Its Saturday

Saturday, November 10.... We cleaned house last night - partly because my nephews are spending today with us and partly so that when we come home from China, we can tell if Goldilocks has been in the house while we were gone.

Today, the boys and I are going through what is being packed as a checked item and what will be in our carry ons. We made a calendar for my nephew (in Kindergarten) to show him where we will be each day. He's big into knowing what is happening and planning ahead, so this will help him conceptualize when we leave, the day we meet ElleAnna, when we are on airplanes, and when we are coming home. He can cross off the days until we are back, much as we've crossed off the days until we leave.

I think Ken is feeling fairly comfortable with being gone from school for the next two plus weeks. He has a good sub and the lesson plans are all in order. The boys have most of their homework done, except for the projects from neat, understanding teachers who are having them put together a powerpoint of our trip. I need to go to work for a while tomorrow to tie up a few lose ends as I know Monday will not be productive, even though I will be there physically.

I think we'll "unpack" ElleAnna's suitcase today and try to put some of her things into another checked bag - that way we are under the weight limits. The bag we are taking for her weights 50 pounds. Granted, its full of things that will be left behind, so it won't weigh that much after we leave Shenyang, but its still overweight. To check bags in Denver, we are allowed 50 pounds per checked bag, two per passenger. When we get to China, however, each ticketed passenger is allowed only 40 pounds checked baggage total. We need to try and get under that to avoid any hassles.

Well, on to today's projects. My nephews will be here this afternoon. Its beautiful outside, so we ought to go pick up the soaker hoses out of the dead flowerbeds. Add to that the fact that the boys MUST squeeze in some PlayStation time and Bryant wants to make chocolate chip cookies. I think one of the cars is running low on fuel, so we better go fill up the tank - paying $3.209 per gallon is almost as bad as buying the plane tickets!!

I will post again later. Thanks for following our journey.


Michelle