Back to (Home)School

I'm seeing evidence everywhere that school is back in session--or awfully close. We are gearing up around here as well with the big letdown today coming when we discovered that one of the school computers will not last much longer. Six years is a long time in the life of a laptop. What is that? 42 in dog years? Well, laptop years are even longer than dog years. I just can't bring myself to put this one down and buy a new one.

Preparing for the new year is eclipsed as we plan our trip. We have a big map posted in the dining room with the route mapped out and an enormous calendar on the other wall where we cross of the days until we leave. Some of the kids drew pictures of what we would be doing on the trip days to help the younger ones make sense of it all, so they can see when we'll be digging dinosaur bones or meeting up with friends along the way.

I'm looking forward to blogging along the way. Until then, there is more planning to be done.

Vacation

The little ones keep asking "When are we going to Godfrey?"

It feels like we are at that in-between place where we still have so long to plan and plan and yet, if we don't hurry up and make reservations and other mundane things like that, we'll never get things together in time.

We spent a while tonight discussing the best snacks to take on the road, figuring in the mess to cost to quality factors. I was the only one voting for broccoli and dip, but maybe they'll come around in time.

We also went over the budget and figured out that the only way to make budget is the increase the budget. Some things can't be helped. Lodging, of course, is the biggest expense, and we even decided to look into buying a trailer. Obviously that raises the price altogether, so we're evaluating how much time we'd use it otherwise. Something to sleep on and discuss another day.