Today was a travel day. We didn't do too much but visit with some of the other families that we will catch up with in Guangzhou. We chatted with Mary and her husband Don for a good while. Brian seemed to hit it off with Don and I with Mary. They are from Little Rock. They have a little girl named Emily that is 6.5 born in China and then are adopting Sydney who is 2ish.

We had to leave the hotel by 12:00 to head for the airport. We arrived at Beijing airport 30 minutes later and went through security and sat at our gate A-12. We were standing there waiting and ran into another American family getting ready to board with us and we found out that they were staying in a different hotel but were going to adopt with us. We were excited and hoped that we would run into them again. After boarding the plane a large downpour of rain came and we waited an hour on the plane before takeoff. It did pass by quickly but then made the already long flight longer. J We managed and even slept a little. I met a little girl that sit behind me that wanted to practice her English. I talked to her and she asked that I draw her a picture. I had Ariel draw her a horse. We talked for quite a while and I ended up taking her picture. A lot of people in China are very happy to see you. They kind of look at you funny and even

try to ask you questions. I did have a sign made that explained why we

were in China. People like to read it and smile.

One time on the plane Kayli had to go potty so I walked back and waited in line. An older lady saw coming up the aisle with her and asked if she could sit beside her. The lady was so excited to see Kayli and she slept attached to this ladies arm. Kayli was half asleep when she told me that she had to go potty. Apparently she was dreaming because she was so sleepy that she couldn't go. I love the Chinese people and will forever remember some of the faces that we have seen.

The flight to Urumqi city was smooth. On the way we took lots of pictures of the dessert. It looked beautiful from the sky.

We arrived in Urumqi city to beautiful sunshine. The weather here is mild.

It is dry but beautiful. The weather is pleasant around 75 degrees. We met our guide Jenny and were off to our hotel. Everything in the province has gone smoothly. PTL! Our hotel is luxurious! We love it! The Hong Fu is a

5 star and they gave both mom and us executive suites. Very nice!

Kayli, mom and I went to the restaurant across the street with our guide so she could order for us. It was a very interesting dinner. We at for about $10 dollars. We ended up having so much food left over. The pumpkin soup with small dumplings wasn't very good. The broccoli that I ordered was wonderful. Mom enjoyed chicken. Kayli ordered some noodles but they were too spicy for her to eat. (we had to point and order after our guide left) There must have been some miscommunication between them and the guide because we thought we had ordered rice and noodles that they never brought.

Ariel and Brian stayed back at the hotel since Ariel was sick after not eating on the airplane. They served white rice.and she refused to eat it.

I was supposed to bring Brian back some lamb kabobs but after seeing them on

the street with flies all over them I couldn't bear to buy them.

We had to charge $950 to our charge card in case of incidentals. YIKES! We will not have laundry done here as we have heard that cost A LOT! The hotel breakfast is included which is wonderful.