Beijing, China!

Hello from the other side of the world!

We arrived in beautiful Beijing on Thursday afternoon. It is pretty chilly here - kind of the same as home. When we stepped off the plane, I could smell that spicy scent of the air that brought back so many memories. Emma did pretty well on the flight. We all started to get itchy during the last 3 or 4 hours. Barry wound up with a sinus headache all the way from Boston to Beijing and was not a happy camper as you can imagine...He is feeling much better now. We are getting used to the time change now.

Yesterday, our tour guide, Huang Guan Ri (sp?)- American name "Tom", took us to The Great Wall at Badaling. It is as awesome as we've ever seen in pictures and so much more. We climbed pretty high up, up, up! there were quite a few people visiting there. We took many photos. Shy Miss Emma made great friends with Tom, and held his hand all the way up. He is the 4th child in his family from rural Hubei Province. His siblings were all born before family planning went into effect in his home in the countryside. He is 24, and only gets to see his family twice a year. It takes him 30 hours to get there from here; by train, then bus, and then three wheeled bicycle. He is extremely knowledgeable about the history of China, and knows many interesting stories and facts. He will be picking us up soon to take us to the airport! They are really in full force here getting ready for the 2008 Olympics. The little characters which are the symbols of the games are really cute.

Emma is very excited to finally meet Grandma Xiulan who will hopefully be the one picking us up in Kunming. We are staying at the Kunming Hotel on Dongfeng Dong Rd. I tried to find it on the travel websites before we left, but didn't find it. I think it is on the same road we stayed on our last trip. Can't wait to find out when our Anne Min Mei will arrive from JianShui. The red thread is getting shorter by the minute. Pretty soon, our littlest darlin' will be in our arms forever!

I will try to update here after we receive her, or maybe tomorrow if we won't meet her until Monday morning...I will definitely have to look into the picture sharing situation when we get to the hotel.

You are all in our thoughts and prayers. We appreciate your support ever so much.

Love,
Nancy, Barry, Emma, and almost Annie!!!