MilSpouse FIRST Friday Fill-In June

I missed linking up last month but jumped back on the wagon for this month!

If you want to join, head over to Wife of a Sailor!

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed?

Not having all those awful issues with our van during our PCS drive out to Ohio. What a nightmare!

2. What was your favorite thing that happened in May? 

A lot happened this past month with our move, but I guess my favorite would be actually finding a place and beginning to settle in our new home. It was also good to see my family when we were all in Colorado to see Mike off to Afghanistan.

3. June includes the first day of summer… what are your plans for the summer?

We are getting our YMCA membership so I'm hoping for time at the gym, swimming lessons for the kids, making friends in this new city, exploring what there is to see!

4. Do you use the services on base (gym, financial planning, family services, daycare)? And if so, what’s your favorite one? (thanks to Shanon at Modern Meets Traditional for this question!)

I have used services from the base in the past: gyms, financial planning, education office, housing, ITT, stuff like that. I just went to the Airman & Family Readiness Center the other week and got my voucher for 20 hours of free childcare for our move. It is valid for 60 days from your date of arrival so I may be using it in the next week or so.

5. What are you looking forward to in June?


Hmmm... not really sure. Putting things on my walls... finding a new routine... possibly seeing Wicked when it is in town or the Cirque du Soleil show Immortal.

New Photos!

I don't remember if I posted about it, but just a few weeks before we left Albuquerque I had pictures of my kids taken by a local military wife.

She gave me the freedom to choose the location and I chose the Elena Gallegos Park which is near the Tramway. I loved it out there and I think the photos came out beautifully! My children are gorgeous, if I do say so myself! Can't wait to actually get these lovlies printed out and place them in our new home.

So, anybody left in Albuquerque or the surrounding areas who enjoy this photos, contact Melissa Stern Photography and have her work her magic for your family! It was a pleasure working with her.

The New Base Slump

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I have officially hit the "new base slump" in earnest.

Not sure what it is, but I just feel like I'm in limbo.

I know things will start picking up in the next month, but for the time being... I'm sort of lost.

There are a couple ladies I have spent time with and had fun. My house is coming together. There are appointments on my calendar (some of them social). We're still church hunting.

But this isn't home yet.

I guess that's what it all boils down to.

I HATE the weather here. It's too hot and muggy to spend time outside during the actual daytime so I am indoors mostly. And the sky is not big and blue like it was in Albuquerque. It seems shrouded. Hazy?? Whatever it is, it makes me feel sleepy here -- all. the. time.

It's just hard when you first move because you're starting over.

I don't have a friend to call up and spend the afternoon at their place chatting while the kids play. I don't have a meeting to go to for something I'm working on. Will isn't in school yet, he won't even be starting until the fall. There's no therapy sessions I'm scrambling to go to. With finances strapped from the move I don't exactly have the money to go shopping. No random Facebook messages or phone calls from friends inviting me out to some activity/movie/coffee.

I've got crafts I want to tackle, but with the move-in mess I'm not really prepared to get them underway.

Today I got a care package together for my brother and found a post office (with difficulty). Then took the longer way home just so I could explore more. The city is NOT laid out in a grid so it will take me awhile to find my way around. Wish me luck.

Maybe tomorrow I'll go gym hunting and check out the local YMCA. I hear it has a pool... and childcare! That will give me something to do and if I go for a membership it's something I will happily add to my schedule.

Memorial Day 2012

It is Memorial Day today. I hope you took time to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Not just them, but those who have been injured, those who have served, and those who are currently serving in our armed forces.

I will admit that with our recent PCS and STILL moving into our house (unpacking, organizing) I didn't do anything spectacular to mark the occasion... but I did think back and reflect on the amazing memorial I experienced in 2011.

Click HERE and you can see pictures and read about the Yuba City's Calvery Christian Center "A Grateful Nation Remembers" I went to last year. They open this amazing memorial annually. Amazing!

It would have been thrilling to go to it again, though I know it was nearly impossible for me to attend... what with moving, and hubby starting classes, and the whole airfare cost.

So with all that I was doing today I took time to think and reflect.

