Day 2: Beijing

What a great day! We enjoyed the wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel, with our new friends Nour and Hamid. Nour is the mom and Hamid is her 12 year old boy (a huge Alabama Crimson Tide fan). We will be traveling with them to Nanjing to meet our babies. They will be adopting a little boy (Eli), 23 months old. Also, with cleft palate.
After breakfast we met our guide, Oscar, and driver, Bin. They took us to the Great Wall of China. On the way we stopped at a Jade factory. It was amazing to see the craftsmen carve the jade. We bought the kids a little surprise there. :)
Then we were off to the Great Wall. It was a nice day. Chilly, approximately 44 degrees, but not much wind. We began hiking, and hiking, and hiking.... a few towers up the hill Jodi decided to stop for a break. (hip and back have been sore due too the long air flights and the extremely hard bed in our hotel room.) Bryan kept going. He got up to the top tower and got some great pictures. Jodi went up a little further but didn't make it quite as far as Bryan.

After the Great Wall, Oscar and Bin took us to lunch. At the restaurant there was also a Cloisonne factory. We learned how these copper products are crafted. Once again, very impressed! Beautiful workmanship!
We had dinner at what Oscar calls a Chinese fast food restaurant. We really liked it, but I guess since there wasn't any "weird" foods we felt okay.

Then we went to the Hutongs. We were taken around on a Ricksha. That was so cool! The Hutongs are old Beijing neighborhoods. Some are over 600 years old. We were even able to go into a home and visit with the man of the house. I think that this was my favorite part of the day.

The scariest part of the day is sitting in the back of a car and letting someone else drive. Not that I would ever want to drive in Beijing. They are crazy! Of course, if the bicyclers and pedestrians would get out of the way traffic would move much smoother. Just amazing we have made it home to the hotel every night!

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace. We are not too sure what to expect but it'll probably be great! We travel to Nanjing tomorrow evening and we will be that much closer to being united with Jailyn! We can't wait!!!!!

Take care! Love y'all! Kids we miss you more everyday! Kisses and hugs!