12 days till take-off

Just like last time, we waited and waited and waited to bring Van home and suddenly there were precious few days left to get ready...here we go again! Trying to complete the "To Do" list with the help of big brother is easier said than done. Van "helped" with packing today by taste testing my secret airplane candy stash and opening the matchbox cars for Zak so he can play with them right away. What an awesome big brother he will be!
Our final travel conference call with the agency is this Wednesday. Our plane tickets have arrived and we've connected with another family also traveling to Hohhot and bringing their 3 yearl old daughter along too. Woohoo for the folks on the flight with all of us!!

To Infinity...

You guessed it...our Halloween costume has been decided! Since we will miss 2 weeks of peak Halloween excitement while in China, we started the Halloween hype a bit early. I scored these PJs at a consignment sale this weekend thinking they would make or break the costume decision. Better get that winged version soon since he's taking to that "falling with style" technique!

From Gotcha Day to Ghosts and Goblins

It's official...Gotcha Day for Zak is October 18th!
We leave on Friday October 15th and come home Friday October 29th. This posse will surely embrace him for a happy halloween weekend!

Big Brother

Van seems to be getting more and more ready to take on his new role as big brother. He told me this morning that he needed to be a big buddy to Zak just like Rainbow Fish is a big buddy for Tug. He completed his "All about Me" book at school and answered the question-do you have any brothers "yes, one". And today Nanie bought Howie (yes our beloved duck), a new outfit at Build a Bear. Where, btw, they graciously restuffed and restitched poor threadbear Howie for free! Van isn't real sure about Howie wearing new clothes yet but tonight he decided that Howie will need to wear those new clothes when he goes to China. Guess he's as ready as we are!

TA, TA, TA!!!

Travel approval from China arrived today...yippee, yahoo, hooray!! We are looking into travel mid-October but will have more details in the next few days. What a relief to finally know. Basking in the calm before the frenzy of travel prep to follow. Get ready little Zak---you are coming home!!!!

What a difference a day makes

Preschool day one-not a stellar beginning...



By pick up time-no more tears and lots of cheesy smiles. Great reviews of the new teacher, the new friends, the new symbol-the sailboat...looks like he's sailing away in his tub boat already.




And Day two...a perfect do-over!

Crabs-Chicken...Tomato-ToMAto

We managed to squeeze in one last summer event...the annual family crab feast in Southern Maryland. Van couldn't wait to eat crabs once we told him about how we would need to open the shells and get messy and use a hammer at the table. Van explaining the process...
"We have to hit the crabs so we can get the chicken out"

Yes, he loved the hitting and the chicken!