AND BEGIN!!

Wow!! It's really, truly happening! Up to this point, moving to Japan was something happening in the near future, but now it's HAPPENING! I know I say this in every post, but I feel like each week  I post, our move is getting more and more real.. It's sorta like planning a vacation to some fabulous place 6 months before it's actually going to take place. You know you are going and you are planning the trip for months, but it doesn't actually seem real until you start packing your suitcases and arrange for someone to watch your pets. That's what's going on now. Josh and Elliot left with the dogs for Tennessee on Friday, while Hannah and I stayed behind to get everything ready for the express shipment on Tuesday. We've had a pile of stuff in the craft room waiting to be moved out into the livingroom for the packers and a few other things to add closer to the move date. Everything is piled in the livingroom, in some sort of order of course, cause if you know me, I like to have things organized!!

 I know it looks like an un organized mess, but there are actually laundry baskets with  all of the kitchen supplies we wanted to send early, another with linens and blankets, toys for each of the girls and then of course the ever so loved pink zebra pillow pet and Wii! We were also sure to stock up on a very large selection of construction paper, as my girls go through it faster than a dog drinking water on a very hot day! I even bought some Dunkin Donut coffee to send over, so at least when I'm feeling overwhelmed and missing the comfort of my friends and family, I'll have some trusty ole' Dunkin to help me feel better!!

    

    

  



What One Little Piece of Paper Can Do!

 It's amazing what one little piece of paper can mean when you are moving overseas! We've been waiting and waiting for this DEA to arrive and it finally did two days ago! I honestly can't tell you how excited I was to see the e mail titled with our name in the inbox! Really, what this paper means is that the girls and I are sponsored by the command Josh will be working for and therefore we can move with him to Japan. Until we get that piece of paper in hand, we could not set up our moves or get our flights lined up. Josh was the only one "approved" to move to Japan according to the military, until we received this piece of paper. Since getting this ever so desired paper, we've offically set up all of our moves!! We also got a phone call this morning, letting us know that our government passports were ready to be picked up and our flight arrangements are being made within the next week or so.  Now, all we are waiting on, is for the packers to come next week, the first week of June and the third week of June. It's all becoming so real. We really are moving to Japan!
    On another note, we went to New York this past weekend to celebrate the marriage of my cousin Ben and his beautiful new wife, Janell!!  Ben and Janell are in the Army and although the Navy and Army have a little rivalry, we are proud that they are serving our country!   It was a beautiful wedding and we all really enjoyed spending time with my extended family. Our girls really had a blast playing with their cousins!! Below is a picture at the wedding, of my brothers children, my cousin Lindsey and my girls.

What We Imagine

So, what should I blog about tonight?? I'm kind of at a loss. Josh tells me that my blog is boring cause there are no pictures. I just haven't had any pictures to post.. However, rest assured, there will be MANY photos coming in future blogs! Once we get there I'm sure I'll have trouble figuring out what pictures NOT to post! Until then, text will have to do!
     We've been talking a lot about what we *think* Sasebo might look like and what we are excited to see and learn. Hannah says she often pictures in her head what her bedroom will look like and has even drawn out on a printed floor plan, where her bed, dresser, bookshelf and desk will go. She is excited to explore around the area and to eat Japanese food. She's also a little sad to leave her friends again, as she's moved a lot over the last few years. I really hope she gets to stay in one spot for a while, cause she deserves it!
  Elliot said she's not excited about anything, she just wants to make sure that there is macaroni and cheese, hot dogs and cereal bars at the commissary. She's taking this moving thing kinda hard, which surprises me, cause usually she's the one who is pretty easy going.
   I'm excited to see what it looks like in general. I can picture what they might look like, but I am sure that when I actually get on that blue bus that will take us from the airport in Fukuoka to Sasebo, I'm probably at some point going to look at Josh and say, "WHAT DID WE JUST DO??!!" It's going to be SO different from what we are used to, but also exciting to experience something new. I'm sure there will be times when I burst into tears and wish I could just go "home", (I'm not sure where that is exactly, since we've lived in Rhode Island, San Diego, Monterey and Annapolis over the last 10 years) but that's usually how I am when we move. I'll be fine for a while and then bust out in tears, get my stress out and then I'll be fine again!  For now though, this is the picture that I have in my head of what Sasebo looks like.. I think it's pretty!!

