** FYI - We didn't realize we had to purchase a VPN code to have access to all the American websites before going to the US, we thought we had everything we needed with the router friends let us borrow... Therefore, we didn't have access to Facebook, Gmail, Google anything (including the Google Translate App we were so excited to use over there!!) while we were over in China for 2 1/2 weeks! Thankfully, we did have wifi access to our phones for texting and skype sometimes worked, but mostly we communicated with the kids and grandparents through Voxer. We were planning on posting each day while we were gone to keep everyone up-to-date, but due to the blog site and social media sites not working, we just journal-ed in document form to copy and paste when we got back... Sorry for the delay, we'll get them all on here as quick as possible. :)
Another FYI- We went to China 3 days earlier than required, because we knew we wouldn't be able to go anywhere to celebrate our 10 yr anniversary July 1 of this year, so we decided to celebrate it early by sightseeing Beijing and having a "baby moon" :)
January 12, 2016 (Ben typing...)
Well today was the day we
have been waiting for a for a long time. We have been thinking,
praying, and planning for this day. What would it be like? How would
everything come together? When would this day that we leave actually
be? When we finally knew that our leave day was 1-12-16 the
excitement hit new levels as we knew for sure when we would be
leaving. For the past couple of weeks I have thought a lot about this
day. Not only are we going to get our daughter, but I am able to
travel half way around the world with my wife and experience another
culture and country. That is so exciting to me!!! I never thought
that I would be traveling to China to see places like the Great Wall,
and now here I am embarking on that journey. I feel so blessed and
grateful to be able to go on this amazing adventure. And the best
part is, after the sightseeing and touristing around, I get to bring
my beautiful daughter home.
This morning my wake up was
not to my alarm clock, but my sweet little Lilee crawling in bed with
us. It was so awesome to have her there snuggled up with Brandee and
I and to hear her sweet little voice, and smell her hair one last
time before we would leave her for a little more than two weeks. I
knew we would be leaving the kids, but this just kind of reminded me
how much I will miss them and also how much I don't want them to grow
up. I want them to be with us forever and be our little kids that
cherish to be with us. I pray that we will always have that kind of
relationship with them. We got up and began to get ready. The boys
awoke and got ready almost as if they were going on this journey with
us. Right before we left, Brandee and I went up to say goodbye to
Lilee, but she was deep asleep. While we were waiting on the limo
service, Noah took it upon himself to wake Lilee up so we could say
goodbye to her. He is so sweet and his heart is so precious towards
others. I was glad he woke her up because we were able to get a good
last family picture together of just the 5 of us. It's crazy to think
that the next time we are all together, there will be 6. A-mazing!!!
Well, we gave our hugs and
said our goodbyes. Our hearts raced as the excitement of the trip was
upon us while battling the sadness of leaving our precious ones
behind. We know they are in extremely good hands but its still hard
to pull away from the house and know we won't see them for a while.
After arriving ahead of
what time we both thought it would take, we were able to flawlessly
check in and go through security. We were here, we made it, all that
was left was to get on the plane and fly! We were able to go get a
really good turkey BLT wrap while we waited and it was Dlish. Thick
freshly cut pieces of turkey and veggies. So worth the money. Since
we made it to the airport early and went through security so quickly
we were able to wander around, talk, explore, use the bathroom with
the super cool rotating seat cover, and talk to our kids without
feeling rushed. We even tried to get a seat upgrade with customer
service but it would have cost $300 extra. That's ok, we could save
that money and buy gifts. While waiting we ate some more, like normal
Americans : ) Brandee got an orange scone from Starbucks and I
got a Chicago style hotdog....both excellent choices. To our sadness,
we were unable to find a Cinnabon. That is the only disappointment of
this day-haha. How can a guy fly without being able to enjoy a sugar
filled Cinnabon. It just isn't right : )
Well crowd began to grow at
our gate and the flight attendants were now there ready to check
documents. I told them I was a Paramedic in case they needed any
medical assistance during the flight. I also asked about upgrades in
case they started to have a clearance sale on them since we knew
there were a lot of seats still open in Economy Plus, just one
section up from ours. The price was higher that what was offered
earlier so we definitely were not going to get the upgrade. Well the
time came to board the plane and the attendant at the counter told us
to hang on and not go through the line just yet. After she helped a
few people she called us over and upgraded us for free!!!! What an
amazing little gift to start this trip. More leg room and no one else
in our aisle.....winner winner chicken dinner! We were very grateful
for this and excitedly boarded the plane feeling like we hit the
jackpot. We got settled into our new “home” for the next 12 hours
and sat in awe and excitement of where we were and what we were
doing....WE, were going to China to bring home our Lucee!
