So tomorrow we move into our new apartment!!  Yippeeeeeee!  We are excited to start unpacking and settling in!  It has been since April that we’ve had a home of our own, and we are so so so so eager to have a place to call home and to unpack fully and settle ourselves in!  Seriously, I can’t say in words how excited that makes us!

I thought I’d share some fun ‘daily life’ stuff.  I needed some paper and envelopes and also was picking up snacks for the bus ride tomorrow.  There are quicker ways to get to our new city, but for tomorrow we’re taking a 2-ish hour bus ride.

First off, my stationery set-

- the envelopes say “event” and then the quotation is “#ho!ho!” and underneath it says: If Bill Gates could get you to smell the flowers online he could make a pretty penny!

The papers have the cutest little puffy animals- they’re just adorable!  And the pens!  Well the pink one says “Cute fan” and the other says “Are you happy? Welcome to Pig Pig Family!  let’s have a funny party” and “lovely pig”.

And just because I love to look at packaging in other parts of the world- our juice boxes and chocolate milk box for the kids…

At most department type stores, when you buy something it is a multi-step thing.  Each section of the store requires a separate checkout.  For example, I picked up some stationary and had to check out before I could go to the electronics section and shop there.  And within each department there is a multi-step check out.  So I picked out the battery recharger I wanted and then got a slip of paper from the cashier.  Then I went to another counter and paid my money, had the original paper stamped and then went back to the first cashier and handed her the slip in exchange for the charger.

If you want lots of stuff in one day, I’m sure this gets a little draining.  Also, if you are shopping in one area and you walk outside that area with merchandise in your hands (the boundaries between departments are not clearly drawn in a way that I have figured out yet), you get tsk-tsk’ed by the cashiers.

And here’s the snacks the girls got today for the bus ride. I love the “expression” on the cookie face!!

Oh, and we had a blissful night of sleep last night- 9 pm to 7:15 am for the girls!  Heavenly!

I think we’re all a little beat today.   The kids woke up at 4 a.m. and Libby didn’t take a nap in the afternoon, so the combo was not the best.

We ate breakfast and then took a walk- ended up going to a little playground (I’ve got to take pics next time, I love the playgrounds here!) and then were pretty lost and took a taxi back to the hotel.  The nice thing about getting lost here is that taxis are abundant and inexpensive, so no biggie!

We were in orientation all day (the girls were in their own class) and then had a dinner out.  After dinner we went to another playground.  As we were leaving Libby said “Mommy, did you get us lost again and we have to take another taxi?”  Ha.  Fortunately, that time we knew exactly where we were.  Little turkey!

We move on Saturday morning to our apartment, and will probably have just dial up for a week or two.  So, probably no bloggin’ after tomorrow until we are all settled in!

Whew! We went up to the Great Wall this morning. It is now 2:30 in the afternoon and the girls are napping after their long morning. It was HOT! 95 and sunny today- nice and blazin’!

Warning: There will be LOTS of photos today, we took a ton, and well, there’s fun stuff to share!

The girls are adapting pretty well- they have their moments where they are tired, hot, overwhelmed and they melt down a bit, but for the most part they’re doing really good. Oh, and for those who asked, we are 12 hours ahead of Eastern time zone- so the exact opposite- if it is 7 pm in New York it is 7 am the next day here.

Soooo, the Great Wall. Well, before we went to the wall we had a yummy breakfast provided by the hotel (western style mostly- although I don’t normally eat baked beans for breakfast!- we ate waffles, donuts, eggs, bacon, etc… that kind of stuff). Libby met a girl who will be in her class in school this year, Amelia. They played at the hotel playground for a bit.

After that we went for a short walk outside our hotel… this is the street:

The girls got popsicles (they’re 1Y- about 12 cents) and they are great bribery material. Because they both had braids in their hair and matching tank tops we had lots and lots and lots of comments.

I busted out my Chinese “skillz” and had fun explaining that Katie is the “mei mei” (younger sister) and Libby is the “jie jie” (older sister). I actually totally butchered it- saying Libby is 4, Katie is 3 and Libby is the younger sister (imagine the confused response- um, can you do math in America? Apparently NOT!!!) My Chinese is sooooo poor, but the locals seem so impressed that we even try. Which is totally humbling, because in the US when someone is learning English and stumbling over their words, I don’t know that my reaction is always as welcoming and friendly.

At the Great Wall, we took a cable car up the side (Mutianyu if you’re curious which spot we went to- we’d been to Badaling in the past).

On the way down, you can take an alpine slide car- how cool is that? With the kids being hot and cranky, we opted for the cable car for both ways. Libby was scared out of her mind on it and asked me to talk to Dad outloud both ways the entire way. She didn’t let go of my hand the entire time, which is fairly understandable since there were no seatbelts, just a metal bar that flipped over our laps. And as you can see, it is a pretty steep little journey!

