Right on Target

After an hour and a half, the shopping cart was literally overflowing. We'd been through a dozen or so suggested packing lists on the internet from families who'd BTDT and compiled a thorough, alphabetically organized, color-coded, cross-referenced shopping list for "the Target trip." OK, so the list was somewhat organized by "category" - for all the medicine and first aid stuff was together - but I'm sure that somewhere on the web, you can find a color-coded shopping list for a Chinese adoption trip if you looked really hard.

We took advice from some of those lists ("take some good diapers with you - you can buy diapers in China, but they're different quality;" "bring snacks;" "the girls typically like their formula HOT... bring a thermos to keep the water hot;" "duct tape - 'nuff said"... And ignored some of the other advice ("you don't need makeup - save the space;" "I took 2 pair of underwear, alternated days and did laundry in my hotel sink every night;" "put the duct tape over your mouth when you take a shower")

There were some items that we left on the list (portable GPS, a third memory card for the digital camera, Playstation 3)... and some things we might go back for (third memory card for the digital camera, more snacks, more diaper wipes)

Now, we're just waiting for our TA to arrive. I have to travel for business the next 2 days, so that's a sure way for us to get a phone call and be asked to make some quick decisions (ex. try to find our own plane tickets cheaper or use airline miles to get/upgrade tickets in the 48-hour window of time we have to commit to travelling with the group). We're definitely going to travel with the group - but we may try to find cheaper flights or use airline miles.

As a side note, today was Kim's first Monday as a full-time stay-at-home Mom. Last Friday was her last day at her job of 7-years. When she announced that she'd put in her notice at our travel meeting 2 weeks ago, the group cheered for her. Way to go Kim!