May 3

Still getting caught up… So, what does someone who has developed a fear of heights do while in China? They climb the Great Wall in a thunder & lightening storm, of course!
On Saturday we met Helen at 8:30am and headed to pick up Kris, Jim & Austin at their hotel. It was very cloudy and much cooler than it had been on Friday. We were headed outside the city to visit the Great Wall and traffic was pretty congested. On the way there it started to rain and we were getting worried. But, first we stopped at a jade factory for a quick tour to learn some about jade and, of course, to do some shopping.
We loved all the jade at the factory and got a few very nice things to have as reminders of this wonderful trip. Just about the time we were leaving the jade factory it started to rain really hard and there was even some thunder and lightning, but Helen checked and was told that it was not raining at the Great Wall. So, we headed on. As we were driving it was like all of a sudden the scenery changed from city to country side and then to very tall mountains. The mountains were VERY steep and it was all soo beautiful.
We started to catch glimpses of the Great Wall and we all started to get excited. Of course, it had started raining by that point and pretty hard, but we were all soo excited that we didn’t think it would matter. The temperature had dropped a lot by that point and truthfully, we were not prepared for that. If it had just been cool it wouldn’t have been so bad, but the rain on top of it made it quite uncomfortable. We put Cackie in the backpack carrier on Michael’s back and each of us had umbrellas. Helen told us that she would give us 2 hours to climb up to the highest tower and back.
So, we started off… getting to the first landing wasn’t too bad. It was a little tough on Michael with the extra 40 pounds on his back, but we stopped at the first landing and took some pictures. From there it was pretty much straight up and none of the steps were the same height. We got about 1/3 of the way up the next section and Cackie started to complain that she was getting cold. She basically had long shorts on, so I could totally understand. Both Michael & I were getting soaked and it really was getting tough for me to breathe with this cold I have. Then some lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and we looked at each other and said “forget this”. By this point Caryn had gone on ahead of us and we were able to catch her attention to let her know we were headed down. The funny thing is that fighting the mass of people was just as hard going down as it was going up. When we finally got to the bottom we found the little snack stand and were able to get under some shelter. I went into the souvenir shop and got two really cheesy “I climbed the Great Wall” sweatshirts for Cackie & I because we were soaked and cold and found some hot tea to help warm us up. A few minutes later Kris joined up with us and we all found Helen in the van. We were soo happy to be in that cramped little van just getting warm! Not too much longer Caryn, Jim & Austin showed up soaked to the bone and looking beat. They had gotten pretty far, but not all the way to the top. After getting them some warm clothes we left to get some lunch.
Our lunch was in a restaurant that is attached to a cloisonné factory. First we got a quick tour and demonstration on how cloisonné is made and then we headed to the restaurant. We had a great lunch, tried a very strong Chinese liquor (reminded Kris & I of very strong tequila) and the kids even got to enjoy some French fries! After lunch we got to do some shopping for cloisonné and then it was back on the bus.
We headed back into Beijing and got the opportunity to get a quick driving tour around the Olympic complex. We couldn’t stop to get out of the van, but our driver tried to go slowly so that we could get some good photos. Unfortunately I was only able to get some video of this because our camera had gotten soaked and the lenses were pretty fogged over from climbing the Great Wall. The stadiums were all pretty cool looking. The venue where the swimming and diving events will be is really cool, it looks like water bubbles from the outside! The birds nest stadium where the opening & closing ceremonies will be is also amazing to see in person.
At this point we were all getting pretty silly and I did some filming of the crazy drivers in China and we had a lot of good laughs. We didn’t realize it, but before we knew it we were at our next destination. We arrived at a tea shop for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. We tried a number of different teas and learned the proper ways to make them. Cackie had had her moments all throughout the day, but she was pretty good through the tea ceremony. She tried all the teas and liked the black tea the best. The favorite part of the whole ceremony for everyone was when they showed us the “happy baby” which is a clay figurine of a baby that has a “special” way of helping you to know if your water is hot enough for making tea. I soo wish that I had that on video! The kids were hysterical and put some pressure on us to shop when they found out that you get a free “happy baby” with any purchase. Of course, that wasn’t a problem… I love tea and was happy to get some to take home.
After the tea we headed back to our hotels to relax and get ready to leave Beijing for Tianjin. Packing all our stuff up was quite an ordeal! The majority of our clothes were dirty by this point, but we had done quite a bit of shopping and had 4 silk blankets that we had added to the multitude of other stuff that we brought. After we got most of our stuff packed we headed down to a restaurant that Helen had recommended and had a wonderful dinner. The beef & black pepper was fabulous and the broccoli was soo yummy. It was also a lot cheaper than the other meals that we had had and we kicked ourselves for ordering room service those 2 nights. Poor Cackie was extremely pooped by this point and almost fell asleep in her food. She crawled into Michael’s lap and was out in seconds. Poor kiddo had changed her body clock 13 hours and gone 2 days with no nap, it was all catching up with her and she just couldn’t take it anymore. We weren’t too far behind her, which is why I’ve been so far behind in getting this updated!

