Last day before we leave!

So it's the afternoon before we leave, and I wanted to share with you my last minute checklist.  Why?  Why ask why?!  In no particular order (some of these I will be doing at 4:45am just before we leave but most are already done now):

• Check in and print out boarding passes--this will be easier since I randomly checked on our flights yesterday to make sure I had selected the kids' meals...and found out our flights had been CANCELED! Umm, what now?  Fortunately, after a 45 minute calm phone call, I was able to get our tickets reissued, so now I should be able to check in online with no problems...right??
• Pack the snacks in my carry-on.  A 15 hour flight to Dallas with another flight to SLC, about 25 hours of traveling total, requires many and varied snacks, not all of which can be candy because I don't want to be trapped in the not-big-enough metal tube with sugar fiends.  So we have candy but also dried fruit, nuts, chips, gum, granola bars, cereal bars, and crackers.  Half my bag, actually.  I hope it's enough!
• Charge and pack all electronic devices and their cords and chargers.  I've got a nice little pouch that carries all of the cords and plugs, as well as my secret weapon, the back-up battery pack--life saver!!
• Make photocopies of the boys' birth certificates, my marriage license, and the letter from the husband giving me permission to travel alone with the boys--because we live in the Middle East, and you can't be too careful!
• Pack my travel docs folder, which carries all reservations, itineraries, etc. as well as lots of summer stuff like the kids' registration for swimming lessons and the documents above.
• Place my last online order that I want to get there before/near when I do.  This one is from Amazon, and it will join its many brothers and sisters from Land's End, Old Navy, LDS.org, Uniqlo, and Macy's.  We are equal opportunity shoppers!  
• Cart all our luggage downstairs from the upstairs guest room staging area.  This time around, we have three carry-ons, one large purse (really another carry-on: shhh!), and three large suitcases (two rolling duffels and one large North Face duffel).  Each is packed to the gills, but our clothes and necessities fill less than half of one suitcase plus my carry-on.  The rest are things we want to leave in bins in my long-suffering parents' garage.  The duffels also include three additional duffels packed inside: we have to put all those packages we ordered somewhere!  The husband will bring two additional suitcases when he comes, one of which will also be empty, ready to fill for the trip back.
• Try to stay hydrated.  I woke up yesterday with some sort of stomach bug/distress/flare up, and I have not been feeling too hot.  So I am sipping ginger ale and willing myself to feel better by the time I wake up tomorrow morning at 4:30am so we can attack this travel day like a boss!  (Do you think the bravado helps?  I sure hope so!)

That's it!  Just a few last minute things and then we are off.  We get up at 4:30, head out at 5am, and our long flight leaves at 8:10am.  We are not leaving with the biggest expat exodus of the summer, but I expect the airport will be pretty packed anyway, so we will give ourselves lots of time.  Fortunately, if by some miracle we get through interminable customs quickly, there are several play areas in the new airport that the kids like quite a lot, so we can always kill time and expend energy there before we head to our gate.  Wish us luck!

This is how I hope the boys look while we fly tomorrow:
happily, cooperatively engrossed in their devices!