This year, I thought about my "little" brother who is currently deployed to Afghanistan at a FOB and I'm praying for his safety.

I thought about my uncle's nephew (my cousin-in-law) who, right now, is recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center from devastating injuries he received in Afghanistan.

I thought about the family stationed in Germany, a friend of a friend, who just experienced that dreaded knock on the door and laid to rest their loved one this week.

I thought of my many military friends who have husbands deployed. And those who have husbands at home.

I also thought about my dad, who is now retired from military service.

And, of course, I thought about my husband and our place in this country.

I hope you all had time to reflect on this Memorial Day and why you get this day off from work and school. It's much more than BBQ's and parties.

We're Here Now

As I mentioned, we are in Ohio now.

A couple things: it is VERY green. Not "green" like the Pacific Northwest is green... it's like golf course green out here. And there's LOTS of grass. My kids are enamored with all the grass to walk on -- we kind of didn't have that in New Mexico. Oh yeah, and there are trees! Not evergreen trees like in Washington, these are crazy bright green trees that I have a feeling will change colors in the fall and be nekked all winter.

Also, water. There are lakes and rivers and decorative lake/fountain things all over the place! While we're driving around Lana sees them and starts almost crying that she sees water. It is apparently very exciting. Guess that was another thing we didn't see much of in New Mexico.

Squirrels are a common view. The other day we had this huge gray squirrel in our back yard. I called Will to the window and he giddily watched it run across the grass, slide through and climb the chain-link fence, walk along the top of the fence, jump over the gate, then climb the wood side of the fence before disappearing out of sight.

While living in TLF we saw a skunk across from us in another field.

I know these aren't strange things to see... but when the wildlife you've been watching for over 2 years has been coyotes, rabbits, prairie dogs, and roadrunners it is a little fascinating to see something different.

I'm already not a fan of the humidity. Everyone says it will be getting worse soon and I dread it. New Mexico had lovely DRY heat: you step in the shade and immediately feel good. Humidity doesn't allow that. Tokyo was awful in that way and I'm sad to have to experience it again.

I didn't really talk about our search for our house. It was a bit stressful with our time crunch before Ryan started school. We looked at 2 houses and were not thrilled. We just weren't willing to pay the extra money for certain things. We reluctantly decided to look at what the military housing was and were pleasantly surprised at what we were offered. They gave us a step up in rank for the house we were given. Even saying that, it is smaller than what we had in Albuquerque... but it is nice, comfortable, and I can see us living here happily for the next 2 years. It has been making us purge more, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Umm... the kitchen is half the size of what I had before. Purging, yes.

1 car garage instead of 2 car garage... how much are we willing to store ourself??

But I digress. This will be just fine.

only pic of our house without the address visible

Our stuff arrived a day after we got our keys so we've been busy trying to move in. We're hoping to pretty much be done with the unpacking by this weekend. Ryan starts classes in earnest next week so he won't be around to help. I should mostly just have some organizing and picture hanging to do by then.

This week I went to the AFIT Spouses Orientation and met some lovely women. We heard presentations from several full-bird colonels about what to expect, how to help our husbands, and services that are provided to us. I thought it was very helpful. I also got to hear about different clubs within the AFIT spouses to get involved in so I should start getting busy soon.

What else...

Got connected to the school district about Will so we should have a meeting soon to discuss his services and have them prepared for him next year. We have an appointment with his new pediatrician next week to go over Will's history and get him new referrals for therapy. Once those come through I can schedule how life will most likely go.

I found out about gyms in the area and hoping to add that into our daily schedule as well.

I'm supposed to e-mail the chaplain and get some info from him about the local PWOC. Once I have that I'm excited to get involved!

Tried out one church but going to keep our search up for a bit longer.

As you can see, I'm trying to stay busy and find connections here. It is always lonesome when you first PCS, but I'm doing okay. Just hoping I can make a good friend soon.

and blog posts can be boring without pictures so...:

 here are my kids playing in the back yard in the sprinkler for the FIRST time ever:

and the day the movers came to the house our childcare didn't pan out so I took the kids to the Kittyhawk center to get away for awhile and it so happens they were having a pet extravaganza/safety thing going on. We got a new helmet for Will, jumped in bouncy houses, got to see lots of dogs, and the kids got their faces painted. It was fun!

slammed windows

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In the process of renting our home we were talking with the housing woman about what actually brought us to AFIT and the opportunities and life situations that occurred which steered Ryan in this direction.

