Cub Scout Regatta

Logan won first place in his cub scout pack regatta race. He was a happy little mariner. He named his boat "X-wing" from the Star Wars Starfighter. He is his father's child:)

Planetarium Field Trip

Preschoolers can be alot of fun on field trips. Their active bodies and creative minds can only prepare one for a busy day laughing. We headed out to the planetarium watching a movie about a duck seeing the stars for the first time. After the movie, we observed stars and planets on the dome screen. The kids were fascinated with making their own pictures in the sky. That night, Evan ran outside to watch the stars appear and pointed out O'Ryan's belt. He said that was his favorite because he carried a bow and arrow.

Young Photographers

The boys had an opportunity to find my camera lying around. It appears they were having a good time and stayed quietly in the laundry room for no one to find them.

Garland Ranch Regional Park

We're heading out to hike one of the many trails at Garland Park in Carmel, California.

One the route, there are many signs of Indian life in the mountains. These make-shift mortars were ground into big rocks close to where the oak trees drop acorns and then were ground into acorn meal. The acorn meal could be made into dough and cooked on hot rocks or rolled into hard balls to carry on a journey.

Evan trying to "fish" with sticks near the pond.

Fern Pond - the ferns were around the pond.

Walking toward the cliffs.

Matt showing Evan the mountains and, better yet, keeping the vagabond from roaming.

The artistic abilities of the simple spider.

The Great Wall of China

Welcome to the Great Wall of China!!
The Great Wall of China is one of the greatest wonders of the world.
We took a gondola up to the top and enjoyed the scenery. Just like a gigantic dragon, the Great Wall winds up and down across deserts, grasslands, mountains and plateaus.

Our cable car was ridden in by the seventeeth Budha of Tibet. Bill Clinton, also, has his name stenciled in one of the cable cars.

The entrance to the wall at the Mutianyu village.

The wall was breath taking. You could see miles and miles of wall peaking through the mountains. We were only able to walk down the restored parts.

With a history of more than 2000 years, some of the sections are now in ruins or have disappeared.

Evan and his cheery disposition.

Stairs!

You can see the village at the bottom of the valley.

More stairs

I love this picture. Not only is Hailey gazing off toward the sun, two little boys are log rolling down the Great Wall.

Communication between the army units along the length of the Great Wall, including the ability to call reinforcements, was of high importance. Signal towers were built upon hill tops or other high points along the wall for their visibility.

So, this is the end of the tourist path. They have a gondola to take you back down or you can use the alpine slide. The Hemphill's...... alpine sledded of course! Hailey drove like a grandma because it said slow down at the curves. Logan, didn't know how to stop and his forehead smacked into the back of Matt's head at the end. Thank goodness, they both have hard heads.

Imperial Dining

Welcome to Beihai Park. Just a short walk from the Forbidden Palace.

The sidewalk and bridges trail to a center island where the Imperial restaurant is located.

The almost frozen lake.

We were wondering if the ducks were stuck. They were in the same spot after dinner.

I'm sure this says Beihai Park in Chinese.

Three little ducks following their parents.

Walking into the Imperial Restaurant.

Everyone working there wore traditional clothing.

The waitresses even wore the wooden rectangle shoes.

All the things we tried are hard to remember. We started with several cold dishes including pickled vegetables and sea sponge. There was some gelatinous meat jello, several Chinese "deserts", silver fish, duck, beef, chicken and the grand finale were the Chinese hamburgers.

Logan is so excited about learning how to use chop sticks.

The waitress explained the history of the Chinese hamburger while Lowell translated. The empress has a dream about diced meat placed in a bun. The next morning the chefs had prepared such a meal. The emperess declared it to be an auspicious food since she told no one of her dream.

A table set up showing the art of character writing. The larger rocks have family names engraved on the bottom used as signatures.

Sitting on the throne, we declare it was a meal fit for the emperor.