The alpine slide, and then the view from the cable cars:

We loved that we had a choice of toilet styles at the Great Wall- squat or sit, your choice!

Katie was not impressed with the cleanliness and took her pants off and wanted to go up the wall naked- it was a lovely lovely situation with her in just panties and screaming that she was NOT going to put clothes on! After much coercion, she did finally put some clothes on <good plan, naked wall-walking is not highly recommended> and that was all good.

Something that always makes us laugh is these little dolls- they are terracotta and when water is poured out of them, they “pee”…. they are sold anywhere touristy throughotu China (note the shoes behind them in the plastic bags- we opted not to buy those….

We dined on some amazing noodles for 5Y (hello!?! that’s like 65 cents or so US)- that was enough for all of us to split!

The girls bought fans and panda bears (no, we didn’t get totally ripped off because we had someone on our team negotiating prices so we wouldn’t get a horrible rip-off price! we just got partially ripped off I’m sure, haha, but we spent less than $5 the whole day, so I think we’re just fine!)

As you can see below, Katie and Isaiah are enjoying their few days together here in Beijing! We will not be living in the same city but they can enjoy a few days together again!

After the girls’ nap we are heading to the pool for a bit (big surprise!) and then we kick off our orientation with a dinner tonight! Fun times fun times! When we’re settled in to our apartment next week and get our DSL hooked up (sometime in the beginning of August) we should be able to take more Skype calls- sorry we’re just a tinch busy/crazy right now!

On a final note, we love love love the title of this store…

Hey all! We made it!! It was pretty uneventful- other than barely barely making our flight to Beijing (imagine us running like mad fools with 4 carry-on suitcases and 4 backpacks with Keith carrying Katie). But seriously, they were angels on the flights and we are here!!!!!

We are obviously tired (duh!) and since we didn’t get settled into the hotel till late in the afternoon, we haven’t had too many exciting adventures (dinner out- delicious!) and then a quick stop at the grocery store for water bottles and some snacks and then a little trip to the hotel pool.

As you can see, the girls are happy and healthy and (hopefully???) ready to sleep all night long and not wake up until it is an appropriate time of day?!?!?!

Oh, and what snackage did we pick up? Well, we were seriously cracking up when we saw the Lay’s Stax flavor choices- so we ended up with a “Finger Licking Braised Pork Flavor”. We’ll be licking our fingers, I’m sure!!

Thank you for your thoughts for us- we are so thankful to be here- and we are psyched up for this amazing adventure!

And a special thank you to the family members who sent cards and notes and things for the girls on the airplane- they were MUCH appreciated!! We love you all!

Tomorrow’s agenda? Off to the Great Wall for a little trip and then we start our orientation

Our next post will be from China!

Our flight leaves just after 8 a.m. and it is 11 p.m. so I’m going to take a nap for a few hours then get up by 3 a.m. and do last minute stuff so we can head out of here at 5 a.m.!  So in a little over 9 hours we will be in the air!   And in about 27 hours we will be landing in Beijing!  Eeks!

This is all soooooo surreal!!

EEK!  I’m sitting here at T-35 hours??  Crazy!

So a few months ago, my girl >LaWanda< blogged about her “needs”.  Basically, you put in google “__Yourname___ needs” and then you see what pops up.  My sister >Emily< followed suit last night.

So, heading into our final day in the US, what do we need?

Kimberly:

1.  to shut up (ouch!)

2. to know exactly how much light will reach the film.

3.  a husband to escape from her father.

4. to get over it.

5. all five of her riders around her at all times!

Keith:

1. content.

2. help.

3. a spotlight.

4. a “rough ride” tonight.

5. to stop being such a mean guy. (haha)

Libby:

1. to go to jail.

2. to refresh memory on plame talk (it stinks to have a yicky news reference come up for all of yours doesn’t it kiddo?)

3. media records.

4.  a job

5. the material in the PDB’s

Katie:

1. a home.

2. your help!

3. hula lessons!

4. to be isolated.

5. to use the litter pan on her own.

**

So what do we really need? Probably some good sleep and for me to finish packing and some good food tomorrow for our “last supper”!

First off, OUR VAN SOLD!  For exactly what we listed it for $-wise!  Woohoo!  To sell it exactly a week after listing it for the same $ we wanted for it is just awesome!!!!  And to a likeminded couple no less who shared with us about past experiences the husband had in China!?!  Wow.   Thank you Dad for that!!

People are asking us the obligatory questions now- like when you’re 9 months pregnant they go “Are you ready? Are you prepared?  Are you  nervous?”  Well, it’s the same ones we get now.  And my answers?  Are we excited? Yes.  Are we scared? Yes.  Are we nervous? Yes.  Are we more than slightly bipolar at the moment?  Um, yes!

When I stay up at night thinking I tend to scrap a bit more- so here’s a few scraps… Love our expression-filled children!

And I wanted to capture a moment in time with the emotions and thoughts that run through my head….