May 2

OK, I’m a day behind so I need to get caught up… On Friday we met Helen at 9 am and were very excited to get to meet Kris, Jim & Austin our travel mates. Austin is 9 and he and Cackie hit it off immediately! They are from Florida and are adopting a 4 year old boy from Dailin.
Within a few short minutes we arrived just outside the Tiananmen Square area. It was crazy packed with people and Kris and I were walking along trying to keep up with Helen and the kids, but talking the whole time getting to know each other. She asked me what we were naming our son and when I said Owen her mouth dropped open… they are naming their son Owen, too! How weird is that? We’ve decided that there is definitely a red thread involved and that we were all destined to meet. (now after spending 2 full days with them, we’re seriously thinking about an arranged marriage for Cackie & Austin, lol!)
So, anyway… we walked through Tiananmen Square and it was packed full of people. There was a very long, slow moving line in one area and Helen told us that it was the line for people to go in and pay their respects to Chairman Mao because his body has been preserved in a glass coffin inside. We would have liked to go in, but you can’t carry cameras, wear jewelry, etc. so it just wasn’t possible.
After walking across Tiananmen Square (where we got LOTS of curious stares from all sorts of people) we headed across the street to the Forbidden City. I’ve seen tons of pictures of the Forbidden City, but they are VERY deceiving! I’ve always envisioned it to be mostly the huge red building with Chairman Mao’s picture on it, that couldn’t be any further from the truth! The reality is that the Forbidden City is HUGE! Now I can fully understand why it was called a city. There are a number of different gates and courtyard areas that surround the different temples and buildings. The only disappointing part was that we never actually went into a building to do any touring. There was one area where we could see the personal living quarters of the Emperor, but only from behind glass.
Touring the Forbidden City was very exhausting, especially when touring with a hyper, rambunctious, cranky, thirsty 3 year old (note to self… always carry a bottle of water in China!). At other times it was comical and lots of fun because the Chinese people were fascinated with Austin. They treated him like a rock star, wanting to get their picture taken with him, etc. Cackie was also very interesting to them because she was obviously Chinese, but spoke perfect English, so she drew quite a bit of attention, too. By the time we were done we were soooo ready for lunch. Helen had arranged lunch for us at a local restaurant and it was very good. We had a super spicy kung pao chicken, Chinese cabbage, pork with vegetables, egg with mountain vegetables and soup. We really enjoyed it and were super stuffed when we left.
But, they day had just begun… after lunch we visited a silk factory and learned about the silk making process from cocoons to the final product, especially their famous blankets. Of course, after they showed us how the silk was made they had to sell us some. We bought some absolutely beautiful silk blankets with silk covers that I can’t wait to get home and snuggle in.
After the silk factory we went to tour a Hutong area. The Hutongs are the old traditional housing areas of Beijing. In the past they were where multiple generations of one family would live in separate housing units surrounding a single courtyard, but now they are multiple units each with a different family. The Hutongs have many modern conveniences, but no restrooms… that is shared in a common public area. We were invited into the home of one of the families and we got the chance to sit down and talk with them and learn a little about their lives. It was very interesting and extremely humbling.
The best part of the Hutongs was the Rickshaw tour that we got. We got a tour of the maze of the housing area, both to and from the home of the family that we visited. Cackie loved it and we got to see a lot of what life is like in the Hutongs.
When we were finished at the Hutongs we then headed to the Chinese acrobat show. It was AMAZING! Cackie was totally mesmerized by the whole thing. Unfortunately it was just before the end of the show that she totally crashed! Poor girl hadn’t had a nap all day and had been going and going non-stop. Michael carried her out of the theater (a major feat in itself) and he held her until we got back to the hotel, but first we had one more stop to make... Helen took us to a local restaurant that is famous for its Peking Duck. We had a number of other dishes, too (soup, beef & potatoes, duck liver pate, cabbage, chicken & vegetables). It was all very good, especially the duck. By the end of the meal we were soo beat that we could barely stay awake. Poor Michael was not only tired, but he was also carrying all 40+ pounds of Cackie!
Needless to say after dinner Helen took us back to our hotels. We got in, got Cackie changed and into bed (she hardly woke up for that) and then we headed to our room. By 9 pm I had crashed HARD! Apparently Caryn came into our room twice, one time used our hair dryer, but I didn’t know a thing about it, I was dead to the world. So, that’s why I didn’t get this written and updated on time. Michael took a TON of pictures, so now I’ll go through them and see if I can post some to share.

