Day 2 ~ Beijing ~ Underground Palace

After The Great Wall we visited the Underground Palace.  It's an underground tomb of one of the Ming Emperors.  But first we walked the "Sacred Way of the Animals" which guards the tomb.

 We had to drive from the "Walk" to the tomb.  Which I thought was strange.  On the way I got a couple of interesting pictures.  The one above is of the trees that are painted.  They are painted to keep insects off.  It must work because they are painted everywhere.

Then below, if you look at the tree behind the man there are brown bags hanging on the tree.  It actually is wrapped around an apple.  As the apple grows a Chinese symbol is pressed into the apple skin.  The symbol stands for prosperity, good fortune, long life... We realized many symbols on souvenirs mean one of those.  :)

 Only Cypress trees can grow inside the tomb.

 The trees with a green plaque means the tree is over 300 years old.

A red plaque is over 500 years old.

 The Chinese people must not understand what luxuriant means.  ;)

 The tomb is under this hill.

 The rear chamber is the main chamber of the underground palace.  Inside the chamber, there was a coffin bed, on which the coffins of the Emperor and Empresses where placed.  The coffin of the Emperor was in the middle and those of the Empresses where on both sides.  Jade materials were found between the coffins.  The burial articles for the Emperor and Empress were kept in 26 cases made of nanmu (a kind of hard wood) on the sides of each coffin.  When the underground palace was opened, part of the coffins and burial articles had become decayed.   The coffins and cases containing the burial articles on display at present  are the copies of the original ones.

These little shoes are what Chinese women used to wear.  In fact, our guide told us her grandmother used to wrap her feet so they could remain small.  Lisa said her feet looked like chicken feet.

Day 2 - Beijing ~ The Great Wall of China

Finally!! Another post about China.  I only have a few more days of China to blog about.  It has been a real challenge to finish. 

This is a very poor image.  The original looks worse.  I scanned it in trying to improve it.  Not so much.  This picture was taken before we climbed up the Great Wall.

I was surprised at how steep the climb was.  The steps were all different heights so you really couldn't get a rhythm down. 

The Great Wall is definitely my favorite part of China.  It's so magnificent.  It's hard to imagine that this was built during the 5th century BC and weaves throughout China for 3,700 miles.  I learned that over 300,000 people labored more than 30 years to accomplish this task. 

The view of these mountains are amazing!

In the picture above, Brenda and Dave are enjoying ice cream to cool off.  Jake, Josh, and myself were all ahead of them without money.  My bottled water was in Dave's pack!  Rather unfair, but we continued to the top without them.

The stairs to the tower was very narrow, and these are in good condition compared to most. 

Yea!!!  We did it! 
I have a funny story.  Just before this picture I came out of the tower and noticed these young Chinese girls having their picture taken with these two cute American boys.  So I thought I would too.  They took my picture with them. ;)  These two have had their picture taken a lot.  But that's not the funny part.  The night before I thought, "Why don't I get asked to get my picture taken.  I'm American too."  I know, pathetic.  Anyway, at the last tower I had this younger than me, shirtless, Chinese man ask to have a picture taken with me.  I smiled and said yes.  Inside I was thinking GROSS!!  :/ 

The climb down was soo much faster.  Brian decided not to walk to the top.  When I made it down I found him relaxing in the shade with a cold drink.  Lucky for me he shared.

All of it was breathtaking. :)

school play

Last night Karlee had the lead in her school play.  The play was called "Team Edward vs. Team Jacob".  Yep you guessed it.  It was all about vampires and werewolves.  Karlee was nervous all day.  But she did a great job!!  They all did a great job. 

 There was a little romance.  This is Edward hitting on Lydia.  Trying to get her to choose the life of a vampire.  She told him to take a hike.  :)

 Lots of humor.  Jacob is the one with the muscles.  :P

Then this poor teacher.  She has two bloody stumps because of fights at school between the vampires and werewolves.

Super entertaining!  Mason kept saying over and over again that he was so glad he could watch it.   Great job Karlee!!  We are excited for the next school production. 

wedding day

Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Geoffrey McRae...

These boys have been so excited at the thought of a bigger brother.  Carson ran and jumped into Geoff's arms shortly after him and McKinzie came out of the temple.

I didn't get a picture of all of our family that was there.  I guess I'll have to wait until we get the pictures back from the photographer.

Geoff's mom's side of the family.

Geoff's dad's side of the family.  (Unfortunately Kinzie's eyes are closed.)

The crackers helped Adam feel better for awhile.

But it didn't last long.  He was soo done with pictures.

This is the most fun Adam had at the temple.  Most everyone had left while McKinzie and Geoff finished pictures and it had started to rain. 

Now real life starts...

birthday catch up

McKinzie keeps giving me a hard time for not blogging.  She thinks I have nothing to do now the wedding is over.  Well...I'm still super busy. But I'm going to try and catch up before our trip to Oklahoma next week.  The hardest part is editing all the pictures before I blog.  Hundreds of pictures were taken on our trip.  Let alone still trying to edit pictures from our trip to China.  The Great Wall is next.  :) 

Geoff and Kinze gave Bailee these mustaches.  I think Mason wants to check and see if it's real. :)

She opened one present.  I think she likes it.

I told her to see if anything was in her new purse.

KEYS!!!

It's a 2001 Saturn.  She loves it!  This is just as much of a gift for me as it is for her.  This past week has been great now that she can get herself to school and church without me. In fact she has already helped out by picking up Karlee after school one day.

With Kinzie and Geoff getting married so close to her birthday, she actually thought her birthday would be forgotten.  I hope it was a great 16th birthday!  I love you Bailee!!

Bailee had to get her license as soon as possible.  We couldn't start the paperwork until she was 16.  So on her birthday I take her out of school to go and sit at the DPS for 2 1/2 hrs.

On the 2nd we go back to do the driving test.  She is super nervous.  We have an appointment at 4 but have to be there at 3:30.  Finally a little after 5 she takes her test and passes!!  She didn't get to drive by herself for another week because we left for Vegas that night.   It's all good!  She's free!!  Now she needs a job to pay for gas.  :/

50th day of school 50s style

sweet sixteen

A boy friend, NOT boyfriend, surprised Bailee at seminary this morning with roses.  That just guaranteed her to have a great day.  (Check that off my to do list.) 

bridal shower

McKinzie wasn't sure she wanted a bridal shower.  I was fine either way.  She knew that if she wanted one that I would need to plan it and she knew I was already stretched.  When I realized she was leaning toward having it I called a friend for help.  Marcia had mentioned in passing that she would like to do one for her, then she went on vacation.  So instead of waiting for her return I called another friend, Ruth, for help.  I have some wonderful friends.  Many women came through for us and put together a great shower. 

Marcia even made this cute shirt for Kinzie to wear.  I think I counted around 27 people in attendance.  The food was yummy.  The games were fun and simple.  The wide variety of gifts were great!

With my gift I had a card that McKinzie read aloud.  It read something like, "I know that you feel I've been a hard nose about modesty. (This is where she rolled her eyes.) I think I've painted myself into a corner.  I hope you like what I bought you for your wedding night."  She was way scared to look in the bag.  When she pulled it out everyone couldn't control the laughter.  I gave her a floral, flannel, nightgown/robe.  One woman at the shower asked if I sewed the bottom closed.  :D  I hadn't thought of that!  Don't worry, I also gave her something "fun" for a newlywed. ;)