Aloha! Took a wrong turn and

we aren't in St. Petersburg quite yet.

Last weekend, Bart said I'd need to post everyday in order to "finish" the cruise before I left for Hawaii.

Well, I got busy making lists, calling friends to help with the girls schedule, clean the house, make sure the schedule was sorted, finish laundry, write out laundry instructions (machine is diff. than your regular model in the US and all buttons are in German of course) and spend time with my family.

So, I have St. Petersburg, Latvia and Poland pictures loaded - just need to write a bit about it and post. From Makakilo!

I miss my family and it was hard preparing for the trip. We've become used to the girls being away for their 3-5 day school trips and of course, we're used to Bart being gone off and on but I never really go away anywhere. Especially since we moved to Switzerland. I've been away on a couple of one night trips with Mom and some friends and I did make a 4 day trip to NY 3.5 years ago but this is a 10/11 day trip (depends on which time zone you count it from).

However, they (girls) are in the very capable hands of Bart and they are glad that I am here to help. So am I. I am enjoying visiting with my sister, loving on her little twins and playing with the 'big' kids (3, 5 and 6). I've changed my share of diapers and help with feedings and doing various housework with my sister so we can 'relax' this weekend. I've been left alone with them already! and will do so again so she can take the big kids out this weekend to do something fun.
They don't have a vehicle yet to handle 5 car seats so it'll be good for her to get out with the kids. Yes, a van is in their near future.

Although I haven't been outside much yet, I've enjoyed seeing the sun through the windows and feeling the tropical breezes through the open windows. Zurich has been having it's cool, dreary August weather so the change of climate is nice, I'll admit.

Hopefully, I will download a few pic's for your viewing pleasure of these sweet little boys while I'm here. They are progressing well and I know my sis & bro-in-law are so happy they're thriving after the rough beginning.

I'm pretty happy to have had 2 nights of 6 hrs sleep as I try to adjust as quick as possible - the 12 hr time change is a bit of a killer but I think I'm doing pretty good. Went to bed at the same time as the kids last night!

AND, will get some of those other posts up and going. More later. Aloha!