United Airlines - Our home for 14 1/2 hours - Chicago - Beijing

Lily's Crib - @ the White Swan

We made it to Guangzhou

We made it -- Suz and I left Plymouth at 9 AM and we arrived at the
White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou China exactly 24 hours later.

The United flight left Chicago 1 hour late and we thought we would
miss our connection in Beijing for sure - but actually the customs -
getting our bags - rechecking our bags - going through Chinese
security and walking to our gate only took 25 minutes. How many
times do we have to wait longer than that to get our bags in South
Bend? The trip really could not have gone smoother - even the White
Swan hotel had drivers waiting just outside the baggage claim. How
do you say White Swan Hotel in Chinese? Well we just have to type it
into our handy translation unit and it speaks the question in
Mandarin (thanks Jess - the 2007 Christmas Gift is in use). Type in
XU HUI - Lily's Chinese name and out comes --"she-way".

Weather yesterday in Beijing was 32 degrees and foggy - it was 62
degrees in Guangzhou last night at midnight.

Today is an easy day and tomorrow we get Lily. I will try and attach
pictures but as expected we cannot upload our blogspot here.
Hopefully everything will post.

Britt and Drew

Let's see if a pic posts remotely

New style of Posting Attempted - via email

I am trying out the backup plan for posting to the blog before we
travel on Friday. Some say that in China you cannot post directly -
some say you cannot view the blog - so this is a test for remote
posting. We are getting ready - it seems like we are taking a
pharmacy for this 2 week trip. Better safe than sorry.

Lily's First Birthday Party - Well a little early, but that is OK

We had a great surprise tonight as the Flynn and Morris families surprised us with a little Lily Party. Kelsey did not want to miss Lily's first party - so she decided to throw one a few days early. sue and I promised to take the party hats and gifts to China for her official day. What great friends - even Kelly and the two Morris boys were able to be at the party before going back to college.

In two weeks we are in Guangzhou - the countdown is on,

Good News for Britt and Kelly

We are going to have two girls at St. Mary's College next year! Britt received her early acceptance letter last week and Kelly just got the call that her transfer was approved. Kelly starts in two weeks and Britt in the fall. The ND football tailgates will be a great time for the next four years with all the girls new friends - now we just need a few more victories. We have to move kelly next weekend - so the relaxing time before China is gone.

it's two weeks until we leave for China. I called United Airlines just to confirm the seat assignments and quess what - UA messed up Lily's ticket. You never can check the details too many times. Hopefully this little glitch will be the worst -- hopefully.