UT Football Stadium Tour

The kids had an absolutely wonderful time getting a tour of the UT football stadium and basketball arena from Dianna.

Cute Elves

Decorating the Tree

Family Tradition of decorating Mimi and Pop Pop's tree. For as long as I can remember, we have always decorated it as a family. Which sometimes meant it went up on a Tuesday night, or Saturday morning, or the day before Christmas. But always as a family.

My Favorite!

Annual Christmas Card Pictures!

So which picture will Mimi pick?? Check your mail to see. Every year, we spend some time trying to get a good picture of all seven children. As they get older, the amount of time it takes seems to decrease (yeah!!).

Halloween

We had a great time on Halloween spending it with our friends and their children. The kids (both big and small) enjoyed trick or treating around the neighborhood. The boys got a little tired, so they decided they wanted to go home and play. I think they enjoyed handing out candy and playing as much as they did trick or treating.

The Summer Palace

The last place we visited was the Summer Palace. Apparently, one of the Emperors decided he wanted to spend the summer near the water, but it was too far to the ocean. So he built his own lake (only 3 meters deep) along with anything he might need to spend the summers near the water ( including his own temple).

This particular boat is made of solid marble (no it does not float). Apparently is was used for ceremonial purposes when the emperors spent the summers here.

The dragon boats.

Forbidden City

We visited the Forbidden City and all of the massive and ornate structures. Amazing that they were all built either out of stone or wood. The only picture of myself. Yes - I was in China.

The large stone steps in the back contain a very large carved stone (all marble). It is entirely one piece of marble carved and at least 25 feet long or more.

This is the inside of one of the three palaces inside the Forbidden City.

Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is by far one of the most facinating things I have seen. It just does not seem possible - how that wall was built all those years ago all by hand. And how did they get all of that massive rock to the top of the mountain?? We took a chair lift to the top and walked around on the wall. All of the steps (or lack of) are original and very steep in many places. In order to get down - you could walk or take the slide down (see the last picture). We opted for the slide.

The Great