As planning continues, some things have fallen into place at home that bring some certainty to the duration of our trip and the first part of the itinerary. We finally leased the house to a family from New Jersey. They will stay for 6 months and have the option to extend for 2 more months if they want. That means we will definitely be traveling until the end of February and more likely until the end of April. The second major development is that Maria, our ex-aupair from Ecuador is almost assured that she will get her visa to travel back to Ecuador for the first time in 7 years. She has agreed to travel with us while we are in ecuador and serve as a guide and interpreter. I think this will make the transition to life on the road a lot easier for the kids and us.