Beijing Olympic Village, Hutong, and Temple of Heaven

The last few days in Beijing were fabulous! If you know me, you know I am a complete sucker for the Olympics...like out of control, crazy, emotional wreck kinda cuckoo girl! So, that being said, anytime I have a chance to visit an olympic park/village, I'm all over it! I loved seeing the water cube and the birds nest and imagining all the spectators and athletes that were there! We also had a chance to have a famous Beijing peking duck meal that night and saw a Chinese acrobat show, holy amazeballs!!!! The next day we visited The Hutong, an old historic neighborhood in Beijing, where a local family hosted us for traditional lunch. We learned tai chi in a lovely public park and socialized with the locals there. After our exercise in the park we headed to the gorgeous Temple of Heaven where we learned about the emperors from the Ming and Qing dynasties. 
 The Cube
Hangin with the mascots!



My cute baby brother 
Love this shot of Gma
The birds nest
Inside the water cube they were rehearsing for an awesome show!
The cube is fancy at night!
 Duck time!!! (I was so nervous!) 
My proud moment, first time EVER successfully using chopsticks! So proud!
 Beijing way of eating duck
 Where we saw the acrobat show, it was truly AMAZING! 
 On our way to the Hutong 
 Such a different culture!
 I love this picture, it shows a lot of differences but he is just like us, texting friends! 
 We loved the hand warmers on the bikes
The front of the house we ate at!  


The sweet lady who fed us!
 Rickshaw time!

Bryan being our guide
 Tai Chi is flippin hard
 Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is so what China "looks like"??? I love it! 
The public parks are full of happy people playing, singing, dancing, and people watching! 
 They welcomed us tourists! 

 This was a serious game....
 ...and we got in on it! 
 One of the highlights of the trip!!!!!
 Temple of Heaven 

 These will forever be my favorite pictures


 So typical, Chinese men gambling 
 Groups of them everywhere!
So I joined in! Can you find me?!

The Great Freaking Wall of China!!!!!

The great wall was super great! It was for sure a favorite of the trip. Before going we went to a jade factory and learned about how jade items are made. I love jade, so chinese. The wall was huge and very tiring to climb, totally worth it though. I still can't believe I was able to see this marvelous work. I could have spent an entire week climbing the wall, I will go back.

Truly a work of art


Lovin her earrings! 
Grandma indeed found some items:)




Do you see the love, cute! 
So fun
  

Heads up
This was just the beginning of the climb, it got way higher! 
My brother is cooler than yours 

Is she the cutest Grandma ever or what?!?
Still in awe of this place 






One of my faves





It was a fantastic day!!!!