The Flying Wallendas

Allow me to introduce the first two members of our traveling circus.  First up:  The Professor.

The Professor enjoys smoking cigars, conducting statistical regression analyses, and traveling.  Having just returned from France two days ago, he is unfazed at the prospect of departing for two weeks in China tomorrow morning.  Hopefully his back and his disposition will prove just as prepared for the struggle.  Having retired from his days leading the A-Team, he no longer goes by "Hannibal," preferring his given name, "Charles."  He still loves it when a plan comes together, and remains familiar with building weaponry and small explosives out of items left lying around junkyards and old barns.  We expect this will come in handy.  He also doubles as Allison's father and sometime benefactor. 

This leads us to The Professor's lifelong companion and partner in crime:  The Social Worker

Seen here modeling her patented "Double-Fisted Grip of Guilt," the Social Worker specializes in nursing home inspections and psychosocial warfare.  Just today, after running a few last-minute errands, she came into Allison's and my place of business flashing a brand new jumbo-sized stick of Secret deodorant she'd purchased on our behalf -- making a special point of showing it to me and my colleague through the glass window of our conference room.  It was like reliving all three years of junior high school in a 5-second span.  Luckily, she is just as skilled practicing her mental jujitsu on our biological children, and will hopefully help us keep them subdued and half-catatonic for most of the trip so that we can focus on other things.  Codenamed "Gloria," she also heads our special task force in charge of keeping waiters, hotel clerks, drivers, and other service personnel in line.  God help them if they don't.

All kidding aside, many thanks to Allison's parents for making the trip, they are a godsend and truly beautiful people.  My own beautiful parents would like to have made the trip as well, but for various reasons weren't able.  Still, as hononary and essential members of our act nonetheless, they will merit their own introductions tomorrow -- tune in then for your introductions to "The Financier" and "The Instructor." 

Allison is lying beside me, stone cold asleep after packing everything we could think of.  We have no doubt forgotten something essential, but it will have to do.  We have to be up in 6 hours to leave for the airport.   Whoever scheduled our 5:55 a.m. departure deserves a special place in hell. 

We meet Eli in just 6 days.  We call him Eli sometimes, having rearranged the letters in his "family" name to make a more traditional English name.  Lei Xin Xing becomes Eli Xinxing.  Having no idea what he is called by his caregivers, we'll go with this for now, though we may end up calling him "Lei Xin Xing" or "Hu Jintao" or "Barack" or just "Reggie."  Who knows.  Between now and meeting him, we will spend a couple of days in the 100-degree heat of Beijing visiting the Great Wall and the Forbidden City and seeing acrobats and basically being dragged around by our fanatical guides with no consideration for jet lag or emotional turmoil or probable heatstroke. 

Good times.  Photos to come.