Chaoyang Park

We decided we needed to have some fun so we decided to head to Beijing this morning.  We invited the Carrasco's to join us.  We left at 8:00.  We got to Chaoyang Park and paid the 5 RMB a piece to get in.  Wow, less than a buck.  This park is HUGE.  The first thing we noticed is a gigantic Shaquille O'Neil statue out front.  After a few pictures we went in.

This is how Mr. Hu spends his free time.

The Wallace's and Carrasco's with our drivers Mr. Hu and Leo.

This Shaq is HUGE.

As we were walking back to Go Ape I spotted a little boy walking in front of us with snow pants.  I started laughing and reached for my camera.  The snow pants were crotchless.  Seriously...how can that make sense to anyone?  Just as I was about to take the picture his dad picked him up.  Never got the photo.  Bummer.  We continued to Go Ape which is a bunch of trees turned into a rope climbing course.  There were 3 different levels.  Marcela was on the junior, Cameron and Alfredo were on the medium course, and then there is a harder course.  It is based on size.  Alejandro couldn't do any of it so he said "This is not cool."  Marcela went off to do her course while the boys got a safety lesson (in Chinese).  They had to learn to hook up their belts.  This course they do not have adult supervision at each station.  Yikes.  I was a little nervous but the boys did great.  They were very safe and paid close attention to what they needed to do.  There were even a couple zip lines which were pretty cool for them. 

Go Ape Adventure Park.

All geared up and ready to go. 

Alfredo and Cameron are ready.

Cameron on the practice course.

Looking on and a little nervous.

Up on the first obstacle.

Working his way across.

Working his way up to the zip line.  Todd is clear across on the other side waiting.

Here he comes Todd.

Hilarious they crash into a dirt pile.

These two apes sure are having fun.

Waiting their turn.

Tricky, tricky, tricky.

Too bad he isn't Spider man.

Last zip line.

When the boys were done the Carrasco's went to the amusement park part of the park and we left.  We headed to Jenny Lou's for a couple of groceries.  Our next stop was the Schindlers Meat Store.  We bought some meat and headed for lunch.  Our friends, the Hindman's, told us about a BBQ restaurant so we decided to try it out.  It is called Home Plate BBQ.  It smelled wonderful when we stepped out of the van.  It is a little restaurant.  We ordered pulled pork, chopped brisket, beef brisket quesadillas, fried Okra, and rib tips.  Cameron wanted 1/2 rack of ribs but they didn't have any.  The food looked great when they brought it.  After the first bite we knew we would be back.  It was delicious. 

Delicious place to eat.

Our next order of business was trying to find wall art for our living room.  We have a huge wall that has been bare since moving in.  We went to the art district called 798.  It was very confusing and big.  We drove around but never found a spot they were selling art.  We decided to go to the Dirt Market instead.  We have gotten other things there so we thought we would give it a try.  We walked around and found a couple different things.  We had to decide what we wanted.  We ended up getting two huge pictures.  Todd's bargaining skills worked again so we walked away with a great price.  He ran back to one of the other shops where we saw a picture we liked but they were closed already.  I guess we will have to go back.  Loaded up the van with our treasures and headed for TEDA.  Fun day.