I'll admit it. I was nervous coming to Beijing with our four kids. It did not help that everyone we know asked us if we were worried and that the media played up the concerns. The threat of terrorism, the cloud of pollution and just the effort it takes to keep track of four young children anywhere were a bit daunting. But what is there to fear?

The Chinese are great at ad campaigns. There is a catchy ditty playing everywhere that says, "Beijing Welcomes You" in Chinese. There are banners along miles and miles of streetlights along the roads to the airport and along major arteries with the Olympic logo and Beijing 2008. There are stickers for kids to wear on their shirts. There are window clings on the trains.

There are volunteers on every corner. All speak one sentance really well, "Enjoy the Games!" They say it perfectly, with great inflection and little accent. Some people can only say that and answer it for every question. Others speak English quite well. The volunteers seem to outnumber the international visitors in most neighborhoods.

After 24 hours of travel, and a brief stopover in Tokyo, we arrive at Beijng Capital International Airport - PEK - a modern soaring structure that seems like an entire cloud city of its own spun from steel and glass and a billowing, curvaceous transportation hub of modern scandinavian design.

Aerodynamic, stain and wrinkle repellent and guaranteed to take a few seconds off of our times.... we present our matching uniforms for the Olympics. We didn't identify ourselves as Americans or use the trademark rings due to legal or political concerns, but now you'll know how to spot us in the crowd.

Before we leave tomorrow for the Olympics in Beijing, we took a family photo here in SLO at the new Chinese Park. From the left: Haven, 11; Sophia, 8; Jorgen, 5; Erik, 8; Amy and Peter.

At first, just being able to get our six airline tickets was the biggest hurdle. I had gotten sick of not being able to use our frequent flier miles so I did some reseach and learned that tickets are released 330 days advance of travel.

In just two more days, we take our four kids to Beijing to visit our exchange son and see China's coming out party, the 2008 Olympics. After two years of planning, shots, visa applications, and getting very lucky with our American Airlines frequent flier miles, we are finishing our packing and leave SLO on Wednesday at 6 am.