China Round 2

I took a week off work that met up with my spring break and we came to China to visit my parents. We planned this in November when they were visiting us in Hawaii. We brought everyone this time and traveling was much easier than last time. We found a rolling cart that could hook on Claire's car seat to take on the plane, packed up her carry-on, our carry-ons and headed out Saturday morning.

The flights were surprisingly good. Claire watched movies, colored, put stickers on everything, played with play dough on this fun tray I found at Babies R Us, watched movies, and even napped a little. She was actually better on the longer flight! By the time we got to Japan it was already past her bedtime and she was over it. We had a layover where she got to play in the kids room-I think more airports need to invest in these. It let her run around and play while we waited for our next flight. In the playroom we met some little boys. It was cute to see that even though they have no idea what each other was saying they can still play, giggle, and run around. Claire also got to play with her birthday twin! They were born in two different countries on the same day and the same year! The flight to Beijing was exciting (sarcastic)! She slept and cried basically the whole 3 hours. At that point I just didn't care anymore. They didn't turn the lights off on the plane until about an hour before we landed. I'd say that's pretty pointless! We made her a tent to sleep in, but she didn't care for that either. By the time we got back to my parents it was almost 4 in the morning Hawaii time. Sleepy wouldn't even begin to describe what was happening. She played some when we got here, looked at the fish, took a bath, and headed to bed...she woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning.

Yesterday we headed to the Great Wall. The last time we came we went to the Ball at the Wall, but never got to walk around or up, I wasn't doing that in heels. This time we took a cable car up, got to walk around, and take pictures. It's amazing to think about people building that. It's beautiful! After the cable car we dropped off my mom and Claire and headed back up on the ski lift. Justin, my dad and I took toboggans down the Great Wall! Seriously, who gets to do that?!?! It's crazy to have the experience. Claire napped the afternoon away while we ate some BBQ! The guy who owns it is from Houston and lives pretty close to where my parents house is. It was yummy and made me thankful we got to enjoy that while everyone is enjoying Rodeo Houston right now.

My dad took Justin and I to the nail salon yesterday afternoon to relax :) It was so nice, they do a good job, and it is so cheap. I will be returning before we head home. I also got a massage last night in my parents building while Justin went in the pool, hot tub, and steam rooms. We decided that we could live in a building like this and be perfectly okay with it!

Claire decided to rise again at 4:30 am today. We are now waiting for the princess to awake from her nap- then it's off to shopping at the markets!