We Saw the Great Wall

Hi Everyone,
We went to the Great Wall today. It is only a 45 minute drive from our house. We took a ski lift up to the top, it was so high, I seriously couldn't look down. There is only a little metal bar in front of you, of course the kids were not scared at all. We got to the top and walked a little. It is very steep where we were so we just went slow. Marshall thought it was cool to see where all of the cannons were. We also climbed a ladder to the top of a guard tower and saw a great view. We stopped and had a picnic and talked to a few Americans who walked by. On the way down, you take a slideway, I put a picture up of it. I went with Marshall and made the mistake of letting him drive. I had to literally pull the handle out of his hands to slow down, he wanted to go full speed the whole time, and it goes pretty fast. They both loved it. Marshall said the best thing about the Great Wall was the "rides".
At the bottom of the entrance is a market where they sell trinkets, t-shirts, etc. We let the kids pick out something for their rooms. We tried to explain to them beforehand to not get too attached since we may have to walk away if they were asking too much. Lauren did a great job, she walked away when we wanted her too, although she did REALLY want a little kitten. Marshall didn't do so well, there were tears about a toy sword and then some overpaying after. We'll have to work on that with him. He then slept the entire way home.
After that, went back into town and bought some new lamps at a furniture market. I tried a new Jenny Lou's (the Western grocery store) and found Goldfish Pretzels. It is kind of exciting to go into different ones, you never know what they will have. We came back home and went swimming again. Lauren does a flip into the water from the side, so of course Marshall had to try one. He walked right out of the pool and did one with no warning. It was funny, since he can't even really swim well yet.
We don't have the car tomorrow so we are going to try to walk to some areas, it may be too far in the heat but we will try it. The kids have been troopers.
Todd got Olympic tickets for Aug. 21 for some swimming evert. It is a medal event so it should be exciting. Only 2 tickets though, I think it is hard to get more than 2.
Hope all is well in the US. Take care