Pictures!!!

 Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall. It was beautiful!!

 It was a Harry Potter broom!

 Cleaning up!

 The entire family! Although Zane and Quade were a little short and the boys were all a little thin.

Scottie was famous. Everyone wanted their picture taken with the golden haired girl.

Hutong's and Youth Hospitals

When I was getting ready to take my walk yesterday afternoon Scottie asked if she could come. So we bundled up and headed out.  For those who are not familiar with the word Hutong they are alleys with small tight houses with courtyards. These are the oldest neighborhoods in Beijing. Many are 600 years old or more. This is the old Beijing    There are many shops and restraints with much activity. People walk, bike, ride scooters both gas and electric and drive an occasional car down these tight alleys. The bikes will ring little bells to let you know they re coming its the electric scooters you have to keep an eye out for as they are silent.  We walked for a couple of miles and then headed back to the hotel.  

Scottie had a good time but would get flustered when we would go into a shop or restaurant.  She said it was bad that we did not speak Chinese and people did not speak English. I think I was finally successful in convincing her it would work out ok when we were successful in purchasing hair conditioner at our local grocery store. We have a new joke because of this store the sign out front says in English " Upermarket", it is on both sides so I am sure it did not have the S fall off.  In the Hutong we came across the Saga youth hostle. We went inside and discovered it also had a small western looking   Bar with food. It could have been a brew pub in your town USA.   Scottie did not want to go in, but came in with me she also was not interested in looking at the menu. The menu had only pictures of the food. It looked like they taken all there food ideas from Friday's and Hooters. When we left and started walking again. Scottie said, " why did you want to go to the youth hospital?  I didn't see any kids".  She felt better after we cleared things up.  

We checked on Dayna took a picture from our wi Dow and went out to find some dinner Dayna was feeling better but wanted to catch up on her sleep and rest.  We went to a mall that was 6 or 7 stories tall. If you Look at the picture at the bright square on the building on the left that is where the mall is. The bright light is a 30' tall TV screen. We had no luck finding anything that Scottie wanted to eat o we went back and ate at the noodle returns next to our hotel.   We had enough to bring some back for Dayna.  

It's almost 4:30 in the morning now. I have managed to  wake up Dayna who is feeling much better. I may just go take another walk and see what else is out there.   It is strange how traveling this direction may be hard to adjust to, but not in a way that drains you. I have plenty of energy I just can't gt on the local time. I'm not on my time either as it is 11:30 in the morning on Friday in Alaska. Well that's all for now.  

Quade's Football Socks

We had a nice breakfast this morning at the hotel.  Scottie ate so much I thought she was going to pop. She had steamed cabbage, steam buns, steamed pumpkin, deep fried meat of unknown origin, dumpling soup, fresh fruit, noodles , waffles with chocolate syrup and whip cream on top and sushie just to name a few.  We left our hotel at 8:30 this morning and went to the great wall. We went to the Mutianyu section. We had a great time. This is by far a better section than the one we went to last time. The drive was longer so we were able to see more of the country side. It took an hour and a half to reach the wall. As it is the winter and there are less tourists it was very calm and crowd free.  

We brought quades camera and found out the battery holds a charge for about 10 pictures. We need to charge his camera and see if there are any pictures worth adding to the blog. Our guide, Forest was nice and took some pictures with his phone and will email them to us. So once again a picture less post. Speaking of Forest I was talking to him both on the way to the wall and on the way back and he fell asleep. It was really quite funny.  I am glad he was not also our driver.  

After the wall we went to lunch and toured a little factory that made vases and pins and other things that starts with a C that spell check won't recognize. It is clear to me I am spelling it real bad.  I found a  thimble that will fit my large fingers.  

We are back at the room Scottie is busy playing and Dayna is taking a nap. Her head is hurting. She thinks it is the air. The air in Beijing is thick. When you get off of the plane the smell hits your nose hard. It is a mix of house fire rubble, rancid fryer grease and Quades football socks.  

That's all for now. I am going to abandon them and go explore. I am off to some Hutongs that are just around the block. 

