1st Edition

Much Thanks to my sweet friend Natalie for posting this to a blog. The iron fisted Chinese have blocked all blogs, facebook and youtube.

Hello all,

Four airports, three airplanes and four security checks later we made it from SLC to Shanghai in twenty-four 'short' hours. The kids were fabulous. Each of them had a backpack and a suitcase to carry on the plane, including Piper. She was quite useless and riding in the stroller so Matt had to pull two suitcases and I had an extra backpack to carry.

I'm grateful we had plenty of time to catch our connecting flights since none of the airports are exactly family friendly. The best was LAX. The international terminal is in a different building than the one you arrive in. Which would be fine if their were a train or even a walkway that connected the two. However, there is no such thing and you are left to your own devices to get there. Again, not a big deal except for the before mentioned four children and ten suitcases. But my little troopers did it, without an ounce of complaining!

The rest of the trip was much the same. We arrived in Shanghai were Rich had managed to arrange two vans to pick us up. Good thing, since besides our carry-ons we had ten additional bags, each weighing in at 50 lbs.

You would think that 500 plus pounds would be plenty of weight and space for anything I might need. So wrong, as I have unpacked and looked around our humble abode I have realize I did not pack well. Here are my tips for anyone else considering an adventure such as this.

• Five, maybe ten outfits each. That is what I brought for Matt, perfect. The girls on the other hand each have at least twenty. I don't know how or why but those ladies have a lot of clothes and I found it easier to just throw the whole lot of them at my sister who in turn threw them in a suitcase. A little discretion would have gone a long way. I won't even mention how many outfits I have.
• Wipes, baby and disinfectant....lots of them.
• Legos, my poor boy doesn't have a single one with him. He has started to shake and is losing cerebral abilities.
• Cold cereal. I would have packed an entire suitcase with it had I know it costs $6 for a small box here. They know only foreigners eat it, Chinese like hot breakfast, so they totally milk it. When your children are on a jacked up schedule and waking up at 3:00 am, starving because they feel asleep before dinner was ready. It would be really nice if they could fix some cereal so I could sleep until 4:00 am. Live and learn.
• A drill and concrete screws. This one might be a little specific to me. The walls are all concrete covered with plaster. It is hard to hammer a nail into cement. Rich has no idea where to buy a drill. I'm sure a city of two million must have one but it has yet to be located.

After unpacking, figuring out sleeping arrangements for six people in two bedrooms was my next challenge.

Simple things, like blankets are not what I am use to. Take a look. It is kind of like a duvet but nasty. Instead of a nice fluffy down filling it is a heavy, wool thing. It has that dusty, nappy feeling that is more than likely a breeding ground for a phenomenal number of germs. You air it out and then stick it in a giant pillow case. The effect is quite charming as you can see. The Pooh pillows add a nice touch.

So that is the girls bed, on one side of the room, they'll be sleeping longways to accommodate three. Matt sleeps on the other side of the room, on this stunning couch. I will do my best to find out who manufacture it so you can all order one.

My next task is the kitchen. I'll fill you in when I'm done. Wish me luck!

Love you all!