Great Wall

Today was a packed day.....9:00 a.m. met in lobby for bus trip out to Jade and/or Pearl Factory on way to the Great Wall.....Zach has made some friends on this journey, and we were very proud of him.....He asked if he could ride on the other bus, without mommy and daddy, with some of the other boys and the families that he met on the trip......(all of us are in same group and staying at same hotel, so we know the families...).....everyone said it was fine, and a mom and dad who adopted a little boy from Korea, Nicholas, (a little over 5) said they'd keep an eye on him....so, off he went.....we met up with them when we got to the Great Wall and he was having a BLAST.....didnt miss us as much as I missed him.....he is growing up SO Fast....anyway.....bus went to Jade factory.....very nice, and then on to the Great Wall....wow....was there traffic going to the various viewing sites, as it was a gorgeous sunny day....in any event, we had about 2 hours or so at the wall...climbed up as high as we could go....very very steep, but incredible view....we were at the part of the wall that Nixon visited when he came to Beijing many years ago....Zach brought along 'Flat Stanley' from school (a cut of a little boy that is supposed to travel the world)....we took numerous pictures of him at the wall, much to the wonderment of the local Chinese.....EVERYONE would stop and stare as we held Stanley up by the wall, or posed him in pictures.....they would smile...point........Tina and I thought of mass producing the Flat Stanleys and selling them......figure if they can sell us watches with MAO on it, we can sell Flat Stanley...! after the wall, went out for a late lunch....everyone was somewhat wiped....but, it was good....had shops there where Zach picked up a few things...he had a blast....then off to the Chinese Acrobat show on way back to hotel...INCREDIBLE......men and women performing feats that were amazing.......Zach had a lot of fun.....this is our last night in Beijing for a while, as we head out to Guangxi Province tomorrow morning (city of Nanning) to meet and receive Isabella.....we get into Nanning around 1o:30 am, and they will bring Bella to us in the afternoon sometime.....everyone is nervous and excited...there will be 3 other families travelling to this province with us....Zach is very very excited about tomorrow and is sound asleep now in anticipation of the day....Tina and I are doing great....tired, but great....lot to do...see....we are actually looking forward to getting to Nanning for several days, not just to get Bella but to have some down time as a family in the hotel....Beijing is TOOO crowded, with over 1 million residents in the area......good luck to them in 2008 for the Olympics.....Needless to say, this will be our last post without our daughter...!!! Next time you hear from us, we will have her with us in what we can only anticipate will be an emotional day....for those who know Tina and I well, she is calm, steady person....I, on the other hand, will be an emotional wreck.......Hope this email finds family and friends all doing well and wishing everyone a very Happy Easter.....oh yeah, one myth that I have believed in my entire life was shot down.......the Great Wall of China CANNOT be seen by the astronauts in space......just an urban legend I guess.....