Just a quick update as we are in a hotel in Tokyo and will be heading off to Beijing in about 6 hours. Sheila and Jada just got out of bed at 4:00 in the morning after the two of them had a lengthy conversation to which I was most fortunate to have heard, considering I was in the bed beside them.

It all started yesterday – seems SO LONG AGO looking back. We got to Tri-Cities airport at our specified time and said good-bye to Sheila's Mom who was kind enough to brave the early morning and provide the ride. Needless to say, Jada was excited to be taking her first plane ride; at least the first plane ride in her young memory. But I digress…

We made it to Detroit on time and settled in for our allotted 5 hour layover. We saw the sights of our little corner of the airport with visions of the LONG plane ride ahead whipping our thoughts. These were NOT visions of sugar plums stuck in our heads…but I digress…

After several announcements at the Northwest counter talking about something with the words hydraulics and leaking and can’t find the source that we determined that we were NOT taking this plane to Tokyo. After the decision was made to get another plane and transfer all the baggage and food, we left a good three hours after our regularly scheduled departure time. As it turns out, this was just the right amount of time to allow our connecting flight to Tokyo to leave us waving in the wind. But I digress…

Now, here we are in Tokyo and the Northwest people are putting everyone up in the Radisson until such time that a new flight can be made available for everyone. We had to clear Customs and catch a shuttle ride to what we thought would be a quick jaunt to a hotel called the Narita Airport Radisson. NOT! It was a 30 minutes ride through the streets of Tokyo and one that I thoroughly dread to take again this morning. But I digress…

Back to 4:00 this morning – after a short conversation, Sheila asked Jada to play a game called the “Be Still” game. Whoever moved first, lost the game. It sounded like Sheila won every single round except the time when Jada blew in her ear. Anyway, after several rounds of this not so quiet game, Sheila asked Jada to tell her what time was displayed on the digital clock between the beds. Stating matter-of-factly that the clock showed 4-8-8 (the 0's looked like 8's to her on that clock), we knew we were going to be in for a L-O-N-G morning preparing for our trip to Beijing.

Well, I believe the two of them are about done with their shower. It has been a real experience trying to type this while listening to Jada sing Jesus Loves Me and the Barney Love Song (I Love You – You Love Me) in the shower. She is a laugh a minute and we are so glad (So Far) that we have brought her on this wonderful adventure.

More to come – we love you all and can’t wait to see everyone when we return.

Richard