From Beijing to Nanjing...

So, we woke up this morning to a surprise in Beijing this morning...

Yep.  That's snow.  All winter long, I waited for snow at home and I ended up having to come 1/2 way around the world to get it!  It wasn't really on the roads, but it was very beautiful on our trip along to the airport. 

Trying to get checked out of the hotel was a fiasco.  I called for someone to help with our luggage and they brought up 2 bottles of water instead.  I guess somehow the word "luggage" didn't translate the way I thought it would.  Then, I had to put a deposit down on the room...which was fine...we only used part of it and got the rest back.  The problem was I was so tired and jet lagged when we got to the room, I had no idea where my receipt was.  Luckily, our fabulous guide, Gloria, got the money back for me.  I did end up finding the receipt in my luggage when I got to our next destination.

Speaking of our next destination...

We made it!  We got checked in and through security in plenty of time.  We even boarded in a timely manner.  However, due to some kind of maintenance on the runway, we sat on the plan about an hour before taking off.  Somehow we made up time and was only about 30 minutes late.  Our guide, Nancy, was waiting for us.  She is older and very soft spoken, but very kind and knowledgeable.

We had about a 40 minute ride to our hotel which, admittedly, looked a little scary on the outside, but woooweee on the inside...

Something I learned about China before I left is that it is fairly uncommon to have 2 beds in a hotel room.  We did have two in Beijing but the hotel was one of the few that offered it.  In this hotel, the Mandarin Garden, there are two rooms with two beds.  We have one of them.  Check it out....

Yes, we are on the executive floor!  So needless to say, this room is way better than the last one!  You have to scan your room key on the elevator to get to this floor. 

And this is our view.  The night life is VERY active outside our window.  Of course, we are 10 floors up, so it's not too bad.

After we got here, we went to the convenience store to get some bottled water.  I've read about some interesting snacks in China and here's the one I snapped a picture of in the store.

Mmmm....prawn flavored chips.  No.  I did NOT get them. 

So, that's about it for what has gone on today.  We really just took some time to settle into this hotel, unpack a few things and relax.  Our guide took us to a Chinese restaurant down the street from our hotel.  It was nice and better than that Chinese food we had in Beijing, I gotta be honest...I can't wait to have some Mexican food and some pizza when I get back!

As for our plans tomorrow....it's the big day!  I have asked a hundred questions about tomorrow.  Here is what I know.  We will meet our guide downstairs in the hotel lobby about 1:30pm.  We'll drive to the Civil Affairs office in Nanjing where we will get Kylie about 2pm.  For all of you on central time, that will be about 1am on Monday morning.  :)

I'll spend a few minutes there doing paperwork, getting a family picture made and then we'll head to a supermarket where we can get formula or whatever else we might need for her.  Then the rest of the day will be here in the hotel room getting to know Kylie. 

That's what I know for now.  Pray for Kylie and for all of us as the day we have waited for arrives!

I will post here just as soon as I can!