Monday December 21

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We are in Beijing!! Had a great flight, a little turbulence here and there but the 12 hours went by pretty fast with several movies and reading travel books.
We hired a driver to pick us up at the airport and he was waiting for us with sign that said “Green Wood,” kids thought that was funny. We are very happy with our hotel, JW Marriott, we are on a club floor with access to the club lounge with drinks available all day, happy hour every night and a full breakfast in the morning…..Helpful with our family of 6 and boys that can eat non stop. Steve was so excited with our “luxury” bath that he had to take one while watching the TV above it  Right across the street from our hotel is a huge 8 floor mall, so for dinner last night, to make tired kids happy we ate at “Pizza Hut” and it really tasted good. Mark and Mike had a very unique pizza that was surrounded by mini bagel dogs  Photo coming! We checked out the lounge before heading to the room and had a drink with the pilot of our plane!! Mike happily joined us in a glass of wine as the drinking age here is 18! I think everyone but mom and Mike were asleep by 8 PM! Mike checked email in the lounge and I unpacked and tried to feel settled for our week here. Mike found a way through UCLA to get access to his account, I have not!!!
Today we are being picked up at 9 am by a guide, Mr. Lei, who is taking us to the Great Wall! We are going to three different sections, so we’ll let you know how they are.

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Comments

[Aunt Susan]

Glad to hear that you arrived safely and that the hotel will be a great home away from home! Sounds like Steve might get hooked on baths! :-) Enjoy yourselves and get lots of pictures! Love, Aunt Susan :-)