Back from China

Brad here, blogging for the first time in my life. Sarah, Lynne, and I made a decision that gave me executive control of our blog, so here goes...

We had an amazing trip, and I can't thank Scott and Lynne enough. What an experience! I mean, I stood on The Great Wall of China! How cool is that?

For this post, I just want to share some of my favorite pictures from the trip. We only took 869 photos during our week in China, so hopefully I can come up with some good ones.

The sunrise as we leave the Arctic Circle on our flight to China...

Just me enjoying some Milk & Egg Stars.

Who among us hasn't wished we could go to the grocery store and not only buy chickens with the heads still on, but dig through the raw meat and poultry barehanded to find the exact piece we want?

Eatin' tangulars with Madelyn and Mr. Wu. Think candied apples, but they come in lots of different fruits, from oranges to strawberries. Madelyn only eats the candied part. These were tiny, tart hawthorn apples.

Jing'an Temple, in Shanghai. The Buddhist temples are so beautiful and serene.

People doing Tai Chi in Jing'an Park, next to the temple. We walked through about 9 am, and the park was full of people exercising, playing games, singing, and playing the Chinese saxophone (kind of a cross between a flute and a recorder).

Puxi, Shanghai's "downtown," as we cross the Huangpu River on a ferry.

A view of the "Bottle Opener," aka World Financial Center in Shanghai, the tallest building in Asia and second tallest in the world. This was taken from Yu Yuan.

Yu Yuan, or Yu Gardens. This Chinese garden has its origins in the Ming Dynasty, ca. 500 years ago. They've built a bustling, open-air, touristy shopping complex around it, then you enter the quiet, peaceful serenity of the garden, and you forget you're in the middle of a city of 20 million.

I'll sleep on the couch for a week for posting this, but Madelyn desperately wanted aunt Sarah to dress up with her in traditional Chinese garb. Sarah, of course, complied, being the wonderful, loving aunt she is. Madelyn had a blast.