May 1

It’s Friday morning as I write this, so I need to catch up on what happened on Thursday.

Michael and I ended up waking early and that’s when I took advantage of the quiet to write about our flight here. My head was killing me at that point and I took a nice hot shower to help clear it. We woke the girls up around 6:45, they had slept well and were ready to start the day. After getting ourselves ready we headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet.
Breakfast was really good and filling, it included everything from pancakes, French toast and scrambled eggs to steamed pork buns, fried rice, egg rolls, noodles and pork dumpings (that’s what the sign said, let’s hope they just lost the “l” in translation since they were quite tasty).
We met Helen in the lobby at 9 am and she had our car and driver waiting. Cackie was in a much better mood and Helen could see what we meant about her being full of energy. We all climbed in our bus and headed for the Temple of Heaven. The Temple grounds were huge with lots of park settings and TONS of people everywhere. When we first walked in Cackie froze in her tracks, mesermized by some ribbon dancers. It was amazing to watch through her eyes the beauty of the dance. Then as we walked a little further we saw different groups of people practicing Tai Chi Bo. They were holding some sort of racquet and balancing a ball on the racquet while moving in a synchronized rhythm. It looked really easy, but I’m sure that it was MUCH harder than it looked. One man approached us with his ball and racquet, giving us the opportunity to try it ourselves. We all declined the opportunity to make fools of ourselves!
We saw a number of other groups gathered on the grounds, some were signing opera and playing musical instruments (Cackie really enjoyed this, too) and some were playing shuttle cock or hackeysack. The grounds were beautiful with lots of green grass and many beautiful large trees.
Helen led us into the temple and described the significance of many of the aspects of the temple. The tiles and much of the decoration is in a blue color to signify respect to the gods, this is in contrast to the Forbidden City which has lots of golden color to signify the emperor or royalty. In the areas where the emperor would walk or have ascess the steps and tile formations are all in multiples of 9 because 9 is a very lucky number in China and signifies greatness. But, in areas where the common people would walk the steps and tile formations were all in multiples of 10 because it is seen as less dominant than the number 9.
The Temple of Heaven grounds are actually made up of multiple different temples, each has a significance to give thanks for a good harvest. We didn’t visit each little temple, you can’t go inside just wander around and fight your way to catch a glimpse of what is inside. There were lots of steps and Cackie was in heaven when she was given the opportunity to run and be free. After exploring part of the ground, Helen took us to a small studio where local art students are given the opportunity to sell their work and earn some money. The artwork was all soo beautiful and we splurged and bought a gorgeous oil painting of a child in a traditional tiger hat. We bought a couple of other small items, each soo beautiful.
Cackie was really well behaved through all that, so Helen treated her to an ice cream treat. Let’s just say that Helen has definitely found the way to Cackie’s heart! We wandered the grounds some more and Helen took us to the area where the emperor would stand and speak to the masses of people. It is in a large circular area and there is a raised stone platform, just big enough for one person to stand on. There were lots of people gathered around it, each taking their turn to stand on the stone and have their picture taken. We tried to get Cackie to stand on it, but she started to get ornery and there was one man taking more than his fair share of time, so we left that area.
When we exited the park we were bombarded with people selling cheap souvenirs and books. There were even men with these oven type cookers attached to their bicycles and tons of baked sweet potatoes piled on them. They smelled soo good, but if you risked stopping to purchase one you would have been bombarded by the other vendors.
After a few minutes we found our car and driver and he took us back to the hotel. We had thought about going to lunch, but none of us was really hungry. By the time we got back to the hotel I was starting to feel really bad, almost like this stuff had gotten into my chest. So, at that point all I wanted to do was lay down and rest. It was time for Cackie to take a nap anyway, good timing all around. We went back up to our room, Cackie watched a movie on her DVD player and we turned on HBO to some Julia Roberts movie. We all just chilled out and relaxed, still trying to adjust to the time change. After a while Caryn & Michael went down to the little market for a few things and Caryn went off on her own to explore the Prada and Gucci stores. I think she quickly caught on that there wasn’t much she could afford and just enjoyed the window shopping.
Pretty much the rest of the afternoon we rested, Cackie took a good nap and didn’t want to wake up for anything. We tried to bribe her that we would go swimming in the hotel pool, but even that couldn’t wake her up. Finally, around 7 pm we got up and went out for a walk. We sort of followed the crowds and came to the huge shopping district here. It was really cool to be walking along enjoying ourselves, actually we were doing the same thing as all the local people.
About this time Cackie started acting up some, not wanting to hold our hands, whining a lot, etc. I think there are a lot of things going through her head, I can only guess what is going on but I suspect that she’s having some emotional trouble with things. Anyone who knows Cackie knows that she loves to be the center of attention and will do just about anything to be seen as such, but here that’s not the case. It’s Aunt Caryn, Mom & Dad who are the center of attention and I think some of that is hard on her. I also wonder if she’s starting to realize that although we are all people, she does look different that Mom & Dad. Here she shares features and can associate physically with the Chinese people, but she does not speak like them and cannot interact with them. I wonder if at some level this is bothering her and she just doesn’t know how to express it. She does get some attention, but I think it’s mostly because people quickly realize that she is adopted and they want to stare at the Chinese girl who has caucasion parents.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped in a tea shop to get some tea to take back to the room. Drinking lots of tea and staying on top of my medication seem to be helping me feel better, so I wanted to keep that up. After that we headed back to the room and ordered room service again. We ate western food this time, hamburgers, club sandwich and grilled cheese. The hotel actually has a very limited Asian menu and we wanted something different than the night before.
After dinner, I was feeling really bad and I think I basically passed out on the bed. I remember hearing Michael and Caryn take Cackie across the hall to their room and then the next thing I remember was the room being dark. Thankfully I got some good rest and am feeling quite a bit better this morning. We ordered room service for breakfast and as soon as it gets here I’ll take my meds. Hopefully that should carry me through the day. We have a very exciting day planned… Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, a traditional lunch, Hutong tour and an acrobat show and Peking Duck for dinner.

