Nee-hao from China

Hello everyone. We made it safe and sound to Beijing and have had a fabulous time touring the Great Wall of China today. We definetly are certain we made the right decision in bringing Amber and Joey with us this time. They are really enjoying their time with us and are constantly amazed by the things they are seeing that are so different then the way life is in the USA. Our flight was fantastic. We flew straight to Beijing without any stops or layovers so it only took 11 1/2 hours. It actually went very fast. Annabel did great except for a few serious moments when she was dead set on letting everyone on the plane know that she didn't want to be seat belted in. Luckily those moments didnt last too long. Each seat had their own tv with dozens of movies to choose from so that really helped pass the time for everyone. Our guide met us at the airport. She and her driver took us to our hotel which was about 45 minutes away. Once we got settled into our rooms she took us to dinner. The food was incredible. We had goose. I have never had that before and it was delicious. This morning after eating breakfast they took us to the Great Wall of China. It was about 2 hours away so we had a great time getting to know them on the drive and seeing some amazing sights along the way. The kids loved it. They dont use car seats in China so Annabel loved that. We had to make sure one of us was holding her and we did a lot of praying we would make it to our destination safely. All is well. She did great. When we got to the Great wall we took what we Americans call a ski lift up up and up. Oh my gosh!!! Had I known what I was getting into I may have chose to stay at the bottom. I held onto Annabel for dear life. We had suntan lotion on so that made it a little tougher. But honestly I dont think she ever moved. I dont know if she even breathed!!! haha We were VERY high up and she knew it. Everytime it looked like we were going to run into a tree she wimpered a little bit but once we passed over it she was fine. You should have seen the spiders we saw. Oh my..they were huge. They were everywhere. But they were not interested in us thankfully. They were so big we could spot them from above. After walking around a bit we rode the tobogans down. WHAT A BLAST!!! The side of the Great wall we went to takes longer to get to by car but it is not crowded at all. Very very green too. It was just beautiful. It was a totally clear day and very warm. We couldnt have asked for a better day. Annabel slept all the way back to our hotel and then our guide brought Pizza Hut to our room. Yum. Last year we traveled in a large group. Which was a lot of fun. But it is really great having your own guide. It is just so flexible. We are so thankful we hired her to spend time with in Beijing. Tomorrow is another full day. One more funny story I have to share. When we got it last night Joey was a zombie he was so tired. Amber was exhausted as well. The hotels here do not allow all 5 of us to stay in one room so we had to get two hotel rooms. One double room (which is more like 2 twin beds) and one King room. So Mark stayed with Joey in the kids room and Amber stayed with Annabel and I in the larger room. We didnt want the kids to wake up and be scared. Well Joey didn't remember going into his room so he didnt know what it looked like. He woke Mark up out of a deep sleep at 3am to inform Mark that there was someone else in their room with them. Of Course Mark came out of his sleep immediately to try to determine who this "stranger" was. Joey was so tired the night before that he didn't notice the closet had a huge mirror on it. He was seeing his own reflection but was too tired to put 2 and 2 together. We can laugh about it now. But it was not a laughing matter at 3 am. Well we are off to get a good night sleep before our next bit adventure. Only 4 more days until we meet little Jacob. We are getting very excited.