Farewell Dover!

Our time in Dover has finally come to an end!  

As fun as our time has been in Dover, I am ready to say adios!  Over the past few months we have survived every possible type of neighbor (or so it seems.)  We have had the couple that argues at 4 AM and plenty of families with kids who cry late into the night (or scream their little heads off).  There have also been the smokers,the snorers, the early birds and the late nighters. I am more than ready to settle in a home in California and cocoon myself in the amazing sound of silence (at least that is how I imagine it will be!)

Since arriving in Dover, I have learned to appreciate the simplest of household goods.   Like having a garlic press.Chunky garlic in food is no bueno. I have been longing for our blender so I can make a smoothie. You name it and I'm probably missing it right now.   I am beyond ready to have my car back!  I'm not a morning person, so I was only able to escape the TLF when John had classes that started in the afternoon. 

During our cross county trip last year I took up knitting. Knitting  been a lesson in patience and perseverance. I had to restart a hat when I was halfway through due to a stitch miscalculation. I learned that black yarn is the hardest thing to work with.  And now there are these fingerless gloves I've been working on. *sigh*  If I ever end up in the ER... it will probably be due to an accident involving  double pointed needles. Just sayin'! I can't bring myself to start the second glove and part of me is praying that wearing a single glove will magically become a fashion trend.  

John and I were able to sneak away to DC for the weekend. It was a much needed break from being stuck in a TLF studying/working.  Much to our surprise- it was the weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival! Museums were packed, but we managed to accomplish a lot during our brief stay.  The weather was fabulous!  My body is apparently super deprived of Vitamin D.  Normally I would burn if I spent two days of trekking around DC, but I only ended up with a little sun on my shoulders. 

It disappeared within two days! :)

What's next for us?.

Another weekend getaway! :)  I haven't been to Boston since I was a kid, so I'm super pumped to go back and do some sightseeing! After Boston, we begin the nice long road trip back south to collect our furbabies! Our parents have been so gracious to watch them for us the past few months. Life hasn't been the same without our goofballs Begley and Hannah :)  I don't know how we would make it to California without Hannah providing her expert navigation skills! ;)

Our visit in the south will be brief, but I will be back at the end of May for my sister's high school graduation! (Holy cow, I can't believe that she is graduating high school! Wasn't she 5 years old yesterday??) 

I'll be blogging our road trip adventure! We are adding a trailer so the pets have more room in the jeep and this will be the ultimate test of my driving skills so be sure to check back! (Prayers are also much appreciated!)

Temporary Home

It has been a week since we were dragging our bags into temporary housing, exhausted, but happy to be able to unpack our bags.

Last Wednesday, we left Moody AFB  after brunch with a couple of friends.  John and I were prepared for a 12 hour 55 minute trip and our GPS let us down.  Although we went an undisclosed amount over the speed limit the whole way to Dover, the trip took close to 14 hours.  There wasn't any road construction and the traffic wasn't bad, so I really don't know why the trip took longer than expected.  We were relieved to finally make it to our destination and crash for the night.

Arranging housing in Dover wasn't easy (I am learning that dealing with military offices is never easy!) We were told that since John was TDY we couldn't get temporary housing, we could only have a hotel room. That's all fine and good... but 1) there are two of us on this trip  2) we also have 5 months worth of stuff with us.  I love John with all my heart, but 5 months, sharing a single room with all of our stuff... thats not exactly healthly for our marriage or our sanity. So John did a little investigating and found some regulation where it states where we should get temporary housing.  Their comeback? "Well, that's only if you have a child under 10." What. The. Heck.  What about families that have a child that is 12? 15? Where is the child supposed to go? Sleep in a cardboard box on the front lawn??? So John requested a written copy of the policy change from the manager.  Next thing we know... we have temporary housing. Surprise surprise!

During our stay in Florida John did receive an email from the manager stating that there had been some "mistake". At this point we were fed up with all the military offices that have these unspoken rules and regulations (i.e. Our whole Alaska residency fiasco  that took a month and getting legal involved to resolve).  John and I will put up with a certain amount of BS, but even we have a breaking point. Thankfully, a curt email from John fixed the "mistake"

"Home Sweet Home"

     

                                              

The kitchen is small.  I'm resisting buying more kitchen appliances and am challenging myself to learn to cook some new meals with the stuff we do have.  Homes make weird noises, and this one is no exception. Our bedroom fan sounds like this:

Sleeping without the fan on is not an option for me.  Since our fan sounds like a turkey, I will be tracking down some Melatonin within the next couple of days so I can get some better sleep. On the plus side, we did break down and buy pillows. The ones in our room were awful.  Here's to hoping next week brings better sleep!

