China Day 3: Enjoying the Night Life of Beijing

After our heartfelt day at Shepherd's Field we were ready to enjoy the night life. We cleaned up (it is so hot and muggy) and were on our way!

(Sophie, Sparkling Sky, and Jing)

The dresses were a sweet gift from the O'Brien's

Mingling with the people and walking the streets is by far my favorite part of the Beijing experience. (That of course does not hold a candle to the orphanage babies) Here are some great pictures of the life that people live here. Remember, these pictures are of the middle class people of the cities (the country side is a much poorer area). The Girls walking the streets of their heritage A very different way of life Children are universal...playing with Pokemon card


We went to a wonderful dumpling restaurant that Michael took us too. People are fascinated with the American's with Chinese children. We were fascinated at the dumpling cooks...they were more interested in us. We are a sight to behold. Have I mentioned I hold a mean chopstick :) I can grab anything now...love it! Steamed buns (dumplings) Yum! Sky loves her dumplings! We all love our dumplings! We are all part of the clean plate club Sky sharing her American chocolate with a little...

she picked it up with chopsticks...precious!

After dinner we headed out to walk the streets. The people of China are always out on the streets but at night there are people everywhere! There homes are VERY small. Upper middle class would have an apartment with 2 bedrooms about 500 square feet. As American's we have a hard time imagining that. Being outside gives them freedom to move around. We stumbled upon an exercise area on the corner of a street. These are everywhere...The girls loved it and I loved the people!

I love to watch the older generation

These little girls giggled everytime we talked and followed us around!

This daddy was enamored with his little boy
(reminded me of Paul) They waved and talked lots of Chinese to us

I don't think this generation really enjoyed the Americans
taking over his turf!

Michael, Sophie, and I had fun working out our abs

twisty turning machine

I will finish off my post with ONE of my MANY favorite things about Chinese people. Two words...SPLIT PANTS...Pictures speak louder than

words. If I see any of the split pants so will you...LOVE THEM!

For easy bathroom access on squatty potty

(Squatty potties will be another post, but the

words describe it perfectly. If you ever travel to

China practice squats and lunges)

Tomorrow we met with a wonderful friend of the Sundavall's and O'Brien's who was a LARGE part of their adoption process in China, Ms. Susan! Till then...xoxoxoxo