A long, long day

Perhaps because it was actually about a day and a half. We were packed and ready to go on Friday save a few things that we needed for our finaly night at home. Saturday we got up and threw those things into our suitcases, zipped them up and packed the car. Then we sat around and waited. The dog/house sitter arrived at 9am and we left for the airport about 9:30.

We have the airport down to a science. Bill takes care of the car and I take care of the kids. Because we could not do curbside check-in for an international flight Bill dropped the kids and I off. We each had a backpack and one rolling suitcase. Even the kids. We are trying to instill in them early if you don't want to carry it, don't pack it. Yes, they still need more stuff to travel than Bill and I but they are getting better every trip. People just love watching them troop through the airport with their backpacks and their suitcases. Personally, I never understand when I see a child walking through the airport with nothing and mom or dad is weighed down with three bigs, including the disney princess backpack.

The flight went fairly well. The children were well entertained with their nintendos and videos and colored pencils and paper. They did hate the food. Note to self, when done with this entry go to the United website and see if I can order fruit plates for the return trip. We did not pack as much in the way of snacks as we usually do - not sure why. 12 hours into the flight Mac got sick. He tried to make it to the bathroom, but there was a line since we were so close to landing. The guy sitting right by the bathroom was less than thrilled. I can't say I blame him.

Our guide met us at the airport (an improvement over our last trip when the guide was late and we got impatient and took a taxi to the hotel. caused all kinds of trouble by doing that.) We got to our hotel and discovered that our two rooms were on different floors. They are fixing that today. We went to dinner here in the hotel. The menu was Chinese. Not American Chinese. It was a challenge to find things the kids would eat, but we managed (beef with asparagus, rice with egg and scallions and shrimp in green tea) and got to bed around 7 pm local time. The kids all woke between 1 and 3. Devlin eventually got back to sleep. The breakfast buffet was a big hit.

Our guide is coming in half an hour and we are off to the Forbidden City