T minus 12: Got the itinerary!

Okay, I am cheating and writing Friday's post on Saturday morning, but I wasn't home yesterday between 7 A.M. and 10:30 P.M., so this will have to do.

Yesterday afternoon was our travel meeting and were able to meet most of the folks who will be traveling with us, which was so much fun. We got our plane tickets and our itinerary, which looks like this:

• 5/23: Depart for Washington DC and connect to flight to Beijing.
• 5/24: Arrive in Beijing. A guide will pick us up at the airport and get us to our hotel.
• 5/25: Our bonus extra day. About 8 families of the 19 will be there early, so I'm sure we'll find something fun to do.
• 5/26: Trip to the Great Wall.
• 5/27: Tour the Foribdden City and Tian An Men Square. Fly to Nanchang.
• 5/28: Meet Sophie!!!
• 5/29: Notary appointment
• 5/30: The doctor will examine the children and we'll get to do some sightseeing.
• 5/31: More sightseeing
• 6/1: Get Sophie's Chinese passport and depart for Guangzhou.
• 6/2: Get Sophie's visa physical.
• 6/3: Sightseeing
• 6/4: Visa interview at the US Consulate's office
• 6/5: Swearing in ceremony, receive Sophie's visa.
• 6/6: Depart for Hong Kong. Depart Hong Kong for Chicago. We'll get to Chicago less than two hours later (plus the 12 hours difference), and then have a few hours to stretch our legs before we get on the last flight home that night.

Whew! We're going to be busy.

After the travel meeting, I met some of my pals for dinner and we had a great time. I was exhausted when I got home, but that didn't seem to prevent me from sleeping beyond 6 A.M. I have another long day today - EJ is going to a friend's party at noon and then we're taking her and three friends to her party later in the afternoon. Stay tuned for pictures tonight!