Ipan Beach

Today we broke tradition and went to the beach....before noon. We typically go in the evenings when the sun starts to go down and isn't as intense, but since I wanted to go this morning we went this morning.

This time, it was to Ipan, a Pacific coast beach not too far south of where we live.

It was glorious. Unfortunately, my camera (despite telling me my batteries were fine when we left the house) died right after I took this one picture

I promise more the next time we go, though it seems now looking at it to be a pretty decent representation of the beach. The water was so clear. Just paradise.

As always, we enjoyed playing in the water and looking at shells. The benefit of going there at the time we did was that there were actually other people there (though still as you can tell from the picture, very few). The kids quickly made friends with some local children and played quite hard with them while we were there. It was so great watching them and seeing how well they can adapt to new areas and make new friends so easily.

I'm so glad we decided to move here.

Move In!

It has been a crazy week, but as of yesterday we are officially moved into the place that will be our home for the next 3 years.

Most of the week leading up to Friday was spent doing things to prepare to move in, like running paperwork around and setting up utilities. Well, except for Thursday. Thursday I had to switch hotel rooms so I could stay beyond the 31st. I got to pack up all our stuff (remember, we already had our express shipment) and move it and all our kids luckily only 2 doors down......unfortunately through the rain. I managed to fit half the stuff in the car but the rest had to be hand carried. It was a major pain, especially since I was moving again the following day and it honestly was a "what the hell am I doing here?" moment for me. We made it though :)

Friday we were up early to go meet our Realtor for the move in inspection and to prepare for the movers. The day was long, but things went quite smoothly. Both my Realtor and the movers were amazingly professional and helpful, more than I could have ever asked for.

After the movers left I gave the kids an option: we could go back to our suitcases and stay with them in the hotel, or unpack our room and checkout entirely and stay in the house. Despite how  long the day was, and how tired they were, they went for the second option. I can't blame them. After 2 months of being on the road and living out of suitcases, seeing all our things brought some sort of normalcy to life again (even if most of those things were still in boxes). By the time we went to bed our oldest daughter had unpacked the girls whole room and put everything away. Granted, it's not how I would like it set up, but she did it herself and there's nothing on the floor so I let it be.

Today we had to run around and get things like bath mats and trash cans, but once we came home it was back to unpacking. I'm amazed by how helpful the oldest 2 are being. They're so sweet I try to make sure I say thank you often for all they're doing. With their help the bathrooms have been cleaned and set up, the kitchen is almost unpacked (given that I think half our weight is kitchen stuff this is a major accomplishment). and I've had 2 other sets of eyes on the baby so I don't have to worry so much.

Diving in

Sunday morning we got up early, ate breakfast and loaded on the bus for the plane. I think the kids were a bit wary about boarding a plane after the 12 hour flight to Japan, but were ok once they found out it was only a 3 hour flight.

When we arrived on the island, there was a duty van waiting to take us back to the Navy Inn, where we had a "villa" (2 bedroom townhouse)  waiting for us to stay in. After living on couches, floors and hotels for the last month, this place seems huge. We thankfully have a full kitchen and a washer/dryer set. I've already done 2 loads of laundry and cooked a few meals.

Our original plan was to walk around here until our van arrived, but we've had to change our thinking on that. The base is highly spread out, and it looks like since there's a 2 month wait for housing we have to move off base into a furnished apartment until housing is available, or just avoid the 2 move thing and rent a house off base (will be meeting with a realtor this week about the second part). We looked at buying a cheap car, but those seem to be in short supply here and everyone who is selling has a note they need paid off. Also, once our van gets here I'll have 2 cars, and since Adam is going back to Hawaii and will be going out to sea quite a bit we don't see the point to having 2 cars for any length of time. So, tomorrow we will be renting a van for about a month.

Once we get a van, we'll be going out and exploring more so I can get pictures of the island!

The commissary here has not only standard American fare, but a huge (as in, more that I've ever seen in a standard store) Asian section, and a decent local selection as well. Our first night here I went over to get stuff to cook dinner, and found local green papayas and little calamansi. Calamansi are little green citrus fruits that have a very distinct and delicious flavor that will do well in many applications, but right now are used to mix in our Gin and Tonics. I've already used the papaya to make a fresh salsa. Came out well, just need to tweak the recipe a little bit.

Papayas and calamansi

Calamansi size relative to my thumb. Aren't they darling?!

Yesterday I went back to the commissary for a bit more food (and to explore) and found a few things from a local bakery: Spanish rolls, bread and guguria. Guguria are little sweet, crunchy bites made from flour, coconut milk and sugar. I'm hooked on them already.

Given all the neat things I've found so far, I can't WAIT to get out in town to find more local goods!

Saying goodbye

It's interesting that the part that I love and hate about the military is the exact same thing: moving. I love seeing new things, making new friends, and exploring new areas. In fact, usually after a few years in one place I'm ready to move on and see something new. I hate moving away from the friends I'v made where I am though.

I can always tell when it's about time to move because I start to get ingrained in a community that I love and enjoy. If there's one thing I've learned though, it's that goodbye isn't forever. You never know where you will go next or who will be there when you get there. In the meantime, we have been blessed with so many ways to keep in touch with each other its hard to believe, and I am thankful for that.

And thus our time here draws to a close. Thank you Charleston for your beauty and your people. You will be greatly missed.

"Somehow I know, we'll meet again/ Not sure just where and I don't know just when/ You're in my heart, so until then/ Wanna smile, wanna cry.....saying goodbye" ~Muppets take Manhattan

Watching my world leave on trucks

The part of military life that I'm asked about most often is the constant moving. More particularly, the the household goods packing and moving. While I do have an option to pack myself up and do all the work, I refuse. It's too much work for little gain, especially with 5 kids to watch and care for and relatively little time between moves. So, we opt to instead have the military hire a contractor and pack and move us.
I've been through quite a few moves, but never one like this. As I've stated before, this move is split into three parts: unaccompanied baggage, non-temp storage, and the regular shipment. Today is the last part of the regular shipment. I am always intrigued watching the packers because they can turn a room full of stuff into this

in the matter of a few hours. For the regular move, as they pack it all they load it into crates like the one shown below and seal them. 

I am beyond thankful for those who do this as their job, as without them it would be difficult to say the least to move as much as we do.

In the meantime, we've started our lives as homeless nomads. We're staying near our home (specifically, furnished houses the Air Force has to rent out) to facilitate getting back and forth to watch packers and clean the house.