Our trip to CHINA! Part 1

  Saturday night, after Christine's wedding, we stayed at the PMP.  Sunday morning we went to Sacrament Meeting with everyone that was still around and then our family left to go up to Layton.  We arrived in the afternoon with enough time to get mostly settled in before dinner.  Rachael and Kaiden came over because we would not be seeing them once we got back.  They were going on their own adventure across the ocean to go see Europe.  

  After dinner, we got the girls in bed and then packed up the rest of our stuff for our China trip.  We left bright and early Monday morning for the airport, saying goodbye to a sad Kate on our way out the door.  

  It was so weird for me, walking through the airport without my kids in tow.  It was definitely easier, but I wasn't a fan of the feeling.  However, after enduring a 12 hour flight, I was grateful they didn't have to endure with us. 

We arrived to China on their Tuesday night and promptly fell asleep, exhausted from our travels.  Wednesday morning we woke up and went to the market with Linda.  It was SO cool.  There was a huge variety of fruits, veggies, and meats, many of which I had never seen before.  And the market just kept going and going, one little shop after the next.

The meat market was very interesting.  All the meat just hanging right before you.  The smell was not wonderful but my pregnant self was able to stomach it no problem.  Blessings all around.

The seafood was HUGE.  Some of the lobsters and fish looked like they weighed 15-20 pounds.  And again, SO many options.

That is one huge crab.  I would not want to see that thing next to me in the ocean.

The big eggs were Ostrich eggs.  $20 a piece, so we passed.  Andrew's only regret on this trip was not buying the Ostrich egg.

Day two was spent at the Temple of Heaven.  It was built in the 1400s and thinking about that as we walked around made the amazing architecture even more amazing.  

The scale at which a lot of Chinese historical sights was built is mind boggling to me.  The courtyard at the Temple of Heaven was huge as were all the other buildings around it.

Inside the main complex.

Monks these days.  Even they can't live without their cell phones.

The detail in everything was amazing.  There were so many of these dragons everywhere and to imagine carving each one out of stone, wood, whatever it may be, ...that had to have taken a whole lot of time and a whole lot of people.  

This lady had a sun mask on her face to protect her skin from the sun.  Having a white face is desirable over in China.  Linda asked to get a picture with her and as soon as she did, the lady took off her mask. Oh well.

After the Temple of Heaven we went over to the Pearl Market to quickly look through the shops so we could have an idea of what was available.  Here is the view from the top of the Pearl Market.

Day three we hiked up to The Great Wall of China. It was quite the hike up hill.  We stopped a few times to catch our breath.

The midway point. Here is where we climbed to to get on the tram that takes us the rest of the way up the mountain.

We made it up to The Wall.  It was a beautiful view everywhere you looked.

There was wheel chair access at the top, however, you'd have to be outside your mind to go up to the wall in a wheel chair.  There were steep drop offs everywhere and their ramp even looked dangerous.  If someone let go of your wheel chair on that ramp you'd be a goner. 

5,500  miles of wall. 

My mind is blown.  It takes quite a bit of effort to get to the wall, but to build it!?! 

The steps were crazy.  Lots were falling apart, some were 18+ inches tall, others were 2 inches tall. It made for some very steep flights of stairs to go up and down. 

China bug.

Petroglyph National Monument

  Yesterday we went to Petroglyph National Monument which protects one of the largest petroglyph sites in North America.  It features designs and symbols carved onto volcanic rocks by Native Americans and Spanish settlers 400-700 years ago.  It was nice to get a little exercise while enjoying some of the beauty of Albuquerque.

  The beginning of the path was blocked by a post so bikes could not get past.  There were no signs banning strollers so Andrew lifted ours over the post with Ellie still sitting in it.  I was impressed.

It was nice and sunny out for our hike.  I could have done with a little cooler weather but when compared to home, 65 and dry is a nice day for a hike.

Ellie enjoyed her ride, chillin' with her feet crossed, sunglasses on and all.  So much sass with this one.

 The first petroglyph we saw was a deer.  Can you find it?

 The girls didn't realize there were drawings on some of the rocks.  Once they started seeing them they were excited to find more. 

 Becca fell asleep 10 minutes into our walk.  She slept happily for 90 minutes.  The last bit of the walk she was quite uncomfortable and unhappy.  We pushed through and as soon as I was able to unbuckle her out of the ergo she was back to her happy self.

 A wolf and a duck.

 Whenever anyone says, "look at this" or "look at that", Ellie immediately chimes in with "I see, I see!!!".  She is not saying that she sees it, she is telling everyone she wants to see it, too!  This hike was no different and Daddy was happy to help Ellie out. 

