We made it!  And it's business as usual!

Breakfast?  Or midnight snack?  Let the time travel begin!

We're leeeeeaaaaving!!!

VIE--FRA

Uuuuuuhhhh...that's about the best we've got right now.  But, Yaaaaay!  America!! at the San Francisco International Airport

Poor dude hasn't slept in almost twenty-four hours.  Passed out on the floor.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to stay awake, watching the girls play figures.

We're getting in some last-minute swinging at Resselpark Speilplatz

One last Sturm before leaving the country!

Bailey to the squirrels: "It's ok, little guy!  I won't hurt you!" at Speilplatz Jesuitenwiese

We're celebrating tonight in honor of Mom's birthday...Aaaand my parent's anniversary!  (This was totally Audrey's idea.  It's why she's called the Sweet-o Burrito)

Coach B Takes 'Merica

So, a lot of our days have been filled with growing excitement about our home leave trip coming up.  We've been talking with the girls a lot about the specifics so they'll know what to expect, but, as usual, Bailey has had a lot of hilarious commentary to offer on the subject. Hence, the birth of this comic strip.  It features Bailey, who has recently distributed gummies to everyone on the plane (this was something we discussed doing to keep Bailey entertained on the long flight.  She loves nothing more than making new friends) As fate would have it, though, a "bad guy monkey" shows up on the plane, steals a guy's watch and, after changing into a super cape, Bailey detains him (by biting him--CHOMP!--her words, not mine) and then attempts to throw him off the airplane.  (She told us she wanted to open the door while it was flying.)  Don't worry, the Air Marshall (who apparently is rocking some signature Gamelin-Man facial hair) intervenes and no one gets sucked out of the moving airplane.  All's well that ends well, eh?

Today we're painting maps of Australia!  Kind of off-topic since we're traveling somewhere completely unrelated, but the girls woke up talking about kangaroos, so we kind of had to talk about all things Outback.

The finished product!  That's Bailey's on the left and Audrey's on the right.  A said the dots and squiggly lines on hers are foot prints.

Audrey told me she wants help making a pie when we're at Grandma G's house.  She wants it to have sprinkles.  And if, for some reason, we can't find them *anywhere*, then she said we could use blueberries instead.  I told her she is brilliant and that I would pass this information along.

Four more wake-up's until we leave the country!! Excited and freaking out a bit.  (know the feeling you're forgetting something? Maybe it's because we've had almost everything shipped ahead of us...I hope.  Oy.)