Day 3- Arrival in Hangzhou

I only have one picture for today. This is Amber and me. Amber was our sweet guide in Beijing. She took us everywhere and translated for us. We have a guide that meets us at every location. It is very nice not to stress about trying to get places without knowing the language. We have been traveling all day today, and are finally situated in our rooms. The reality of it all sank in when we checked into our room and there was a crib in there. :) We will be going to the Civil Affairs office at 9 am tomorrow morning to meet and get our little Deacon. Which will be 8 pm Sunday your time. I will definitely have pictures for you tomorrow. :) Now to try and sleep. I feel like a child on Christmas Eve waiting on Santa to come. Thank you to all of you who are praying for us. We have had a very uneventful and wonderful time so far. The real fun begins tomorrow!

Day 2- Cube and Bird's Nest

Day 2- The Bird's Nest and The Cube

The last stop we made was to the Bird's Nest and The Cube. There are many symbols to these two structures. They are made out of the five elements which are water, fire, metal, wood, and earth. The nest is red at night representing fire, and the cube is blue at night representing water. There were some other meanings, but I can't keep them all straight. :) We were not able to go inside, but the atmosphere was pretty cool. There were people everywhere as if there was an event going on. 

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Aimee Fannin
www.jacknjillsale.com

Day 2- A little Piece of Home.

After the silk factory we were all fading fast, so we headed across the street to where else but McDonald's. We got some caffeine and ice cream. :) The first picture is of Todd leading the way. The structure to the right is part of the Olympic Village.

Day 2- Silk Factory

After the Great Wall we had lunch at the Friendship Factory. This was like a Chinese Cracker Barrell. ha! There was ALL kinds of stuff to buy on the bottom floor, and then upstairs was the restaurant. The food was good. Then after lunch we headed to a silk factory. They explained how the silk worm spins the cacoon and then how they pull it out. One cacoon's silk is equivalent to one mile. Then they have to spin 7 of them together to get the thickness of a human hair. It was pretty amazing! Then they showed how if the cacoon was holding two silk worms inside that it could not be pulled out for silk but made like a batting on the inside of quilts. It is VERY soft. We got to stretch one of them. That is what we are doing around the table.

Day 2- Great Wall Cont.

--
Aimee Fannin
www.jacknjillsale.com

Day 2- The Great Wall

Today we have had a full day of sightseeing. We left our hotel at 9am and returned about 7pm. We are ready for bed. :) The first picture is of our group. The family on the left is the Lenz family. They are adopting their second little girl. They also brought along their parents. The family to the right of us is the Drake family. They are also getting a little girl from the same orphanage that Deacon is from. Their little girl is 15 months, and Deacon is 20 months. The next picture is one right before Todd and I climed a million steps. The steps were very tall, and there were people EVERYWHERE. It made it a little difficult to climb. It was neat to see it.