Ani's off!!

Today, after 9 months of vet visits, stacks of paperwork, and $75-USDA signatures (plus a few more bucks here and there), Ani finally started her great big trek across the ocean. She has a longer layover in LA than Ben did, and also needs to be prodded and poked more than Ben did. She was so good when Kerry dropped her off at the United Cargo Center - happy to hop in her crate whether it was on a scale or on a big red dolly that would take her away from me. When the lady closed the door and started wheeling her away from me, she let out a little whimper and gave me this look that just about ripped my heart out. And then she was off.

Ben arrived safely in Australia yesterday. Got in ~6am and headed straight to the uni to meet his adviser, go to a welcome lunch, and get started on his PhD. Why waste any time!?! He's staying with a post-doc in the lab (Chris) for the time being. Here's the link to Ben's adviser's web-page:
http://galliform.bhs.mq.edu.au/~phil/
You can click on "People" to see all the mates Ben's hanging out with, now.

Kerry finished moving out of the Evanston apartment at 4am this morning - right before taking Ani to the airport. Now she's living in the "Zoo House" (which doesn't imply that she's a zoo animal). The house is located on the south-side of Brookfield Zoo, which is a very convenient location for finishing all of her lab work there.

Ben's off!!

Ben took off today - first to L.A. and then on to Sydney! The slacker quit his job at Abbott one whole day before he left. This timeline made packing, getting paperwork in order, cleaning out the apartment, and puppy-sitting a slightly interesting task. But it all got done.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch... Kerry was left with the glamorous job of scrubbing the apartment, getting rid of a bunch of our stuff, and packing up whatever was left.

Ani was just trying to figure out what was going on.