Beijing!

Whew, the last 4 hours of that flight was a bit painful. We all slept a bit, but not enough.

Getting through Immigration, Baggage, Customs, finding our guide, and riding to the hotel was a breeze. Hot and muggy out, but nice to breath some real (non-recycled) air.

Very tired, going to bed.

 Mason fell asleep after only 1 book.  And I thought I was tired.

A few shots from our 6th floor balcony. (Which has a sign that says don't lean on rail, and lock door at night( - both of which were already obvious without signs)

Takeoff #2

Mason was excited to get on one of the biggest planes on the lot. He had been spotting the really big ones all day and was beginning to develop some plane envy. Much to Heather's dismay, we had to turn right inside the airplane instead of left to business class. (We got bumped to business class for unknown reasons last time)

I spent the entire time shifting my legs a millimeter each way, looking for some respite. Numb buns affected everyone, and 13 hours straight of people standing in line to the restrooms.

However, Mason did amazing! He really had a lot of fun, and we had lots of activities to keep him busy, including a new Nintendo DS game system. (That only lasted an hour though). At about the 8 hour mark, I remember Heather in line for the bathroom, and Mason standing up, jumping around, making faces, making noises, and telling me, "this is SO much fun, dad!"

Takeoff #1

Mason is all-a-chatter as he asks lots of questions about his "first" flight (that he can remember) to Chicago. The whole plane got to hear his wonderment.

I fell asleep for what seemed like 2 minutes, but was apparently the entire 50 minute trip to Chicago. Fastest flight ever!

We're Off!

We will soon be on our way!! We will be heading to the airport this morning for our flight to Beijing where we will do some sightseeing for a few days. Then off to Kunming where we will meet our son, finally our trip will end in Guangzhou before heading home. We're hoping for smooth sailing from here on out!

What a start to along day. Here we are, 4:30 am

SURPRISE!

We were totally surprised yesterday to receive some new information about Zhongqing. We received updated measurements on him early yesterday morning and he seems to be growing very well. Then, later in the afternoon, we received some new pictures!!

Travel Approval!

We received our travel approval letter and will soon be on our way to China! Our appointment with the consulate has been set for 9/13. We are in the process of finalizing our plane tickets with the travel agent and plan to leave for Beijing just 2 short weeks from now.