We're Here!!!!!!!

A recap of our day:

We left our house Tuesday morning at 3:15am. I think between the 4 of us we only slept a couple hours each last night. We arrived at the airport before the check-in counter even opened. I told mom that it was just like “The Amazing Race” (we both love that show) where the contestants always seem to be waiting at airports. We soon boarded our plane for Chicago. Because of bad weather this was not exactly an easy flight. We hit massive amounts of turbulence!!!!STOP READING ERIN!!!! The kind where your behind is not even touching your seat. We were bouncing around just like a Six Flags ride. The poor flight attendant who was trying to serve coffee when all this started wound up crawling on her hands and knees to try to get back to her seat. She finally gave up and sat in the floor between Kathy and me and we each had a hand on her to hold her down. After that little adventure it was pretty smooth sailing. We arrived at O’Hare found our terminal and gate and then had about 2 hours before we boarded the next flight. We grabbed a snack, did some people watching, and actually met up with another adoptive couple from our agency, Joe and Angela, we visited with them a little and then it was time to board. We everyone finally got situated the pilot made an announcement that there was a problem with our air conditioning and maintenance was on the way to fix it, they estimated repair time was 15-20 minutes. Well, after waiting about 30 they made another announcement that the air was fix but evidently we burned too much fuel waiting for maintenance that now we still couldn’t take off because we had to refuel. So that took another 30 minutes!! Finally we were off and only 1 hour late. After that little episode this flight has been uneventful but long…..and I mean long!!!! We have each slept a little, read a little, watched a little tv, played some games, pretty much anything to make the time pass. As I write this we have been on this plane for 9.5 hours (including the hour for repairs and refuel) and we have about 5 more to go before we land in Beijing.

I started typing this post on the plane but am finishing it up here in the hotel. We made it, we are checked in, we have already exchanged some money, and went to the Wu-Mart to get some water and tea. That and the ride to the hotel were adventures in itself. We are exhausted and all fixing to turn in for the night to get some rest. I will post again in the morning and include the travel pictures.