First day in Beijing

We got into Beijing last night at about 9:00 and had a full day of touring today. The flight was long and brutal, just as we remembered from the last trip. It was cool to see people doing Tai Chi in the back of the plane, then emerging from the tiny airplane bathroom in a 3 piece suit looking totally refreshed. I'm beginning to think there is really something to that Tai Chi stuff. I am again reminded of how in the Asian culture, people are so adaptable, efficient and non-complaining. It is very cold here. Even in my hat and arctic-rated jacked, I was still freezing! First we took a rickshaw and visited the Houtong district. We got to look inside one of the homes and meet the owner...a very nice lady. Her sons and their wives and families live in this historic little cluster of homes. The son races pigeons (yes, this is a real thing) and also is an artist. We purchased one of his paintings. Then visited Tienneman square and the Forbidden city. Also had a fantastic lunch. I really like authentic Chinese food, at least for the first week or so! Tomorrow we get to climb the great wall. As much as I love taking in this amazing culture, I am wishing the we could pick up Ethan already. Day after tomorrow we fly to his province!

Itinerary

Busy, busy around here getting ready to head out. Finally have our itinerary nailed down. Hard to believe that 10 days from now we'll be feasting our eyes on some juicy little toddler cheeks. For now, I'm still working on the "master plan" of getting the girls cared for and taxied around while we're gone. Oh, and putting up the Christmas tree, cooking up an early Thanksgiving dinner, and tying up numerous loose ends at work...all in the midst of a head-cold induced fog. Actually, 75% of us are sick. Me with a cold, NiNi on antibiotics for strep throat, and Meagan is at the Immediate Care center as we speak with a fever/sore throat. I figure if we're all on antibiotics, at least we can't come down with something else.

11/24 Leave U.S. for Beijing

11/25 Arrive in Beijing

11/26 Tour Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour

11/27 Tour Beijing: Great Wall and Ming Tombs

11/28 Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou

11/29 Receive Ethan today!

11/30 Adoption day (adoption is finalized)

12/1 Free time

12/2 Free time

12/3 Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou

12/4 Visa physical and immunizations for Ethan

12/5 Free time

12/6 Consulate appointment

12/7 Free day while paperwork is being processed

12/8 Receive Ethan’s visa.

12/9 Leave Guangzhou for Hong Kong in the morning.
Tour Hong Kong and leave for U.S. just after midnight

12/10 Home Friday afternoon!

Star Speller!

Meagan competed in the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl this week. Only a handful of the top spellers from her school were selected to compete against other schools in this area. She spent the past 3 months learning 750 words (80 words/week) on top of her regular school work. Words like "bureaucracy" and "Aborigine." Words that I don't dare type without hitting spell check. She is amazing and we are SO proud of her!

Babysitter Machine

Meagan was supposed to design a machine at school so she came up with this. It's called the "Sister Babysitter." It may be hard to tell from the drawing, but each little robotic arm has a function: Underwear changer, bottle feeder, comb, mirror, alphabet board (for teaching letters) and an extra hand to do miscellaneous tasks. The central screen plays "Dora the Explorer" non-stop. Oh and the part of the drawing that would not fit on my scanner shows a little girl laying on a pillow in front of this miracle machine. Hmmmm...I think she's getting a little nervous about having a new sibling on the way!

TRAVEL APPROVAL!!!!

Just received TA today! Working on consulate appt and travel plans now but could leave as early as Nov 24th. YIPPEE!!!!

No news.....(snore)

It looks like we may break the CCAA's record for longest time to issue a travel approval. We're always breaking some kind of record. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but this Friday will be 1 month since our Article 5 was issued. We fully expected to be close to shipping out by now. Problem is, there's something much bigger than adoptions (at least from their perspective) going on in Guangzhou Nov 12-27th...the 16th Asian Games . They are being held in the same city where all adoptions are processed and we happen to be staying at the same hotel which houses all the athletes. Guangzhou has been gearing up for this for a long time and the hope is that the Asia games will do for Guangzhou what the 2008 Olympics did for Beijing. My hunch is that the CCAA is SITTING on our travel approval until the games are over. I hope I'm wrong!

Halloween

It appears as if Meagan's Charlie Brown ghost costume was just something we threw together. I assure you it was not....she had planned this for quite some time and thought it was the coolest thing ever. And for the cost of a $4 sheet at Walmart, what mom in her right mind would say no?

Taking inventory


By the way, I went to tuck the girls into bed later that night and saw them both with their buckets of candy in bed with them. I guess the've experienced too many Halloweens where mom and dad got into their candy while they were asleep and unarmed. The past few days, Meagan has been like the gestapo...checking the trash for wrappers, smelling my breath, etc. Silly girl. I have my ways...