Enjoy the pictures!

We're in China - April 29 & 30

Getting ready to leave

We’re here! It’s now about 3:45 am on Thursday and I’m having trouble sleeping, so I figured I’d get up and write out our story so far. (Michael is semi awake, so I’m sitting on the floor of the hotel room around the corner in the doorway. I think Cackie & Caryn are sleeping, they are in a room across the hall.)
So, our journey began at 2:30 am on Tuesday. Michael & I were excited and anxious and actually got up a few minutes before the alarm went off (quite an accomplishment at 2:30 am!) We got ourselves ready and it wasn’t until 3:15 that we woke up CackieDoodle. She was a little cautious at first, but quickly figured out what was going on and started giving out high-fives to all of us! She dressed quickly and was excited to be leaving.
Dad & Michael got all the luggage piled in the 2 cars and we headed off to the airport just before 4 am. When we arrived in the terminal it was absolutely packed with what looked to be some sort of high school group, I immediately started praying that they were waiting on the AirTran check in to open and not United (my prayers were answered thankfully!)
Now, I had searched the United website to try and find out what time the check in at Memphis opened and couldn’t find it anywhere. The only thing I could find was that you had to check-in 2 hours prior to an international flight. So, that meant we needed to check-in at 4 am. Turns out that the check-in counter doesn’t open until 4:30, ggrrrr. But, hey we were the first in line!
Caryn, Michael & I stood with our luggage at the check-in counter, not willing to give up our precious spot and watched the TSA staff prepping the security machines for the day. That was a TON of fun, lol! We all joked that at4:29 a door would finally open and a United employee would appear to start helping us. It was hilarious when this guy who looked like Morgan Freeman (remember this, it comes up again later) wearing a United sweater opened the door and walked toward us. Caryn described it as an “aaahhhh” (insert angels singing) moment! He took care of us and got us checked in all the way to Beijing. We scored a minor victory when he weighed our luggage and each of the 4 pieces was under 44 lbs! (the weight limit for in-China flights is 44 lbs per bag and we wanted to be prepared for that when we fly from Tianjin to Guangzhou).
After we were successfully checked-in we stood and hung out with Mom & Dad while we eyed the security line to make sure it wasn’t getting too long (we wanted to beat that school group through security). After a while it was time to go and fight the security mess. That was quite the ordeal, I have no idea how we would have done it without Caryn being there! After we got into the concourse we spotted the wonderful oasis of Starbucks and quickly got in line for a much needed caffeine boost.
When we arrived at the gate and got settled, Michael pointed out that we needed to get a gate check tag for the monster stroller. I spotted a girl at the counter and started to head that way, but got distracted watching a story on CNN. A few minutes later I headed to the counter and there was “Morgan Freeman” waiting to help me out. I couldn’t help but laugh to myself that it was like the movie “Evan Almighty” where Morgan Freeman, “God”, is everywhere and everyone at the same time.
We actually went outside to board the plane in Memphis, after having to navigate down a flight of stairs while carrying our multitude of bags AND the double stroller, that was a lot of fun, NOT! Our flight to Chicago was uneventful, just as we wanted it to be. When we arrived in Chicago it took some navigating but we were finally able to make it outside the security gates to meet up with Uncle Donald. They weren’t very accommodating to passengers spending time with non passengers, so we basically sat on benches outside of the check-in/security areas and had coffee and bagels.
We were able to spend a couple of hours with Uncle Donald and let Cackie blow off some steam. She loved seeing Donald and would just run over to him and give him big hugs! I’ve got some great video of Cackie & Caryn acting silly that I might just sell to the highest bidder, lol!
About an hour and a half before our flight we said our goodbyes to Uncle Donald and headed through the security maze again. It went a little easier that time, but not much. When we finally arrived at the gate there was a sign stating that they would check-in each person and verify that they had a valid visa before you could board the plane. When we did this we took advantage of the opportunity and asked about getting our seats moved around (when our seats had been assigned in Memphis, Cackie & I were together, but Michael was a couple seats down the row and Caryn was behind us.) At first the lady told us that the flight was overbooked and there was nothing she could do. She suggested boarding and then seeing if others around us were willing to switch. But, thankfully another lady at the counter overheard what we were asking and said she would take care of it. She did some searching, reseated 4 others and was able to get us 4 seats together in the center section of the plane quite close to the boarding door and directly in front of the bathroom area. This ended up working out great because we didn’t have anyone behind us banging on our seats and since we were near the front of the plane most of the foot traffic came from behind us. (Kudos for United on this one!)
By the time we boarded the flight Cackie was doing anything she could to fight off sleep. Poor girl was going on adrenaline and was starting to get out of control. Michael, Caryn & I were all pooped and couldn’t wait to get off the ground to get some sleep. The plane was loaded, we pushed off from the gate and taxied down the runway for a while before the Captain came on and said that we were headed back to the gate. There was some sort of electrical problem that needed attention.

