Tiananman Square

Well, we had a great time yesterday. did alot of sight seeing and met
everyone in our group. One other family has brought their 4.5 yr
daughter and Lillian and Callie are great friends! Did Tiananman
Square, Forbidden City and an acrobat show. Joe really noticed a
difference in the dress of the Chinese people compared to the last
time we were here. Lots more wearing jeans. The income of many Chinese
has really benefited from their changing status as a world power. If
you ever get the chance to see a Chinese Acrobat Show, do it! It is
absolutely amazing. I think one comes to Cincy every year or so, we
will be going! Most of us were exhausted yesterday and both kids fell
asleep while at the show. We had a good night's sleep last night and I
think our clocks have switched to China time. Off to the Great Wall
today, can't wait to see it again! Here's a couple pics of our day.

We have arrived!

We had a wonderful trip! Lillian was a super trooper the entire way.
We met five other families and all are very excited to be here. I'm
having a great time in China. (Lillian wrote) We are going Tiananmen
Square today followed by the Forbidden City and a acrobat show. Hope
we all don't fall asleep during it! It's now 3am here and we are all
up because we are starving:) Will try to go back to sleep before pick
up at 12 noon.

We're off!

We're off to China! We are at the Cincy airport waiting for our
flight. We should be in Beijing about 2am tonight. We'll write more
when we get there and have some sleep.)

test

Trying to get around China's blocking of blogs, so following
instructions on how to do this so we can post from China. Otherwise,
we are getting anxious to go. The packing is making me a little crazy
and I can't seem to get rid of a respiratory problem but we are ready
to move into a new chapter of our lives. I think!:)#

5 year reunion

We had a fabulous 5 year reunion of Lillian's adoption group this past weekend. It was great to see a good number of families that traveled to China. Here's a pic!

Final travel plans

Ok, we just got our final travel plans which includes hotels and itineraries. I'll include the addresses for the hotels so you can pull them up. For Beijing it's the following; http://www.kuntairoyalhotel.com/index.php?Locale=en-us

For Guangzhou it's http://www.victoryhotelguangzhou.cn/

Our itinerary includes Oct 8-11 in Beijing, there we will be seeing the Great Wall, Summer Palace, Forbidden City and an acrobat show Friday afternoon. Then we will leave Beijing for Guangzhou on the 11th and then meet Margaret on the 12th! Starting to get very excited in the Brennan house:)

One month to go

Well, it's about a month until we leave for China. I definitely need to start making lists. The obvious list of what to pack, which our agency has on their website, includes; paperwork that needs to go with us, clothing(that's easy, mostly warm weather stuff, see The Weather Channel link), food that we won't be able to get over there(peanut butter is very high on the list), lots of gum(soothes savage beasts and small children), toys that Margaret might like, toys that Lillian "must" have, toys that Mom and Dad need(camera, camcorder, laptop), lots of diapers, formula, all sorts of drinking implements in case Margaret doesn't like bottle, cup or sippy cup, meds of every know variety because you can't just run to Walgreens. Oh, and I need to fit all of this in two suitcases because those @#$%#@ airlines charge for checked baggage.

Speaking of airlines, we couldn't fly my carrier because the price was outrageous. So, we are on a competitor. I'm having panic attacks about being stuck in coach for 13hrs with a 5yr and a husband who can't sit still for 5min. Talk about the shoe on the other foot! I'm the one dealing with those poor people and I'm soon to become one:) I hope Benadryl works on adults, I'm going to spike Joe's drink. I guess I could always beg the F/A's to let me work but I don't think they will!

We have learned that there are six families traveling together to get their children. Some of us have posted on our Yahoo group and placed pics of our kids. Only one other family from Cincy with others from the Columbus area, Louisville, Missouri, and Texas. We are not all on the same flights so we'll meet up in Beijing.

We had a great weekend at Lake Erie with some of our family. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny, water not too cold(not that I go in unless it's in the 70's) and that late summer smell and feel. It is probably the last time before we leave and it was wonderful. We are so fortunate to have that beautiful house, with great neighbors and family to share it with. The memories for the kids are irreplaceable!

Well back to those lists, need to include all of the stuff we want to buy in China. Pearls on are the list this time. Thinking of all of those 'big' events for the girls down the road. I think Lillian already has her wedding planned out!