We sleep really late, and then take care of some final travel and school loose ends before the kids arrive. We taxi over to the Marriott Courtyard and check in to make sure the rooms are ready. Then Judy and I taxi to Sanyuanjiao train station to catch the Airport Express. We’ve never had the chance to try it out, and we’re curious how convenient it is.   It’s really quick and easy, about 15 minutes to Terminal 3, the terminal for international flights.

We kill some time at Starbucks, waiting for their flight. The flight is a little early, and about 30 minutes after their arrival, Courtney, Brad, and Glenda come walking out. It’s great to see them. They are showing signs of fatigue from their 13-hour flight from Chicago. They had a four-hour layover in Chicago after their 2-hour flight from Dallas, which left DFW at 6:00 am. They didn’t go to bed the night before the trip. They could probably sleep standing up right now, Our driver is waiting (we hired a van so we could all ride together, taxis will only hold 4 riders). We get them to the hotel and up to their rooms, giving them about 90 minutes to unpack and freshen up before we go out to eat.

Our van arrives and we head out for Sanlitun. It rained hard earlier, but stopped before we arrived. We walk around the area a little, and then have sandwiches/wraps at Moka Bros. café. After dinner, we have the driver take us to the Tiananmen Square area. The Forbidden City looks great at night with the lights. Then we head to the Olympic Park area for a night view of the lights at the Bird’s Nest Stadium, and the Cube. The kids are sleeping while we drive, but we wake them up for the highlights. Back at the hotel, they bail out and head to their rooms. The driver takes us to our apartment, and it’s not too long before we’re knocked out, ourselves.