Most of the way

Wowza.
We made it most of the way, ie, to Hong Kong.  Door to door, it was over 24 hours of travelling.  Here we are when we left:

In Chicago:

On the aircraft to Hong Kong:

Stripped down to t-shirts because it was 95 degrees on the plane.

Right after arrival:

Not bad, you say for 24 hours of travelling, right?  You probably say that because you can't see the dried tears from Rosie's epic, insane meltdown laying on the floor at the end of the jetway.  The meltdown that made the pilot say, "Wow, I'm so happy I'm beyond that stage."  Um, thanks buddy.  Fortunately for him, I held my tongue because he flew us safely for ninety-gazillion miles.  You also say we look pretty good because you can't smell the throw-up in Emmie's hair, likely from a combination of evil airport and airplane food.  Just keepin' it real, my friends.  Keeping it real.

So, backing up a bit, because I can't seem to ever write anything in order.  The past few days have been utter insanity trying to get ready.  The girls were due for a transfusion (which is an all-day event for us at the hospital) the day before we left.  This was great for the girls because (as one of my fellow thal mamas put it) they are now all "tanked up" for the trip.  But it meant that I couldn't get any trip prep done on Wednesday.  P and I ended up being up pretty much all night before we left doing last minute things that would have been done that day.  P even hand-delivered Christmas cards to our neighbors after I ran out of stamps in the middle of the night.  Which, of course, woke up their dog and probably their whole house but, what are you going to do?  They got their card.

So Grampy picked us up at 6am in "The Beach Car" as the girls call it and we were off.  Rosie asked twice if Nana was on the roof of the car, and Emmie told Grampy he was sure to get a ticket because he was driving too fast.  Sort of typical conversation for our family.

Our flights went pretty smoothly.  As I eluded to, Emmie got sick on the long flight, but I really think it was from something she ate.  We got an early reminder of the "Clothing Police"-style women we are likely to encounter in China.  The woman sitting next to Rosie spoke no English, but kept gesturing that I cover up Rosie's arms because she must be freezing on the plane.  Mind you, when we got on the plane I called my mom to say goodbye and I told her it was so darn hot on the plane that it was possible I'd fly all the way to Hong Kong in just underpants.  But this woman was certain Rosie needed more clothes and blankets, even swaddling Rosie her own blanket because the one Rosie had on her wasn't enough.  This woman even took it upon herself to rearrange Rosie while she was sleeping into positions that seemed more comfortable to her.  Rosie groggily fought her off and even seemed to take a few swipes at Airplane Mama in her sleep.  Rosie was a hot, sweaty mess by the time we arrived in Hong Kong.  Maybe that plus the lack of sleep is what precipitated the tantrum at the end of the jetport.

We smell bad and made the pilot pity our parents, but we are still happy.

We had no problems getting to our hotel and were so happy to see an abundance of holiday lights on our ride into the city.  As soon as we opened the door to the hotel room in Hong Kong, Rosie said, "Where's Yiman?!!?!?"  Like she was going to be in here and yell, "Surprise!" when we opened the door.  I think we are going to have to work on explaining how the meeting of their little sister is going to go a bit more clearly.

We cleaned up a bit and everyone was feeling good and hungry so we headed out to Tsui Wah, one of our absolute favorite HK-style restaurants.  We had noodle soup and chicken wings and plenty of sweet, hot milk tea.

After dinner, we strolled down to the waterfront to get a better look at the holiday lights.  Let's just say that our concern that there would not be a lot of holiday festive decorations was quelled.  At least in Hong Kong, they do it up really nicely with tons of lights and decorations.  The girls sang Christmas carols as we walked along the Avenue of the Stars.  We guessed what Francesca might be doing now, and it makes me sad to think that in a few days, she is going to be terrified out of her pretty little mind, losing the foster family it sounds like she is very attached to.  But, I know in my mind that while her foster family loves her and takes care of her, that it wasn't a permanent solution for her.  We are.