On the plus side I finally finished my scarf that I had been working on for a month. I will wear this scarf until it is thread bare.  I had to start this sucker over three times. 

I also started a scarf for John.  Fifteen rows in and I began to wonder why I was knitting him a scarf.       After all, we are moving to California!  Hopefully it'll be finished before it gets too warm here. 

We discovered that the local Sam's Club isn't going to cut it for date night (nasty hotdogs and SO many flies around the condiments area,) We might settle for Chic-Fil-A for date nights :D  "Best part" is- it's right in front of a Lowe's.  Yep! The first thing out of my dear husband's mouth is "We should go to Lowe's!"  No.  Just no.  I do not want to see the inside of another Lowe's or Home Depot until we get a home in California.

So we have a Chic-Fil-A here...

Panera and Krispy Kreme are a no go though :(

                      

So this week I'm settling in to my new work schedule.  

I'm also looking for a new tv shows to watch to kill some time.  

Do tell... what is your favorite tv series??

We made it!!!

After an exhausting trip, we are finally in the south!!

Since I can never make it out of bed in time to catch the continental  breakfast- breakfast becomes a brownie that we bought back in Utah (it was a moment of weakness and we were starving).  I woke up with a sore throat, so getting cough drops was a definite to do for today!

It was wonderful getting to drive through Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, to Alabama.  It was between 35-40 degrees, the grass was somewhat green, and there was no snow!

We made a gas stop in Mississippi and I found the cutest dog!! He was so small and would have been the perfect addition to our fur baby family!! Unfortunately, John kept saying no :(  I'm sure Begley would have loved another friend to play with!  I guess I'll have to wait until we get to California and see what other dog we can get ;)

We made a stop in Milton, FL to have dinner with the family.  Due to some hectic work schedules we were having Christmas dinner a little early!  I was super excited because I got to meet my cousin- Morgan!  She is absolutely adorable <3

I was really sad to leave Hannah behind.  She'll be staying with my parents while we are in Dover.  Apparently last night my family was having to deal with a stand off with the cats.  Today the cats were eating each other's food- Hopefully they'll become friends soon.

So now we are spending some time in Alabama with John's family.  Begley is enjoying having another dog to play with and John and I are enjoying the warm weather!

I hope you and your family have a wonferful and blessed Christmas!  

Almost there!

Tonight we are in Little Rock, Arkansas!

I wish I could say today's drive was more exciting, but it wasn't.  We did make a pit stop in Oklahoma (to get gas and pick up some DQ- yum!).  It was an interesting stop.  While we were waiting in line for John to get his gas receipt one of the cashiers yells out "Next victim,, please!" I did a double take because surely someone wouldn't yell that out.  Sure enough, a couple of minutes later she yells it again.  I had to chuckle- it was different and it definitely got your attention and I will never forget that stop.

Thankfully (at least for me) we haven't seen too many cop cars during this trip.   We did pass one today and for once in my life, my lead foot was in check.   I would hate to disappoint my family and get another ticket!  I need to give them some time to catch up and take this lovely title I hold in the family for having the most tickets :P

Tonight we went out to dinner with some friends who were a part of the 517th squadron.  It was great to sit back, relax, and catch up!

I'm pretty sure road trips are meant to be a test.  A test of driving capabilities, a test of patience, and a test of your bladder.  I'm so glad this test is almost over! Tomorrow we are on the home stretch.  We head to Florida to drop off the cat with my parents and then off to Alabama to spend Christmas with John's family, then back to Florida for New Year's. Around mid January we'll begin the trek to Delaware!  We are both excited about the opportunity to see all of our friends and family!

Mom, I apologize in advance for 

whatever furniture Hannah decides is

appropriate to climb on.  I love you!

Hayman, Zombie Cows, and Snow- Oh My!

We have finally arrived in Wichita, Kansas!

Our day started late.  John and I are exhausted from all the move prep and the long days of driving.  I'm also struggling to adjust to the timezones (nights aren't a problem, but the mornings are horrible!)  We took the opportunity to sleep in this morning.  We figured 8 hours of driving wouldn't be too bad.  Since Hannah decided Friday night that playing in the fireplace would be a great way to end the night, I did a quick sweep of the room to make sure there were no paw prints left behind.  Hannah decided this morning that she wanted to play "catch me if you can".  So I was on one side of the bed and John was on the other, each of us trying to coax her out so we could get on the road.

We stopped by the Air Force Academy so John could give me the grand tour. It was neat seeing the campus.  I'm one of those people who would probably do horrible at a place like the AFA.  I have a teensie rebellious streak, and after I heard some of the rules the AFA has... I know that I wouldn't last long in a place like that. While we were there, I insisted John pick up a new Air Force sweatshirt. His other one has been... well loved.