During the talk she referred to the common saying, "well, where God closes a door he always opens a window..."

and I retorted, "He also slams the little window shut that you're trying to climb through so you'll turn around and see the door he's holding open."

Very true...

and I thank God for those slammed windows sometimes!

PCS Drive to Ohio, Pt. 2

(in best Yoda voice) Left you hanging, I did. Busy times, moving is.

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Read Part 1 HERE.

When I left you, my sister and I, with my two kids, were an hour outside of Topeka. It was dark, raining hard, with no safe shoulder to pull off on, and not near an offramp when my windshield wipers die on me!

Melissa tries to get them going by physically pushing them down... only to have them get stuck again. We give up and continue to drive SLOWLY(flashers on) in the right lane, both carefully watching the road to make it to an offramp where we (hopefully) can asses the situation. Thank goodness there weren't much for cars on that boring road.

We come to an offramp and see what used to be a gas station. It was lit and covered! Next to it is the only store -- an adult book store. I think it was the back of the store too and thank God, nobody came out to talk to us. Didn't even see a face look at us through those sleazy windows!

Lissa is on the phone with my dad and I'm sitting in the car since Ryan calls me as soon as we pulled under the covered area. The hood is popped and we're trying to figure things out. Our consensus?? The motor for the windshield wipers had died. Nothing we can do about it until we make it to a mechanic.

By then the rain had let up (stopped) so we continued to venture on our way and prayed that God would hold off the rain until we reached Topeka.

Long story short, we make it to Topeka and as we enter the city it starts to rain again. Very funny, God. But, we did find our hotel and meet up with Ryan safely.

Our plan is that tomorrow on our drive out we'll stop at Whiteman AFB where Ryan was stationed as an enlisted man. I was looking forward to seeing what his life was like during that time. And that night we'll stay in St. Louis.

Morning of the next day begins and we stop at WalMart so we can get some RainX to hopefully help if we run into rain again. Since we shouldn't really encounter anymore wet weather on the route we can take care of the windshield wipers when we make it to Dayton. (ha, ha, ha)

We are back in the car and I turn the key to start.... aaaaaaaand nothing.

Crap!

"Honey, I think my starter has gone out."

Ryan gets it running with some effort and we drive it immediately to a Sears Auto Repair Center.

I'll not bore you with details. Just suffice it to say we then spent the next almost 6 hours hanging out at the local mall. It had food, it had a play area, it had bathrooms... we could deal. We are thankful we at least had a place to go and be safe!

on a little ride at the mall's play area

round and round

We head out on the road again... much later than we planned... with a new starter, working windshield wipers, new transmission fluid and the filter to go with it, and some noted problems with the brakes.

Ryan couldn't get pet-friendly (affordable) hotels in St. Louis so we went about 20 minutes away to Alton, Illinois. It was nice and relaxing after such a LONG day. We did not get to go to Whiteman to see Ryan's past, unfortunately, so we'll have to plan to do that another time.

The next day Ryan says he will head straight out to Dayton while the rest of us check out the St. Louis Arch.

After a little bit of miscommunication with Garmin we make it!

What a nice break! St. Louis was wonderful. I'd love to go back and see more of the city again sometime.

Gateway Arch

a neat place to check out

Our final leg of the journey took us through Southern Illinois and Indiana... which was actually a pretty drive. I wouldn't mind going through there again.

there was a GIANT cross on the side of the road

We stop outside Indianapolis to get gas. Go to start the car.... and it won't start. WTH?!?!

I carry a rechargeable jumper/air compressor with me so we jump the battery and go on our way. We then refuse to stop again until we make it to TLF in Dayton.

But make it, we do! Our first night in Dayton we actually have a Pet-friendly TLF room so we gladly settle in and go to bed.

We made it. We were safe. But we still had a ways to go to finally "LIVE" at our new base.