26 February 2009 OUR LAST DAY IN SHANGHAI, CHINA We chatted with another family, from our group at breakfast, and decided that the Mum's should go to Yu Gardens again! (OK...so the WOMEN decided it would be a very good idea!) We grabbed a cab, and headed for Yu Gardens...it started to rain (again!!!) Not detered, we popped in and out of a hundred little stores, and I think I managed to keep my shopping under control, by only purchasing about 20 things!!!! Actually, it was probably more (but when I bought 10 magnets for 20 Yuan, I class that as ONE sale!!!) We had an absolute ball. After about 2 hours, I said to my friend, I really think we should go, as I needed to make sure I could pack all my gear!!! I was very cross with myself, because I was wearing the jeans and sneakers, that I planned to wear on the plane home...and now they were all wet and muddy!!! We got back to the hotel around 1. Todd hadn't had lunch, and Tari had just woken up from her sleep, so we walked to the Mall up the road and had Maccas for lunch. We went back to the hotel to finish off the packing, and have a nice hot shower. Got the bags packed with room to spare! Met our Guide in the lobby at 430pm, and she took us to the airport. Traffic was fierce, took almost and hour and a half to get there! We checked in (and just so you know... our bags were 5kgs underweight!) THE FLIGHT(S) We boarded our plane in Shanghai at 8pm. We landed in Sydney at 1030am. (which was about 7am, China time). No night flight is ever pleasant. With a baby in tow, its usually a nightmare...except Tari isn't your regular baby. She's Super Baby! She only slept in the bassinet for about 2 hours. She was awake between 1-3am. She grizzled a few times, but that was it. We gave her some panadol at 3am, as she was grabbing her ear, and sucking her fingers (we suspect more teeth are on their way), and she slept on me, solidly, til the cabin crew woke us up at about 5am. During her "awake" time, Todd went to the loo, so I said I'd go when he got back. Tari really started to cry when I walked off, so I said I'd take her with me. That was interesting!!! Have you ever tried to undo jeans, one handed?!! Well, I couldn't so, I perched Tari on the little sink, put my bum on her so she didn't fall off, and undid my pants!!! Holding a baby, and "hovering" was too hard... I had to sit...Yes...I was eeewwww too. Well, whilst I was seated - we had some turbulance - a light started flashing in there - it had a symbol with a little man and an arrow back to your seat. Then the Captain comes on the loud speaker, urging everyone to put on their seat belts!!!! When I popped out of the loo, the cabin crew were just strapping themselves in, and were very concerned about my trip back to my seat, so they followed me down with a flashlight!!! Oh yeah, I didn't tell you, we were sitting at the front of the plane, the middle loo was being used, so I went right to the back of the plane!!!! You wouldn't believe it. We had NO turbulance the whole flight - except the 3 minutes I was in the toilet, with my child!!!! We had to pickup our luggage in Sydney, clear customers, re-check baggage, and get to our gate, all in and hour an a half. When we got to the customs hall - it was bedlam! About 4 planes had just come in. I managed to grabbed a customs guy that was wading through the crowd, and said to him (while holding baby, and sounding very distressed) "We need to connect to Adelaide in an hour, I'm a bit worried" - he grabbed our card, stamped it and sent us through another gate! WooHoo! Truly, if we'd waited in line, we would have DEFINITELY missed our connecting flight. Tari really started to cry loudly, while we waited in line to board the plane. We were seated right behind business class! Great - all these toffee business people kept giving me the evil eye, coz Tari was crying. A well dressed business guy, had the window seat next to us - I could see on his face, he wasn't very impressed!!!! Anyway, we pulled out the inflight magazine, and that kept Tari quiet for at least 15 minutes...then she went to sleep, for the entire trip to Adelaide (2.5hrs)! Our daughter is a legend. We walked up the arrival ramp to about 20 adoring fans, all taking pictures of us, waving and cheering! It was so special!!! It was SOO GOOD to see Harrison and Mikayla again. I put Tari down, so she could have a little walk, Harry came over, and she grabbed his finger, and off they went!!! It was so sweet!!!! Mikayla was just gushing over Tari, and Tari just adores her. My Mum wept. I cried. I hugged. I kissed. It was beautiful (except for me - 16 hours of travelling makes me very messy, stinky and sweaty!!) We came home. Ahhh...Home Sweet Home. We are a complete family. Tari just adores the kids, and they just can't get enough of her. We are TRULY BLESSED. Thanks for your prayers, support and friendship. God bless you.         This page hosted by