5 weeks

The weeks are flying by. I'm going to blink and we'll be on a plane flying away from this beautiful tropical island.

My last month at work should be pretty manageable. My boss took mercy on me and asked my colleagues to take over leadership of the ACS unit so I can concentrate on checking out and clearing out cases and projects. I am grateful.

We have orders! So our packout is scheduled and flights are booked. Now I need to get started on that 5+ page checkout checklist. It's a doozy.

I haven't done a lot with our mess of an apartment. My husband started scanning a bunch of documents- we're hoping to go paperless, but we've had trouble finding the motivation to go through all those papers.

The kids had their last days of school, which involved some tears. They are in camp at M's school and seem to be enjoying it.

I've been really focused on signing my kids up for different activities in VA. They are enrolled in Sunday Chinese class, dance class (L), and advanced swim class (M). We still have soccer, too. I'm trying to get all this stuff in order so that our first weeks will be as easy as possible. I want to start Chinese with as few distractions as possible.

We are booking one last weekend at an all-inclusive. I'm getting so sad about leaving this place. It's all about the sunshine and the beaches for me. I will miss them so.

7 years old!

We created ID badges, tunics, and certificates

My son M turned seven last week. We threw a Star Wars birthday party on our roof and invited about 8 kids. Once we decided on the theme, we started searching the internet and were thrilled to find tons of Star Wars birthday blog posts. I have to thank all the moms out there who shared their ideas! First, the details:

We named all the foods according to Star Wars

 M wanted everything he saw online and more. I have to say, there are some dedicated parents out there. I cannot sew, and although I have a housekeeper who is also a seamstress, I thought it was going a bit too far to have her sew a bunch of robes. So we bought some fabric, cut holes for the heads, tied a white sash around their waists, and thought we had some perfectly fine Jedi tunics.

All the bloggers agreed about light sabers: cut some pool noodles in half and add some tape, and you have light sabers that are cheap and can't hurt anyone. I spent too much in shipping charges, but it was worth it.

We had 4 tasks for the Padawans to complete in order to earn their Jedi certificates:

1) Obstacle course: the Padawans needed to run through the obstacle course (playgym) in under 10 seconds. Here they are waiting in line for their turn.

2) Free Princess Leia by knocking down the Storm Trooper. (Yes, L's pink kitty was Princess Leia. She begged me to make her a white robe, and since I had some fabric scraps, it wasn't too hard to oblige.)

3) Free Han Solo from Carbonite

I laminated a printout of Han Solo, stuck it to the bottom of a container filled with water, and froze it for 24 hours. The kids had to rescue him by pouring warm water on him and using spoons to chip him out, but I forgot to warm up the water. They were resourceful, though, and the tropical heat helped them get him out quickly!











4) Light saber training
The young Padawans had to learn how to use their light sabers wisely. They practiced bouncing and balancing a balloon on their light sabers and learned a light saber attack and defense combo.

I love this photo so much! My tough little girl wouldn't wear a brown tunic, but she battled with the guys!

Suddenly, the Jedi Master exclaimed, "I feel a disturbance in the force! Darth Vader is here!". The young Padawans went wild and tried to battle him immediately. The Jedi Master called for order and asked them to get in line for their turn to battle Darth Vader.

 Darth Vader was defeated, and as he left, he complimented the Jedi Master on his well-trained young Jedis. They had passed their test, and were now full-fledged members of the Jedi Order! They were too excited to hold still for a photo.

After all the excitement, it was time for pizza and cake. We ordered Star Wars cake toppers, and had the bakery print an edible space image that M chose.

We had a wonderful celebration of a wonderful boy. My son M is kind, snuggly, smart, brave, flexible, inquisitive, and loving. He is a terrific big brother, a voracious reader, and a great student. I can't believe he's seven now!