One Down - Two to Go

We are Phase 1 - Mission Complete!  We were scheduled to have our Non-Temporary Storage pickup on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (today) of this week.  Our team packed quickly however and were done around lunchtime on Wednesday.  Note to all others going through this: the packers here get paid by the pound, so the faster they pack, the faster they can finish your job and move on to someone elses.  Not sure if this is the case with all moving companies or not.  In fact, our team in TX was particularly slow; they must have been paid by the hour.  ;)

All went surprisingly well as far as the packing is concerned.  It's always slightly disconcerting to see the majority of your earthly possessions in boxes on the back of a truck, but we'll probably get most (if not all) of them back in a year, so we'll make due for a while.

I guess the moving company did not mention anything to the Army transportation office about finishing early because - right on schedule - we had an ITO inspector stop by to check out the progress only to find everything gone already.  Oh well.  We had nothing bad to say about our team, which is usually why the inspectors come out - they're mediators more than anything else.

With all of our "extra" time today, we got prepared for tomorrow's pickup - Household Goods.  We are authorized 1/4 JFTR - code for one quarter of a normal move allowance.  I want to say it's somewhere on the order of 4000 lbs.  Since we're not shipping any furniture (with the exception of my piano), we should not have any issues with weight.  Who knows - we might even have space left over to bring home a few extra things :)  I also managed to get K in to see the pediatrician this afternoon.  Somehow in the all of the excitement, I totally forgot that her checkup was THIS Tuesday.  I was convinced it was next week.  Luckily, they made a huge exception for us and got her in for an appointment today so she's now complete with all of her required routine vaccinations for travel.  B will still have one more appointment before we leave to get his PPD which is required by the school he will attend in Dhaka.  We've been making the rounds picking up medical and dental records for everyone.  I'm having a bit of difficulty getting my doctor to release my records - I'm pretty sure I'll win this one, but we'll see.

We got some disappointing news today with regards to our visas.  It's looking like the office here will not be able to expedite the request for visas for the entire family - only the "official" traveler.  So we'll have to postpone some of the regional travel we were hoping to do as a family before school starts.  Round 571 of Adapt, Improvise, and Overcome goes to the Army.

The kids continue to be pretty excited about our upcoming trip.  B was actually happy when the packers got to our house because it meant he was that much closer to getting to Dhaka.  I'm not really sure what he's expecting to find over there, but we've been doing our best to keep him very positive about the upcoming move.  He had a rough time with our last move, and I'm wondering if I just didn't do enough to make him see it in a positive light.  So this go-around, it's all about the new opportunities we'll have.  I'll let you know if this is any more successful than our previous move.  K doesn't seem to care too much about the move.  She's a bit more cranky than usual, but you almost can't tell ;)

Well, I think that's it for now.  It's pretty late, and we've got another early morning tomorrow.  Josh and I are never really at our best when we're moving.  It seems to bring out a bit of the worst in both of us.  I love to procrastinate (which seems odd since I was essentially a professional planner in my previous career) knowing that it will all get done.  Josh on the other hand really wants everything to be done well and has little patience for my "wait til the last minute to get everything done" attitude.  Maybe we just need more practice moving...  I think we'll get to test that theory!

Busy, busy, busy

This week has really flown by.  It's Friday night already...  We had our last pizza and movie night in this house tonight - we'll have to work a bit harder to keep to our schedule once we're on the move!  We've been steadily boxing things up over the past week and most rooms in the house are now in some sort of order (or disorder).

Half of the kid's clothes are already in suitcases - have to get the rest of them this week.  Our clothes are mostly sorted into the different shipments.

We have managed to sell all of the big (read: heavy) items that we did not want to put into storage, so that was definitely a small victory for us.

We've been busily recording TV shows for the kids for those times when we really need to keep them occupied.  All was going well until the DVR stopped working.  One quick visit from our cable company later, and we now have a new cable box (for the last week of our service) and we are now in business once again.

Lots of last minute shopping!  Picking up a few more items for the consumables (we probably have way too much at this point) as well as last minute clothing items for Josh and I.

The cats (who will be staying with my parents while we're gone) visited the vet twice this week to get updated on all their shots.  They are now healthy and ready for the move.  We have also confirmed that they still hate their carriers.  Always good to check that one every year or so.  You never know when they might change their minds.

We had the furniture appraiser in and are confident now that all of the furniture is ready for storage.

And somewhere in the midst of all of this, Christmas has snuck up on us.  Can you believe Christmas Eve is tomorrow night???!  Luckily Santa was busy earlier this year, so we haven't had to worry too much about that, but I have to admit, I'm having a hard time "getting in the spirit" with all of this other stuff going on.  Best wishes to everyone else for a very Merry Christmas!  Please wish us peace in the new year :)

One week - ACK!

