Day 3: Non-stop day, touring and enjoying Beautiful Beijing!

First of all the jet lag--- it has us out of sorts. I couldn't get tired before midnight or so Thursday night and then Cara had been sleeping for four hours and woke up! She was up, wide awake for FIVE HOURS, from midnight to 5am on Friday morning. I hadn't slept one wink. We were supposed to meet our guide at 9am, but we pushed it back until 10:30 for Cara to sleep. I slept 2 hours. Cara slept from 5 until 10:30 am. Because of time, crowds from the holidays, and a heightened security check, we decided to skip Tiananmen Square. I'm glad we did...

Cara slept 8pm-midnight and then 5am-10:30am!

Forbidden City in the late morning!
We thought it was gorgeous!!! It really gave us a feel for China's rich history, Katie's homeland, and the culture. It has thousands of buildings built for the emperors and has over 200 courtyards. If the emperor slept in a different room every night, it would take him 21 years to repeat a room!

We were blessed by a rarity on Beijing: a gorgeous, SUNNY, and windy day. PERFECT weather, about 73 degrees with a strong breeze.

Lol, don't climb the 6 foot tall, "perilous" wall!

The Blonde Celebrity Phenomenon: Cara was FAMOUS everywhere... lol...

People would literally wait in a line to stand next to us and take a picture... we kept her VERY close...

And then the one time she was out of the Ergo carrier, a woman giddily scooped her up for a photo and mocked that she was going to walk off with her (and started to)... she was kidding but Mama Bear was done with photo opps for the day! Back in the Ergo, Care Bear!

testing these pics before adding the rest of the pics.... 

RICK-SHAW RIDE in the Beijing neighborhood, in the early afternoon...

after hours of walking, we especially enjoyed a relaxing, breezy rick-shaw ride through an old neighborhood. Believe it or not, these tiny homes are only for rich people, because of the location. 

Such a sweetheart! This little girl, the 4 year old daughter of a bao street food vendor, MeiZan, gave Cara a gift of a pink balloon after Cara shared stickers with her. She asked us if Cara was sure she could keep them, she was worried Cara might need them. She was just precious.

Traditional Tea Ceremony at a Tea House in the late afternoon:

Soaking in Katie's heritage continued as we really enjoyed, as Cara called it, a "tea party", with a woman teaching us the tradition of a tea ceremony. This was a great because Cara really loves all types of tea. We enjoyed ginseng oolong, jasmine, puer (spelling?), rose and lychee, and a dried fruit tea. I bought a fine lychee tea (called beauty tea) to give as a special gift to Katie's foster mom to tell her that her loving care to my baby is "so beautiful to me"!

(blurry, sorry)

What a trooper!

Not done yet! An ACROBAT show in the evening!

No joke, I seriously think this was one of the BEST, most impressive, and entertaining shows I've ever seen! A must-see! It was incredible! I kept wishing Katie was there to enjoy it too, they were incredibly talented!

                     (eight motorcycles in one cage)                                   (all on ONE bicycle!)

We ended the night with a long walk through Beijing to a little place for a scrumptious and gluten free Peking Duck dinner with our dear Dennis... Cara slept through it all. Doug and Dennis enjoyed DONKEY with lotus root as well. He loved it.

Spicy Donkey with Lotus Root

The best Peking Duck ever with sides, and my signature garlic oil broccoli that Dennis always orders for me! 

Celiac travelers, go here for a gluten free Peking Duck feast!

Okay, I'm hoping for 5-6 hours of solid sleep. I KNOW you are all praying because it's simply impossible that I'm doing so well on this little sleep. In the past 48 hours, I've gotten a TOTAL of two hours sleep. That's insane, and I feel pretty good, even after trekking through China's capital ALL DAY! 

Okay, tomorrow's the Great Wall and then Sunday we take a train to Katie! (We get settled into the hotel Sunday and go meet her and get her the next morning). TWO AND A HALF MORE DAYS!!! AHHH! WE. ARE. PUMPED!