Countdown to Canada

If all goes well we will be in Calgary in a WEEK! Now there's a crazy thought, considering I am in no way, shape or form prepared for take-off. And, as often happens when I feel a bit overwhelmed, I do - a whole lotta nothing. Okay, I shouldn't say "nothing". I'm thinking about all the things I still need to do CONSTANTLY. It's tiring, I tell you. And - I recently got our International driver's licenses taken care of. (Decided they are nothing but a money-making scheme and that we won't be getting them this time. Our German ones are valid after all.) So, I feel a bit better to have that out of the way. But on to the really important issues.

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Late, late on Father's Day this tired, but happy father returned to the safety of the home hearth from a country where toilet seats are heated, coffee comes from vending machines in hot aluminum cans, and he suddenly felt quite tall.

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He didn't have much time to recover from jet lag, however, because THIS little bundle of joy came to our house for a mini vacation the next day, a sleep-over included.

GIMME THAT WATCH, DADDY, AND NOW!

Thank you kindly.

The next morning, chipper as a bird. I will let you guess which of the two had been up for hours at that point.

Sophie is so much fun, and getting so big and strong! Her long term foster parents are doing such a good job taking care of her. She loves to play "airplane" and can hold this position for a long time. (Try it - it's HARD!) We are so happy to still be a part of her life, even though we were "just" the emergency foster home.

And she learned how to make loud, inappropriate noises with her mouth - featured here in an impressive duet with her big sister.

Speaking of inappropriate. By now you have probably figured out that I miraculously survived Neil's reading of my blog post and him coming across that last picture. 

It wasn't easy.

But, you know, all this "distance makes the heart grow fonder", and me describing in vivid detail how I peed blood and how horrible that FELT, and then limping around just a tiny bit while groaning a little and putting my hand over my kidneys (or where I thought my kidneys were) - in a nutshell: I'm here, but I sure got an earful. So, I'm officially letting you know my husband is very embarrassed. That his wife and kids watch Bonanza. And, especially, to see such a picture on our (OUR?! - as in: I blog, he reads?) blog. 

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But seriously, c'mon. If it got past the censors in an era where married couples in TV shows still had two single beds in their bedroom and where there were rules as to how many buttons on a shirt could be open - who am I to judge?

And with this, I will post what will most likely be the last Bonanza picture you will ever see on "our" blog. The four main actors often complained about the horrible scripts and mindless dialogue. Now, I am not an expert on ASL (American Sign Language), but it looks to me like they let the producers know in no uncertain terms what they thought of this particular episode. Sometimes a gesture does say more than a thousand words, doesn't it.  

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And health wise? Thanks for asking; I'm doing much better. (Remember, Neil hasn't read this post yet.) I am still taking antibiotics, and suffering some side effects from them, but overall I'm good. And as soon as the kids are back in Kindergarten on Monday morning I assure you I'll be on that horse faster than a rat up a drain pipe. Yippeeh!

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