And six months later....Greetings from sunny Florida! We are here! It's been almost a week since we landed and we're starting to get the house organized. We arrived last Thursday, after the usual grueling transatlantic flight from Bp. to New York, followed by the always delayed JFK-Tampa 2.5 hour jaunt south. The dogs did great in their little travel bags, the boys were also easy, and there were no glitches in the program to speak of. Amazing how much easier it is to do though, now that the kids are a bit older.

Our container arrives tomorrow with all our stuff, so I'm guessing the next couple days will be chaotic. The boys are happy (and driving me mad). They started 1/2 days at an academic camp nearby today, so they will spend the next four weeks Mon-Fri. starting the adventure called 'reading and writing in your native language' :) They are thrilled that they can wake up in the morning and jump in the pool, and they love their new ginormous tv, and are otherwise fairly unimpressed with all things American. That's not true actually, they are very excited about Oreos (chocolate coookies) and Fruit by the Foot (a chemical no-fruit-added fruit snack) and string cheese. None of these are new to the scene, since they've been here on plenty of holidays, but it's different now that theses things can become permanent fixtures in their daily lives.

What else? Oh, there is the shopping. Pretty much all I've been doing for the last three days, trying to get the house set up with towels, bedding, lamps, light bulbs, laundry soap, etc.. I forgot how very overwhelming the whole experience is - way too much stuff. I just wander through the store for hours in a state of sensory overload, and then walk out with a few bits and bobs, but nothing that I actually went in to get. The bedrooms are all set up now, with the exception of ours, and the boys are even sleeping in their own rooms. I was a bit nervous, since they've shared a room forever, but it just may have been the perfect time to make the split. They both have big queen-size beds, which they think is pretty cool, and Keira has two twin-sized beds in her room.

I have talked to Keira several times via Skype (with webcam) since we arrived. She is having a great time, of course, and can barely be bothered to get on the horn to talk to me. She is leaving for a week in Tuscany on Friday with Linda and Szabolcs (sah-bowl-ch) - not terribly fair that my 4-year-old is on her way to a lovely farmhouse amidst the olive trees and beautiful old villages, and I haven't even been to Tuscany. We both have calendars and are marking off/counting down the 'sleeps' until we can see eachother. 29 sleeps and counting! We fly back to Bp. on Aug.3rd for Linda's wedding (which is Aug.9th), then back to Tampa on the 16th. School starts two days later on the 18th, so I have to get all the registration stuff done in the next couple weeks. I'm sure I will blink and it will be time to get on a plane again. Time flies, I don't care where you are in the universe.

Will close for now, as I'm pooped, but will post some photos tomorrow or Weds. Here's one of Riley jumping in the pool...