Hello from Beijing

We have been in Beijing all week enjoying the sights. We've been to Tinamen Square, Forbidden City, Acrobatic Show, the new Silk Market (it used to be Silk Alley but is now in a multi-level building), and today we did the Great Wall. We went to a different part of it this time. I didn't climb very far but Maelyn made it to the top with some of the team. Even Mike didn't go. This is the child who doesn't like to walk so I don't know what motivated her! We leave at 6:30 am tomorrow to catch a plane for our next destination. It is on the Yellow Sea and is supposed to be very pretty. No snow here. The first day of spring was last Sunday. The weather has been nice for walking around. Beijing is such a clean city from the other ones we've been in and the traffic has improved since we were last here. We took Maelyn to the hotel we stayed in when we got her. It was so strange to see it again with her being almost eight years old now. We drove past the stadiums where the olympics will be. There are 45 stadiums being used. We went out for pizza for my birthday. It tasted so good after eating chinese food for two months. Our hotel is really nice for $28 a room including a chinese breakfast buffet. It is so nice to have a toilet and hot shower all to ourselves for a few days. The other two teams are here with us so it has been nice hearing their stories on their adventures. Thank you to everyone who posted Birthday wishes to me! Bye from Beijing