Ok....now where was I????

Oh ya....the extra ticket. The two hour flight proved that the third seat for the way back will be worth every penny that we paid for it and then some. I don't know how people do a long flight like that holding a child. I would NEVER last....the 13 hours itself is something, but add holding a child???? You can't open your tray, you can't eat, you can't move much...especially if he/she falls asleep....yep I am very glad that we made that decision. I highly recommend it to any of you who will be taking this wonderful journey.
 
So now we are in another part of Beijing at a different hotel, it's an older hotel, but very nice. It kind of reminds me of the Royal York in Toronto in some ways. Although I'd say that it has a nicer lobby area.......oh ya!!!! Not sure if I mentioned it, but we have Clarissa's Chinese passport now!!...
 
We got here around midnight last night, our bags arrived around 1:30am, so it was 2am or so when we got to bed. Clarissa was real impressed with that whole thing, but she was a very good girl. She went to sleep with no problem, then woke up at 5am. The usual new diaper,  bottle, and a bit of playing and off to sleep in the crib she went. We watched her for a while, then we must have both fallen asleep (no real food since breakfast and a long day does that I guess) because next thing I know I look over and there is Clarissa looking at us with her big eyes through the crib bars. Not saying a peep, but a big smile when she saw us notice her. Checked the clock and it was 9:30am, and we had to be in Yulin's room at 10am to do her Canadian Visa pîcture and paperwork!!!! It was a mad dash to make it, but being the Super Mommy and Daddy that we are we did it.
 
Then we took a group picture with all of the families on the steps in the lobby of the hotel. There was one taken by a professional photographer, but I've attached one that I had one of our guides take.
 
This afternoon we went to the Beijing Zoo!!! It wasn't as hot as it was in Nanchang temperaturewise, but the humidity was brutal. Still a great afternoon though. The zoo was very cool, especially the Pandas.
 
Clarissa is doing better and better each day. She has been all smiles and giggles the last couple of days, but today we got our first full true belly laugh from her. It was priceless for Mommy and Daddy. It ended up being a family laughfest.
 
Tomorrow is the Great Wall of China!!!!!!!!!!!! Daddy can't wait for it. He's been saving his orange (errrrr sorry I mean Sienna...) Bogey Knights shirt for the occasion....it even beat out the Sens shirt.
 
I think that we are well over 700 pictures already!!!
 
A long day ahead.....almost bedtime.

---

Windows Live helps you keep up with all your friends, in one place.