China Trip Day #1 - China or Bust

Today has been emotional for me and I suspect the next 22 days will be much the same.  Saying goodbye to Oliver and Soren was so incredible difficult that I fight back tears just writing this.  What made it harder is that Oliver woke up with a fever and stayed in bed while Chris and I finished getting ready.  Not even Grandma and Grandpa’s arrival was enough to get him out of bed.  Soren on the other hand was quite the helper this morning.  He followed me around the house helping me to fetch the remaining items on my packing list and then helped me finish packing our bags.  He was an overall happy, chipper little guy straight up through final goodbyes.  But when we had to leave, it was clear Soren thought he was coming with us when he grabbed his jacket from the coat hook by the door.  He erupted into tears when he learned he was staying behind.  I cried as I held his sobbing body in my arms.

Although it might have provided the kids more closure by being able to come with us to the airport, saying goodbye at home was probably a better idea over all.  It takes longer getting out the door with the kids and it would have prolonged our goodbyes.  I probably would have cried the whole way to the airport.  And course with Oliver being sick, it was good that Grandma Nan could stay home with the kids while Grandpa Dan gave us a lift to the airport.

The rest of the day was uneventful.  Our flight to Seattle went by quickly thanks to on-board Internet access and even our layover seemed to go by quickly.  We walked around the airport to get some exercise before our 12-hour flight and ate an early dinner.  Our flight is surprisingly only half full and Chris and I are expecting a whole row of seats to ourselves.  Hopefully the extra space allows us a couple of hours of sleep, but not too much.  We land at 8:00 p.m. in Beijing and by the time we make it to our hotel, I hope we’ll be ready for a good night’s sleep in a bed instead of an airplane seat.