Well, we made it to China! The flight over was pretty uneventful and fortunately our guide Angela was waiting for us at the airport on Friday afternoon as planned. Most of us were really glad to see her but poor Cheyenne was convinced Angela was there to take her away from us. Poor baby hid behind me and Kevin stuck frozen, in tears and refused to say hello to Angela. I had to kneel down eye to eye and remind/convince Cheyenne that she is ours forever and has no reason to be scared of staying here.
One we finally left the airport, Angela helped us get checked into our room and order delivery for dinner. We were all so exhausted that we really too tired to eat. Casey passed out on the sofa within 10 minutes of getting to the room. We ate a little and then got ready for bed. We were all asleep by 8:00...which was a mistake because I woke up wide awake at midnight and had to fight myself to go back to sleep and still woke up every hour. We all got up about 5:00 when we just couldn't force ourselves to stay in bed any longer.
We had breakfast and our guide picked us up at 7:00 am to take the drive to The Great Wall. With traffic, the drive was about two hours.
Mom was super excited. As long as I can remember mom has always dreamed of seeing The Great Wall. This was the biggest reason we decided to come back to Beijing this time. Originally, (before we decided to invite mom to join us), we were planning to see Shanghai or Hong Kong instead of Beijing. Mom would have been fine with either of those places too but it seemed really silly to drag her all the way to China and not see the #1 item on her bucket list. It was also a great opportunity to let Cheyenne experience some of her birth culture.
We took the chair lift up and the boys decided they wanted to do the "steeper but more beautiful" side and Kevin, mom, Cheyenne and I went to the flatter side. In my opinion it was just as beautiful as the other side but didn't have as many steps. Mom was in awe. We walked from watch tower to watch tower and admired the view. When it was time to go, Cheyenne and mom took the chair lift back down and the rest of us took the toboggan slide down. Mom would have taken the slide but they said she was too old! :) This was just as well because we weren't sure if Chey would understand how to operate her toboggan anyway.
Once back down to the bottom we haggled with the locals to buy some souvenirs and then our guide took us to a traditional lunch. I was a little apprehensive about the lunch because I'm such a picky eater, but it was absolutely delicious!
After lunch we went to Jing Shan Park. This is a park that has a trail leading up to some temples and look outs that overlook the forbidden city. The view was awesome and it was great to show that to mom and Cheyenne as well but we didn't stay very long because it was super crowded and it is not considered rude in China to push/wedge your way into a crowd and the people have never heard of "personal space". We snapped a few pictures and went back to the van.
We convinced the van driver to take the long way back to the hotel so that we could see "The Bird's Nest". This is the 2008 Olympic stadium shaped like a giant bird's nest. It's really cool to see. Plus, taking the long way gave mom an opportunity to truly experience the Beijing traffic chaos where traffic signals and painted lanes are all (apparently) optional!
Once back to the room we played cards and ordered dinner (Pizza Hut of all places). After dinner we were all exhausted again so we went to bed early. You would think we would have learned our lesson the night before but we didn't. We were in bed at 8:30 and back to wide awake at 3:00 this morning. Again, we forced ourselves to stay in bed until 6:00. Once up we packed up our stuff and took a walk in search for the closest McDonald's. According to Siri we were on top of our destination but no Mc D's in sight (Siri hates me so this is no surprise). We settled for a Burger King. We ate and came back to the hotel. Now we're killing time until our guide comes to get us to take us to the airport.
This afternoon we are flying to Nanning. Nanning is the capital city of Gaungxi Province which is the city where we will meet Faith tomorrow. I'm actually trying not to think about it too much because once I do, I'll be a nervous wreck. As of right now we aren't scheduled to meet her until tomorrow afternoon but I'm anxious to see what time our guide tells us. When we adopted Cheyenne we weren't scheduled until 3:00 and when we arrived in her city our guide told us it was moved to 10:00 in the morning.
