It's hard to believe that this day has arrived. The day where we call Shanghai, China are home. Our flight was amazing! We were blessed to have an entire section of first class to ourselves and a flight attendant to call our own. Noah and Eliana proved to be quite the world travelers. We all managed to get several hours of sleep and more food than we could have asked for. We made it through customs quickly (thanks to our stroller) and then we had the task of collecting all 9 pieces of checked luggage. That was in addition to our 8 carry-on bags. Unfortunately, we lost one box and have yet to find it. Praying for a miracle that it will show up. Needless to say, we looked ridiculous wheeling our possessions out of the airport.

You can imagine the chuckles we heard as we walked by people. I should have taken a picture of Bob steering them, but I was too focused on getting out of there in one piece and Bob not running over Noah. Oh well...maybe next time.

We made it to our temporary apartment and are trying our best to make this home for a month until we are moved to our permanent unit (that one was not available until mid-Feb). We are within walking distance to the clubhouse where there is an American grocery store, a gym, an indoor pool, an indoor playground and a couple of restaurants. There are families of all nationalities living here. Noah made a friend last night from Denmark. Who knows, they might pick up a couple of extra languages while we are here.

We found IKEA and decided that they might be the cheapest place for us to eat out at. Unfortunately, all of Shanghai has discovered that too. That was Bob's first IKEA experience and he was having a hard time with the crowds there. I quickly reminded him that he was the one that moved us to a city of 30 MILLION people and he should get over his issues with crowds. :)

Tomorrow we will need to grocery shop for a week's worth of food since we don't know what will be open during the Chinese New Year. I can't wait for that bill...

Oh, speaking of bills. Want to take a guess on how much all of this cost?


Minus the Oatmeal Squares cereal (because they couldn't find a price for it)- $90. I about had a coronary. My frugal days are over and no, they do not accept coupons (I asked).