We are in China!

We are here and can't believe we just have 3 days until we meet Ingrid Xinling! Our flight here was great- boys were in heaven with all the movies they wanted, tons of food, and they took over full rows to sleep on the last leg from Tokyo to Beijing. Our hotel is filled with 7 other families from our agency whom we now have met. They are coming from all over the U.S. and adopting special needs little ones from all different provinces throughout China. We will spend a few days here touring with them, then all go our separate ways to each province and then meet up again at the end in Guangzhou. The boys met a French couple at breakfast who engaged in conversation (no idea what they were saying), and although the hotel staff speaks quite a bit of English, one step on to the street of Beijing and they are immersed with Chinese. No English, no ability to read or converse. There are different sights and smells and bathrooms and all wonderful differences we love that they can experience. Safe, but slightly uncomfortable. It is so good for them to see life outside their bubble! This morning we went to the Great Wall. Soooooo cool! Here is a picture of the boys, and then a video of them running up the wall. They have so much energy! Two hours of climbing one side and then they sprinted up the other side since we had extra time. 

Next we toured a Cloisine factory, ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant attached to a jade factory, and tried quite a few new things.... some they liked and others they spit out- literally. We are working on the etiquette of quitely putting food into a napkin when you think it tastes gross.

Last stop was the Birds Nest and Olympic village. Also pretty neat except by this point we were fading- jet lag set in. Oskar and Noah crashed while the others went out for food

 

Matt flies in tonight and tomorrow we do some more touring (Forbidden city, Tiananmen Square and more)
A special thanks to sister Angie for doing some copy/paste to this blog. China blocks so many sites.... google, facebook, blogs of any kind, and even Ike's "Moodle" he needs for school!
Good night!!! xoxooxo