.31 Scoop Night

Tonight Clark and I hurried on over to Baskin Robbins to enjoy their 31 Cent Scoop Night. BR did this promotion to help honor the America’s firefighters with a $100,000 donation to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC)National Junior Firefighter Program. It was great to get 2 waffle cones with 3 scoops each and only pay $2! Can't wait until next year!

A lunch with the past

Today, for lunch, I headed over to Tijuana Flats to eat with all my old work girlies from Qore! I loved it! We had a great time talking about Singapore and every one's life since I left. I can't wait to see them again! Thanks Bridget, Beth, Christy, Karen, and Tara!

BBQ PAR-TAY

On Saturday, Clark and I decided we would have a few friends over for a BBQ! We quickly headed to the produce market and grocery store to buy all the goods. It was so nice to invite everyone over for the evening and enjoy one another's company!

Clark barbecuing with our neighbor Craig and his friend Carrie!

Sheri and her CUTE daughter Amelia!

The gang hanging around eating and talking.

Our neighbors Melinda, Vinny, and Antonio...isn't he the cutest!

Um...I think Clark wants a kid? Doesn't it look natural?

Can't wait to install this...

Clark and I still do not have a light in our bedroom...I know, I know, its been 2 years! We use the clothing closet light or bathroom light if we need to see something at night, but tonight we decided we would change that! Thank you Lowes!

Soakin up some sun...

This past weekend my aunt and cousin came down from Ohio to spend the week in Florida for their Spring break! I love living in Florida be cause its a huge vacation spot and we don't have to travel hardly at all to have fun! We were able to spend a nice sunny day at the water park called Adventure Island in Tampa with the family.

Here is my dad, brother, and me after eating a really good lunch!

Here is my Aunt Annalee and cousin Zachary.

Of course I had to enjoy the yummy dippin' dots after we left the park!

On Sunday, after church, Clark and I headed down to Bradenton, FL (about 35 mins away) to visit my grandparents (dad's parents) who are snowbirds from Ohio! They stay in Florida from January-May every year so we were happy we got home from Singapore just in time to travel down and see them!

The Beijing Olympic Village

Our last day in Beijing was spent wandering around the Olympic venue. Here is Clark and me in front of the Bird's Nest. The nest looks pretty small in the picture but it is really big when you get up close to it.

Don't mind my jabbering in the video, I realized the torch was not lit at the picture below...duh Jenna!

Here we are in front of 'The Cube' where the water sports took place and Michael Phelps won us some GOLD!

We didn't see too many tourists here but I guess its because it isn't the high season yet.

Here is Clark and me with some models who were shooting some pics for a magazine. I guess Americans or Caucasian men (Clark) are popular among Asians.


We had such a great time in Beijing and highly recommend a trip here. This was our last major trip before we headed back to the States and I must say we had a pretty good life while living overseas. We hope we will be able to make it back over to Asia in a few years to visit the other countries we didn't have a chance to see!

A Terra-ific time with the Warriors ;)

The main reason we went to Xi'an, China was to visit the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum.

The Terracotta Army was discovered in eastern outer suburbs of Xi'an, by local farmers drilling a water well 1.5 miles east of Lishan (a mountain).The Terracotta Army was buried with the First Emperor of Qin in 210-209 BCE (he declared himself the first emperor of China in 221 BCE to the end of his life in 210 BCE). Their purpose was to help rule another empire with Shi Huang Di in the afterlife. Mount Lishan is also where the material to make the terracotta warriors originated. It was also said as a legend that the Terracotta Warriors were real soldiers, buried with Emperor Qin so that they can defend him from any dangers in the next life. I believe there are only 4 or so pits dug up so far.

I personally was so excited to see the Terra cotta warriors because I remember studying about them in middle school...I never thought I would ever make it to China to see it in person! If only my 6th grade social studies teacher could see me now.

The warriors were made out of clay and were painted, however, when they were dug up the color disappeared in a matter of 5 days. They are waiting to dig up the rest of the 600 pits because they do not have the best technology yet to preserve the color.

Imagine putting these clay pieces together!

We were also pretty lucky to be able to meet one of the farmers who discovered the warriors. I can't believe they were only discovered in 1976!

After visiting the warriors we headed over to the Wall of Xi'an and the Bell Tower.The Wall stretches about a mile and a half around the city and was used to protect Xi'an. You could rent bikes but Clark and I just decided we would take some pictures instead and save the workout for when we got home!

The Summer Palace

So for one of our last days in Beijing we went with our Austrian friends and visited the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace or Yihe yuan literally "Gardens of Nurtured Harmony" is mainly dominated by Longevity Hill (60 meters high) and the Kunming Lake. It covers 2.9 square kilometers, three quarters of which is water. You will find a variety of palaces, gardens, and other classical-style architectural structures. Artisans reproduced the garden architecture styles of various palaces in China. The palace complex suffered two major attacks--during the Anglo-French allied invasion of 1860 and during the Boxer Rebellion, in an attack by the eight allied powers in 1900. The garden survived and was rebuilt in 1886 and 1902. In 1888, it was given the current name, Yihe Yuan. It served as a summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi.

The Garden

Clark practicing his meditation (out tour guide Charlie made him do this!)

Climbing up to see the top of the Summer Palace.

View from the top.

The soldiers would steal everything right before the palace was invaded...including the jade heads!

The famous jade boat.

Our Austrian friends and Charlie!

Love this...

Okay minus the black living room table...

Oneday...

Green is my favorite color! I wish I could afford and style this! Maybe I should contact HGTV and get on a decorating show.

The Great Wall of China

One of the main reasons for choosing Beijing as our final Asia destination was to see the great wall. After consulting some friends who just went, we decided to go to the Mutianyu part of the wall because it was less touristy and it had an alpine slide you ride back down to the bottom of the mountain!

Though the weather stated that the temp would be in the 60's, after we arrived at the wall it started to pour down snow. It was quite an experience to see the wall during this weather. Yes, it would have been nice to see the wall in the spring when everything is green but our guide said that he has never seen snow at the wall in his 4 years of going there so we thought that was pretty cool. The picture above was taken by an Austrian couple that we met in Beijing.

We rode a ski lift to the top of the hill to where the wall was located. We have NO warm clothes coming from 90 degree weather so we had to buy some hats to keep us warm.

Jenna on the Great Wall when we first got up there. The snow had just stopped falling.

The view was great as you can see. We wished we could have seen it in Spring as it would be green everywhere!

Climbing up the steep Great Wall. We were both so sore the next day...looks like maybe we need to workout more!

Alpine Slide Video's- Jenna rode down at a slow pace but I wanted to go FAST!

We really enjoyed climbing the Great Wall as its a part of history and a great wonder of the world! We would def. recommend a trip to the Great Wall if you have the chance.

We went to a silk factory where they make quilts. I hate these tours to where they making shopping stops at certain factories to where the tour company gets a portion of the profits. Needless to say, we did buy a silk comforter for our bed. It was hard because I knew I was paying a premium but we really liked it.

We bought one of these Jade "Family Balls". It is one piece of jade that contains 4 or 5 moveable jade balls in it -- all in 1 piece. They are pretty cool and they say it is a family secret. It must not be a good secret because you see them all over the souveneir shops.


Our last stop was the Ming Tombs where the 13 emporers are buried. Only 1 tomb has been opened, all the others are still untouched.