Here We Are

We have arrived safely, after very smooth flights from Portland to Tokyo and from Tokyo to Beijing. None of us slept very much so we were all ready for our beds last night. Kathy and Steve met us at the airport, with beautiful flowers for me ( I love flowers ) and they were ready with a van to carry us and all the luggage we brought ( did we leave anything at home ?? ) and bottled water. The water was fun while traveling, we dutifully bought our water at the airport after going through all the security checks. We had not finished it when we arrive in Toyko and when we went through immigration, they took the bottles we had. So we bought more, only to have it taken before we boarded the flight to Beijing. So word to the wise, only buy enough bottles that you can drink quickly!

Our hotel is nice, they did not have connecting rooms for us last night, so the girls slept down the hall. They were fine with that, as all anyone wanted was to sleep. Jeff had us doing pulse point exercises every hour during the flight to help us get over jet lag quickly, which was fun, and I really think it helped. We slept pretty well last night considering hard beds and that WE ARE IN CHINA!!! And we all feel pretty good this morning. We are changing rooms this afternoon, to a connecting room, it will be nice to have the girls next door.

Meng and Katrina are thrilled to find out there is a shopping mall adjacent to our hotel. Meng's eyes were so bright as we all realized the clothes looked like they will fit her perfectly. It has always been such a struggle to find clothes that fit her petite body. Both girls were ready to bag any sightseeing plans for today and stay at the mall, but we dragged them back with promises for later.
Soon Kathy and Snow will be here to take us sightseeing. The weather is cold, but sunny. We have lots of layers so we will see how it goes. That is all for now.