On our way out of Colorado we found a hayman- he looks ready for Christmas!

We drove by a lot of pasture and farmland, so John and I began the My Cows game.  Essentially, whenever you see a herd of cattle the first person to shout out "my cows!"  gets to "keep" the herd.  If you spot a cemetery  you say "all your cows are dead" to kill off your competitions herd.  It got boring fast.  (there were tons of cattle and NO cemeteries in sight for the longest time). So... we added on to the game- zombie cows. So if John killed off my cows- if I saw a cemetery later on, I could yell "zombie cows" and essentially my herd would "devour" his.   It definitely made the game a little bit more entertaining.  We're still working out the rules of using zombie cows, so we'll see how it turns out!

"my cows"

We took turns driving and I finally gave up my portion of driving when I started to get sleepy.  We stopped for dinner in some random town in Kansas.  Not too long after we got back on the road, we heard a weather advisory on the radio so John had me pull up the information on one of his weather maps.  Just as I was finishing reading the advisory, it started dumping snow. And it continued to dump snow.  Everyone around us started slowing down to 20-40 mph.  We debated stopping for the night, but decided to continue on so we wouldn't add additional travel time on to Sunday.  So many people ended up in the ditch.  As John and I are driving along  (passing all the other cars on the road), I found myself grateful for the time we spent in Alaska.  Driving on the interstate in this snowstorm was a cake walk compared to driving on some of the roads in Alaska.

Begley and Hannah have settled in for the night.  Hannah tried to escape the room while we were bringing in luggage.  Now that I think about it... she tried to escape a few times today.  She also tried to escaping when I had to take her through security at the Anchorage airport.  Apparently she just doesn't want to be with us on this trip. :(

So here we are in Wichita.   We had a 10 hour drive time instead of 8, but hey- we made it in one piece.  Tomorrow we head to Little Rock to visit a few friends.  Monday we are back in the south!

Are We There Yet?

What a day it has been!  Thankfully it was a rather quiet 12 hours of driving. Hannah was her ridiculous self.  Yesterday Begley "accidentally" sat on her, so today she got a little creative and found a new napping spot.  (way in the back of the jeep)

Hannah has been the main source of entertainment for this trip.  Begley just stares out the window or sleeps. Or in the case of today, coughs up part of a toy that we haven't seen since we left Alaska

                                       

John did most of the driving today (because he is awesome like that!).  I enjoyed the view as we passed through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and into Colorado.  We couldn't have asked for better weather and the traffic wasn't too bad.

 Idaho

                                     

 Utah

Wyoming

I made an attempt to start a knitting project. I got 15 rows in and realized I somehow managed to miss stitches and in turn had 3 lovely holes.  I couldn't take it. So as the sun was setting in Wyoming I was  carefully redoing the knitting from the beginning. *sigh* Maybe one day I'll get the hang of knitting.  If any knitting pros out there have any tips for fixing missed stitches, I would appreciate the advice!

While John was driving I  tried to make sure the cat didn't cause too much trouble.  She LOVES the windows, crawling all over us, and trying to get onto the dashboard.  Oh yeah,  I also had to clean up my sunflower seed mess from yesterday.  Yesterday, I was trying to be helpful and open the sunflower seed bag for John and *POOF* half the bag went flying all over the jeep.  :(

We managed to track down Chik-Fil-A for dinner (yippee!) and after we got settled in at the hotel, our friend Jenn came to visit for a bit.  It was great getting to see her and catch up!

Tomorrow is a brand new day full of adventures.  Here's to hoping that Begley coughed up all of his toy today and we don't get any more surprises tomorrow ;)

The Land of Potatoes

We have made it to the land of potatoes- Idaho!  

It has been an incredibly busy and exhausting day. We picked up John's jeep this morning, rushed back to base to load the pets and cargo and then headed to the airport.  It wouldn't be a road trip if I didn't make a wrong turn or miss an exit though! :) Today, I managed to accomplish both!  I gave John the wrong address for the port first thing this morning (which I will blame on lack of coffee) and then I missed the exit to the airport.  On the way to the airoprt, I was following John, and unlike him in his hot minivan, I was unable to cut across three lanes of traffic to catch the exit.  Oh yes, for the past two days we have had minivans as rentals.  I'm pretty sure if we ever have kids, I might be able to sweet talk him into one.  He liked the automatic doors and all the storage in them. ;)

