I've been wanting to share more of my photos of our lives here in Beijing so I decided I would start posting some of my favorites.
After living in Beijing for 2 and a half years our two oldest children had never been to The Forbidden City. And they really wanted to go, but it just hadn't worked out. So one day this past winter after the crowds from the Spring Festival Holiday had gone home, we made the journey - 5 subway stops away from home.
Here's our oldest just be for setting off from home. Notice the snowball on the wall behind him? That is the one he just dodged.
A happy young couple waiting in the subway station.
In front of the Forbidden City, our kids were already grabbed by these domestic tourists in town to visit the Forbidden City. Foreigners are often more interesting the the Beijing landmarks.
This woman was videotaping our family with her cell phone. I had to turn my camera on her.
Shuffling over the marble bridges with the other tourists to walk under Mao's portrait towards the entrance to The Forbidden City.
This cutie just acquired a souvenir.
His family thought my son was far more interesting and insisted the baby be in a photo with Braden. The baby was far more interested in his souvenir. My son wasn't very interested either.
This lady was selling maps at the ticket line.
Our ticket lady.
These guys were taking pictures of us.
We stopped to take a family photo, asking a guy to take it for us. But first he and his friend wanted to be in it with us!
Yet another family asked our kids to pose with their baby.
The Forbidden City soon looses the kids' interest and it turns quickly to snow.
And a fight ensued - scaling walls like a ninja.
Hiding in plain sight.
After the Forbidden City, if you have the energy it is lovely to hike to the top of that hill for a great view of the Forbidden City. The kids were done and just wanted to go home. It's a great place for a 360 view of the city especially at sunset on a clear day.
We hopped on a bus and then walked the rest of the way home.
At a newstand on the way home, I spotted this photo on a magazine - Modern Family! My favorite show in years. Could it be coming to China? My fingers are crossed though I haven't seen any evidence of it yet.
And then the kids talked us into to stopping for dinner at Yoshinoya (yes the Japanese fast food restaurant that is also in America) - one of their favorites.
Now that the kids have had a snowball fight at the Forbidden City & the Great Wall, they are looking for a new landmark the next time it snows.
DON'T FORGET SUNDAY, MAY 1 (that's tomorrow) at 8 AM PST is the Monthly One Little Word Blog Hop for Ali Edward's class at Big Picture Scrapbooking goes live.
Come hop around and see what the students did for their April projects.
Great set of photos and nice and amazing to have a snow fight is such a tourist spot. My favourite is the one called forbidden city snow 2.
Posted by: helena | April 30, 2011 at 06:07
I love these pictures - especially the action shots of the snowball fight.
Posted by: Saraheliza | April 30, 2011 at 11:02
I am totally in awe that you can live in China; we were in Shanghai for only 3 days and my kids absolutely hated all the attention they received, and all the constant photographs. I thought it was fun getting my photo taken (?!), but drew the line when they started to stare at Holly when she was really upset at their attention. Your boys seem to take it all in good humour, bless them!
Posted by: scrappysue | April 30, 2011 at 12:26
Fantastic photos, it looks amazing and so pretty in the snow :)
Posted by: Rachel B | April 30, 2011 at 15:09
Yes, during the Olympics it was really bad. We had to put my youngest in a stroller with a cover to protect him. He really didnt like it. When it is just every once in a while like it was this day, we encourage them to be polite and kind. The people really mean well. If they ask and are polite, we will oblige. It only happens at sightseeing locations. It can be a fun way to interact with people since we know some of the language. Living here though, is a whole other situation, totally different than being a tourist. Thanks for stopping by.
Posted by: Nihao, Cupcake! by Margie | April 30, 2011 at 16:39
Fabulous phtos! I love the way you've captured the snowball fight and theway they are hiding from each other.
Posted by: Linda | May 01, 2011 at 00:50