3-2-1 almost time!

we’ve got two pretty big countdowns going on here. grandpop is coming to visit on monday night, and then on thursday we’re going to get on the plane with him! the kids are thrilled because mostly people leave here when they’re sleeping, and this time they get to leave, too.

of course, we’re sad because we still haven’t gotten amalio a visa to visit the states, so he’ll be staying behind – yet again – but we hope that this summer he’ll finally make it north, and not just to the beach an hour away. (in fact, I think I’ll make a countdown for the kids to count the days until they see their papi while we’re away!)

I’ve seen these countdown chains all over the internet, and at first (I’ll admit it) I thought it was kind of dumb. and then samil starting going to sleep every night talking about how manana he’s going to grandpop’s house. and then he’d wake up in the morning and look for his suitcase. the chain has been helpful because he count it down together and then he or amely cuts the last link off (or number). the countdown to our trip has numbers on it for him and the countdown for grandpop is plain, so that’s what amely cuts (and… amely sucks with scissors, so ripping construction paper links is easier on us all).