China, Here We Come!

Well, we've been packing our bags and preparing our gifts in anticipation for our trip. This morning I picked up our Chinese visas at the embassy in downtown Chicago. We had to fill out application papers, drop them off in person, and then come back four days later to pick up our passports. Sophia's passport is so cute! It is good for five years, and I can't wait to see how different she will look in five years from her little baby picture!

So, we're ready to go!

Plane tickets: $1700
Chinese visas: $100
Passports: $150
Gifts for Chinese family and friends: a lot
A trip to China: priceless

I'm really proud of the gifts we mustered up to bring over for Peter's family members. Over the weekend, I made goodie bags with Easter chocolates, jelly beans, granola bars, Wrigley's gum, Chicago keychains, and a Chicago postcard complete with our website information, address, and email for keeping in touch. They are in really cute Easter bags with ties. We also picked up some nice photo books with "tours" of Chicago, Chicago t-shirts, sweatshirts, and mugs. For Peter's father and brother we got a nice set of Craftsman tools (it was a stretch to find anything not MADE IN CHINA, so Thanks Craftsman for being made in the USA!) and some made in America candles for his mom and aunt. We also filled six small photo albums with pictures of Sophia and our family to leave with them. We got a great selection of pictures for the books (14 in each).

I'm hoping to find some internet cafes along the way to update this blog on our trip. So sit back and enjoy our ride! We're so excited!

For those who want to watch the skies, we'll be taking off on Saturday morning at 11 AM on American Airlines, non stop from Chicago to Shanghai!