China Day 8 Aaron's Perspective

A Really Good Day

A smaller group set out Thursday morning to tour the Xi’an city wall. Erica, JT, You-You and Denise stayed behind to give JT a chance to relax. So that left the boys, my parents and me to explore the rectangular wall that surrounds the inner most part of the city.

A brief history lesson – the wall was constructed about 600 years ago during the Ming dynasty and is one of the few city walls that is still intact in all of China. So it is a something the city is proud of. It is also something that causes what is already crazy traffic to be even crazier since to get into the center of the city you have to go under the wall which of course only has a few openings on each side. The openings are 2 lanes wide, which means 2 cars, a bus, and a couple of scooters can all force their way through at the same time.

After looking around at the gate we entered, we saw an old bell that used to be rung every morning. Knowing my wife wanted pictures, I asked the guide to take some pictures of us at the bell. Well, it turned out that the bell was low enough that it looked like a giant hat on me, a fact that was not lost on the locals. Right away we were joined by several different groups that wanted to have their picture with the tall goofy guy and family. After 10 minutes and 3 attempts at continuing our tour everyone finally had gotten their picture with us that wanted to – I do believe we could have charged. 

Another attraction to the wall is that you can rent bikes and bike around the entire wall, which of course we all wanted to do. So off we went on 5 bikes (no takers on the 2 seater bikes) complete with bells (you have to be able to honk). It was a fun ride, Mom and Dad just did a quarter of the wall and then headed back (partly because Mom had a crash, fortunately just a scrapped knee) but the boys and I were determined to bike the whole thing. The wall gave a good view of the city and of course the traffic (see below). It took us a little over an hour, including some stops to look at the city and pose for some more pictures with the locals (they love the boys – one even pointed to Jack and said “Harry Potter”). The day had gotten hot and so the Gatorade at the end (featuring Jeremy Lin) really helped cool us off.

 After the bike ride we headed back to the hotel where I listened outside of the door, heard our noise-maker and figured mom and JT were napping soundly. Wrong! After about 10 minutes in Mom and Dad’s room Erica entered with the child. Men with kids, you have all seen that look at some point on your wife’s face and you know that bodily harm awaits you if you don’t jump up and take the child. Turns out there was no napping despite numerous, exhaustive attempts and Mom was determined that at least 1 person was going to get a nap. I think the conversation went something like – “Your son won’t sleep. You are taking him now, I am taking a nap.” “Yes dear, I love you.”

So little man and I hung out for about 3 hours while Erica had a good nap. He was fussy a little while, but after touring the entire fourth floor of the hotel (and walking very quietly past our room) a few times, he was ready to sit-up and play with Daddy. We played with the balls and egg toys we have and he discovered the game of drop it off the bed and watch Daddy fetch. My efforts were not in vain, I got numerous smiles and several laughs, he even made babbling noises for the first time since we got him. What a wonderful afternoon. 

The finale to my day was a date with my daughter at a dinner and a show, chaperoned by my parents (who treated us) and Denise. On the way to the show, You You told me that we could not kiss until the date was over. The dinner consisted of several varieties of dumplings each shaped after what made up their contents (fortunately no snake, frog, or turtle shapes). Dumplings have always been a favorite of You-You’s and she was not disappointed. The first tray contained 8 dumplings which quickly disappeared – it turns out that I had 1, Mom and Dad each had 1, Denise had 1 and YouYou scarfed down 4! The dinner continued and I think I might have eventually caught up to YouYou but I doubt I surpassed her.

After dinner it was time for the show. There were 10 different performances, some musical demonstrations, some dances, and a few a combination of both. You You had been very excited about the show and was mesmerized during the first performance. The 2^nd performance she sat in my lap and got comfortable. By the third performance the heat (it was warm in the balcony) finally triggered the dumpling induced coma so ended our date – I never got that kiss, hopefully this is true of all her dates until she’s at least 25. 

So what a really good day – I got to spend the morning with my boys being active, the afternoon with my new little guy and experiencing some firsts (while Erica slept), and finally a date with my daughter. A day to be cherished.