First thing, I want to address the Q&A VLOG.  There were quite a few questions and to spend an entire VLOG on just those questions would be … well … boring!  Plus, I am not sure our WiFi could handle all the uploads.  So, I have decided to add a couple of answers to each BLOG this week.  That way, if you don’t care, you don’t have to watch them.  And, if you asked a question, you will have to read every BLOG in order to get your answer.  Sneaky, huh?

Today was the worst weather day we have ever had in China.  It poured rain for most of the morning.  We started out at Yellow Crane Tower, which was a lookout point that was established 1700 years ago during a dynasty.  At this point, I have forgotten which one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Crane_Tower

It was a wet and windy walk over to the steps up to the tower.

And then a long climb up two flights of stairs just to get to the entrance.

But finally we got to a place where we could turn in our tickets!

There was a very pretty area with a fountain and various writings by famous poets all about the Yellow Crane Tower.

There was even an area with a formal restaurant.

Everyone loves Caleb.

And yet more walking, this time past a pagoda.

We finally made it up to the main plaza!

The Yellow Crane Tower is currently under renovation, so the upper two floors are not available for viewing.

There is a statue of the Yellow Crane standing on the backs of a turtle and a snake.  This has something to do with other areas around the Yangtze River, but I can not remember the specifics.  Maybe when Kelly edits this later she will fill in the blanks.

Here is the view of the plaza from up that stairs of the tower.

Our guide for Wuhan, Christina, is earning her money today because she is having to give us the tour guide speech twice!  Once in English and once in Mandarin.

Unlike my past attempts of taking pictures of kids we adopt in China, THIS group is more than willing to pose in front of anything!

This is a little difficult to see, but in the middle of this picture is a large building with a red roof.  This is Ashely’s orphanage!  It is kind of hard to see it right there and not drive over and grab her today, but we will try and be patient for tomorrow!  We will be visiting that orphanage on Wednesday.

Even wet and cold weather can not dampen Caleb’s attitude!

Inside the Yellow Crane Tower are various presentation, this one showing how the tower looked originally 1700 years ago.

I guess the wet weather made this a popular place to visit on a Sunday afternoon!

This may go down as our worst family picture!

This is the bridge that is going over the Yangtze river, the third largest river in the world.  (I just looked that up …)

Christina continued to be a wealth of information for us on our tour of the tower.

There were paintings that were done to memorialize ancient poets.   Poets seem to carry a high amount of regard in the Chinese culture.

It was interesting to watch Katelyn and what appears to be a great interest in history.  She asked a lot of questions and even Ali joined in trying to learn more about the culture.

While we were up in the tower a young girl asked if I would do a selfie with her.  By the time we were leaving the tower and a young man had the same request, I instituted a new rule.  If you take a selfie with me, I get to take one with you! (Kelly:  Between the guide in Harbin and the “handsome father” nickname, and the young girl who wanted a selfie with Cameron, his head may not fit in the airplane door to get home – and I might be OK with that!)

Since it was raining, we decided that the museum was a better option than a stroll in the park, so we went to the Hubei Provincial Museum.

The main floor contains the contents of an ancient tomb that was discovered in this area.  The first part of the display was caskets that had been unearthed.

We could have fit a couple of Caleb’s into this casket!

It was at this point that I was informed that there was no flash photography in the museum.  That presented a problem because the most impressive exhibit was yet to come!  Those were the bells of Marquis Yi of Zeng.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianzhong

This are truly impressive and just way too cool not to have a family picture in front of.  So …

This gave me to opportunity to have my own personal museum docent be my shadow for the rest of our time in the exhibit.  He never actually SAID anything, but I got the idea.

They had some really cool weapons and armor, including this armor for a horse.

Another area had other artifacts that had been found in various parts of the province.  Here Caleb and Ali look at a skull that was found.

The museum really was a nice break in our day.

We came back to the hotel, braved the rain again to go grab a late lunch at Pizza Hut, and then back to the hotel.  The kids are watching Ice Age on our bed and the movie is so funny that Katelyn is still laughing even though she has no clue what they are saying.  It is pretty cute.

Tomorrow is a big day.  We leave the hotel at 8:30 AM to get Charlie and Ashely.  Kelly said today as we were walking back from lunch that this will make us a family of 17.  That is crazy.  Glad to follow God’s plan for our lives, but this isn’t what I would have expected.  Keep praying for the rest of our trip!  It isn’t half over until Tuesday!!

Cameron

So, you were patient, so now I have answers to Question 1 & 2, which were actually both from the same person so they really only count as one.

https://youtu.be/wQyfQZk8Ozs

https://youtu.be/URQOF-hv0v8

https://youtu.be/AOOGFRkkF-g