Beautiful Washington beach sunset!
I got to go to a Mariner's game with the the whole Brown/Paskett family! Mariners vs. Indians--we lost really badly, but it was so much fun!
Grandpa was at the same game and got to meet the Browns!
Grandparents came for a visit!
Midnight Harry
La Palmara with amazing roomie (who is now hitched..)
Conference crew at Denny Creek!!
Game night at Carly's
Face mask (Swine Flu protection) goes sleep aid.
China hard seats are hell. I puked twice and two of the girls were so sleep deprived they curled up on the floor (where people spit) so they could sleep.
798 is famous art gallery for Beijing universities. 
outside the gallery
never figured this out one,,
We don't question Whitney
I love the Chinese children.
The next few pictures were taken in a Beijing Hutong, which is known as "real China".
bricks hold the roof on
A Chinese construction site.
Hutong hoodlums
After walking through the Hutong, we finally reached our destination! The Underground City!! But this tiny little notice informed us the city had closed.
He was the nicest taxi driver.
Chinese women love light skin, so they use umbrellas on sunny days to protect.
Stretchy mirrors at the Natural History Museum
cute or cheesy..
Fake rhino, totally jumped in the exhibit, had to be ushered out...but I got my picture..
The Hall of Prayers at the Temple of Heaven, Becca was enjoying the lilac trellis.
The Temple of Heaven is to the left. 
I love taking pictures of all the cute children in China...
Temple of Heaven
Our group before our hike.
The Great Wall of China!
Che Xui Li and Ai Mei Li :)
There were some intense stairs to climb.
Keirsten and I on a nicer part of the wall.
Rubble windows.
Little old ladies carry bags with cold drink, shirts and picture books up the wall. Each one finds a tourist to latch on to and "befriend" they'll help you climb the wall by holding your hand and telling you you are so beautiful the whole hike in hopes you'll buy things from them. This is Kiersten with her little buddy.
The Great Wall is huge. Inner Mongolia to the right and China to the left.
Rubble wall.
There was cool lighting inside the watch towers.
gorge-ma-porge (momma :))
10K Great Wall Hike.
It was so beautiful (I hiked that whoop whoop!)
The windows all over were pretty.
We hiked the section of the wall that is not restored and not very touristy (Simitai), definitely worth the extra long drive out.
A watch tower.
Ladies like this were all along the wall selling "cold wata, cold beer, cold coka, cold tea and ice cream"- tons of em'.
After the long hike we got to zip line down the Great Wall, it was really close to my favorite part.
After the Great Wall adventure, this lady and her husband took us out to a really nice dinner at a famous restaurant in the city, it was very fancy, please note her attire...
Peking duck was pretty good
there was some delicious cashew chicken that was my favorite part....wow we ate a lot on this vacation!!
everyone at dinner!
Okay...we found Subway.....
Tuna melt bliss right here.
America needs this kind of service. Seven workers=speed
Then we found Cold Stone, I think we were in Westernville....From the ghea to the stone! Till ice cream drips down my cone, till all these flavas known...till all these flavas known....fun job.
Green Tea Cold Stone? Bizaar.
Mudpie Mojo my only addiction-satisfied. Cold Stone is international.
Outside the Silk Market.
This kid was seriously peeing in a crack in a parking lot....
Two little bargain busters!
Watches up the ying yang.
I got my jeans altered at the Silk Market and it looked like a little sweat shop in the corner of the shopping center-but they did an excellent job.
One of the chaotic shopping aisles.
A purse stand-she models her pouch so well!
Giuli and I outside the Forbidden City which was-just for the record-a complete let down.
Monks visit the Forbidden City on holiday-JUST LIKE YOU!
One of the hundreds of temples inside the Forbidden City.
Random day, middle of the week and there are still floods of people visiting.
The Water CUBE!
FYI the Olympic mascots are creepy and they grab you hard and don't let go.
The diving podium inside the Cube.
