Details details....

Our travel dates changed to leaving on Thanksgiving Day, we will stop overnight in Frankfurt and eventually get to Semey on December 1. I did connect with someone through their blog that had taken the Almaty/Semey train ride and it sounds like it will be an adventure for sure! Thank goodness for the world wide web, it makes a compulsive researcher like myself feel much better. I also read on another Semey traveler's blog that the visas we would get were actually just a sticker, which was helpful. I had gotten my passports back from the Kaz embassy this week, and I thought they were just finished with whatever they needed them for and would mail the visas later. I didn't realize the visas were a sticker IN the passport. Now the only thing we are waiting for is the FBI fingerprint cards.
It is much chaos here getting ready to leave. I keep looking at our piles of stuff to pack and pondering how in the world it could possibly fit in two bags. We also have all the Christmas preparation to finish in case we don't make it back before then. Top that off with a 4 year old up vomiting all night, and it equals a wee bit of stress. Mom is coming over today to get a walk through the house and how everything works. Only 11 days left and we are outta here!