This blog ain't workin

So says Susan for whom I (her sister) am posting. There are lots of things blocked from their current location. Please go to www.youbelong.net/everett. I don't think anything new is currently posted, but will be later. They have safely arrived in Nanjing and will be meeting Hallie in the afternoon today/tonight. This is apparently not a very progressive city, so hopefully they will be able to post through the other site.

Another "Magical" Day....

First, we wanted to show a picture of the infamous "crabby patty".

Second, in keeping our daily vigil of what's on the rotisserie at the hotel, David snapped a pic of "bird'n peppers". We hope to keep a segmen

t going of interesting foods, as we see them.

Now that we have taken care of the "food" business, let's move on.

Today, we spent our last day in Hong Kong at Disneyland again.

The kids had a blast as we rode on Space Mountain for the 4th and 5th time.

Enclosed is a picture of sidewalk art of Minnie M

ouse, done with water and a broom.

This was "painted" by a disney cast member. This type of art dates back many generations, as we learned on our trip to China 4 years ago. It was u

ndertaken by dissidents who would paint pictures or write in Chinese characters about their disagreement with the governance of China.

Since the water evaporated within minutes of being "painted" on the ground, there was no evidence of any crime, and no resulting punishment.

Jet lag, which could have been much worse, did catch up with the kids this afternoon.

We are all getting to bed early as we get ready for an early flight to Nanjing tomorrow morning. It's been fun so far, but we are all eagerly awaiting our real reason for this trip!

Our first day: Hong Kong Disneyland

We started the day after a great night of sleep and a breakfast buffet at the hotel.

I never thought I'd see Mary ella eat waffles, fruit and a bowl of rice noodles in chicken broth for breakfast. Jonathan also tried something new-looked like a cross between sushi and a cupcake. When asked what it tasted like, he said, "A Crabby Patty!" (?!!!). We didn't eat the cooked goose shown above, but Emily thought it was worthy of a photo.

We then took the MTR(rapid transit) to Disney Land Hong Kong, where we spent the day. It is just like Magic Kingdom, only a little smaller and less crowded. Because it was less crowded, the lines for rides were much shorter. Imagine the waiting less than 5 minutes to ride Space Mountain! Another difference between Disney Land Hong Kong and Disney World Florida was the food. Instead of people walking around snacking on oversized turkey legs, here they munch on grilled squid, which David and Hal enjoyed (Mary Ella and Jonathan politely ate one bite and declined another, Susan dutifully ate a smidge, and Emily simply rolled her eyes).

By 6:30 pm, we were completely exhausted, as jet lag set in.y

Tomorrow, we will play one more day, then fly to Nan Jing the following day. We can't wait!

We're Here!

We arrived in Hong Kong at 6pm (4 am Tyler time) last night. We are so glad to be here after 24 hours of travel!

The day began at 4 am with an early wake up and flight from DFW to San Francisco, with a short layover.

We then took the 14 hour flight, which had us sitting by two's on 3 successive rows in the middle of the middle section of the 747. I'm sure the passengers on either side of us got tired of getting up and down for bathroom breaks, but, hey, what can you do?!!

Susan and I are so proud of the children, as they tolerated the 24 hours of travel amazingly well. The TV attached on the back of each seat helped (just a tad...heh heh), as there was a great selection of kid-friendly movies to watch.

Today and tomorrow, we will remain in Hong Kong to acclimate to the 14 hour time change before traveling to NanJing to get Hallie. We are looking forward to getting out of the hotel and seeing Hong Kong, but the children are especially looking forward to visiting Hong Kong Disney Land. We'll catch up again soon! Thanks for all the support-- we have awesome friends and family!

We're headed to China!

Well, we finally received our travel approval last Monday, and it's been a crazy whirlwind of plans and packing since then! I tried to find the theme song from the "Beverly Hillbillies" to add to this post, since we've been saying that the "Clampetts are comin' to China", as they entire Everett crew will be going! We will be updating as we go... flying out tomorrow, December 9th and returning home Christmas Eve with our "present"!