The flight over and day 1 starts

Here We are in the Novatel Hotel once again in Beijing.  We arrived at the hotel around 11 pm local time last night.  We lost a day in transit. It is now Friday morning in China around 5:30 am.  We woke up around 4.  Even though we travelled all day and were up for well over 24 hours, we woke up refreshed  and ready to go, even if it was way to early.  I went to the gym and worked out while Dayna and Scottie lounged and watched cartoons in bed.  It was a cartoon that Scottie remembered from when she was little. 

Breakfast starts at 6 so we will be getting ready soon. We will meet our tour guide in the lobby at 8:30 to take our drive to the great wall.   

Our trip while long was very pleasant with little to no delays or action worth reporting. The highlight was traveling on Korean Air. The plane was very clean, the food was the best yet from any air carrier I have experienced. The customer service top notch and all the electronics worked.(see footnote at bottom for new Kings of Leon album review).  If Delta ranked a cramped uncomfortable grumpy 4 the last time we traveled to Asia, Korean Air ranked a spaciouse and friendly 10 plus. When traveling to Asia spend a little more if needed and fly Korean.  It will be well worth it. We will try to get some pictures posted tonight from the trip today. 

Footnote:  the choice of movies and music on the flight was great. I have been wanting to here the new album from Kings of Leon, entitled "Mechanical Bull" since I heard they had a new one. I listened to it 4 or 5 times on our 2 flights with Korean Air.  Although I slept though some of the songs each time I listened I was able to listen to the whole thing.  For those who are familiar with the band it is a great album and was worth the wait.  While the album at times was almost overpolished espesially on the song "beutiful war", that had U2 overtones the album still had the rough edge we have all come to expect and love.  One thing that was a suprise  to me was the fact that I could understand most of the words being sang. In the past when I have listened to previous albums each time I listen to the songs I hear something different. Even though you can understand what is being said don't let that scare you away. One song " comeback story" tells of a man trying to rekindle an old flame with toung in check humor. " I'd walk a mile in your shoes, now I'm a mile away and I have your shoes." this is an album any fan will want to add to there collection.  

Dayna will be reviewing Panda Pow our new VPN in an upcoming post so stay tuned. 

Adventure time begins!

We are at the airport waiting for our jet.  We have been told it is running late, but they hope we will make our connection to Portland.  

It was hard to say goodbye to the boys.  I wish they were coming with us. 

Travel Schedule

Okay the schedule is set. The tickets have been purchased and the reservation made. We are ready to go. Now we just have to wait.
Townsend's room is finished and now we are just waiting on a lamp for the side table,  a picture to be hung, and for my mother to finish his duvet for the bed. The packing has begun and is slowly coming together. Every time we think of something we should take we put it in our suitcase. This means we will need to repack but that is okay. All of Townsend's stuff is packed and we have picked out some toys to take for him. We have a beach ball, a coloring book,  bubbles, a couple of books, stuffed monkey (Scottie is taking her pink stuffed monkey we brought for her in China) and a Captain America action figure to play with Scottie's mermaids, Cinderella, and Elsa.

January 4th - leaving for Portland

January 8th - leave for China

January 9th - arrive in Beijing

January 10th - touring  Mutianyu portion of the Great Wall

January 12th - morning fly to Jinan

                     - afternoon Townsend will arrive at our hotel

January 13th - finalizing the adoption on the china side

January 17th - fly to Guangzhou

January 18th - medical

January 21st - consulate appointment (oath  ceremony)

January 23rd - leaving Guangzhou for Seattle via Seoul

January 24th- arriving in Juneau

We have Travel Approval!

TA!!!!!!!
After 20 days of waiting our Travel Approval finally came. Our agency has submitted our requests for consulate appointments so we should know by tomorrow or Wednesday. At that point we will be able to purchase our plane tickets. We are still hoping that we will be arriving to China on the 10th of January, but we will have to waiting to see.  The plan is that Fred, Scottie and I will be traveling to China to get Townsend and Zane and Quade are staying home with Grandma Sherry. She is so sweet to be flying up to hang with the big boys. Being in high school, it makes it very difficult for them to miss school and we will be gone for 2 weeks. They got to go last time so they have had the opportunity to go to China at least once. Someday we will go back to China for a heritage tour and we will all go. It is going to be hard to be away from them for so long and I know there are going to be things I am going to want to share with them, but we will take lots of pictures and Skype with them regularly.  Okay come on consulate appointments!