Today is the last day in Texas, and it started early, waking up in an airport hotel surrounded by suitcases and various bags of our belongings! We grabbed a breakfast to go from the hotel lobby and set off to do a weeks worth of appointments set in 6 hours!

Chiropractor! Lainey claimed to work in this office when it first opened! She would sit at the front desk while I got adjusted and Logan made various messes! I will miss Dr Ward and his staff!

Post Office! We opened a Post Office box to avoid having any issues forwarding our mail! I’ve got an amazing friend who will be checking it for us every month or so to make sure nothing needs to sent to us! The USPS doesn’t forward mail internationally, so this was our best bet!

Birth Certificate… turns out I didn’t have an official copy of mine but we have one for everyone else! Fortunately the office is directly across the street from our next appointment!

Doctors office for official Covid Testing! You can’t fly without a negative Covid test. Our pediatrician for the kids recommended we also get the antibody test too since we all had Covid in April. We each did the rapid test and those came back negative. Then we went inside and got the finger prick antibody test to which we were all positive. I had to do some research to understand all of this. Markus said it was going a step too far but we needed to be sure that none of us would test positive in the airport in Frankfurt! If that does happen then we have the antibody tests to show as proof that we have had Covid.

Orthodontist! Lainey got her expander in December and braces a couple months later! She was able to get them off today and a bonded retainer put in to keep them straight! This was a big deal for her! Having braces has matured Lainey right before our eyes!

Prescriptions! We will need enough for three month until we can find new doctors! Insurance said it was too soon to fill them, so it came out of pocket and this was a big expense for our final day!

Sonic. Everyone needs a Route 44 Coke, not really, just every mom from Texas!

Chick Fil A – I sent a Facebook message to our favorite store near the church where I ran a local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) chapter. The one we would go to after meetings and let the kids play while we ate and chatted! For the first time in over a year the dining room is open! All of our visits have always been impromptu, but this time we planned to meet there! It was so nice and felt so normal to sit and chat for what turned into two hours!

Pedicure! This was our second attempt to get this done in the past two days! Who knows when Lainey and I will be able to get pedicures again together, so we got one last one before we go!

H‑E‑B!! I already picked up Walmart and Target, so now was the final stop at H‑E‑B for those last essentials! Things like store made tortillas to snack on the plane, shrimp boil seasoning and Tex-Mex spices for all things from guacamole to enchiladas! And of course we needed to score some Buddy Bucks one last time!

Back to the hotel for the kids and I to pack and pack and pack! Markus will go sell the car at Carmax and hopefully not have too much trouble! We have been living in the car the last three weeks have been gradually cleaning for the past couple days! In fact while we waited at the doctor for test results it was a group effort with the kids using the vacuum in the car to clean the floors!

Maybe we packed this day so full to avoid having to think about what is happening and how much we will miss everyone. Either way, it’s been exhausting! Now we have some packing to do!