- make more sense in Chinese!!!
What is this pool of water for??? I don't see any people splashing about in it? Doesn't it seem like a nice thing to go wade your hot, tired footsies in some cool water?
What the????
Somebody had better put some pants on that little boy!!! LOL! (those are fish that the little boys are trying to get with their nets)
Wowzers! I wonder why this bicycle isn't floating like the house in the movie, "Up"???
Yippee! We're all checked into the hotel and it's time to head across the street (from the hotel)- we're eating dinner at Blue Frog. Yes, there's a restaurant called Blue Frog! And it's even a huge favorite of some of the expat kids we know…. You know- when I think of blue frog I don't exactly think of edible food! I think of poison dart frogs in the jungles of South America. Hmmmmmmm…..
(it's a clothing store. I know. Weird, right?)
The Kids' Table:
A very minty mojito…perhaps a little too much green stuff!
Time to head to the Beijing Acrobatics Show at the Chaoyang Theater!
The Kids posing for the umpteenth photo:
Jumping for Joy! It's time to go in!
New meaning to Finger Painting:
Pretty lovely pieces of artwork for it being just finger paintings!
The show is about to start! Are you ready???? Our friends have all settled into their seats are are ready for the show to begin!
Naturally candy and popcorn is a must-have for an acrobatics show!
Ladies, Gentlemen and Gentle Kids….drum roll please…………………………….
And he keeps adding and adding more chairs to go higher and higher and higher!
Amazing ballet dancers….
More balancing acts…two guys balancing on each other on steps.
Three bicycle balancing act:
How many ladies can you fit on a bicycle????
The most crazy of all (I think) was the Motorcycles in a Sphere act…they got up to EIGHT motorcycles roaring around this sphere at the end of the act. They started with one and kept adding and adding until they got to five (five is the most they had doing cool tricks). Then they added the last three at once but they didn't do any cool tricks after having all eight motorcycles in the sphere. We were just amazed- I couldn't barely watch this- motorcycles zipping across each other and doing crazy stunts. And then they kept adding more!!! Just when you thought the sphere was full …out came another motorcycle ready to be loaded!!!
Yes, it did stink up the theater!!
Thank you for an amazing and weird and WACKY performance!
Really…the photos don't do it justice! This was an AMAZING performance! Something not to be missed if you're in Beijing. It IS and acrobatics show but we also realized that it was also a magic show as well- that perhaps all was not as it seemed. (they had ladies dancing with plates on sticks which would have been very difficult indeed but at once point we realized there was no Earthly way (gravity) for the plates to stay on- the plate was obviously attached to the pole so it wouldn't fall).
Darn it! I didn't take photos of my favorite act- the "hat tossers"! Grr!!!
The names of the acts were pretty darn funny too…. I forgot to snap my favorite one! It was something like Hawvest Moog or something like that (I believe they were going for Harvest Moon but I could be mistaken!).
And so now the kids and wonderful Dads are on their way back home. And we moms get to party!!!! HA!!!!! Early to bed because tomorrow we've got a F.U.L.L. day of shopping at four- yes FOUR- different markets! Yashow, Silk, Pearl and the ever-elusive Secret markets. Plus lunch at Annie's (an Italian restaurants with really good food) and shopping at the Jenny Lou's (import shop chain in Beijing). And guess what? We were too busy haggling with shop keepers and shopping to take photos.
Except for this photo…which I think covers most of the bases, don't you think:
Time to head back home and say good bye to Beijing. It's been fun! Hey- join us next time for a trip to Beijing. We'd love to have you come along!!! And maybe- if you're lucky- we'll show you the Secret Market. 😉 We rather liked that one and I think we all wished we could have gone there first!!!!