China Colors

 While we were in Beijing, we visited several national treasures.  Among them, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven.

One thing I noticed was the penchant for amazingly colorful walls, ceilings, and beams.  Some, with five-fingered dragons, are for the emperor, others with the phoenix is for the empress, and finally, others are meant for the royal family and the emperor's concubines.

 Perhaps looking at the ceilings so colorfully painted made you forget that your houses had no heat and no walls at times...

 Check out the detail here.  I believe it is copper, painted with gold.

 this large building in the Forbidden City was just begging for someone to stand next to it to show the scale.  Isn't it beautiful?

 the next one was done in ceramics.

The next three are from the Summer Palace, which would have likely been a cold palace no matter what.  The colors just astound me.

So, you're probably wondering about Chloe.  She went to bed last night sometime around 10:15pm.  She stayed asleep until about 730am.  I wanted SO much to stay home and watch my girl, but that was not in the cards.  I had to go baby sit some really horrible 3rd graders...never really had horrible third graders before.

When I got home, I found a little girl JUST up from a nap.  she is SOOO sweet when she is tired.   We met one of her great grandmothers tonight...I don't think Chloe was as interested in her as she was in the toys.  And, you know what?  She asked for ME to pick her us a few times!!!  Which made ME happy.  My little girl knows I am fun and I will keep her safe when I play with her.

I wonder if she knows I am wrapped around her little pinky...