Beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 11:20pm last night.  So, to say the least, we're a little tired.  We did all sleep some on the plane and again back at the hotel until we found ourselves (kind of) wide awake at 6:30am this morning.  Today we toured the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and a silk factory.  Our guide was good and sweet.  We toured with three other adoptive families.  One family had an 11 yr old daughter and Carter was happy to have another kid to run around with.

I've both heard and seen pictures of the air pollution in China, but you really have to see it with your own eyes to appreciate the magnitude of it.  You literally can't see the sun.  It's like the whole city is covered in fog on an overcast day.  The visibility is really bad.  I have a decent camera and you can see by the pictures how bad the visibility really is.

We received two new pictures and a brief update on our little man today.  In one of the pictures, he is laughing and looks so darling.  They buzzed his hair again and it looks like he's missing a tooth or two from his cleft--which sometimes happens.  We'll know soon, though!  In about 36 hours we'll be holding him and kissing that sweet face.  Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Wuhan and Monday morning we'll be welcoming him into the family.  Beijing is 13 hours ahead of you all back home (for those of you who are time zone challenged like me).

So, this is what I've learned about China so far. . .beware of the "toilets" (i.e. holes in the ground), bring your own toilet paper, and good luck finding a cold drink.  What I'd give for a COLD glass of water!