The plane took off and
within the first hour we got our first meal and to our surprise free
beer and wine. We didn't have to be going anywhere....this felt like
a date to us : ) From the endless options of movies and tv shows, to
the comfort of our seats and being in the presence of each other, we
are content as can be. As I type this, we are currently flying over
some place that's really cold and snow covered. We are at the same
level as the middle Iceland....or Greenland. Hmmm, don't know which
one it is but I know it's one of those places and it's really cold.
It is -76F outside as we are all cozied up and warm in here. We are
traveling at 629mph and are at 34,000 feet. It's funny because
everyone has said how miserable this long flight would be, but we are
seeing the time tick away as we get closer and closer and we are
actually sad that our flight will come to an end. It goes by way
faster than you think. Maybe it's the comfort of the seats, or the
endless entertainment options, or being able to look out at the
starry sky, but we don't want it to end.....at least for now. What's
on my mind now is....when is the food and beverage cart coming around
again : )
This trip is not meant as a
vacation, but we get one out of it. In a few days we will meet our
daughter for the first time and will begin a new chapter of life with
her, but for now, I get to share an amazing adventure with my lady,
my girlfriend, my love, my Brandee.
We enjoyed the flight and
everything that came with it. Surprisingly I slept really good and
Brandee tried to, but didn't get the sleep like I did.
 |
| CHINA!!! |
We arrived safely in Beijing
and found the airport to be huge and beautiful. It had an open air
feel all throughout the terminal and we were kind of just in awe of
being in a foreign land with foreign people. We made it through the
check point and at each point we kept looking for our guide Rocky but
didn't realize that we hadn't made it all of the way out. The
airport was huge so it took us a while to get to him. The smell in
the airport was that of fresh flowers and was a very clean and pure
smell. Besides how big and beautiful the terminal was, that was the
first impression of China and that will stick with us forever. We
finally made our way out and found Rocky holding a sign with our name
on it. He was very friendly and spoke very good English. We made it
out to our vehicle where our driver Mr. Wu was waiting. Everything
got loaded up and we headed into the city towards our hotel.
Obviously we were crazy tourists just looking around and staring in
awe of everything. The sun had already gone down so we couldn't see
very far but we saw lots of buildings and LOTS of vehicles. We
noticed right away that driving here would not be like driving back
in the states. There is lots of lane merging and close encounters,
and as we would come to realize, this is very normal.
Rocky showed us new pictures
of Shan You and our hearts leapt with excitement. She is growing up
so much and we noticed how she has many features similar to Lilee.
These two girls are going to have fun together. Rocky was very
helpful and told us many things about our time in Beijing and what to
look forward to. We immediately felt safe and appreciative of having
Rocky.
We arrived to our hotel at
the JW Marriott in Beijing and were blown away by the service right
away. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. I had a feeling that
this was going to be a hotel stay like no other. Rocky helped us get
checked in even though everyone at the hotel spoke very good English.
Then we were off to our room to get settled in for the night and
prepare for our first day sightseeing in the morning.
Our hotel had so many
wonderful smells in it too. It's amazing how a wonderful smell can
make a lasting impression on you. The room was beyond the level of
luxury we are used to and were very excited to be here. We were so
thankful that Matt Neimiec offered and gifted us Marriott points to
stay in such a nice place.
So after unpacking a little,
we did what we do best at a new hotel....go explore. Although the
exploring we did was outside the hotel this time. We went down the
street to look for some food, and came across a group of older
ladies outside on the walkway doing Tai Chi. We were already falling
in love with the people and atmosphere of China. We then stumbled
upon a mall and went inside to look for food. Inside was a small
grocery store, so we got some bananas, yogurt, and a nice big 5 liter
jug of water for in the room. On the way back we decided to stop at a
KFC because we couldn't find any other restaurants open. With us
being up for a long time, a long journey, and ready to go to bed, we
just wanted to get some food in our bellies and go to bed. We had
done it....we successfully made two purchases on our own, paying with
Chinese Yuan and no translator.....but we couldn't correctly get a
bag for all of our groceries so there we were walking down the street
and into our uber fancy hotel with all items in our hands and a bag
of food from KFC of all places.
With food in bellies,
settled into our room, and said goodnight to the kids (technology is
great) it was time for us to crash and get some much needed sleep.
What a great first day it was!!! We are actually in BEIJING,
CHINA!!!!
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