catch up post

we left Guangzhou on Wednesday at 4:30 pm in a private van.  When we got to the Hong Kong/China border, we had to get out, present our passports at the counter, walk through a building & then get back in the van.  We arrived at our hotel (Sky City Marriott) at around 8pm.  We were starving so we ate at one of the hotel restaurants -- it was a sports bar & the food was great!  I've never been so happy to have a cold Coke with ice!!!

We hit Hong Kong Disney on Thursday....in the rain...but hey, it's Disney :)

 loved the surf Mickey statue in the background!

 Jungle River Cruise -- they had English & Chinese speaking boats

 these pirates were very interested in the story of our Chinese daughters

 no trip to Disney is complete without a Mickey ice cream bar!

 the bigs were on a ride when we ran into this famous duo

 Piper's only wish was a new princess dress - how could we say no to this face?!?

we had dinner Thursday night with my cousin Travis & his beautiful girlfriend Bonnie.  Piper was enthralled with her (she is also Chinese & looks like she walked out of Vogue magazine).

We were schedule to leave Hong Kong at 10:15am on Friday on the United flight from HK to Tokyo to Chicago arriving at 2:54pm (Friday).  When we got to the United counter at the airport, we saw our flight was delayed until 3pm (China time) -- I about lost it.  Thankfully, the HK airport has free wifi so I got online & saw that the United flight leaving at 11am from HK non-stop to Chicago had 8 seats left (10 if you count first class).  The wonderful woman at the ticket counter not only switched us to this flight, she also re-arranged some seats so Pres & I sat together, Justin & Piper sat together, and Chloe & Coop were directly in front of each other (1 & 2 rows in front of Justin).  We also lucked out & got to keep our upgrade to Economy Plus.  After sitting on the runway for 2 hours before take-off, we landed in Chicago almost 15 hours later (longest.flight.ever).  So proud of the kids -- very few tears from Pres, they all got some sleep, & no complaints.

Hello Chicago!

 we were greeted at the airport by my mom, brother, sis-in-law, & the cutest little man ever Charlie.  Here's Pres meeting Grandma

 she liked Uncle Luc's beard

 lovin' on Charlie

and back to checking out the beard

first steps on US soil

 think I'll take off my coat & stay awhile

 party of 6

kids were hungry, there was a McD's in the terminal so we grabbed some nuggets - Pres loves them & was eating 7 of them anytime we got them in China (don't worry, her diet will improve ;)

traffic was terrible so the drive took a bit longer than usual but no complaints from the backseats.  When we got home, Pres ran all over the house, climbing stairs, playing with toys, giggling...

she amazed us at how well she can climb stairs -- up & down

Saturday -- first morning at home

playing princess