20 songs, 40 people, 1 bus and 4 stops

The air has been fantastic. We were "in the deep freeze" for a few days but are now having a warm up and the weather is perfect. We're earning lots of Klicks!

Last night, The Dad and I earned a Klick or two in an oh-so-fun pub crawl and caroling. I've never been on a pub crawl, no time like your late 30's to start, I suppose!

The rules were that you had to either dress as Santa or an angel; we chose Santa. 4 bars, a bus and 20 songs.

It was a bit interesting with a bus full of middle-age Santas who had all been up since 6am or so and all had to be up at 6am or so the next morning (well, at least those of us with little alarm clocks that buzz "Mommy!" at 6am). Everyone had a great time and about 1/2 the group was home by midnight. We made it home by 12:30-ish. Not too bad for a couple of parents!

A very amusing discovery... in the 3rd pub-stop we had mulled wine in a library/pub. Great idea, if you ask me! Looking at the books, we couldn't help but laugh. Check out the titles and sing (if you remember Sesame Street) "one of these things is not like the other, which one doesn't belong..."

Middle Bit with a Big Heart

Today, I was just about bursting with pride for our Middle Bit. She is so very committed to getting Klicks. She was riding her bike home from the bus and asked how many Klicks she earns going to and from the bus stop. I told her .75 there and .75 home so 1.5 total. She asked if we could take a trip all around the compound so she could earn 2 extra Klicks for today.

That doesn't sound like much but its about 5C and windy. She was hungry and tired and yet, she asked to keep going.

She seems very tuned in to how this connects us, all the way around the world, back to her Aunt Chrissy.

Dance the night away

The Dad and I were fortunate enough to get tickets to the 238th Marine Corps Birthday Ball. US Marines all over the world were celebrating and we joined in!

The evening was lovely... it was so nice to have a reason to get dressed up and use our "fancy manners" as the girls would say.

I didn't take many pictures, but did get this silly "selfie."

Market Days and Biking Nights

I got to one of the big tourist spots today. Not Tianamen. Not The Wall. Not a temple... serious market shopping... Hong Qiao, the Pearl Market.

We had a great day popping into shops. The trip was set so two of us could find jewelry for the upcoming Marine Corps Ball. I wanted pearls, so Pearls I got. The woman who spearheaded this outing knows her way around and took me to Catherine's, her favorite pearl lady. You select your pearls and any embellishments and she makes what you want as you wait. So cool!

After pearls we had lunch at the famous Brown Door Restaurant. Yum, yum, yum.

  

Between the market and the kids biking all over today, plus my time with Paola (my road bike), we earned 20 Klicks today!

A visual AQI tutorial

This is the view from our bedroom window at the same time under similar weather forecast conditions (clear and sunny). On the left, a 300 AQI reading. On the right, a 70 AQI reading. When the AQI reading is under 30, you can see the mountains behind that farthest building. When the AQI is over 350, you can not see the houses past the black cars.

Paola, my pretty pal

Dad, aka Mr. Fix-It, earned some serious points this weekend by spending time with my other love...

This is Paola, my pretty bike . My slick and speedy friend. I have not had her out of her traveling case since we arrived in Beijing and I have missed my friend, Paola.

This weekend, Mr. Fix-It helped me get her put back together and set up on a borrowed bike trainer. Please note, by "helped me" I mean "did it for me while I held things." I can do many things but for some reason, putting bikes together is not my forte. 

My beautiful bike sits right next to my beautiful air purifier. I can ride whenever I please! I do not have a working bike computer so I will be estimating speed.  When I was riding consistently, I averaged 30km/hour. I don't think I'm close to that fitness level right now so I'm going to estimate 24km/hour when I ride.

In fact, I think I'll go have some girl time with Paola today....