Day Two

I had to get another VPN service provider as the one I had, wasn't working very well.  I hope this one will allow me to access the internet better.
Our bodies are still trying to adjust to the time difference, Sydnee and I have been getting up at 4:00 am.  We headed down to breakfast around 8:00 and had the buffet in the hotel.  It is not bad as you can get eggs and of course rice and vegetables, cereal etc... We left the hotel at 9:30 am and headed to the Great Wall.  We decided to climb the "tougher" side of the wall.  We climbed the other side back in 2010 when we were here so wanted to see the views from the other side.  Well I can't fathom how anybody would want to attack this place.  By the time you made it up the first set of of STEEP steps to the first tower you would be to exhausted to even engage in battle.  Sydnee made the climb using her hands and feet to the first tower after that her and Erika headed back down.  Myself and Kevin decided to trek on, oh by the way Zach and Alex left us in the dust, and it took Kevin and I about an hour and a half to make it to the top.  Of course we were stopping to take pictures along the way and catching our breath.  It was ridiculous.  I was trying to take pictures and couldn't get my legs to stop shaking so I'm sure the pictures didn't come out very well.  Anyway, we left the wall and headed in to the Friends Shop for lunch and some shopping.  Erika picked up another scroll that has BenQiu's name on it in Chinese.  We have one for all the kids now.  Lunch was ok, not as good as I remember in 2010.  Left the Friend Shop and went to  the Jade Factory.  Our guide only gave us 30 minutes to shop and of course the first 15 minutes was a tour on where they get jade and how they make it into jewelry.  Anyway, it takes a group of 14 people a little longer than 15 mins to shop.  Purchased what we needed and got another late start, which through off the itinerary but that is ok, heck we are here on our time.  Left the Jade Factory and went to the Olympic Stadium.  Of course we had seen this before, so we didn't stay there but for about 20 mins.  Sydnee and Gina (5 yr old adopted from same province as Sydnee about a month prior to us traveling to get Sydnee) have gotten along so well.  Of course their internal clocks are operating on the same time.  Both got up at 4 am and they both fell asleep at the exactly same time at the Olympic Stadium.  It was quite cute.  We got back at the hotel around 6:30 pm and all of us were so exhausted that we didn't go out to eat, we just got room service and was in bed by like 10:30 or so.  I will try and get some pictures posted as soon as I can.