Wednesday, December 2, 2009
PAPERS, PAPERS, PAPERS!

Hi Everybody,

We are exhausted, but our paperwork is done for Beijing. We spent the day at the Beijing Civil Affairs Office, Beijing Notary Office and the Beijing Police Station. Li Mengmeng is officially Sophie Li-Mengmeng Pancoast. She is legally and totally part of our family!!!! We applied for her passport too and now we can begin to really play. We will be sightseeing for the next few days before we can go to Chongqing for Opal.

After 3 hours of paperwork and government offices, Grace took us to Beijing’s one and only 24 hour Chinese Restaurant. It is next door to a nightclub on a street known for its active nightlife. The food was excellent and we all left stuffed. As a matter of fact, neither Ted nor I even wanted dinner tonight we ate so much. The girls of course ate dinner too. I think both of them have hollow legs…grin.

After lunch it was back to the paperwork mill for another hour before we headed to Carrefour (the French Walmart). The girls have Christmas money from Grandma V (Ted’s mom) to spend in China. So far they had bought watches and shoes at the Disney store.

Amalie also wanted a Barbie from China so that was our project at the store. We did not find the boy Barbie she wanted to bring home, but she was thrilled by the choices she had. Sophie lit up like a Christmas tree when Ted told her she could have one. She looked very carefully and SURPRISE! (not) she picked the one in the pink dress with lots of extra clothes. We loved the prices… about $10.00 USD for each set.

We came back to the hotel for a bit of a break then we headed for the Chinese acrobat show. We could not take any pictures, but know it was amazing! The theater is only 5 minutes walking distance from the Poly Plaza. If you ever find yourself in Beijing, be sure you go to a show. Words and recorded performances simply cannot compare. The girls loved the show and Sophie gave it two thumbs up.

Tomorrow Grace plans to take us to see The Temple of Heaven. It is one of the few major landmarks in Beijing that we did not see last time. She also said we might take a rickshaw ride. We will see how that works out.

Sorry this post is not livelier, but we have yet to have a full night of sleep and it is starting to really show. Tonight we are splitting the girls and having them sleep with the parents. Hopefully we can all sleep through the night this time! The girls and Ted are already down for the count. Hopefully Ted will be back to entertain you all tomorrow. We love hearing from you all via email and the guestbook and are glad you are enjoying following the adventure.

Goodnight,
Brandy, Ted, Amalie & Sophie