Museum and Water Wheel

It's Thursday July 14th, our last full day in Lanzhou. This morning Elena took us to see some special local attractions.

We first went to see The Water Wheel. It's a local landmark.  In 1907 this wheel was created to help water all the crops and helped make Lanzhou an agricultural center. It was right at the edge of the yellow river.

They give boat rides across the river the same way they did hundreds of years ago. The have inflated sheep skins tethered together to make a raft. Smaller ones to transport people and rafts with 600 skins tethered together for cargo.

It was fun to see the river up close and admire the ingenuity of the people here. Our next stop was the Gansu Province Museum. 

We started out looking at the dinosaurs and ancient fossils. It then went on to the neolithic period and on to the Era of the silk road.

It was really fascinating. I have a few favorites. I loved this bronze figure that was a tiger devouring a sheep. The colors and designs were just amazing. They also had statues if the general that opened up the silk road for trading, as directed by the emperor.

One thing that stood out was a grave site that had been removed completely to the museum. It was a grave with three bodies.  The center skeleton was man and on either side of him were his two wives. When the man died, his wives were buried with him...  Alive.

There were lots of cool things to see. But Will had reached his limit. We got mobbed by a group of older ladies. The were asking me questions looking concerned. I just smiled and asked Elena what they were saying.  They were very concerned that this Chinese baby was with a foreigner. Elena explained that we had adopted him...  More questions...  Elena said we had 6 kids all adopted... At this point the crowd is getting bigger it went from 2 or 3 ladies to like 6 or 7 ladies.  (They were all wearing matching purple t-shirts.) They asked how old I was and if I knew what I was doing because I was too young to have 6 children. I mentioned "Well,  I'm 43 and have lots of experience." Then the ladies smiled and patted thier faces and gave me the thumbs up sign. Then they asked about William's special needs... I gave Dave the "I'm trapped" look and he came in and wisked Will away. The ladies let out a collective sad sigh. I just shrugged....  Dad saves the day. 

There was still one more floor, but we decided to pack it in. Will was tired and needed to eat. And Spencer and Jacob were complaining that their feet hurt. And of course no one could hold Will but Dad. Not even a stroller ride could entice him. 

We came back to the hotel and I fed Will lunch and tried to put him down for a nap. He had a long night and was exhausted. Dave took the boys to KFC again for lunch.  Will was still awake and complaining about nap time. Dave walks in, tears turn off like a switch. He rests on dad's shoulder and promptly falls asleep. He's got the magic touch. 

Finally last night in Lanzhou and just 9 days left until our family will be together.