the visit

Ok... here they are. Dad and Mom had an awesome trip in visit us! We enjoyed it thoroughly! We spent 7 days traveling to other places (both to northern China and southern), and then 5 days in Beijing.

This first picture is Dad and Mom in front of a Chinese junk on Tai Hu in Suzhou, China (the south~~about 4 hours car ride from Shanghai).
I think we all remember the story of Dad and Mom's first year of marriage when Mom gave Dad a model junk and then Dad said, "Thank for the junk!" Mom of course, not knowing that these Chinese boats are called "junks", and thinking that Dad was making fun of her gift, burst into tears! :) Here they are with a real junk!

This second photo is of Dad and Mom at the Summer Palace in Beijing. The Summer Palace is where the Emperors and Empresses would head to stay cool during the Beijing summer. It is only a few miles from our house. It has beautiful grounds and a lake (Kunming Lake) which we wandered around for several hours.

This is Dad and Mom in the Forbidden City. Mom enjoyed wandering around the grounds, as she taught Chinese history for so many years. The Chinese people we met all thought it was funny to meet an American Chinese history teacher. At the Forbidden City, Mom learned that she had taught students for so many years that the last dynasty was called the Chin dynasty (pronounced "Chen"), but actually the last dynasty was the Qing dynasty (pronounced cha-"ching"!). We all found that pretty amusing!

This last picture is Billy and I on a pedestrian bridge by our house. Our apartment complex is the white one behind us... you get a great feel for the pollution... it wasn't an overcast day, just a typically polluted one! :)


Hope everyone is well! If anyone else wants to visit, you have five months left in which to do it! :) We'd love to have any of you!

Much love~~~ Billy and Tami