And We're Off!

Well, thanks to jet lag, it has taken me longer to post an update than I had expected, but I'll try to get everyone caught up. Here goes...

Getting ready for our move was a little challenging. International moves are never easy, and when you combine that with a two year old who had a high fever (104!) and the stomach flu, it makes for a stressed out mommy and daddy!

Before the moving company came to pack us out, Dave and I did some serious shopping! Many of things the kids love to eat (cereal, instant oatmeal, granola bars, etc.) are very expensive in China, because they are imported from the States or Europe. So, we went to Sam's Club to stock up. We figure that eventually the kids will have to learn to change their eating habits somewhat, but having a few things from home in the beginning will help ease them into it. Let's just say we got a lot of looks as we pushed an overflowing dolly through Sam's! As you can see from the picture, Dave and I barely fit in the van to drive it home!

All last week the moving company packed us out, and on Thursday, they loaded the truck and drove off to California. Our belongings will sit in California until the moving company gets a copy of Dave's Chinese work permit, at which time our "stuff" will literally be put on the "slow boat to China."

Which leads us to why we are in Beijing for the next two weeks. John Deere's main office is in Beijing, so this is where we had to come to have our residency and work permits processed. But, let me back track to our journey from Moline to Beijing.

After spending a few nights at Dave's parents' house in Moline (thanks again for everything, Doris and Jerry!), we loaded our rental van and drove to Chicago last Saturday. Our plan was to spend the night in a hotel and catch our flight to Beijing the next day. Well, after an over 3 hour drive to Chicago (thanks to road construction) with 3 anxious kids, we arrived at our hotel only to discover that we forgot one of our suitcases in Moline! (Yes, this is in spite of the fact that Doris asked us if we were sure we had everything). Was I happy? No. Did I completely lose it? Almost. However, Dave's dad came to the rescue and met Dave half-way between Chicago and Moline to deliver the suitcase. We can never thank you enough, Jerry!

The next morning, we caught our flight to China without any problems. And, our flight to China went remarkably well, in spite of a few of Maeve's short-lived temper tantrums, Collin complaining about the "disgusting plane food", and Brennen coming down with the stomach flu mid-way through our 14 hour flight (flight attendants don't get paid nearly enough!). I think we were all happy to land on Chinese soil and to have the "moving part" of our journey behind us!

We are now on day 5 of our stay in Beijing, and we are making the most of our time here. The kids are having fun walking around the big city, seeing how different, yet similar, life is here. Right across the street from our hotel is Chaoyang Park, where outdoor beach volleyball was held for the Olympics. It is also an amusement park, so we took a nice walk through it yesterday and let the kids ride a couple of rides.

A couple of days ago, we went to the Pearl Market and to the Toy Market. The boys were amazed at all of the things there were for sale, and they were very impressed with their dad who bargained for great prices!

We plan on going to the Great Wall in a couple of days, once we seem to be "over the hump" with this jet lag! We also promised the boys that we would go to the Night Market next week, so that they could see all of the "weird" foods for sale there. Collin is convinced that he is going to eat scorpion on a stick, which is quite comical coming from a kid who wouldn't eat turkey, aka, "mystery meat" on the plane!

Well, I have to go wake up sleeping beauty from her nap so that maybe she'll sleep past 4am tomorrow morning! I'll post again after we go to the Great Wall. Thanks to everyone who has been emailing us. The boys especially look forward to reading them each day. This picture is the view from our hotel room, which shows the big city of Beijing!