Visit with Nonni | Part Three (more Bamboo Sea)

On Sunday morning, we woke up to bright blue skies! After a breakfast of more "very famous" Yibin noodles, we packed up and set out to explore!

First, we tried to ride the cable cars, but it was closed... so we opted to climb up a tower and have a look over the national forest.

Stunning. Sooooooo much bamboo.

Can you spy the cable cars?

Looooved the sun shadow because it meant there was sun ;).

Next, we went to a bamboo path and we lucked out- no one was there!

The girls were in a picture taking mood, so I snapped away.

That smooch!

Love the way Emma is looking at Ev's.

Emma wanted to stand behind Everly because she's older... and soooo much taller ;).

I adore this picture :). Real sisters - real life.

Time for some close ups. I will never ever get tired of that cheek dimple.

And those baby blues.

My favorite!

Wheeeeeeeee!

A girl and her dad :).

We got to see a special kind of bamboo...

It grows naturally like this!

We went to a museum...

And then to a waterfall. We hiked and hiked and hiked... and counted numerous secret waterfalls to keep our motivation levels high.

I have said this a thousand times on this blog, but I love nothing more than watching the girls explore.

We made it to the final attraction!

After letting the kids run out their energy, we headed back...

So thankful Nonni got to spend three weeks with us!

Wes fits right in :).

Love this picture of Everly and Wes!

And then for our final adventure in the Bamboo Sea, we took the cable cars up up up! We didn't know these cable cars only sat two adults so my mom and Everly got in line first and away they went while we were like, oh my! what's happening?? Funny fact: my mom doesn't like cable cars! We didn't know this prior to going... yikes!

Wes, Emma and I got in the next cable car - the cable cars were open so Emma could stick her head out...

We were happy to be reunited! On the drive home, we stopped and had some spicy dumplings before finally making it back to our home! It was an eventful 48 hours!! 

Visit with Nonni | Part Two (Bamboo Sea)

Would you believe me if I told you the internet in Chengdu has been the w.o.r.s.t. lately. Seriously, the worst. It started with our VPN going completely down (about two weeks ago) and although it has recovered, it has taken me approximately 6.25 hours to load all of the pictures you are going to see today. The silver lining- I have gotten back into reading. Like really into reading. After a 7 year break (goodness, I am embarrassed to admit that), I have read five books in the last four weeks. 

Anyways, enough with the chit chat, let's get back to Nonni's visit. The first weekend Nonni was in Chengdu, we decided to go to the Bamboo Sea (about three hours south of Chengdu) for the weekend. We got up bright and early and headed out. Once we arrived at the hotel, Ev's devoured her strawberries.

And we devoured our "very famous" Yibin noodles that were actually quite delicious.

Out hotel was inside the national park, so once we unloaded our things, our driver took us around to the various attractions. The first stop was Cloud Lake.

Evsie's brought Pandi along with us (since we were going to see so much bamboo!). 

Long live the piggies.

This picture makes me smile.

Will she love stuffed animals forever? Someone, please tell me yes...

There was a lot of bamboo!

In case you are wondering why there is more pictures of Everly than Emma, literally she was asking me to take her picture all day!) and I am not one to turn that down!!

We arrived at the boats... and because we were literally the only customers, we convinced them to lower the price for a half an hour ride instead of going for the full hour.

Real life. Emma was pouting because she either wanted to be driving or sitting up in the front :).

There is a famous island here (not this one) where a movie was shot.

We gave the girls a turn at the wheel and needless to say, I am not ready for them to be driving anytime soon!

She looks so grown up here!

Nonni's expression is my favorite - cold? or unsure if she is going to make it off the boat without getting wet with Emma behind the wheel? I will let you decide...

Our next stop was a really pretty waterfall!

I love watching these two explore the world together.

Prettiest moss covered rock.

We walked to a different waterfall. Love this picture of them!!

Thought Ev's was going to fall in!

A different part of the waterfall - you could walk behind it! We had a slight disaster - Ev's fell as she was running through it, but it was nothing we couldn't handle.

I am pretty sure my parents have taken this exact picture! I looooove it!!!

Love this type of artwork.

For our last stop of the day, can you tell it was getting dark, we headed to a very dense area of bamboo to walk around a bit. We didn't last too long due to the cold temperatures.

That night we had a great dinner that included a bamboo dish! We followed up dinner with a game of bean-boozled that induced some pretty great laughs.

We love exploring more of China with our favorite visitor! More from day two to come next.