Last weekend before the puppy!

This is our final weekend before our new puppy arrives.  We spent part of the time preparing for him- setting up his crate, putting out a few toys, buying dog food (which, by the way, is outrageously expensive here- not good when our dog will eventually weigh in the neighborhood of 140 pounds!) and talking to Gio about his new "brother".  On Tuesday I will fly to Frankfurt and meet his flight from Italy.  We will spend some time together at the airport before I check him back in for our flight to Kiev where we will land at 1:30 Wednesday morning.  It will be a very long day and night for the little fellow (and for me as well!), but we could not be more excited for the newest member of our family.  The next post will include many pictures, of course.  Meanwhile, here is how we spent this weekend....

Friday Gio and I planted the 5 window boxes outside of our top floor windows and balcony.  And by "planted" I mean that Gio made as much mess as he could with the piles of dirt and bottles of water.  What should have been an hour long project took 3, but we had fun for 90% of the time.  Bath time was extra long this evening.

Friday date night included picking up our car at the World Bank garage. I find it amusing that Paolo parks next to a gold Bentley. Notice how far he parks from it!

Saturday we went to visit an international school where we might send Gio next year.  He certainly approved of the playground equipment.  I was actually thrilled just to see a playground- this was the first preschool I have found where the children actually go outside!

Some intense soccer action....

Later in the day we went to find the "Alice in Wonderland" park.  Of course, a soccer ball came along.

We found the park, and it was amazing!  Gio was a bit afraid of the long slide on the left but loved the very steep one on the right. 

Peaking out from the Cheshire Cat's teeth.