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!  

China - Day One

We have been talking about going to China for a good six months, and our trip finally happened.  One of the nice things about homeschooling is that I gathered all the information I had about China and added it to the curriculum the week before we left.  It was so much fun to see the recognition on their faces and hear "Hey!  We learned about that!" 

So, here is day one:

Ready for her first plane ride! 

At the Beijing Airport 

Dinner - yummo!

I don't think we had a bad meal the entire time we were there. 

Grass carp 

Duck 

Showing us how to make/eat Peking Duck.

Who knew the Chinese ate burritos?

After dinner we went to an acrobatics show. 

These girls juggled, tossed, and spun these balls - all with their feet! 

And this gal was able to make a basket just by bending her legs and twisting her feet!

It took her several tries, but she would bounce the ball on each platform several times, and eventually made it all the way into the basket! 

This guy was standing upright on a ladder, and walked around the stage on it a bit too. 

He didn't even wobble! 

I'm doing my best to get through the pictures as quickly as I can, but there's close to 1800 (thanks to the addition of about 400 from my 2 little shutterbugs) for me to choose from.  So just know there will be LOTS of pictures posted in the near future!

Apache Helicopter Fiield Trip

Being a military family has SO many benefits.  Top that off with being a homeschooling family, and the benefits almost double!  Today we were able to go check out the Apache helicopters, and even got to "fly" one in the simulator!

 

Checking out the night vision goggles 

One of the soldiers said that this is the most expensive "hat" any of the kids would wear.  It's a brand new $20,000 flight helmet. 

 

Grace in the inflatable life raft with one of her BFF's, Joy.

Part of our group.

Grace taking her turn in the simulator.

All Tristan wanted to know how to do was shoot the missles.

I'm pretty sure Tristan thought this was the best field trip ever.