It's been a full year since our last visit to Da Dong restaurant. Da Dong is one of the most touristy restaurants in Beijing - famous for Peking Duck. It was the first meal the boys asked for upon their return to Beijing this trip and we made them wait the full two weeks before we feasted. Duck pancakes are without a doubt our absolute favorite meal. Chopsticks be damned - we used our hands.
Mamie in her beautiful new Christian Dior glasses she got from the Silk Market.
The boys salivating over the duck.
They would have eaten the duck there on the carving table if they guy would've let them.
On our last day together in Beijing we took grandma and the boys to our favorite restaurant, Capital M. Capital M is a very special place to us - it's where Eddie proposed to me on my birthday last November.
Cap M's balcony overlooks The Forbidden City.
Dad and Connor toasting a fantastic holiday in China.
Alex and Grandma raising their glasses to another wonderful Clan Flett get together.
That afternoon we walked the length of Beijing.
Our first stop was Tiananmen Square to find a geocache.
It's an awfully big place to find a tiny little cache.
About town in Beijing.
Back at the National Centre for Performing Arts - this time to fly our kites and hunt for a geocache.
On the move - we made our way to The Place - a great area near the China World Tower full of coffee shops and restaurants - and of course - geocaches.
After a full day of going walk about we put our feet up for full mani and pedis.
The boys splurged and spent the last of their money of hot chocolate while getting foot rubs.
Come Sunday morning suitcases were packed tears were at the ready. The boys were armed with their new hard suitcases haggled for and won at Yashow Market. A four wheeled suitcase and a pre-teen boy does not a good mix make.
It's ridiculously painful saying goodbye to Alex and Connor. They bring total chaos into our lives each time we are together and then leave behind smelly toilets, wet socks, sweetie wrappers, electronic cords, swim goggles and a hollow feeling when they go.
I've heard people say that the term blended family likens to the feeling of being thrown into an actual blender and getting tossed up and chopped up till you're a bit unrecognizable. It makes sense - I can't actually remember anymore who I was before the boys came into my life and I know that Eddie can't figure out how he's supposed to be a part time dad when he wants nothing more than to be the full time dad he was before the blender got turned on. And then there's the boys - trying so hard to make everyone happy while shuffling back and forth with such gallant intentions.
While the boys were here these past two weeks we made smoothies each morning in our noisy Chinese blender. We tossed in bananas, apples, strawberries, kiwis, raspberries, blackberries, yogurt and milk. Connor or Alex would push the button and then push it again and again till the blender was screaming at me it was going so fast. And then - we'd toast our day with a cold, healthy drink that wouldn't have tasted nearly as delicious if it hadn't been blended with such ferocity and enthusiasm.
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