Waiting for the electrical problem to be fixed.

Hours later after a meal.
At first they thought it was a “backup” system for the plane, but they later found out that it was a necessity and a crew had to be sent over to the international terminal to swipe the necessary part from another plane there. This ended up taking nearly two hours, the whole time which the plane got a little warm and we all struggled with not falling asleep. Thankfully Cackie had conked out by this time and we all dozed off and on for a while.
Finally, about 2 hours late we took off and they rushed meal service to us. Cackie had been complaining that she was hungry, so we woke her up and tried to get her to eat. She was NOT happy with us, but did eat a little when we promised her that she could watch a movie.
The flight itself was uneventful, just VERY LONG! Cackie did really well overall. She watched most of “Finding Nemo” with Caryn and did some coloring and practicing on her writing. I could tell that she was missing her friends already when I gave her a little notepad and she would tear off pages, color on them a bit and then say “this is for Alex, this is for Jessyln, this is for Jackson”, etc. By the time we left the plane there were lots of notebook pages scattered around our seating area, lol!
It wasn’t until the last couple hours of the flight that Cackie finally crashed hard. We tried to wake her up for the final meal service because she kept saying she was hungry, but she would have nothing to do with it. She was soo zonked out that Michael had to carry her off the plane while Caryn & I schlepped the majority of our misc baggage. Thankfully they had the stroller waiting for us, so he was able to settle her down in that. We made it through Customs with no problem, took a “train” to the luggage terminal and found that all 4 bags arrived safely!
We found our heavenly guide, Helen, easily as we were exiting the terminal and she guided us through the maze of the masses of people. Lines and waiting order do not apply in China, it’s everyone for themselves when in big groups, so it wasn’t easy to get us all onto the same elevator. We got a nice tour of each floor of the terminal, since someone had pushed the wrong button and we went down instead of up, so we were especially glad to have Helen with us! She took us to our waiting van and we all piled in. Then the real adventure of the day began… I turned in my seat to look towards Caryn & Helen and couldn’t help but laugh at the expressions on Caryn’s face. Driving in China is like nothing I have ever experienced and Caryn was getting a really nice introduction to it. We spent most of the trip riding on the shoulder of the road, dodging in and out of other cars! I couldn’t watch most of it, too stressful, so mostly gave Helen my full attention. Caryn later said that she could no longer complain about Dad’s driving, that compared to this it wasn’t soo bad after all!
Helen is awesome! She had an itinerary planned out for us listing all the sights we will be seeing on Friday and Saturday. There is another family from Orange Park, FL arriving on Thursday and we will be touring Beijing with them. She told us about some of the things that we will be seeing and really scored with us when she said that she likes to take families to eat at places that are not touristy, but where the local “real” people go. We LOVED that and are all excited about experiencing more of the “real” China. The only downside was when she warned Michael against drying the different foods from the street vendors. He has hoped to be adventurous, but she strongly warned that those vendors are not very sanitary. Helen tried real hard to win Cackie over, but Cackie was being especially grumpy and didn’t warm up much. We warned Helen that she is not normally like that and to be prepared for her to be a bundle of energy after getting some sleep! Grumpy Cackie after arriving in Beijing.
We didn’t really have anything official scheduled for today (Thursday) because we wanted to adjust to the time change, but Helen really wanted to take us out and make sure we got to see something, so we planned that she will take us to see the Temple of Heaven this morning. A really nice bonus to our trip! That will take a few hours and then we can come back to the hotel to rest and maybe do some exploring on our own.
We finally arrived at our beautiful hotel, Helen got us checked in and she & Michael went around to a grocery store to get us some water while Caryn, Cackie & I headed up to the room. Only trouble was that our room number is 2405 and the elevator only went to 19! So we rode around a few minutes trying to figure it out when we ran into Michael back down in the lobby. We just couldn’t get enough elevator riding, so we went on the same adventure again. I’m sure that we looked like the 4 Stooges to anyone who was watching us! We were just soo beat, nothing was making sense to us. Finally with the help of someone from the front desk we found our separate wing of the hotel and caught up with the bellboy who had been searching for us to let him in our rooms, lol!
It was about 7:30 pm by the time we finally got into our room and we quickly unloaded what was needed to feel like humans again. We each took showers and that helped our outlook on things a whole bunch (in the van on the way to the hotel Cackie actually would not sit in BaBa’s lap because she said that he didn’t smell good!). Around 8:30 we ordered room service (prawn & pepper stir fry, prawn dumplings, vegetable dumplings and fried rice). It was YUMMY! Nothing special, but it hit the spot for us. After that we tucked Cackie into bed across the hall and within minutes Michael & I were asleep ourselves, even despite the fact that the beds are like bricks with sheets, lol!
He slept well most of the night, I did a bit of tossing and turning, but I think a lot of that is due to the sinus funk that I have developed. I honestly haven’t felt this bad since my surgery, so I think I’m going to start taking my antibiotics this morning to ward off any problems.
So, that brings us to now… I got up at 3:45 am and started writing this. Michael was up about 30 minutes later and now it’s almost 5:30 am and I’m sitting on my bed next to the window watching the sun rise over Beijing. Pretty cool! The view outside of our hotel room