I will probably write another post tomorrow morning prior to our big meeting. Hopefully that will give me a chance to calm my nerves. You would think the second time around would be less nerving but that is certainly not the case. More on that later as I'm trying not to think about that yet.
Please stay tuned and continue to pray for safe travels and a smooth transition for all of us.
One we finally left the airport, Angela helped us get checked into our room and order delivery for dinner. We were all so exhausted that we really too tired to eat. Casey passed out on the sofa within 10 minutes of getting to the room. We ate a little and then got ready for bed. We were all asleep by 8:00...which was a mistake because I woke up wide awake at midnight and had to fight myself to go back to sleep and still woke up every hour. We all got up about 5:00 when we just couldn't force ourselves to stay in bed any longer.
We had breakfast and our guide picked us up at 7:00 am to take the drive to The Great Wall. With traffic, the drive was about two hours.
Mom was super excited. As long as I can remember mom has always dreamed of seeing The Great Wall. This was the biggest reason we decided to come back to Beijing this time. Originally, (before we decided to invite mom to join us), we were planning to see Shanghai or Hong Kong instead of Beijing. Mom would have been fine with either of those places too but it seemed really silly to drag her all the way to China and not see the #1 item on her bucket list. It was also a great opportunity to let Cheyenne experience some of her birth culture.
We took the chair lift up and the boys decided they wanted to do the "steeper but more beautiful" side and Kevin, mom, Cheyenne and I went to the flatter side. In my opinion it was just as beautiful as the other side but didn't have as many steps. Mom was in awe. We walked from watch tower to watch tower and admired the view. When it was time to go, Cheyenne and mom took the chair lift back down and the rest of us took the toboggan slide down. Mom would have taken the slide but they said she was too old! :) This was just as well because we weren't sure if Chey would understand how to operate her toboggan anyway.
Once back down to the bottom we haggled with the locals to buy some souvenirs and then our guide took us to a traditional lunch. I was a little apprehensive about the lunch because I'm such a picky eater, but it was absolutely delicious!
After lunch we went to Jing Shan Park. This is a park that has a trail leading up to some temples and look outs that overlook the forbidden city. The view was awesome and it was great to show that to mom and Cheyenne as well but we didn't stay very long because it was super crowded and it is not considered rude in China to push/wedge your way into a crowd and the people have never heard of "personal space". We snapped a few pictures and went back to the van.
We convinced the van driver to take the long way back to the hotel so that we could see "The Bird's Nest". This is the 2008 Olympic stadium shaped like a giant bird's nest. It's really cool to see. Plus, taking the long way gave mom an opportunity to truly experience the Beijing traffic chaos where traffic signals and painted lanes are all (apparently) optional!
Once back to the room we played cards and ordered dinner (Pizza Hut of all places). After dinner we were all exhausted again so we went to bed early. You would think we would have learned our lesson the night before but we didn't. We were in bed at 8:30 and back to wide awake at 3:00 this morning. Again, we forced ourselves to stay in bed until 6:00. Once up we packed up our stuff and took a walk in search for the closest McDonald's. According to Siri we were on top of our destination but no Mc D's in sight (Siri hates me so this is no surprise). We settled for a Burger King. We ate and came back to the hotel. Now we're killing time until our guide comes to get us to take us to the airport.
This afternoon we are flying to Nanning. Nanning is the capital city of Gaungxi Province which is the city where we will meet Faith tomorrow. I'm actually trying not to think about it too much because once I do, I'll be a nervous wreck. As of right now we aren't scheduled to meet her until tomorrow afternoon but I'm anxious to see what time our guide tells us. When we adopted Cheyenne we weren't scheduled until 3:00 and when we arrived in her city our guide told us it was moved to 10:00 in the morning.
I will probably write another post tomorrow morning prior to our big meeting. Hopefully that will give me a chance to calm my nerves. You would think the second time around would be less nerving but that is certainly not the case. More on that later as I'm trying not to think about that yet.
Please stay tuned and continue to pray for safe travels and a smooth transition for all of us.
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