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Then we headed to Wanfujing Street, AKA snack street, there were many strange things to behold. Like this slimy octopus...
a mountain of someone's intestines....gag....
silk worms... woof
Tree ear (jelly fungus) on a good day..
testies from some animal...
testies from some other animal-4 on one kabob! Can you believe it!
fruit kabobs-delicious..and normal!
kabobed snake
kabobed dog weenie
Sea urchin...how would you eat this.....??
Starfish...and this....
and shark?????
Black scorpians
smaller scorps
gross bug
okay and then I ate three scorpians.
Jilly took us to KTV for an hour of karaoke fun!
SPICE GIRLS!
Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls.... ha ha
We all had about 12 layers to start...
Fewer clothes...
What's isn't in this picture, that is in the one above?
Even less clothes...
The "winners".
The LOSERS!
The finished product.
Jace used our only knife to do the deed....
There was so much blood....
Sixth grade directions lesson
First graders
Besties
nose picker
First grade "food" lesson.
Sweet outfit
Sue
Bella
Lily
Four humble graves.
Asians are short. The middle guy, Tony, is 20 years old.
Lots of the wall here have shards of glass that keep people out. I think it's resourceful. Go China.
I don't know if she's digging someone up...or putting some one in. Either one is creepy.
I love his child-like innocence. 
The hills were covered in graves.
This old man was carrying fireworks to sell to family members that came to pay respects during the national holiday. Instead of bringing flowers, remembrance is show by lighting firecrackers on graves. It was loud.
A fresh tombstone being laid-Chinese style.
I love this picture for four reasons. 1- the bamboo walking stick, 2 the pink bug catcher, 3 the middle boy who is wearing one sock and one shoe and 4 the hug smile on his little face.
We rented a karaoke room and invited all the Chinese assistance and teachers we work with to come and celebrate Jace's 18th birthday. Mike sang the "Wu Ai Ni" (I Love You) song to everyone.
Chelsea, me and Joell.
Whitney and Jace bought sweet Chinese outfits for the occasion. Tights and shorts are what they are all about. She wears them well.
He is one of the new teachers at Bond. His name is McFly. Seriously.
Mandi, me and Joyce! These are the girls I get to teach with everyday. I feel really lucky to be Mandi's partner. She's taught me so much about being a good teacher.
This sweet girl was a daughter to one of the teachers. We played hand clapping games and she got way better than me in five minutes. 
She rocked out to a fast Chinese song in front of everyone, go Sunny!
This was my little "pad" on the sleeper bus. NOTE: sleeper bus is by far the best way to travel long distance. I love. America should look into these thangs.
Some nice Chinese girls switch Whitney and I for our bottom bunks so we could be on the top away from the "aisle dwellers". See what the bus people do it they sell enough tickets so that every part of the bus is filled with people-meaning people sleep in the aisles....and those sleeping on bottom bunks sometimes end up closer to the aisle dwellers than they want. So top bunk is the way to ride.
My view of the aisle before the bus was full. p.s don't come to China if you are claustrophobic .
Welcome to Yangshou my friends.
This sweet little boy got ahold of someone's stickers....
Our first adventure was the "Li River Cruise". Unfortunately, it rained-but that was no problem because our raft was covered. :)
This nice Korean girl joined Whitney, Jace and I She didn't speak English but she was nice.
I got a little artsy-fartsy after I discovered "color accent" on my camera.
I like Chinese graffiti, it's a lot prettier here.
The famous Guilin/Yangshou mountains-stunning.
Random wall.
The famous West Street. I repeat do not come here if you are claustrophobic.
How precious is she?
Shameful chicken burger! Western food was everywhere and Lucy's Place was recommended by everyone. Tony knows how to cook a good burger and make some dang good banana juice.
I signed this on the wall at Lucy's.
This is a 4.5 year old who speaks FLUENT Chinese, English and French. Oh the people you'll meet.
Whit and I HAD to try on the Gucci's.
