Packing Fun

Its nearly impossible to think of the overwhelming task of trying to pack for every conceivable situation in a country half a world away for four people, expecting different climates, keeping track of all sorts of paperwork, bridge two cultures and somehow maintain our sanity...which is why I have left this almost entirely to Kendall. Its part of the basic unspoken understanding we have, she does all of the planning, paperwork, packing, and worrying and I carry everything-simple right? As long as my role is limited to big, dumb manual labor, we have a chance...As I type this Kendall is packing her luggage, having taken care of Avery and Chloe's bag, somehow managing to figure out how to pack clothes, toys, activities, food (snacks and staples to hold us over after some "interesting" meals). My one job in all of this is to take the manly route and pack all things electronic (somewhere Tim Allen is smiling and doing that Gorilla laugh that made him famous), and the list is both quite impressive and somewhat daunting. I read somewhere that the first spaceship to the moon used less technology than a current cell phone-if thats true than we could send a shuttle to the moon several times over (especially with the GPS on Kendall's phone). The list of "essentials" is designed to kill 24 hours on a plane for 3 of us (both ways), while also capturing every waking moment while we are in China and includes (but is not limited to) the following:

DVD player and dvds for Avery
headphones for all
Netbook (how else to continue to tantalize our following with regular posts)-also loaded with kids shows and movies for mom and dad
dvd "sidecar" for the netbook
2 iphones
1 itouch
2 cameras (yes two) and memory cards
video camera
handheld flip video camera
adapter/converter
leapster game for Avery
books (I know, old fashioned but who knows)

Somehow all of thaat will fit in my backpack. Given all the wires and chargers, I can only guess TSA's reaction...please be gentle with the rubber glove and strip search boys...

Alright, I have dodged packing for long enough-I put the over/under at my total packing time at 7 minutes...somewhere Kendall just cursed me even though she doesn't know why yet...she will soon enough.