china!

well...we're here!!!!!  we arrived safe and sound.  and boy, let me tell you that video monitors in the back of every seat is God's gift to the international traveler.  let's see, i watched 'little miss sunshine' and 'dinner with the schmucks', a few episodes of 'the office' a couple of 'hoarders', a biography of beyonce, and made it through half of 'eat, pray, love' before i decided i didn't need to follow julia on her quest to find herself.   a few naps thrown in there and some (uneaten and completely disgusting) meals served and we were here!   the trip truly was night and day from last time.  flying direct from newark was wonderful.  wondering if 14 hours on one flight is the longest around.  i suppose i could ask the jovial cast of pilots that are sitting with me in the wireless cafe, eating and drinking themselves into oblivion (lest we think gas prices are why airline prices are going up!)  but alas, they are deep in discussion of where the best bars are around the world.  so comforting knowing these guys are flying our friendly skies.      being in china is not nearly as 'weird' as it seemed on our first trip.  it almost seems downright normal.  like we belong here.  and..................make sure you are sitting down........................i ate a chinese meal for dinner.   or at least i did until i had something crunchy going on in my mouth and then the chopsticks were down for the count.  but until then,  i was enjoying some minced garlic/pork thing and pineapple rice.  i'll admit, it was actually pretty tasty.   and in case it had any calories in it, i am fairly sure they were all burned by me trying to use chopsticks.  no wonder the chinese are so small - who the heck wants to work so hard to get food in your mouth!  give me a fork for crying out loud!   eric is checking out the treadmills in the hotel.  we won't talk about how obnoxious that is that he would even think about exercising while we are halfway around the world.  i think that puts him in some sort of freak category.    tonight we are gunnnig for a good night's sleep.  i am hoping to make it till 8:00 before i hit the pillow and instantaneously go to dreamland.  tomorrow brings some sightseeing in beijing - great wall, olympic venues, tiannamen square, forbidden city.  we will be donning our long underwear and all other outerwear items we brought - highs in the 20's.  perfect weather for this beach girl spending all day outside! : )   thank you so much for your prayers.  i was truly at peace while flying and we are here safely.  eric and i are enjoying our time alone before we meet sweet sarahjoy.  of course, we are super excited and getting moreso by the hour, but i suppose the advantage to having 4 young ones at home is that we can savor the couple of days we have just the two of us.    so thankful for all of you.  we'll update tomorrow with some pictures!   and to my sweet kiddos..............mommy and daddy love you to pieces and miss you!!!!!!!  we went to a store today and saw a chinese wooden spoon but decided you all probably wouldn't want that for a souvenir.  : )  be good and have fun with grammy and pops and grandma!