We're here!

Ni hao every one! We made it - we arrived in Beijing on Thursday afternoon after a great flight that was about 13.5 hours - our guide Sara was at the airport to greet us and got us settled into our hotel - we tried to sleep off and on last night but ended up at around 5 or so and have had a very busy day...

First we jumped in a taxi and went to what we thought was Behei Park - we still aren't quite sure where we were but it was a beautiful walk, we saw the drum and bell tower - and walked the steps - WHEW - they were steep. We then took a pedi cab through the Hutong district and are now at an internet cafe writing this! We are looking forward to meeting Diana and her family for dinner tonight and the rest of the group arrives tomorrow afternoon - and then Sunday off to Nanning. Sara our guide said that we would be meeting Olivia at around 3 PM on Monday at the civil affairs office - she has checked to see if we can visit the orphanage but looks like that may not happen.


Max and Riley we miss you lots but know that you are having fun with Stacie, Mieke, Grandma, Uncle Martin & Hannah - be good and listen to them!!!

We will talk to you soon.

And we're off!

....the lists have been checked, the kids schedules posted, the carpooling arranged and luggage over packed- we are ready to go...our flight leaves tomorrow morning and we arrive Thursday afternoon in Beijing - we have plans lined up to meet some of our travel group for dinner on Friday and are looking to go to the acrobat show on Saturday night...thanks in advance to everyone who has offered to pick the kids up, drop them off, do up their skates, cheer them on and keep my mom and sister in the school homework loop....

While our long wait to meet Olivia ends tomorrow - a new and exciting chapter begins on Monday when we meet her and she joins our family.....we can't wait!

We will try to post from China when we can......

When Olivia gets home....

all she is going to know is hockey - I think that her favourite team will be the same as mine - the Colorado Avalanche - on her first day home she can come to Riley and my hockey games to cheer us on. We won't make her go to practices - yet.

I bet she will also like shopping at stores that I do like Hollister and American eagle

Love - Hockey Dude - Max

Happy Hallowe'en!

.....only a week to go!





Here are the boys ready to go for a night of trick or treating - I am guessing next year they will joined by a butterfly or princess!!

Thank you to my friends....

who hosted a baby shower for me this week....a surprise shower at that (it really was!)......a lovely dinner party with no shower games, no shower hat and no mint green or yellow sleepers to be seen. That is the sign of true friendship!!! There was lots of good food, perhaps a little too much wine and most importantly lots of great company and laughter.....

Thank you - for a memorable evening - and if I ever get the pictures from *****'s new iPhone - I will post some here......

Thank you also to my colleague's at work who hosted a shower before I went on leave - your generousity was overwhelming - I have made a small dent in the gift certificate - and will be heading back this week to finish off my checklist of what Olivia will need for both travel and when we get back - I was thinking of you as I headed out to babies R us and it feels like I have been gone for a long time even though it has been only a couple of weeks.

Thank you to my fellow hockey moms who have also ensured that when we get back from China, there will be no reason for Olivia and I to miss any games and practices for lack of "not having a thing to wear" - she now has a number of outerwear options to consider!!

And thank you to those who have dropped off gifts, cards and kind notes - your thoughtfulness is very much appreciated.

While we often hear from people about how lucky Olivia is to be joining our family (and we really think we are the lucky ones to have found her through this journey) this experience has reminded us us how fortunate we are to have such supportive friends, family and colleagues - on behalf of Mike, Max, Riley, Olivia and I - THANK YOU!!!

Five Hockey games and a Travel Meeting.....

....whew what a weekend....there was the usual craziness around hockey games & practices that this time of year brings - yes between them the boys had 5 games from Friday at 6 to Sunday at 3 - not to mention a practice for Riley - we actually got off lucky because their weekend practices were cancelled on Saturday -

But the other big event was that we had our travel meeting for China....it is now less than 4 weeks before we go so it was time to meet with people who have done this before and get all of our questions answered and checklists in order. Most important news from that meeting - we will meet Olivia on November 12th.....our itinerary looks like this:

November 7th we leave Toronto to Beijing - arrive November 8th (we decided to leave a little earlier than the group so that we can recover from the jet lag)

November 11th we leave Beijing for Nanning

Meet Olivia November 12th

Stay in Nanning until November 17th

Back to Beijing on the 17th where we will get a chance to visit The Great Wall, Forbidden City & Summer Palace as well as other unscheduled places that we can decide when we get there

Home on the 23rd

Our travel group is a mix of first time parents and families with 2, 3, and 4 children already - it will be a good sized group with sisters, aunts and grandparents in addition to parents all travelling and based on all the chatter and laughter at the travel meeting I expect that we will have lots of fun on the trip.

Well, I am off to starting working through the list of things that need to be done before we go....

and for those of you wondering - 2 wins, 1 tie and 2 losses.

A letter to Olivia

While people wait to travel - they can try to send things to the orphanage - we discovered an organization who send packages on your behalf - the neat thing is that they are sent from inside China so there is no duty to be paid which means the orphanage is much more willing to accept the package when delivered and we were able to track and see that our package did indeed arrive on September 23rd and was signed for at 3 PM -we sent 2 disposable cameras and asked the nannies or foster parents to take pictures for us and return the cameras to us when we travel in November - we also sent some candies and treats for the caregivers and older kids as well as a blanket and teddy bear that we hope Olivia will have received and can bring with her when we meet her.

I have attached the letter that was sent to the orphanage.