Running the Rainbow

Traveling by train, by myself, with 3 kids in tow, in a foreign country, was a whole new experience. I must have checked their bags 5 times before walking out the door. I was so afraid of forgetting something or losing them. Our train left at 9:20pm I had everyone shower since it was a night train and we would sleep on the beds of the train. We had to leave from central Beijing, which is the busiest station. The lines were long to pickup our tickets, so I had the kids wait with our bags while I got our tickets. I kept looking back and seeing Connor and Carly fighting. When we finally made it in, I bought the kids dinner and we found a seat in the waiting room. It was so crowded and Camilla commented that a Chinese man was staring at her. When we boarded the train, the kids were all bunked together. I was in the bunk next to them with an old lady and her daughter. I loaded the kids with snacks and then we all went to bed. The little old lady watched movies on her iPad and fell asleep ...

This place didn't even compare to Colorado skiing, in terms of size and views. But, there were a few things that I really liked. For one, it was easy to get to. All I had to do was call a taxi and he took us right there. For two, the lines weren't long at all. We walked right up and bought our tickets. Right next to the ticket window, there was a rental area for everything we needed. Our lift ticket included a rental for the board and all of the other equipment like hat, gloves, snowsuit, and helmet. For three, the price was very reasonable. We paid $50 per person for the lift ticket and the rental. All of the lines were very short to get on the lifts. I am used to waiting 30-45 minutes to board a lift. There is also so many people monitoring the park. One employee saw Connor's goggles fall and picked them up for us. They screamed and stopped the lift when they saw that I didn't put the bar down. I tend to not even worry about putting the bar down in the USA. Si...

Carly and I took our second trip to The Forbidden City and this was Connor and Camilla's first time. They were fascinated by the guard towers and the sheer size of the place. Camilla kept asking, "Why did the emperor need all of this space?" Carly was trying to figure out how they built it and how long it took. It was very cold so we were only able to last a few hours. We were able to see parts that Carly and I hadn't seen before. The place is so huge that you have to come back multiple times to be able to see everything. It is an incredible amount of walking. They did have parts that were decorated especially for Chinese New Year, which was different than what I had seen before. We were with a friend of mine from school so we went out to lunch afterwards. They kids all had a great time. After a freezing cold day in the Forbidden City, we woke up early to go on a trip to The Great Wall. It had actually snowed the night before, so it was even colder. I r...