Alrighty, I have a date with my sister Emily and our mutual friend (read: She was my friend and Emily is stealing her!!!  Emily always steals my friends, but it’s ok, cause I *am* moving a mazillion miles away from her, she can retaliate by stealing my friends!) at our fave coffee shop!

China Countdown:

Hello! Is that crazy or what??? I had to re-post that because I check it throughout the day and go WHOA!!!! I’m too lazy to scroll down much ;).

I am so thankful right now! My brother in law, Philip, called his dentist and got me in today to have my tooth fixed. The dentist was super nice and did a great, painless job and it was not nearly as bad as I’d anticipated- he drilled it all out and put in a filling- no root canal needed for now (whew!) and hopefully it will not even need a full crown for at least several years. Hello, that is like soooooo much better than I thought! And there was not much decay- he said the pain was just from the inner tooth gunk being exposed. Whew! Thank you Dad! And a special huge thank you to Philip and my sister Tamara for taking care of the dentist. We love you guys!

As I was waiting for the novocaine to wear off so I could eat some lunch, I scrapped a page of Katie’s birthday party up in Kansas City.

Libby and I have had some touching conversations over the past few days about the move. She has some “big girl” concerns we’ve been talking about with the move. Both girls have been going through phases of extreme clinginess, which I think makes a ton of sense, considering they’ve been tossed around like beanbags through the last few months. I have my handy dandy calendar of events and I’ve known that on X date we’d be here for X number of days… they’ve just had to go with the flow. And due to that, they’ve really been needing reassurance from the two of us that we’re not going anywhere.

Last night, at Pump it Up, she came and sat on my lap and said she didn’t want to play, she just wanted me to hold her. I got up to do something stupid like fix my shirt and she was just beside herself… which is obviously not a normal 4 1/2 year old thing to be upset about. So we went in one of the bounce houses and laid down in the corner and talked (yes, I know, not the typical place for a heart to heart is it?). She shared with me that she didn’t want to play because she was so sad that she wouldn’t get to play with Anna (her cousin) again, and she didn’t want it to be their last time to play. It was interesting logic, I guess maybe she was thinking if she didn’t go play it wouldn’t have to be their last time together?

After about 10 minutes of her talking, crying, hugging, and such, she sat up and said “I know what I’ll miss the most though, Mommy! I’ll miss Katie, because I’m leaving HER here in Texas!” and she bounced her way out of the bounce house, laughing. Yeah, I think she’ll be just fine in the end!

One of my favorite things to do right now is to tell strangers we’re moving to China. You want to see someone do a double-take? Seriously, it works. I was buying postcards at Walmart (postcards of Texas to take with me for gifts) and told the cashier I was buying them to take to China, because we’re moving there and she goes “You’re moving to China? Is that a city in Texas?” pause “Oh! CHINA?!!?!!! Like China-China?!?!” Um, yup! Cracked me up.

Tomorrow: Sister’s lunch for my sisters and I. Dinner with Emily’s family. And a digiscrap coffee date with Darcy and Emily.

Oh, and a van update: It has pretty much sold, just waiting on the cashier’s check tonight and then we’ll hand over the papers! I was waiting to say much till it is final but it looks to be a smooth, normal, uneventful deal so far. Will update on that tomorrow!

Katie turned 3 today! Happy birthday little one! It is hard to believe she’s 3 already- and yet she seems so much sassier and older than 3 sometimes! And of course she’s been telling everyone she’s 3 for a few months- so it isn’t a big change for her, haha!

Isn’t this pic priceless?? Love her drama!!

So what did we do to celebrate?

First off, we made a morning stop (mornings are the ONLY way I can tolerate this place- before the mad rush of children!) at Chuck E. Cheese’s. We had some leftover tokens we used up there.

And in the evening, we had a family going away/birthday party at Pump it Up! All of the cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandpa Bill and Grandma Cindy joined together for this shindig. We love that place!

First up is all the kiddos- we have 11 between the 4 of us kids- plus Tamara is expecting her 5th baby in September.

All of us with the kiddos!

And the birthday girl with her cupcake (thank you Aunt Emily for making them, they were adorable!!)

I had a part of a tooth/filling come off in the car- I have a partial crown on one of my bottom molars and the underside of the tooth and part of the filling broke off. I cleaned it out (ouch) and put some temporary filling on it. I hope I can just get it to not hurt so terrible for a couple weeks till we’re a bit more settled and then I’ll get it taken care of. It would certainly cost waaaay less $ to get it taken care of overseas!

At least my mouth doesn’t look like this!

<warning: gross! do not click to enlarge if you have a weak stomach!>

I found this HILARIOUS traffic video of Tianjin. I love about 45 seconds into it when ALL the cars are in the middle of the 5-way intersection?!?! It is a 2 1/2 hour video that has been time-warped into 2 1/2 minutes, so it is pretty funny. Looks like an ant farm at times!

Tianjin Morning Traffic - Watch the top videos of the week here

And our handy little countdown…