We made it!!!

Wow!  We are in Beijing after so much waiting, planning and one long day of travel.  We were fortunate that none of our flights were delayed and traveling with kids that are pros at long haul flights makes it even better!  Max and I enjoyed the in flight movies and watched "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" and "Clash of the Titans" while Veronica enjoyed the loop of "Toy Story."  unfortunately neither Julie or Sydney's screen worked, so we'll take that up with United when we get back. The good news was that the iPad worked as planned and they were able to watch movies on it.  12 and 1/2 hours is a long time to be in a plane and we were all glad to get off finally!  Sleep came few and far between courtesy of people who felt compelled to open their blinds when the rest of the plane is very dark.  Gotta love John Q. Public, huh?
All that aside we are here!!!  Beijing is scorching and 94 today with high humidity.  You could feel it hit you as you walked off the plane.  We cleared customs and met one of our guides, Mandy, at the exit.  We also met two other families from our agency who were on our flight so it was nice to have someone in the same boat as we were to talk with.  Max and I exchanged money and bought bottles water - something that'll be a common theme for us this trip. While we waited in the airport, the girls took a bathroom break and actually waited in line for a squatty potty.  We'll see how long the excitement will last.  We waited about an hour for another family who was flying in to arrive before they load us on a bus and took us to the hotel.  We have adjacent rooms and the hotel seems very nice.  We need to run out to the store to buy bottled water and I think we'll hit the hay soon.  We are seeing Tiannamen Square, the Forbidden City and Summer Palace tomorrow so tomorrow is a busy day.