As our departure date quickly approaches, we’re starting to get down to the nitty gritty details of what we need to figure out before then.  Today, it was tackling the first aid kit.  We put together a long list of what we thought would need, and Alan proceeded to collect what we had from our various emergency kits and the like and cover the living room floor with piles of supplies.  We determined that we have enough band-aids and first aid tape to last us until 2024 (and then some), but we still needed some of the basics, like a snake bite kit and activated charcoal.  Apparently, doctors don’t recommend using syrup of ipecac if your child eats something poisonous.  Instead, we’ll have to force feed Van a bottle of activated charcoal, what I can only imagine is a disgusting, black, chalky liquid, if he decides that that enticing berry over there looks just like a blueberry, only red.  Do you hear that Van?  If you eat something you’re not supposed to, the activated charcoal is your next treat.  Maybe that will deter his curious nature in the face of poisonous berries.  The hope, of course, is that our first aid kit stays packed away and in a year we laugh about all the things we brought with us – but we all know that won’t be the case.

In going through our first aid and emergency kits, we also discovered that we actually have a really great folding metal shovel.  Too bad we discovered that after we bought a not nearly as great folding shovel a couple months ago.  Oh well, lesson learned.  We need to keep better tabs on our things.  One thing that we do not own, but will in a couple of days when the package arrives, is a big bottle of bear spray.  Again, we hope this is something that we never have to use, but if we do, we’ll now have five seconds of non-lethal fire power right at our fingertips.  I’m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse.  It was interesting to research the different types, but I began to realize that too much research would just make me paranoid.  Bear spray…check.  Our list of things to do before departure is getting shorter by the day.