Oh man…I just looked at the calendar and it has finally, really hit me – it’s JUNE. We are leaving for Barcelona in JUNE.  This month…like in 23 days.  It’s pouring rain outside (yes, June 5^th is rainy in Seattle) and soon we will be warm and living our own brand of “la vida loca”.  Our house on Mercer Island is rented – check.  Our visas are approved – check.  Pictures on the walls have come down and paint has been touched up to match the new carpet – check.  Dogs have been EU chipped – check.  Eitan’s got a great international school to go to next year – check.  We’ve got a cool place to live for the summer while we find more permanent digs – double check.   It is HA-penning!

Our house suddenly went from mayhem to quiet anticipation on Sunday as Ari (22) and Ruth (19) – our two older kiddos set off “con backpacks” to explore Ireland and the UK together.  Based on Ari’s first blog entry  I have no doubt that the two of them will have the time of their lives together, and any minor outbreaks of historical (or hysterical) sibling rivalry will take a backseat to pub crawling, hangin’ with the locals, and drinking in an old world spectrum of history and culture that Mercer Island couldn’t deliver.  I am thrilled for them.  Ari has done us proud by landing a job at Microsoft starting in July – the week we leave for Spain will look something like a Chinese fire drill (OK, outdated expression, so sue me) as we move out he moves to Capitol Hill with two buddies to start his life as a single working stiff.  Ruthie will be in for a life-changing experience as she segues from Western Europe to Western Africa – doing community service work in Liberia for a few weeks before joining us in Barcelona (This also makes me beam my “I’m so proud” Mom look).   I get tired just thinking about all these logistics – but it’s pretty darned amazing.

I get the sense that Eitan is as excited about the global shift as we are – and I am so glad that he has a mature world view (for a 15 year old) – probably due to the traveling abroad we have schlepped him on over the years.  He’s been spontaneously chatting with me in Spanish, and I have a feeling he will outpace Andrew and I in the fluency category once we land in Catalonia.  I have urged Andrew to keep his dates with Senora Rosetta Stone – but alas, he may have to engage a lovely bi-lingual senorita (chaperoned by me, of course) to get him up to speed once we are in tapas-land.