10 days to go...

One more week of school. It's crunch time. On top of closing out the school year and grading those last essays, I'm trying to get ready for our 6-week trip abroad. Passports are all in order. We've picked up most of the stuff that Ramon has requested. Cristina had to get Alex and Isabella's birth certificates translated so that we could do the paperwork to get their Costa Rican citizenship while we're down there (Sofia already has hers). Costa Rica is one of the few countries that allows dual citizenship. Since Cristina was born there, our kids are eligible. But the paperwork is a slight monster, as you can probably imagine. Cristina kind of forgot about it till last week, but hopefully the birth certificates will return by next Friday from the Costa Rican Consulate in Miami, where they had to be authenticated.

We're also trying to get some professional pictures taken of the kids before we head down to "Bananalandia." We got some photos taken at Sears just in the nick of time: they should be ready on May 31...the day we leave. But they almost always come in a few days early. We should be good. Isabella didn't cooperate very well; she's pulling that 2-year-old stuff a little early. But we got something, as you can see here.