Counting Down...

Yes, we are counting down the days, hours, and minutes until we get to see our little guy. We have our airline tickets, the hotel rooms are reserved, passports and visas are in hand. It was a bit of a close call with the visas though. We received a confirmation page via email for our visas, however it wasn't in English, it was all in Cyrillian. For some reason, I thought we should translate just to make sure everything looked good. So, we copied and pasted it into a translation program and discovered that our visas had us arriving the 16th, but departing on the 15th...of the SAME month!! So, we were leaving before we even got there! I'm so glad we double checked that and we were able to get them to change it before we travel. (So...for our fellow PAP's out there, please make sure your dates on your visas are accurate.)

As for everything else, we have started the packing process...well, the beginning of the packing process. We have almost everything that we are taking sprawled all over little Russki's room. We've been collecting things over the last 11 months, but now that the time is here, we are trying to get it all organized. Even though we collected a lot of things, we still ended up going out and buying more things...like dual time zone watches, new clothing, and other things we probably won't need...but it has been fun shopping for things we MAY need!

Even though we are super excited about going, I've been a little stressed out about all I need to get done for my classroom. Since we are at a year round school, we are still in session. The week we get back, will be the last week of school...so, that means report cards need to be done, and we will be busy with all of our end of the year activities. Thankfully, my Mom and Dad came down this weekend, and my Mom helped save the day by grading papers, filing, sorting, and helping prepare things for my substitute....Thanks Mom!

Mike is his usual calm self, methodically getting things done. His main concern right now is whether or not he will be able to eat anything while we are over there....if you know Mike at all, you know he is a picky eater. So, we spent a good portion of our day buying some snack foods that he can get by on-just in case.

One final note...while we were laying everything out on the floor to pack...our dogs insisted on laying in the middle of all of it. Obviously they know something is going on. They won't be happy that we are leaving them for a week, but I know they will be thrilled someday to get a little boy to play with.