Day1

Well, we made it. Of course, there was some adventure along the way. First, Grace, who has been healthy for several months, woke up with a cold on the day of our departure. As we started the long flight from Detroit to Tokyo, she puked! We then put on her only change of clothes in our carry-on luggage and I proceeded to spill a cup of water all over her. So, for most of the flight, Grace was in her underwear and a shirt. Everyone around us got a kick out of it and it didn't phase Grace one bit. She was a real trooper and seemed to feel better by the time we got to Tokyo.

When we arrived in Tokyo, we discovered that our flight to Beijing had been cancelled due to problems with the plane. Northwest switched us to a Air China flight and we arrived in Beijing only about two hours later than planned.

However, our adoption agency contact in Beijing thought that our flight being cancelled in Tokyo meant that we were not arriving in Beijing until today (Saturday....we're 13 hours ahead of you) so our group of 7 families arrived in Beijing with no contact person waiting for us. Fortunately, one family had a cell phone that worked and contacted the adoption agency person in Beijing who came to our rescue. We got to the hotel around 1 in the morning and everyone was wiped out. Needless to say, we couldn't wait to get to bed.

Our hotel is very nice. Grace slept until noon so Mel and I took turns eating breakfast alone while someone stayed in the room with sleeping beauty.

Mel and I feel great after a good nights sleep and we're going to check out Beijing this afternoon. The rest of our group is at the Great Wall but we opted to pass on going with them as they left very early this morning. We are the old folks of this group so we needed our sleep.

I am posting a picture of Grace and her new friend, Kelly. Kelly is 5 and is the daughter of one of the other families travelling with us. She was adopted from China also and is very sweet little thing and as cute as can be. She lives in Maryland. She and Grace had a ball playing together in the Tokyo and Beijing airports while the adults looked like they were ready to drop.

Finally, that 13 hour and 4 minute flight from Detroit to Tokyo is tough. We were in the cheap seats and the plane was packed...not one empty seat. We exited the plane through the first class section and I almost tripped over the slippers that we located at the foot of the sleeper seats....that looked very roomy and comfortable. Oh well.

We're heading out on the town. The weather is sunny and about 45. The pollution here is terrible. Even from the plane you could see it sitting on top the city.

Hope all who read this are well. We send our love to family and friends. We are excited that in only two days we finally get our hands on Mary.