The Great Wall of China

Sunday we visited the Great Wall of China.  This was a hugely anticipated event in our family, and the kids were super excited about it.  The Great Wall was started during the Chin Dynasty to protect China from the Mongols.  It is anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 miles long, depending on what source you use - I even read one today quoting 5.600 miles. 

A village on our way to the Great Wall 

At the entrance

Before our jaunt up the Wall 

 There were two sides to choose from - the easy side (recommended for people with children), pictured here, 

and the hard side, which we climbed.

The angle of this picture could be a bit deceiving, but it's not - some (a lot) of the steps really were as tall as the kids' knees. 

There were plenty of times when we asked ourselves why are we doing this?

And then we saw the views... 

The kids even had a couple of friends on the trip. 

Half way up - looking a little worn out.

This little girl was awesome!

Grace and Tristan were also very tolerant of all the attention they got.  I've told several people since we got back that we probably could have gone twice as far in half the amount of time if we didn't get stopped every few minutes to have the kids' pictures taken. 

We started at the low point in this picture. 

Going down this portion was pretty nauseating.  It was STEEP! 

Yep, we were up there.

Another little village - that darker brown lump in the dirt on the left side of the picture is a camel. 

It was an awesome experience, and the kids were troopers!  We tend to take our hiking seriously in this family, so the kids don't know that there is usually an easier option - I think there was more groaning from David and I than from the kids.  When all was said and done, we bought the kids gold medals that said they climbed the wall, and they certainly earned them!