Hutong Tour and pictures from yesterday

Today was a very good day. All around. We ALL slept until 7 AM!! woot woot!
Today originally started out as a paperwork day. All day we were planning to just hang out at the hotel while my Mom, Dad, and Andrew went to the Civil Affairs office and the Public Bureau but due some issues we ended up going on the Hutong tour in Old Beijing City which was scheduled for tomorrow so we just flip flopped. (: The tour was absolutely amazing. We rode through all of it on a rickshaw. I rode with Madison and it was tons of fun. It was so cold you missed the 125 degree hotel. (It really does feel like it though!) There was a lot of cool information from the tour I found this really cool ::
The tour starts at Shishahai near the vegetable and fruit market. In the deepest of the hutong, they were taken to visit Prince Gong's Mansion, famous in the Qing Dynasty. In the past, princes', generals' and ministers' housed with courtyards were scattered around the outside of the Forbidden City. Linking up those courtyard houses were lanes and alleys called hutongs.
I thought it was SO cool!! It was tons of fun to just ride around. We rode through alleys and little towns. I never knew any of this existed in Beijing. I have always seen the beautiful almost candy-coated part of Beijing. What we saw today was the "real" part of Beijing where the heart of the people live. It was still beautiful. So much rich culture and things to explore there. More than you see on WangFuJing street where you are surrounded by shops (woo hoo) and fun things. We then went to a locals house. It was great too. She shared her life with us and her experiences. Oh and to those who are curious...The one child policy did not go into effect until the late 1970's. I thought that was cool too. The entire tour today was great. I love this place. LOVE IT! I love being able to walk up and down the busy streets and never feel any form of threat. The Hutong tour was so great!!! I enjoyed EVERY minute of it!! Oh and I love the fact that our backpack was still on the bus where I left it untouched! God is Good!!!
We went to lunch at an awesome restaurant that had the BEST food of anywhere we had been. We went back to the room and my Mom, Dad, Anna Grace, and Andrew went to do some more paperwork and Mema, Papa, Adam, Hayne, and I stayed back at the room and did make-up work (yay.)
Andrew continues to make amazing progress!
Here are some accomplishments::
• Slept ALL through the night
• Is beginning to speak some English
• Is answering to Andrew instead of only JianHui (Jen-Way)
• He is bonding to my Mom and Dad so well! He will let about anyone hold him but will in the end go to Mama or Baba!
• If you say "your-name kiss" he will kiss you make a MUAAAAHHH sound!! It is precious.
• He and Anna Grace are now able to share a bowl of Oatmeal!! That was huge for AG saying she didn't want to look at him at first!
• He thinks sunglasses are the best thing that hit the planet.
• He loves to put his hands together in a gun like "Charlie's Angels" It is hilarious. He also adds a "Pow..Pow!" to it! PRICELESS!
• Stickers R-O-C-K!
These are just a few things but as you can tell he is doing great and making some progress! We are so happy!!
Oh and his cleft lip/palate looks GREAT!! The surgeons did an amazing job and we are thanking God for that!!

I am becoming truly sad now. We are almost done with our time in Beijing. I am so sad. Beijing has been much more amazing than I ever expected it to be. It has so many amazing things to do that I never knew about. It shows how much you never realize. I could spend 6 months here and not get all of the touring and shopping in. I am going to try and enjoy every single minute left here and then in Guangzhou. I am going to miss this so much. Hoping and Praying these days go by slowly.

**Attached are pictures from Today and Yesterday. So Forbidden City and Hutong Tour.
Ashton

Forbidden City... no pictures :(

Today was great....Until 7:00 pm.....Sigh.
To start with the good part....
We got up and left the hotel at 9:30 for the Forbidden City. We walked through a beautiful new park that the name is escaping me at the moment.....It was amazing. Once we got to the Forbidden City an hour later the sight was beautiful. Well worth the walk. The place where the Emperors of China lived. Amazing. The arcitecture was awesome too. I just can't believe we are here, Exploring here again. It is just as amazing as it was last time. The history behind all of this is so cool! Some of the concrete was unevened and cracked which of course for me made great pictures. Andrew loved walking and talking to everything and everyone. He and Anna Grace were less photographed today. I secretly believed they missed it. (: We walked to lunch at the Redwall Hotel and ate. It was pretty good. But ya know Chinese food does get kind of old after 5 days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. lol. We got back to the hotel at 2:00 and My Mom, Mema, Kathleen, and I went shopping in Beijing to find Andrew a pair of shoes and to just look around. It was quite funny while walking around WangFuJing street. We were the only Americans. Not only were we the only Americans but we also stopped by Haagen Dazs icecream in 30 degree Fahrenheit weather...It had some humor. We got so many looks. At one point a guy took our picture!! Oh the joys of Beijing....I love it. (really really, no sarcasm) Once we got back to the hotel everyone got ready and we headed to the HighFlying Acrobatic Show!! It was AMAZING!! They flipped and ran. The tricks they did were amazing. I hurt watching them! Oh my..... Andrew and Anna Grace seemed intrigued by it all and it was too funny....They clearly LOVED it all!!!
Now to the not so happy part.....
On the way to dinner we ended up stopping at the hotel letting some families stay there while some walked to KFC....Well I had the backpack. This backpack had the following : 2 Nikons , Crackers, Drinks, Money, Video Camera, and the list continues.... Well me being my smart self I LEFT THE BAG ON THE BUS!! Everything....Ugh. To say I am mad at my self is an understatement. We told Helen and she immediately called the Bus Driver. He found the bag and said he would keep it until tomorrow....I am so thankful for this but I am asking you all to pray that we get this backpack and all of its belongings back...I seriously feel sick about it....Ugh.
Hopefully will send pictures tomorrow.
Ashton