Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall

Mutianyu Great Wall

Feb. 10, 2012
3 days until JACK DAY!

Internet at our hotel in Beijing, the Jianguo (?) doesn't work very well, so this may have to wait until we get to Nanjing to post.

I just found out that I left the card reader for my camera at home. It's probably right there on the couch, where I was stuffing things into my carryon! If we can't find a card reader or cord, there probably won't be any pictures until we get home.

Today we went to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. It is a bit further than the section we went to on our last trip, and the ride there was a bit scary at times! Lots of narrow roads, hairpin turns, oncoming traffic, etc. Our driver was very nice, and a great driver, I just think that all car trips in China are scary!

On the way to the Great Wall we stopped at the Jade factory and took a little tour, then of course we had to buy a couple things. Em picked out her birthday gift, a beautiful jade and silver pendant, and we got a little jade donut pendant for Jack. We also got a generation ball or "happy family ball".

We were going to take the cable car ride to the top of the Great Wall, but it was down for maintenance. We took a ski lift to the top instead. It was kind of scary for me - I don't like heights! Rich and Evie went first, then Bubba and I, then Mom and Em, then Dad and our guide, Minan. I held Bubba in a death grip the whole way up. There might have been praying involved. (ok, there definitely was!) We walked around a bit at the top, climbed some stairs, took lots of pictures, and then rode the ski lift back down. The vendors at the top kept trying to sell us stuff, and they kept telling Rich they had beer to sell! Rich rode the tobaggon ride back down, but was impatient because the lady in front of him was heavy-handed on the brakes and he couldn't go as fast as he wanted. Bubba decided that the ski lift was not a very good idea, and was pretty upset when we had to get on it to go back down, but was happy when I told him that we would never have to do it again! I sang songs to him on the way down to distract him (sorry everyone who was in hearing range!) and even managed to take a few pictures!

After the Great wall we stopped for lunch at a traditional restaurant. We sat at a table with a big lazy susan (I want one for at home!) We had spring rolls with sweet red bean paste, dumplings with vinegar to dip, rice and chicken, cashew chicken, salt and pepper pork, some other kind of pork, and hot tea and sprite! Then we toured the Cloisonne factory, and bought a couple little things.

Buffet for breakfast, McD's for supper.

Tomorrow is the forbidden city and tiananmen square.

There is lots of traffic and honking as usual in China. It is so loud here all the time.

Travel

Feb. 8 & 9, 2012

The plane ride to China is so very long. At some points it seemed like the "time left in flight" clock was counting UP instead of DOWN! I am so proud of my kids, they were so good on the flights, during everything from the security checks where their Mama got random-bag-checked, to the weird airline food, to the crowds of people and long lines everywhere. When we were about two hours from Beijing, Bubba decided that he would rather go back home, and was a bit teary about it. Poor little guy. After we arrived in Beijing last night, we just checked into the hotel. I showered the kids and put them to bed, then went to bed myself!

Our guide Minan is very nice. She brought each of our children, including Jack, a cute little panda backpack.

woohoo!

We leave in a week! I have so much to do, I wonder if I will get it all done!

Travel Approval, and more!

It's 2:45 am and there's a loud thunderstorm going on, so I got up to check the weather on the computer. My email "dinged" while I was looking at the weather, so I went ahead and clicked on it, and right there was an email from our agency that they had Fed Ex-ed our Travel Approval to us! It should be in my hands later on today!

We had gotten a call last week that our TA was on the way, but we were asked not to say anything until it had arrived to our agency. Now I can tell the world!

Wait, the news gets better! Our agency went ahead and arranged our Consulate appointment last week, too! The Consulate is closed this week due to the Chinese New Year holiday, so if our agency hadn't been on the ball, we wouldn't have been able to book our appointment until next week at the earliest.

We know our travel dates now! We will be leaving for China in two short weeks, Feb. 8, and will meet Jack on Emily's birthday, Feb. 13. Adoption day will be on Valentine's Day, and we will have our Consulate appointment on Feb. 22, and leave for home on Feb. 24.

The Stats:
LOI 4/25/11
PA 4/28/11
I-800A approval 9/19/11
DTC 9/30/11
LID 10/8/11
LOA 11/30/11
I-800 12/13/11
Cabled 12/22/11
Drop off 12/27/11
Pick up 1/10/12
TA 1/19/12
JACK DAY!!! 2/13/12
Adoption Day!!! 2/14/12
CA 2/22/12

Update!

We got an update and some new pictures of Jack! He is now 31" tall and 25#. Now I know what size clothes and diapers to buy for him!