Gift from China

Day 2 of our D.C. trip found us at the National Zoo bright and early last Tuesday morning.  We got to see the pandas!  (#845)  Jillian would have LOVED this part of the tour!! But then again, who doesn't love those adorable pandas with the cute black circles around their eyes?

Mei Xiang (pronounced "may-SHONG") and Tian Tian ("t-YEN t-YEN") are the second set of pandas to live at the zoo.

The first pair (click to read about them) were a gift from China to Washington DC in 1972, following Nixon's visit to China. After they died, the US government reached an agreement with China to allow another set of pandas to reside at the zoo.   All for a low-low cost of only $1 million a year for 10 years, to the China Wildlife Conservation in Beijing.  In the agreement, any offspring must be sent back to China when the panda is 2 years old. 

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived in the US on December 6, 2000, and had only one baby survive, which now lives back in China.

When we arrived at the zoo, the pandas were chomping on some fresh bamboo, looking as adorable as ever.  We walked around the corner to find this cute little Asian Elephant wondering around in his new grassy area.  The National Zoo has 3 of these little guys.

Upon leaving the zoo, we spent a full afternoon touring the historic sites, including an experience taking the subway to our lunch stop.  I was really nervous about losing someone on the Metro, but thankfully, we all got on and off at the right place.  Phew!  Prayers were answered.  (#846)

Jenica and "Q" find an open seat. (Quinten is also on Jake's baseball team.)

After surviving the subway, seeing more memorials, and shopping across from Ford's Theater, we got to spend the evening at the National's Baseball game.  It was nice to sit and relax for a few hours after all the walking we had done. (#847) The down side was that we had to leave before the game was over, which went into 12 innings with (finally) a win over the Mets.

 Our Middle School coordinator took all the group photos with her camera, not realizing that she had a smudge in the middle of her camera lens . . . thus, the blur on each group photo. 

Maddy, Madi, and Jenica

(the girls bought sweatshirts because our mornings and evenings in DC were pretty chilly)


Stay tuned for more D.C. stories.