The city so far doesn’t seem to have as many large buildings as Hong Kong, it seems to be more spread out. I think some of that is because they are trying to preserve Beijing as a more “asian” look and feel, not just big skyscrapers. Most of the buildings I can see from here have the curved ceramic tile rooftops, and there is a beautiful flowering tree just across the street. This area definitely caters to tourists and the very wealthy. On the way here we passed a Rolls Royce dealership, a Ferrari dealership and lots of high end shopping stores. That should provide for some cool walking and window shopping later!
I’ll try to update again later after we do our touring. I’m excited to meet the other family coming in today and we can’t wait to see what Helen recommends for lunch and dinner dining!
Love to everyone!

China or Bust!

We'll we're just about off! We're about to head to bed for a quick nap and get up really, really early.

Next post we'll be on our way!

Countdown Complete!

We've completed our countdown to China. See the link here...

ONE!

In less than 24 hours we will be on our way!

 

I'm at work now, everything is finished, even took care of our last minute banking needs at the credit union... now I'm just here for a little longer available to answer questions.  When I leave here I'm headed to Michael's office to have lunch with him (yummy Mexican!) and then I'm off to finish up some stuff.  Just a few last minute items to pick up and stuff in the suitcases.

Then at 3pm I've got my monthly massage scheduled!  That is going to feel sooo good.  After that I'll work on some things at the house and pick Cackie up from school.

 

Tonight we plan to go to Bosco's for dinner.  That is where Michael & I went almost 3 years ago the night before we left for China to get Cackie.  Guess we're being superstitious, but we want everything to go just as well this trip.

 

The only really hard thing to do today is get the carryon bags packed.  I've got to figure out how to get everything I need in my stuff, but once that's done we're ready to go.

 

My mom & dad will get here this afternoon and will take us to the airport sooo early in the morning.  Our flight leaves at 6 am and we need to check in 2 hours ahead of time, yuck!

But, once we arrive in Chicago we have a couple hour layover and my Uncle Donald will be meeting us there to spend some time with us.  Cackie is totally excited about that, but I think she's expecting him to go on to China with us, lol!  She's gonna be disappointed!

 

I hardly slept last night, even though I was absolutely exhausted, so maybe that's a blessing and I'll be able to get to bed early and get a couple of hours in.  That would be really nice.  Although, I don't really expect to get much sleep, I'm pretty much at the point of overwhelmed excitement and I don't know if sleep will happen.

 

I hope to get in one more post before we leave.  Stay tuned...

TWO!

We survived Sunday!  One day closer to leaving!

 

We went to Church, something that we haven't done much this year because of all the work around the house that we've had going on.  It was nice to be there.  Before the end of the service, Pastor Martha shared with everyone that we were leaving on Tuesday and soo many people shared their congratulations with us and said they would keep us in their prayers.  That was especially nice!

