Getting ready to fly!

It would appear that our time of waiting is rapidly coming to an end.  We fly a week from today and this knowledge fills us all with both excitement and dread!  We're so excited to be starting a new and adventurous life together.  A life in which we hope to have lots of time and fun together, and getting to know what life in Canada is now like.  Being with old friends and with the other set of grandparents...these are all great things to look forward to.  And blizzards!  I can't wait for a good blizzard.  But not, I pray, on the day of our arrival!
 
On the other hand, we do not look forward to having to say goodbye to many good friends whom we are really going to miss.  Our schedule is full with meetings for one last cup of tea.  We have a lot of packing ahead of us too, and sorting and giving-away.  It will be a fantastic feeling of relief when these jobs are all done.

I was away yesterday in Vienna overnight with Elena on a mother-daughter outing and Dominik started packing.  He made a fantastic start, actually.  The best packing tool so far is the idea of 'vacuum-packing' items.  Dominik has 8 feather pillows and one large feather duvet in plastic vacuum bags and I am truly amazed at how small they are now!  Wow! 

The children have only 3 more days of school ahead of them.  It does them credit that they are still doing their homework!  Jonathan's math teacher has given him the option of writing his math exam or not, but I don't know that Rebecca's english teacher did the same!  That will be on Friday, her last day of school.  What a going-away present! 

This is short but there's not much else to say just now!  The end is near, the house is a mess, and the packing continues! See you soon!