A little background on the trip.. Todd has been trying to get the kids ready for the trip, hence the Italian and French lessons that we were to be practicing during the week and in the car. Those got bigger vetoes than Todd's podcast of some financial guy. I think NPR is racey after those pod casts. Anyway, those have gone over as well as a led balloon. Next was the, and the only way I can describe them, is pant pocket pouches. He bought them for himself at Christmas and demonstrated them to us. The kids were grossed out and freaked out. Visual - It is like a fanny pack but worn the opposite way and inside your pants so theives can't grab and run. They can grab and run but they won't be getting your money that is. My thought after the demonstration was, I don't know who will take our money if Todd is reaching down his pants into some hidden pocket to get cash out. Maybe this is just an ingenious way to save money on the trip. I don't know. I was just in shock. I wouldn't take anything from a foreigner who had to reach in the neither regions of his britches to produce it. We all voted that Dad could wear both of those gems all by himself. I don't care how he situated them, they were his babies.
We are still waiting as of today for some items in the mail, one being a theft proof backpack. Isn't that impossible? How does a theft proof backpack work? It is still a backpack so it is in jeopardy of being stolen, right. I don't know if it comes with its own Rottweileror or implodes upon the wrong owner retrival. Depending on how that one works, I may opt for the pants pocket. It won't be any worse pulling money out of my pants since I pull my phone out of my bra. I can't put that thing in my pants and since I used to store pacifiers there, it was a natural option. Ooh yes, gravity has given me all sorts of hidding places thank you very much.
The A/C broke last night so I haven't gotten a close look at the packing list which Todd religiously is making us stick too. First of all, it was written by some guy, that's self-explanatory since a change of underwear is optional for the Y chromosome. And second, only 25% of the list is clothing. I know clothing in Europe is optional but we are not going that route. Where would we hide our pants pocket, I guess it would hide more than we were hiding, but that is beside the point. It lists only one pair of shoes. Even when I didn't have any money, I still had more than one pair of shoes. I was asked today to do a trial run on the packing by tomorrow. Todd and Tyler get back from scout camp on Saturday and we are going to be squeezing to get everything done in time. We have shown the kids the suitcases they are to pack in and I think Brittany's comment was, "I can't even fit one pair of shoes in that." That's O.K. because MR. Steve says that we only need one pair of shoes for six weeks and you will be wearing that pair to the airport. Now you have plenty of room to pack that one pair of underwear he also suggested to pack.
 I just hope the raincoats I ordered show up or we will all be wearing the "Hello Kitty" and "Barney" ones from the early years. At least they are small and will take up less space in the large ziploc Todd has O.K.'d for us to carry our goods in. I think those raincoats may be more of a deterent than the theft proof backpack, and maybe even more than the tainted money. If they will work, I may just stuff them in the pants pocket too, as long as I vaccum suck the extra air out, I don't think security will give me the extended pat down. Then I'll have more room in my large ziploc for an extra pair of shoes. I don't know what the x-ray will show...Bring it on TSA...Wish me luck.