we are here!

Hi All,

well we made it and everything ig going well. Emma and Grace are having fun, although no one has ever said that traveling with a 3 year old would be easy. The girls are doing better with their sleep. Emma was up at midnight the first night and stayed up until 530, then slept in till 730... 2nd night woke up at 330 and was up til 6am, then slept until 9 and was ready for a great day. last night she slept until 430 and has been up ever since. Ryan has her at the pool, trying to tire her out for a little nap. we travel to Nanning tonight and will meet Caitlyn tomorrow morning. Beijing has been incredible. it is far more modern than we remember, the people just as gracious and kind. We have walked all over and seen the sights. Yesterday we went with a private guide to the drum tower and a local park with a lake and a market area. it was so modern, like Yaletown boutiques with ancient buildings right next door. Our guide Qing took us to her home at her hutong and we met her family. Emma and Grace had the afternoon to play in the courtyard area of the hutong, which was really emotional to see. They have adapted to the chinese toilet. emma first said 'It is too tricky" but now she has the hang of it. Last night we took them to the acrobats. and WOW watching their faces was the best part. Qing was able to secure us 2nd row, chinese VIP seats... the girls sat in amazement. They are getting tons of attention. They have been so well behaved. They get smiles from everyone. They are getting braver with their chinese greetings, which makes the locals smile.

It has been hard with Emma, but we are sure happy to have been able to bring her to her homeland. She is so proud. Even writing this makes me cry. She likes to stand at the window of the hotel in the middle of the night when she has woken up at 3ish, she says, "come and look at the big wide world with me.. this is China, I was born here. it is so beautiful." It is even better than I remember. We have only been here a few days and I have so many incredible memories already. I cant believe that tomorrow we will be a family of 4 and we get to create a second round of precious memories.

we will meet with the rest of our travel group at the airport this afternoon, and meet Caitlyn tomorrow morning... I know it wont be Emma who wont be sleeping tonight!