Kanigan Family: Four Weeks To Go...

Time flies when you're an exhausted foreign service family getting ready to leave the country for your first time! We have about for weeks left until we arrive in Brazil and I think one word that sums up what we are experiencing well is actually the two-word phrase, "crazy-busy". Everyone warned me about the paperwork...they tried to prepare me for it, and I brushed their words aside with a laugh. How bad could it possibly be...really! Well, for a couple with four kids, all about school age, it is bad! We have a form for just about everything, on top of the pages and pages of information we need to soak up so we don't make any small mistakes that could cost us a pretty penny. We are trying to decide if we should enroll Ellie in kindergarten next year or not (she has a September birthday), sell Dan's car, find insurance that will cover our van in Brazil and over the ocean, and all our possessions we are leaving behind in storage, prepare our endless legal documents, passports and visa's, set up a pack out date and decide what we can leave behind and what we can bring with us. Our apartment will be furnished, so we are trying to bring only what we NEED. It seems that every evening is full of things Dan and I can finally get to together. It's hard to get some things done without information from one or the other of us.
Anyway, I thought I knew busy before, and usually I enjoy having plenty to do, but this is a little too much. I hope it's just hardest this first time 'round and that things will get easier as we become more experienced with all of this! As for today, I am getting this post up and then taking a little break to "play cameras" with a friend before tackling my list again.
We've been having so much fun here in DC, I am really going to miss it here. It's good to know we will be coming back, so anything we miss this time, we can hit on our return! The highlight of the past few weeks was the chance I had to take the boys to the White House Easter Egg Roll. We got our hands on some tickets at the last minute and I even had enough to bring my friend Diana and her oldest son. It started out as a very eery, foggy morning with a long wait in line, but ended up bright and sunny, and very fun! I was so mad that my camera wasn't working (dead battery...long story!) but luckily Diana brought her point and shoot, so we still had some pictures! We also got to take the kids all over Dc to visit the top monuments. Lincoln finally got to see the Lincoln memorial!
I also took a morning last week while Ellie was at her little pre-school to run downtown and see the famous DC cherry blossoms. They were absolutely breath-taking! I posted a ton of pictures from that trip on my photoblog. I am so glad I took the opportunity to go. It really was incredible.

Okay, enough jabbering for now! Here are some recent shots, and I am off to clean up before my friend gets here. Have a good day everyone!

Egg Roll at the White House...