A Little Madness

It's been an exciting day at our house!! We woke up bright and early to head on up to the Ft. Meade Passport Office, to apply for our goverment passports. The trip up there was easy and finding the building wasn't too hard either. We walked in and handed in the paperwork, along with a copy of our orders, 2 photos of each of us and our birth certificates. I thought we were all set and then the passport lady looks up and says, "This isn't an original birth certificate."  I say, " Well it says certified copy of original birth certificate and it has a notary seal on it, so it should be fine." She replies with, " No, all birth certificates have to be original!" Funny thing is, is that both of my girls birth certificates also say, "Original certified copy and they were both OK." So, she took my certificate and said that if it's not accepted she'll let me know in 6-8 weeks.. Umm.. right... cause in 6-8 weeks I need that passport to fly to my new home.. We'll see how this goes!!
   The rest of the day went pretty well..  I dropped  the girls off at school and I returned home to clean up the house and start organizing our belongings. I've got lots of stuff to drop off at Goodwill and if you check out my trash and recylcing bins every Monday evening, you just might find some good stuff before the trash guys come Tuesday morning! I know my neighbor across the street did, cause she called me to let me know she took some of it!
   The evening came and we had swim  team practice, met Josh for dinner at the academy and came home to get the girls ready for bed. It was at that time I smelled a burning smell. Humm...... That can't be good!  Followed the smell downstairs into the laundry room and found the dryer was the culprit! Sooo.. it looks like I won't be drying laundry for a while.. Better bust out a line! Back upstairs to dry Elliot's hair and heard some very obscene words flying around outside. Took a peek out the door, to find 6 guys standing on the side of the road yelling nasty words I won't repeat and threatening to punch each other. Awesome!!! I live in a decent neighborhood, so I was kind of surprised to hear and see this. Stood there for a minute and it kept escalating.. Finally decided to call the police, which apparently several other people did before me. Drama averted! 
    On another note, still no pack out dates, or Dependent Entry Approval.. I'm praying those roll in soon, cause I'm starting to get a little worried!!
  

Smooth Move!

There's not much new to report this week.  We are still waiting on our Dependent Entry Approval or DEA, so that we can offically set up our household good moves and arrange our flights. Time is creeping up on us and I'm getting excited!
   The Fleet and Family Service Center offers a class called Smooth Move for Kids, which helps give kids ideas on how to make new friends at their new duty station and talks about how it's Ok to have mixed emotions when getting ready to move and how to deal with them. I wasn't sure that it was going to be that great, but the girls seemed to really want to go, so we took them. We figured if they were excited about going, why not! While it was a little dorky for us, the adults, it was PERFECT for them. The two women running it were wonderful and let them talk about things they were feeling and did some interactive activities, which taught them how to introduce themselves and give one interesting fact about themselves. Hannah went first and she thought and thought about what she was going to say. I was for sure she would tell them that she was a swimmer, as she had just spent the hour prior to this class, jumping off the 16 foot dive block, but instead she told them that she was in the gifted and talented class for math.  Of course that's wonderful and I'm so glad she's proud of herself for that, I just figured she'd have said swimming, so she could tell someone  else that she had jumped 16 feet down into a pool, which I think is pretty darn impressive!! Elliot of course,  told them that she had two dogs, Maggie and Boomer and that they were her best friends. That's my girl, the animal lover!! I swear she's going to be the college student who adopts every single stray cat in the neighborhood!  At any rate, both girls loved this class and I would recommend it to anyone who is getting ready to PCS to a new duty station with young kids.