Today's the Day!!!!!!!!!!!

It's 7:00 am. We will meet Lila this afternoon at 3:00. I cannot believe she will be in my arms. The past few days have been a whirlwind of unforgettable events. Saturday was a full day of sightseeing at Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall. The square is immense with the smiling face of Chairman Mao always watching you from the front of the Forbidden City. As soon as you enter the gates to the Forbidden City you can see the grandeur of China's imperial era. The size of the forbidden city was a surprise to me. You go through one set of gates to a huge courtyard, then another, another, another, another, another, keep in mind there are 9,999 rooms in the palace. We at last saw the "Way Out" signs in the gardens. We were all getting a little grumpy, hot, hungry, thirsty, and whiny. Ok, I was...but you guys that were with me know what I mean. It was beautiful and I shouldn't complain. It was like the Temple of Heaven in that it showed the intricacy and grandeur of the era.

We had Peking Duck for lunch, I took a video of the chef carving. I can barely hack up a turkey at Thanksgiving so I was impressed by his skill. Each piece is carved to include meat and skin and be uniform in shape and size. I hope to find a recipe to try it at home.

The final stop of the day was the Great Wall. Gerry climbed from where we started to 3 high towers. I stopped at the first low tower. I did it, but I'm scared of heights. Jenny and I looked around the lower areas and had a great time while Gerry and Joe and Anna climbed to the higher towers. He took some amazing pictures of the scenery however it was a dreary day so the view was not spectacular. It POURED down rain as we were on the way back to the bus, we were soaked. Truly as amazing an experience as the pyramids in Mexico. We also drove by the Bird's Nest and Water Cube and took pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We were up EARLY yesterday morning and all 33 people headed to the airport. 2 families got to sleep in as they had afternoon flights. We arrived in Chongqing about 10. Jessi called the local guide and he picked us up out front. Andy told us the history and trivia of Chongqing. We all got checked in, had a break, and met back at Jessi's room to do our first round of paperwork in preparation for today. We had another short break then headed to Walmart to get necessities, a great toy for Lila, and we were running low on chocolate. When we returned we were exhausted and ready to relax. We decided on room service. I had my first taste of spicy Chongqing food. Fabulous fried noodles, lots of chili paste, and a little friend. One of the prawns on my plate still had his eyes attached. We took a picture together. He was kinda cute and tasted great! We woke up early this morning and are taking it easy until we leave to get our new little one.

Mama's here my little one, mama's here.