And the countdown begins.....

Four days until Grammy Bev arrives.

One week until Zander's 4th birthday.

Two and a half weeks until Charley's starts kindergarten.

One month until our anniversary.

Two months until the beginning of our three months of nearly solid guests.

Three months until the holiday season starts.

Four and a half months until our New Zealand trip.

Five or so months until we find our where we are moving to next.

Ten months or so until it's time to go.

Our last year here will no doubt be the busiest. With Charley in kindergarten, Zander in preschool three days a week, their extra-curricular activities, the impending arrival of all our guests, the holidays, our big trip to New Zealand, and our upcoming move next summer, I have a suspicion that this next year will fly by with super speed.

At the moment, I'm just taking it a week at a time, trying not to forget to slow down when the opportunities arise. On Tuesday, Bev will arrive for a two week visit, and one week from today we will be celebrating Zander's 4th birthday with a pool party. After that it will be time to start thinking about Charley starting school and getting her ready for that, including meeting her new teacher. We began what Brian likes to call "Phase 1" of preparing to move next year, which entails purging whatever items we don't plan on moving with us. So, we've been busy selling and donating, and we still have a ways to go. Along these same lines, I am also resisting the urge the fill my pantry and freezers to the brim with food, and am trying to do the opposite by slimming down on our stockpile (because I have a lot!). Slowly but sure, we will get there.

We are also starting to prepare ourselves for potentially taking on landlord status next year. At this point, it appears as if we will be holding on to our house here in Hawaii and renting it out for awhile. As a result, we've started to think about what items we want to take care of on the property prior to our departure (getting the house painted, touching up the walls, in addition to all the improvements we've made to the landscaping). Knowing that we would likely be holding on to this house, we decided to sell our vacation rental home that we owned in Montana, and as luck would have it, we sold the house and closed yesterday. Hallelujah!

We are also beginning to think about where we would like to end up next year. As most of you know, we are allowed to submit a "dream sheet" of where our preferences are, and for the most part, the Coast Guard tries really hard to get you somewhere on the list (not a guarantee, but they try anyway). So, we have been going through our options and mulling over our preferences for awhile, as the deadline for preference submission is fast approaching.

Needless to say, the winds of change are approaching our little world.....and truth be told, I think I can safely say that Brian and I are both ready. ;)