In which our intrepid travelers prepare to head east... REALLY east.
The bad news: We're going to have to shell out some cash.
The good news: We're super-humanly strong.
Thanks to Robin's uber-preparation, packing has been surprisingly stress-free. In fact, we just spent a leisurely evening having dinner with friends and then coming home to finalize the movies and music we want to take with us.
Still, all the preparation in the world doesn't change the rules: Two 70-pound bags each domestically; 44 pounds TOTAL in Kazakhstan. Forty-four pounds? We take more than that for an afternoon visit to the in-laws!
But we're doing our best. We've been weighing the bags quite scientifically:
"I can still pick this bag up with one hand. Must not weigh 70 pounds."
So you can imagine our surprise when, on a trip to the gym (for that last bit of exercise to shed all those what-the-heck-I'm-going-to-Siberia pounds), we discovered "Holy Cow! I CAN lift 70 pounds with one hand!"
Curse our freakish might!
Somehow, we'll make do. In the meantime, we wrestle with our excitement to meet Owen (can it really be just a couple of days away?) and our sadness to leave friends and family behind. Two of our friends just had their baby today. More friends just brought us the coolest car seat slash stroller. You read correctly. It's this totally awesome Transformer-- press the red button and the handle pulls up. Push another and the wheels pop down.
The generosity has just been staggering. Robin and I sometimes worry about the kind of parents we'll be, but we never doubt the community in which our son will be raised. Our whole family is truly blessed by the friends we're lucky enough to have.
