BEIJING: The Great Wall!

We drove 90 minutes outside of Beijing to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. 

This way. 

At the base were a bunch of souvenir shops and a couple restaurants (including a Subway!). 

"Hey Mom, take a picture of my fist!" 

"Ok" 

We took a rickety ski lift up to the top. With Sibby strapped on my front and Gage holding my hand the first thing I said when we sat down was, "We must be nuts!" I thought I said it under my breath but Gage heard it and giggled and giggled the whole way to the top. "Look Mom, they must be nuts too!" "Mom, we are nuts!" He wasn't one bit nervous. 

But Noah felt the same way I did. He and Dave had a sweet experience on the chair behind us.  

The view at the top was incredible! You could see the Great Wall of China snaking along the mountains in each direction. 

The first Emperor of China started building the Great Wall in 220 BC. Then the Ming Dynasty rebuilt a lot of it in the 14th century. 

The kids never got tired going up or going down. Dave and I would make them take breaks just so we could catch our breath or take pictures. 

The watch towers were so fun to play in. Some of them had stairs on to the roof. Some of them had back doors and secret crannies. "Let's find a place where Mom can't listen to us, Noah" says Gage.

Chinese graffiti

Sweet baby

We hiked until we got to the "wild" section of the wall where tourists aren't allowed. You can still see it snaking off in the distance. 

This was just one small section of the wall. The entire thing is about 21,000 km. There are sections where you can hike for days and camp in the watch towers. There are sections with zip lines down into the village. There is a section that plunges into the sea. 

So cool. 

We hiked back to the beginning and took the toboggan ride down. It was so fun! Noah drove one on his own and did a great job being a "risk taker" like they talk about at school. He was nervous but after he had his hand on that control for about 2 seconds he loved it! Gage wanted to go faster and faster and by the time we got to the bottom they were begging to go back up and do it all again.