 

After Church Michael, Cackie & I went out for BBQ!  We were trying to get in some of the foods that we won't get for a few weeks and BBQ fit the bill nicely.  Later in the afternoon our friends Tom & Libby called and wanted to meet us at Baskin Robbins for ice cream.  That was a wonderful treat on a Sunday afternoon!

 

The rest of the day we ran a few last minute errands and worked on getting everything packed.  We're just about done, just need to get our carryon bags organized and any last minute items.

THREE!

This evening...
Me: "OMG! In 3 days we're going to China"
Michael: "Don't worry, that's nothing compared to the fact that we're bringing home a little boy."

He's sooo right! Getting to China will be a breeze. Hopefully bringing Owen home will be as well, but we just can't be sure right now.

So, we're just 3 days away! Last night was our last night just Cackie, Michael & I. Cackie & I got home a little late, but then we headed to the store to do some last minute shopping for Michael's items. After that we had a great dinner out. It was a really nice night together.
This morning we got up early and headed to our favorite coffee shop for breakfast. The last time Michael & I had been to this coffee shop was on 5/25/05, the morning that we left Memphis to get Cackie. We can't believe that it's been soo long since we were there, but we vowed to take both the kids back real soon!
We had a great morning until my mother in law called to say that my step son was creating problems. All I can hope is that he at some point realizes where he went wrong and corrects his mistakes. Then, we headed home and found a horrible surprise. Our sweet Baby cat was laying in the street across from our house. She had been hit by a car and was long gone. She had grown on Michael & I very much, especially in the last few years and we will miss her terribly. Baby cat, your biscuits were the BEST!
After we got over that, Cackie & I headed to Hallie's birthday party. It was wonderful to be surrounded by such great friends and have such a good time!
After we got home and Cackie went down for her nap, Aunt Caryn arrived. It was then that soo much of this became real. We're going to China!
Caryn & I worked on getting the majority of our misc stuff into our suitcases and now we're really close to being ready to go. Tomorrow we will finish up the packing, run a few errands and that's about it.
Whoo hoo! We're just hours away from heading to China!

Days till China updated...

I've updated our countdown slide show. Check it out here...

FOUR!

It's starting to really sink in that we have just 4 days to go! I'm just about finished up with all my miscellaneous tasks at work, so now I'm there to answer any last minute questions and help out in any way I can. I work all day today and as I keep telling everyone... at 12:01 pm on Monday my buns are in my car headed home!
Tonight will be the last night that it will just be me, Michael & Cackie. We're hoping to do some things around the house, make some dinner and chill out the rest of the evening. Maybe we'll get the blinds hung in the new room and Cackie can spend her first night in there.
Tomorrow I think the true reality will really sink in. My sister will get here sometime tomorrow afternoon and we will begin the final packing process. I'm really hoping to be done with packing by the time we go to bed on Sunday. It will be nice on Monday to take care of last minute items, go out to dinner and try to get to bed early.
That's about it for now. I wanted to post early so that I didn't forget again! I've got pictures to post, but they're at home :-(

FIVE!

Well, I missed another day... wish I could say it was because we had our noses to the grindstone and we got tons done, but nope. My in-laws came over to spend a little time with Cackie and we went out to dinner with them. It was a good night. It was nice to veg out a bit. Michael & I even got to watch my two favorite shows (Grey's Anatomy & ER) after Cackie went to bed. I got a good amount of work done on Owen's blanket, too. I'm almost 2/3 of the way finished, it will definitely keep me busy on that 13.5 hour flight to Beijing!

Speaking of Cackie... I'm starting to get quite perturbed with her. Yesterday I picked her up from school to find her sitting on the bench with the teacher, not running around playing with the other kids. It seems that she had a problem with spitting yesterday and wouldn't stop, even after she was repremanded a number of times. Oy Vey! What is going through her little mind?
I know this is all in reaction to the changes that are about to take place, heck her whole little world is going to be rocked upside down in a little more than a week, but what's with starting this crap soo soon? She's had no TV for two days now and won't get any on Friday either.
She had asked if she could take her favorite yogurt treats to school on Monday to share with her friends before she leaves and I had agreed whole heartedly (how do you disagree to a kid taking yogurt to school?), but I've warned her now that if she doesn't behave there will be no yogurt treats on Monday. Maybe that will help to get through to her. We'll see...

SIX!

