Greetings from Beijing!

Well, it looks like Blogger (blogspot.com) is blocked in China, which makes updating it a little tough. I figured out a way to do it, but it's painfully slow. So , that being said, it's really late and this is going to be short.

Amanda and Ally watching movies...

The flights over were mostly uneventful. We spent over an hour on the tarmac waiting to takeoff from JFK, so were very late getting into Beijing. The girls made good use of the iPads on the trip over, and it looked like about half of the folks on the plane also had iPads and the same idea.

Arctic ice...

We had a little surprise when we left New York. The plane took off and flew due north. We had expected to fly west and over the Pacific Ocean. Instead, we ended up going over the Arctic Ocean and eventually Siberia before arriving in China. Didn't really make a big difference in the flight itself, but I got a cool picture out of the deal.

We met our Beijing guide, Nancy, at the airport and she took us to our hotel. She's very outgoing, and we now know her entire life story. I think she's going to be a great guide and we're looking forward to getting started Monday morning.

It's now nearly midnight and we have to be in the lobby by 9am, so that's all I'll post for today. In short, it was a good trip over and everyone is doing well!

Blessings to all,
Carl, Jerri, Amanda, and Ally