At some random CD store we found four Mormon Tabernacle CD's-all different volumes. Who ever said the foundation was being laid here.......was right!
For our second day we rented bikes for a "country side tour". Whit and I totally mastered the tandum bike-but it wasn't exactly a cake walk to make it look this easy.
Okay so we tried on the Gucci's and got sucked in to buying some. These puppies started at 220 yuan and we bought them for 30 yuan. We're proud cheap Americas.
Famous "Moon Hill". We hiked that.
Sign we saw right before we started our ascent.
Okay , the hike was harder than expected, so we stopped mid way and took some pictures.
The view from the "hole in the mountain". This picture does not say the thousand words it's worth. It was amazing.
.....I was pooped.
and then I peed.....
...well there wasn't a bathroom and while Whit and I were mooning on Moon Hill I decided to take care of business. 
The pink thing is me!
After Moon Hill we headed for the water caves. There was a pretty orange orchard (?) right before we got there, I loved the vibrant oranges, but my cool "color accent" mode didn't grasp it here.
Alright, that little hole is the entrance to the cave....I'm a short person and I was practically laying in the boat so that I didn't hit my head.
Right before take off.
Inside the "water cave" there is actually a sweet mud pool! (I promise I was clothed) It was so much fun! The mud was amazing and the three of us had fun getting each other dirty.
The "slide" was no bueno on my bum bum.
There were natural hot springs to rinse off in after the mud war. The steam is deceiving because it wasn't really hot.
We lost track of time in the cave and when we got out it was pitch black dark. In order to get to the caves we took a ten minute van ride on a crickety dirt road but when we came out there was no van to be found. Our cave tour guide made a quick call and then left us all by our lonesome. This is me in my frustration. Disclaimer: the van came and we were safe.
No, we never showered clean after the mud caves, we just went out to eat-we were really very dirty. But this is Whit and I at Lucy's getting some grub again. (We ate a lot on this trip, Western food is just good stuff.)
The bus ride home was supposed to be on a sleeper, but a sitter is what we got. For the first hour I enjoyed my suns and ipod and then....
Whit and I met this guy while we were waiting to board our first train. He spoke broken English and wanted us to give him and English name. We settled on Boston.
This was the seating arrangement on the 16 hour train ride. It's a good thing we all like each other because it was very cramped.
The way they carry things always amazes me.
This little baby broke my heart when he came and asked me for money.
Welcome to Fenghuang!
Fatty rat that was waiting to be eaten.
Pig face and bee hive to order! Yay!
Some kind of bird you could order..
Tree ear!! A.K.A jelly fungus....we get this for dinner all the time. I am NOT a fan.
bloody fish...out in the open...
This is expensive octopus on a stick..
Skewed baby crabs on a stick. You are supposed to eat the whole thing....
and I actually ate one!!
At night the food vendors come out and cook your food right before your eyes! The spicy fried rice/noodles were amazing and so were the "dumps" (dumplings).
This is the hostel we stayed at for $4 American dollars a night. It was way sweet.
Inside our hostel room
These are the houses along the river.
Beautiful Fenghuang. The houses along the river are partially held up by stilts in the water.
Opposites attract :)
Chinese vendor.
This is a little boy! (there was a slit in the front too.)
Little children make things to sell hikers along the trail.
The yellow flowers were so vibrant
These three little boys were smoking in the woods along the river..they couldn't be older than 5.
Doesn't this look like a Disney lagoon? We found a great hike way up in the mountains. There were multiple water falls and a really cool bridge that wrapped around the mountain so you could hike along side the waterfall
crickety bridge
Recently, a small section of the Southern Wall was discovered, in comparison to the Great Wall, it is very small.
The steps up the Southern Wall
View from the top
Whit and I peaked the wall and it was beautiful. These pictures don't really capture the full excitement of this trip. No one showered for 4 days and all together we spent about 40+ hours traveling to these beautiful places. It was worth it but everyone is sleeping peacefully right now :).