We managed to head out of Seattle by noon.  It was a long drive.  Like our drives to Kenai, I am not the best travel buddy.  I did my best to stay awake, but I kept dozing off.  Around 2 o'clock I had managed to miss a call from some 800 number.  Upon calling it back, it was an American Express number.  I tend to be skeptical of random numbers that start asking for personal infomration, so I waited for an email from the company.  My stomach dropped.  Some bimbo had tried to spend $197,573 for Qatar Airways. Seriously... what the heck?  Did the person think I am made of money??? Even if I had no living expenses or bills, that would take me years to pay off.  Although if AmEx ever did decide to up my credit line... I wouldn't complain ;)  So now I have a new card on the way. I'm glad it was caught, but its a pain in the butt having to wait on a new card.  Apparently I did a little Christmas shopping too (only $88 worth, so compared to the $197K, I can't complain)


The view has been awesome (when I haven't been asleep!)  We made it out of Washington during daylight hours, but unfortunately, had to drive through Oregon and Idaho in the dark :(

Around 4:30 we took a break, fed the pets and let them roam for a bit.  The cat pretty much freaked out when I set her outside on the leash.  She did everything she could to get back in the jeep.  After that it was my turn to drive.  John quickly feel asleep and of course, that's when we hit the winding roads.  I passed a sign for Dead Man's Pass and go figure the roads got super icy, so I was on my best driving behavior!

The pets have been on their best behavior.  Hannah insists on looking out every single window... including the back (which as you can see is hard to get to)

Now we are in Mountain Home, Idaho. Tomorrow we kick off a long drive to Denver, Colorado so we can see the lovely Jenn Shaw!  We are super excited! :)

For now though... it's time to catch some sleep.  I hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!

Farewell Alaska!

 

  We have made it out of Alaska! 

 What a crazy journey it has been.  Monday night we went back to the house to complete a couple more things before the tenants moved in this week.  We went to go leave and go figure... my car battery had died.  We had parked it in the garage so it wouldn't die. Thankfully a friend was able to come jump start my car.

Since my car had to be clean in order for it to be shipped, I had my best buddies at Lithia set up a car detail for me. By best buddies, I mean that I'm glad we're moving and I won't have to deal with these people again.   I can honestly say that they earned every penny. I don't think my car has really been "clean clean" since I bought it.  It's not that I don't care about it... it's just that the Alaska dirt doesn't come off when I go through the car wash and most of the year its too cold to wash it myself.  It sparkled by the time they were done! and I was frozen out of my car, but thats another story for another day. 

                                            

Tuesday evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner with friends.  After we picked Begley up from the groomers we went back to finish packing.  We ended the night with some celebratory champagne.  After the week we survived, we deserved it!
                                               

I did have a minor panic attack Tuesday afternoon when I realized that someone (who shall remain nameless) had packed the cat's drugs in the jeep- which was currently on it's way to Seattle.  Thankfully our vet set us up with a refill.  Despite the fact that we were leaving in less than 24 hrs, I decided to do a test run on Hannah. Oh my word. It was absolutely hilarious.  Imagine your best friend slightly tipsy- has difficulty walking straight, slightly confused, probably doesn't have the best coordination.  Hannah made the time we spent packing our bags very entertaining.

Begley after his trip to the groomer!

Wednesday came too soon and reality set in-I was not ready to deal with Hannah and the flight. I guess Hannah figured out that this road trip was different.  She meowed the whole way to the airport.  I gave her the appropriate drug doseage and waited... and waited... and waited some more. She was feaking out. Thankfully, Hannah's drugged meow isn't as loud as her regular one. Hannah was quiet a majority of the trip (I was definitely counting my blessings). I was appalled when a lady approached me while we were heading to the baggage claim and told me she could hear Hannah the whole time during the flight. Mind you there had been a good 15 rows between us and I had a hard time hearing Hannah meow. I told her she must have mistaken one of the two babies on the plane for the cat, because the cat slept most of the time.

So as I'm telling this lady she is crazy sadly mistaken about the cat- officers are roping off the entire hallway with caution tape. And thats when we came to what apparently was a security breach closure.  We ended up awkwardly standing around for 10 minutes waiting for the officers to take down the tape so we could continue on our way.  Meanwhile, Hannah is proving the lady right by meowing the entire time. *facepalm*
Begley made the trip a-okay. He was probably the most excited  about the trip.  After I let him out of his kennel in Seattle, he didn't really want to go anywhere.  Best I can figure he was afraid he would be put back in his kennel.

I'm enjoying the warmer weather here in Washington, but I can't wait to be back in the south!

Best part of the day- Panera!!

Tomorrow we pick up the Jeep, return the rental, and hit the road! We are Idaho bound!