Ellie chilled out in her stroller for 3/4 of the hike.  The rest she was running after her big sisters trying to keep up.  I love watching her two-year old self running around.  She is the cutest. 

 The last quarter of the hike, Kate and Becca were my hiking buddies.  Kate ran ahead many times and would then run back to me and Becca.  With all her trips back and forth, she was the winner for most distance traveled.

 Five minutes into our hike Abby found a beetle.  She held onto that thing for the entire hike.  Kate happened to find another beetle five minutes before the end of our hike.  Those two beetles brought so many smiles to Kate and Abby.  I laugh because they will pick up a good sized beetle without any thought but if you come at them with an ant they will scream and cry.  Actually, Kate was in tears a few days ago because there was a teeny tiny spider floating right in front of her face in the car and she didn't want it to touch her.  Like, the thing was minuscule.  But she will allow a quarter sized beetle to crawl all over her.  Don't ask me why.

   Another successful outing in the books.  

Albuquerque - Adventure 1

  Andrew has training at Kirkland AFB for four months.  He is moving squadrons and planes.  The U model gunship is dying and the J model is replacing it.  Andrew was selected to transfer over to the J model AND be an aircraft commander instead of remaining a co-pilot.  I am super proud.  Four months of his training is done at Kirkland AFB, NM.  Instead of being apart for those four months we elected to go as a family.  Every day I think about how grateful I am that we are not apart.  I can live just about anywhere as long as I get to be with my family.
  Andrew was able to secure a TLF for our family and we are SO grateful.  Albuquerque is highest in the country for auto theft and up there for other crimes, so, getting to live on base was a huge sigh of relief.  I have yet to leave base without Andrew and I don't see me doing that any time soon.  The horror stories of what happens in broad daylight in good parts of town have intimidated me enough to stay on base when Andrew is at work.  It'd be one thing if I were to go out by myself, but having four young girls in tow.  Yeah, I'll pass.
  The weather here is absolutely beautiful.  I LOVE fall weather and have missed it a ton while living in the south.  And the colors!  So pretty!  Golden yellow leaves everywhere.  A nice change from pine trees.  The mountains are also a nice change and I love looking out my windows at them.
  Because we don't go out during the week, each weekend we plan on going out to see and do fun things.  Last Saturday we went to the Botanical Gardens and Aquarium.  Before heading there we stopped to grab a bite to eat.

  Lunch was yummy.  We ate at the Golden Crown Bakery.  We ordered pizza and a sub sandwich.  Sandwich was good, pizza was delish.  And it came out super fast, too.  That is a huge bonus when you're trying to get your four kids to sit down and wait patiently for their lunch. After finishing up, we drove to the Aquarium.
  On our way, we passed a huge rattlesnake that had been ran over.  The thing had to have been 4-5 feet long.  I really hope we don't meet one of those guys while we are here.
  So, the Aquarium.  We all had a fun time looking at the bright colored fish.  Some were small, others huge.  Because Abby especially loves creatures from under the sea, she was running from one fish exhibit to the next, oo-ing and ahh-ing the whole time.  At home she would often request Sharks, a Netflix documentary, to be put on tv.  She had to have watched it 20 times.  Seeing sharks and funny shaped fish was her cup o' tea.

Looking at the sting rays

 One of the funny shaped fish.  It had quite an odd nose.  Almost like a dolphin.  It looked too big for its body. 

Abby was a little disgusted with the "sea spider".  I don't know its real name but it was huge and looked like something out of a nightmare.  

 Waiting for the sharks to swim around.

 Outside was a small exhibit for the otters.  They weren't exciting as they were sunning themselves on a platform.  Looked enjoyable to me.

  The gardens were serene, or at least they appeared that way.  There were plenty of kids running around playing in the open grassy area, but it just looked so peaceful and happy.  There was a train expo going on where collectors would set up their trains and let them go around on the train track.  Some even had steam coming out of their whistle.  The girls didn't want to stop watching.

  All around the gardens were animals shaped out of wired lights.  I'm guessing that they turn them on at night during the holidays??  I'm not sure if they are turning them on yet but it's something I need to look into because they did an amazing job.  

  There was also a butterfly enclosure with a dozen or so different kinds of butterflies.  They were pretty but the girls lost interest after 10 minutes of not being allowed to touch anything.  The bug exhibit was next.  At this point we were all done and ready to go home.  We walked through quickly, cringing at the big creepy crawlies.
  One fun adventure down, many more to go!