Where My Mary Poppins At?

We got our visas!!!!

What I meant to say was,

"WE GOT OUR VISAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!"

They only took three times longer to get here than we expected but they are HERE.

Now that we have those, it's pack mania over here. Packing a family of five into ten checked bags and five carry on bags is proving to be quite a task. Summer and winter clothes are going, as are a handful of toys per child, books, board games, my favorite garlic dicing gizmo...these...

I feel like Melatonin ought to come with a little halo above it.

Then there are items to help with my germaphobia.

I know, I know. I realize I'm going to live on a FARM with CATTLE right outside my window so I need to ease up on the germaphobia. But, between here and there, there are these things called airplane lavatories. Also known as The Birthplace of Germs.

Which is why this sight of this in the Walmart aisle almost made me clap my hands and cry tears of joy.

It is seriously so special to me, it deserves its own portrait sitting.

And a halo.

Now, if I can just find lysol in a TSA regulation size 3.4 oz aerosol can so I can prep the seat for the seat covers, I'll really feel complete.

As far as packing goes, I find myself wishing for one of those Mary Poppins carpetbags. Or ten. And the snapping thing to clean house would also be nice. But since I don't have the spiritual gift of snapping things into place, I'll just be stuffing things into every nook and cranny of our suitcases and praying for less than the 50 lb. mark.

Considering, in the last week, two friends in SA have thought it wise to mention some things in their Facebook statuses (THAT I READ), namely, two snakes and the abundance of bugs in Africa, I can tell you some toys that will NOT be making the trip with us...

Those spiders have nearly done me in a few times as Tyler left them out after playing. They are just a little too real looking. As for the black snake, there may or may not have been a time Brian and I stared into a tree for a full five minutes, trying to figure out if it was a real snake. Once Brian worked up the nerve to flick it onto the ground, I still wasn't convinced until I read "Made in China" on its belly.

Thank you, China, for the near heart failure.

So, there's the update. We'll let you know when we fly! For now, it's time to get back to packing and channeling my inner Mary Poppins as I repeatedly chant,

“In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and ‘snap’, the job’s a game.”