Hiking Fu Shan

Yesterday we went for a 3 hour hike on Fu Shan, the mountain next to our house. It was fantastic. Our apartment complex, is directly next to Fu Shan, which makes for great views and the opportunity to have a hike any day we want. Many people that live in our complex hike Fu Shan every day. 

^ Chara and Zachary posing on our walk up to one of the trail entrances. Zachary has hiked Fu Shan with Chara a few times but unfortunately I have never gone. He usually goes on Saturday mornings, when I, the past 2 years, have been teaching, or on vacation day mornings, while I'm sleeping. He has told me how great of a hiker Chara is but I hadn't yet seen her skills.

The red leaves on these bushes captivated me! The Lord is just so dang creative and awesome. I know we have these bushes at home all over Texas but I have never seen their leaves so vibrantly red in Texas.

We love to play with Chara girl! One of our favorite things to do is walk a ways apart and say, "Go get Daddy!" or "Go get mommy!" Whoever we say she runs like the wind towards "mommy" or "daddy." I love it. She has so much fun and is just beyond happy during those moments!

Many people that live in this area hike Fu Shan daily or every other day to collect water from the streams, since it is clean and fresh. I am amazed by all the older people on the trails carrying jugs of water. You can even see some older ladies in heels hiking the trails!

Walking up to Fu Shan!  I was surprised to see such great paving at the base. This pavement was calling my name to run on it! Don't worry, the hike grew much more hike-ish as we walked on.

Chara girl was in hiking heaven. She was sniffing, exploring and climbing everything she could. She was amazing and always leading the way. She even did great on some of the steeper, solely large boulders and rocks, terrain.

An old man wheeling his fresh water back home.

I love the mountains here in Qingdao. They are all rock mostly, which is great during the rainier months. Because of all the rock, land slides are much less prevalent here versus other places in China.

Qingdao on a hazy day. I think this was just haze and not pollution!

Our apartment complex ahead!

Zachary and I stopped to take in some of the views and then of course I insisted he take pictures of me in all kinds of model poses. This was, of course, inspired by watching American Blogger and from watching OWN Network's Lindsay. (Yes, Juliette, yes I did watch that, which I'm sure is not at all surprising.)  Let's chat about Lindsay--totally blogging about it, soon!

This was the only one that made the cut, which was actually a fluke, and his fingers got in the way, but I like it. :) The other ones, I resembled a small whale laying on a rock, so I spared you from viewing those.

Chara girl chilled out in the shade watching mommy model. Really, she's the true model in the fan and we should probably just stick to taking photos of her. She's just so darn photogenic and I mean, come on! That tongue!

Somehow he always does things that are just so picturesque. Seriously, he should probably have a career as a model, too. Everyone's a natural model in this fam but me! Humph. 

Love, love, love. I loved everything about this hike and the scenery. It was such a good day!

Zachary found a "good climbing tree." He only climbed that far and then got down. When you're already 6 foot something,  I imagine climbing up one branch of a tree, seems very high.

Chara got tons of attention by fellow hikers. They all just gushed over her, which she, of course, loved. More pets- heck yes! With this dad and son we saw her several times try to get in the right position to role over for a belly rub. It was hilarious to watch.

Zachary found some good wood for fire starting. We sat for a good 30 minutes working on starting a fire. Unfortunately, he never got one started, but his wood did almost burn a blister on my hand it was so hot! And it started to smell so, so good as it got hotter and hotter, like roasting oak or some other fabulous smelling wood.

The view from our fire starting spot. 

 
Chara's view from out fire starting spot.

We finally made the summit. The wind was intense facing the other side because of the ocean. It was so beautiful though. See the ocean ahead? I wish it hadn't have been so foggy yesterday, for you to really see!

Facing back towards our apartment, the view facing one way.

The view facing the other way.

On the climb down there are some cool caves, this little hole in the mountain to walk through and some old military forts to explore.

Chara, as the sun is setting. If there is a rock, you better believe she is going to jump up on it. If there is a cliff, she will always, go to the very edge to look over it. If there is any kind of rock railing blocking her view, she will jump up on it, to see what's going on. She's such a curious little one.

We had such a great day. I'm so thankful for these times, where we can be still, not work, and just enjoy what's around us and each other. Thank you Jesus for all the blessings and beauty around us. Forgive us for so often being too busy to even notice.