Safe in California.

Wow, I can finally see the blog again. Except now my settings are in Chinese. Oh, language barriers.

Our flight was delayed about a half hour today but we landed on time. We'd sat behind the bulkhead, which was heaven for Tim and his long legs. The only downside was that for the first hour and a half of the flight, the toilet in front of us was flushing constantly. And it was loud. And shrill. And couldn't be blocked out by earplugs or iPods. It was not cool. Thankfully, they fixed it, because 10.5 hours of a constantly flushing toilet might have driven me to violence. And no one wants that. The only other crappy part was that we got stuck on the tarmac for an hour after landing. But we cleared customs, our bags made it okay and we're all safe and sound. Grandma's in her hotel, waiting for the Packer game to start. Tim and I are unpacked and the cats are going cah-razy with love. It's nice to be home with the whole day ahead of us, even if we are pretty tired. But at least we can settle in a little before the work week begins.

I can't even begin to describe how wonderful the trip was. Not only was it a once in a life time trip to China, but it was especially wonderful because we were there as a family, and most importantly, because we were there to support Sara in her athletic debut on the world stage. So many kudos go out to Sara for being such a fabulous athlete with such a great attitude. Mom and Dad did a wondeful job planning and coordinating the trip. Our little guided tours were just perfect, and mom was always ready with the guidebook on the days we had "off" from China Highlights. I'm really glad I got to spend an entire week with them, and of course Grandma too. She held up like a real trooper, though I must admit, she slept so soundly for awhile on the plane that I had to check and make sure she was still breathing. We're just glad she got in some quality nap time.

I have 344 photos uploading to Snapfish right now. Here is one that I took during opening games that I love. One of the most wonderful things about the trip was seeing how much Shanghai turned it up for the Special Olympics. There were Special Olympics banners and billboards EVERYWHERE.

One of the best things about this past week was when we were walking to Opening Games, there were parents and supporters from all sorts of countries in many different types of dress, and it really warmed my heart, thinking about how all of these people came from all of these countries to love and support their Special Olympian. We think Sara is a total superstar, and are proud to be "Team Sara." We just wish we could still be there, cheering her on!