I love Xian in the Springtime!

I know this gets old, but another great day here in Xian! Believe it or not, the sun came out and we saw some blue sky! It felt like a fresh Spring day. Today we visited the Terra Cotta Warriors...one of the biggest highlights of our trip, next to Miss Lily, of course. I have been looking forward to seeing these infamous soldiers for a long time and they did not dissappoint. For those who don't know about the terra cotta army, they were created by the Emperor Qin, who needed an elaborate army to protect him in the afterlife. He used over 7000 craftsmen to dig several giant pits and they made over 6,000 lifesize terra cotta soldiers, officers, generals and horses to guard his tomb. It took 38 years to construct and after the project was completed, the emperor had all of the craftsmen and workers thrown into pits and buried alive to protect the location of the tomb. The amazing thing about this army is that it was only discovered in 1974 when a group of local farmers were digging a well. Emperor Qin is best known for starting the Great Wall and uniting China into one nation, instead of 7 separate countries. He was hated by his people, though, and after his death they pillaged the army, stealing their weapons to overthrow his regime. These soldiers were created 200 years before Jesus was born...WOW!

After the army, we visited Walmart! Another WOW! Three stories of rollbacks and low prices!!!!

I was very impressed at how clean and neat the store was, even the meat department where you could get squid, stingray and a variety of snakes to serve for dinner! We bought some Budriser, diet coke and bottled water. A couple of snickers bars and Lay's potato chips made it into the buggy, as well. Miss Lily picked out a new pair of sneakers at Walmart and it was obvious by her reaction she has never had a new pair of shoes...just for her. She told everyone she met about her beautiful new shoes and she put them on as soon as we got back to the room. She strutted in front of the mirror and closed herself in the dark bathroom so she could see them light up! When she was done with that, she put on her new pair of pink mary jane shoes (rolled back to $2!) and would not take them off until bathtime!

She continues to delight and amaze us...she is still talking a blue streak and just opens herself up more and more everyday. She delighted the crowd today by feeding Sophie peanuts with her chopsticks! Big sister loves the attention, too! We have our moments, of course, as Miss Lily is very high energy, but overall I think things are going very well. It is priceless to hear Lily yammering on and on in Chinese to us...she has no clue that we don't know what she's saying. We just smile and nod. She is picking up some English, too. Local people will ask her name in Chinese and she now responds in English "Lily!" She tells us "Let"s a go!" when it's time to go somewhere. Communication is good, between our charades and the Chinese we've learned. We definitely know how to ask her if she has to potty, if she's hungry and how to tell her she's full!

Again, thanks for all of the comments. We love reading them, so please keep them coming. A special "Ni Hao" to Mrs. Dunford's class at Miller Perry Elementary School...Sophie is learning a lot, but misses her friends. To Molly, Mattie and Eli...Thanks for taking good care of our kitty and fish!

Tomorrow we will see the sites within the Xian City Wall...the Drum Tower, the Bell Tower and the Wild Goose Pavillion. We also get to eat lunch at McDonald's, so it should be yet another great day!