You know, I can't resist a cute little tush in split pants.  They seem to be far less common than when we were here six years ago, but you still see one toddle by now and then.  

This morning, we headed to the Panjiayuan Market.  This is an open air market, with row after row of vendors, similar to our flea markets.  They have beads, art, jade, silver, carved wood, clothing, and lots of "antiques" that our guide said are often made the night before.  Each of the kids found something to buy with their money, and I had to get a mah jongg set.  Luckily for our wallets, we had very limited time, so we headed for the bus.  Jesse: people would look at Kinsey and then look at the person who was holding her hand.. me. So they would stare and then do a double take. We were also in shorts and t-shirts. Everyone kept touching us and asking if we were cold. They just couldn't believe that that weather was perfect. Also, as we were walking down the aisles, I would say "breath" and Kinsey would know to hold her breath. That was because all the smokers there. It was awful. So then I would say "clear" and she knew she could breathe. Right as we were leaving, we saw a huge sign that said, NO SMOKING. So much for that sign.

Our next stop was the Temple of Heaven.  The building was impressive, but the park around it was definitely the most fun.  There are groups of people all over the place engaged in lots of activities.  A bunch of people were ballroom dancing in one area; women were dancing with ribbons in another; there was tai chi, the Chinese version of hacky sack, and a paddle game.  Then there was a long covered porch we had to wind through for about 8 minutes on our way into the palace.  All along here were people singing, playing erhu, playing cards, playing something that looked like dominoes with dice, on and on and on.  It was very cool to experience, even though one woman's singing sounded just like me when my epidural wore off during labor.

From there, we visited the Forbidden City.  Just like 6 years ago, Jesse kept being drawn into photos.  The boys were asked to  be in a few, and some of the adults were asked to join in photos, but Jesse is still the reining queen.  I wonder if any of the people are the same ones who posed with her last time. Jesse: today I got up to 11 times of being asked to be in pictures, I believe. They just kept saying.. "beautiful girl". And once in the market, as I was walking past, a man goes, "ooh la la" Dad said, "keep walking!" haha :)

Tonight's dinner was Peking duck.  I will say the whole thing was quite delicious, with a few exceptions.  The kids are really hitting it off with each other, so 9 of them sat at a table without adults.  I will let Jesse describe the dinner from their perspective.

Well.. we only had 11 spills :) 7 of them drinks and 4 of them food. They brought out a rolling cart with two ducks on them and a man just started hacking away. Another waiter had put covers over the chairs that were closest to him, because it might splash. We had soup and as I was stirring it around, I found a lump. IT WAS A FISH TAIL! Eww. We were all disgusted and then continued to take pictures holding the fish tail over our open mouth, to look like we were eating it. Fortunately there was sticky rice. I'm not starving but I want to go to one of the 5 KFC's we saw today.