P2P Celtic Cultures - Please Help Me Get Through the Next 24 Hours

Is this half done or half un-done?

This is always the worst time. This is why Xanax was made. This is how you separate the wheat from the chaff. See - I'm already using metaphors that make no sense. That's how fragile I am.

We have to leave this house at 4:30 tomorrow morning to drive 90 minutes to San Francisco, find airport parking, check her in (checked bag required), get her through security and then I start praying. Praying she doesn't diddle around at the gate and miss the flight to Chicago where she meets up with the Ventura/Santa Barbara delegation and the Wyoming delegation. In Chicago she becomes Ray's problem (her Leader) and I can start breathing again.

Seriously? I ate Taco Bell!

But, back the truck up because it's just 2:56pm the day before and she's having her last lunch with her good friend Ariana. They are dining at a restaurant my brain says I can't afford. Hmmm, how did that happen? Then she has to come home and finish packing. Despite what she thinks, I will be supervising because I let go last year and well this happened (see last paragraph).

I live in fear of what she might forget this year.

My other favorite part of today is getting everything ready for me - because I'll be stopping at a client on the way back home and putting in a full work day tomorrow - so I need to get everything done right now so I'm good to go.

Oh god, there's no telling how great I'm going to look early tomorrow morning. Let's just say, it won't be pretty.

And you know how sleep will go tonight. Just like it does before tests and interviews: you really don't sleep, you kind of twilight yourself through the hours, checking and rechecking the clock convinced you will oversleep and miss the plane. Ug! One time we actually just stayed up all night. They wanted us at the airport at 4am (a joke, there's no one there, it was WAY too early) yet we play by the People to People rules. At least she's on her own for this leg of the flight so if I get there a little late, I won't be shamed.

I'll begin trip blogging tomorrow. The itinerary looks so cool. Their first stop: Scotland!

P2P: Oh Man - She's Leaving for Europe in Just Over a Week!

Math class, SnapChat, Desperation

But first she has to get through finals!

Katie's first year in high school was a real challenge. She loved the social part, she hated the academic part. Her school is on an excel schedule (which means one semester for a year-long class - fewer classes per semester but it goes fast and there's a lot to do!). But it's finally coming to an end and I looking at just for our days of having a freshman.

This year's journey with People to People will take her to England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. These are the lands of her people. Lush with green meadows, fantastic accents and good beer, er um, wait, that's for my blog - amazing sites, she'll be touring with a group from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Wyoming.

Katie will fly by herself to Chicago where she'll me up with the gang and then off they go on June 19th. Her tour is called Celtic Cultures. Here's what the website says about it:

Escape to a magical land famous for its medieval castles, alluring cultures, breathtaking landscapes … and leprechauns! It’s the UK as you’ve only imagined. Become an honorary knight during an exclusive tour of the spellbinding Warwick Castle. Shear sheep on a family-owned farm. Meet a legendary Scottish Highlander during a demonstration involving weapons, kilts, and clans! Experience these magnificent countries in ways that will inspire your imagination, feed your curiosity, and give you a new perspective on this amazing part of the world.

I can't wait to see photos of her shearing sheep! She'll come home alone too but at least she'll get all the way to LA with the gang before they send her packing back to San Jose. She'll be back on July 7th just in time to get ready for her 15th birthday.

I'll start blogging her itinerary on the 19th! Look for photos from the airport, links to the highlights and so much more. Thank you People to People!

It's Almost Time to Hit the Great South Pacific

Can't say I'm not a little jealous about this trip - well, I have been jealous of all of them - but one place I still want to go is New Zealand and Australia. It's like America light: more fun, better attitudes and no guns. What more could a California native want?!

So Katie leaves on her "South Pacific Adventure" on July 3rd to spend a great deal of time on an airplane to get to the other side of the world (side being north/south for a change) and we'll only be five hours apart (us ahead of her by roughly five) but that's really a day and five hours in some bizarre time/space continuum.

There was a lot of preparing involved.

Before any trip, the kids have to go to a bunch of People toPeople meetings (with their parents) and do a lot of pre-work learning about the geography, culture, history and more of each of the countries they will visit. They also do a little community service here (and more on the trip) because People to People really wants these delegates to be connected to the places they are going. Our group did a food and book drive locally and we got a little picture of the kiddos at Santa Clara Middle School at our last meeting.

Now we have the countdown to departure which is thankfully in the afternoon this year - the last two years have been at the crack of dawn as P2P wants everyone there three hours ahead of the flight (oh yeah, good times).

Katie, whose brain clearly turned to mush now that school is out, has to figure out what to take. The weather will be similar to summer in San Francisco, which is to say damp and cool. I don't think packing will be that hard given we know that weather pretty well.

This is going to be a big trip.

There will be lots of ground to cover and flights moving these kids around. I'll be doing my usual daily posts while she's gone with itineraries and any photos and news she sends. The new app this year is Viber - apparently a great phone and texting app that only works on wi-fi so maybe it will keep expenses down a bit on the telecommunications front.

Next post - pics from the airport! Stay tuned!