Oh my goodness! Six days left!
Today was not a good day, one that I'm glad to have behind me.
My nerves, anxiety, stress and everything has gotten soo built up that it's been making my stomach hurt all week. Today, it made me downright sick! I think I may have a touch of a stomach bug, too and that definitely didn't help matters.
I ended up leaving work at lunch time and came home to rest (be closer to my bathrom) and work from home. Michael had been out for lunch and stopped by to check on me before he headed back to the office and his first reaction was "wow, you're pale!" Not what I really wanted to hear.
So, I rested up some then got up and did some work from home. My cleaning girls come tomorrow, so the rest of the evening has been spent getting stuff put up and out of their way.
I have little to no energy, it's amazing I got it all accomplished! When I'm done here I'll eat a little white rice I made and then head up to bed. Hopefully this is all behind me and tomorrow I will feel a ton better (fingers crossed).
Michael made huge strides tonight and got the bunk beds put together! Cackie can't wait to sleep in her new bed tomorrow! I didn't take pictures tonight, but I'll do that tomorrow.

We got another bad report about Cackie today. More time in the blue chair! We had already determined that she would get no TV tonight from yesterday's behaviour, but now there will be no TV tomorrow either. We've done a lot of talking about her behaviour, but who knows what;s getting through!

Oops, I missed Seven!

I never got a chance to post yesterday...
I left work early for an appointment and then picked Cackie up at school. I decided to skip what was to be my last Chinese class so I could take Cackie to gymnastics and Michael could work on stuff at the house. It worked out well, she got rid of some of that super energy and Michael was able to get a little more work done in the bedroom.
After that I was just too pooped to even get on the computer. We were in bed just after 9:30!

We're starting to see some bad behaviour coming out of Cackie. She had to sit in the blue chair twice today and when I arrived to pick her up she was doing time on the wall outside. Apparently she is doing a lot of talking back, not listening and making bad choices. She's been doing a lot of the same at home, too. We're really trying to work with her to work on this, but it's tough to correct, especially just a week before our trip. Hopefully by the end of the week we will see some improvement.

EIGHT!

Whew, eight days to go! I can't believe it, but I'm actually glad to be back at work today. We worked soo hard on stuff this weekend that I'm seriously pooped. My concentration level at work is not 100%, but at least I get to sit down and rest! (On Saturday, while we were on our way home from the birthday party Cackie told me that she didn't feel good. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I think all my energy is gone." Boy, I can relate to that today!)

I've become addicted to a podcast series by Seth Harwood and listening to that has helped me to stay focused on work and get some stuff accomplished. I'm also keeping my handy little notepad right beside me to write down any last minute things that I can think of. My brain is super muddled right now, I will die if I lose this notepad!
On a positive note, the weather here is absolutely gorgeous today! I stepped out to get some lunch and didn't want to go back to my desk. I should have stayed and eaten outside, but I wanted to do this post, so Blogger won.
Tonight I get to look forward to paying bills, yippee! The best part is that it will be the last time I have to worry about that until after we get home.

3 year anniversary

I didn't forget! I'm just a little late posting it...

Yesterday we celebrated the 3 year anniversary of Cackie's referral. It's really hard to believe that it's been 3 whole years. We have a tradition of taking a picture of her each year on April 19. The "updated pictures" that we received of her after referral day just happened to be taken on April 19, so here are 4 years worth of Cackiedoodle...

Days till China II

Room makeover

The new room is just about finished! We are soo happy with how it has turned out. There are still a few small things to do, but for the most part it's ready to move in.

We will move the chests of drawers in tonight and this week Michael will work on putting the new bunk beds together. Once all the furniture is in I'll add new pictures

NINE!

Wow! We're now in single digits!
Today we go A LOT accomplished and the freak out feeling from yesterday is almost gone.
Cackie & I took a trip to Walmart to pick up the remainder of the items we need. It feels really good to almost have everything checked off that list.
Michael did a whole bunch of odds & ends around the house, including hanging the closet doors in the kids room and installing the baseboards.
We still have a bunch to do, but it's getting better.
We're down to a pile of stuff in the middle of the office floor and I now need to start splitting it out to the different suitcases. The hardest part right now is planning the clothes we need to take. The weather is a little cooler than we have here, and we may need to take some pants to get through the cooler days. I'm watching the weather intently this next week.
OK, gotta get back to working on Owen's blanket.

TEN!

Major stress setting in today! Still soo much to do and I feel like we are running out of time.
This morning Cackie & I went to a birthday party and headed home just after lunch for her to take a nap. After nap she & I went out to do some last minute shopping for miscellaneous stuff.

Michael was able to get the floor of the bedroom finished and the dresssers are drying from their coat of poly right now. He also did a bunch of misc stuff around the house as well.

Tomorrow we still have a lot to do, but hopefully it will be more manageable. Part of my major stress today is that I spent so much time with Cackie and she just doesn't shut up! I feel horrible saying that about my child, but sometimes I just need a few minutes to just enjoy the quiet!
That's all for now, I'm pooped and need to get some rest. Tomorrow we're in single digits!