Well, utilities are taken care of.  Mail is forwarded.  House is slowly but surely getting sorted.  We're trying our best to use up all the stuff in the pantry.  With as many times as we've moved, you'd think we'd get good at this, but it's really, REALLY hard.  Don't get me wrong.  The moving part isn't tough, it's just finding a way to move while still living in your house :)

And on that note, I have to say something.  There's something really nice about making new friends every place you go - even when it means you have to say goodbye sooner or later.  Things like e-mail and Facebook make it much easier to keep tabs on your "worldwide family" as they go off and experience new things in new places.  And I'm not terribly sad about leaving - not really.  I'll miss letting the kids hang out with their friends - maybe even more than they will.  They seem to be very flexible (at least at this age).  I'm sure it will be a different story when B is in 7th grade and would really like to stick around and graduate with his friends, but instead we'll be of to... who knows where.  But for now, they're very adaptable.  And going to Dhaka is a bit like getting in the car and going to Target.  He's been talking about it for months now.  He packs his backpack several times a week filling it with underwear, clothes, toys, etc so he's "ready to go to Dhaka."  Oh, how I wish it were that easy.  But, I stray from my topic.  I want to take this opportunity to apologize in advance to all of the people I'm going to sob on for the next three weeks until we leave.  This list can (and likely will) include anyone and everyone who talks to me about the fact that I'm leaving.  I promise - I'm not really that sad - or scared - to move on.  I just have some genetic inability to say the word "Goodbye" without sobbing.  You can ask my family.  I've done this my whole life, so why stop now...  I'll miss all of you.  But sometimes I really wish I could just kind of take off without anyone knowing.  At least I'd save some money on tissues!

Two Weeks To Go

And the countdown continues.  Every time I look around the house, I'm mentally processing what needs to go in which box.  Not that this is particularly useful since we're still using everything in our house and things keep moving around.  But I hope that by the time the packers arrive, I'll have a handle on what's coming with (not a lot) and what's going into storage (lots).

We decided to revisit a great local-ish state park this past weekend with the kids - Big Basin just north of Santa Cruz.  There are some great old-growth redwoods up there, and while it was a bit chilly, it was still a great place to "get away".  Combined with a trip to MyMuseum on Saturday night for a birthday party, the kids had a great weekend.

I've started contacting utilities to have them turned off, and I'm starting to make arrangements to have the house cleaned after we leave.  It's always fun when you don't even have a vacuum cleaner to clean the carpets after the movers leave because... that's right... the movers packed it.  Oh well.

We're waiting right now for our passports to come back with our visas so we can send them off again (and get another visa).  And instead of doing anything productive at home right now, I'm watching White Christmas - which truly, truly never gets old.

PPE

In Army-speak - this is personal protective equipment.  Since we're going to be in a foreign country, I think this definition should be expanded to include anything that protects our critical assets - our passports and important documents.

It was already recommended to us that we scan in all "important" pieces of paper and then make multiple copies on thumb drives to leave with people in the states just in case.  So far, I've included all of our birth certificates, our life insurance policies, the titles for our cars, and other things that might at some point be important.  But we're hand carrying papers with us as well.  We've been told that these can be stored at the embassy if we need someplace secure to leave them.  We also have a small lockable fireproof box that we're planning on taking (I think) so that we can lock up little items at home.

Waist Wallet

Neck Pouch

While we're traveling, obviously the concern is keeping our passports, tickets, and money safe.  It's not really recommended that you leave your passports in a hotel safe, or even in a safe at the front desk.  We've picked up a couple nifty items that I'm hoping will work really well to that end.  First is the Pacsafe Cashsafe Travel Belt Wallet.  I'm sure the website does a much better job of describing this, but but the belt is hollow - on the inside, against your pants, the belt has a zipper that allows you to open it up and insert folded paper money.  The buckle on the belt is plastic, so I'm hoping it holds up, but it got fairly good reviews, and we feel it's definitely important to have a cash reserve somewhere while we're traveling.  Second, we got a Pacsafe Coversafe 75 Neck Pouch to allow us to keep our passports/money/tickets close when we need to.  I used something similar to this when I traveled in Europe as a teenager, and found it to be pretty useful.  This one is not fully waterproofed (or rather sweatproofed), so other users in humid climates recommended putting your items in ziplock baggies before putting them into the pouch.  I can easily fit 2 passports in my case, but I'm not sure I could put all 4.  It would definitely be much more noticeable and would not really lie flat under clothing.  We also picked up the Pacsafe Waist Wallet in the 25 and 100 sizes - the 25 really only fits cash.  The 100 will fit passports, tickets, cash, etc.  I don't think we really meant to get the 25, but since it's here, we'll use it.  Last, I purchased the purse I'd blogged about earlier - the Pacsafe Citysafe 200.  This purse has lots of great safety features including a slashproof strap and slashproof fabric.  The shoulder strap unhooks allowing you to loop it around a table base or some other immobile object and then locks into place.  The zipper to the main compartment can also be "snapped" in place so it is more difficult for someone to merely reach over and take something out of your purse.

And no, Pacsafe is not paying me for this free advertisement :)  We're just hoping their stuff works!

The Pre-Pack

Among experienced military movers (and by this I mean military families, not the actual moving companies), I generally find two main camps on how to "do" a move.  The first group does essentially no prep because the Army's contract with moving companies pays for them to come into your home, take your clothes out of your dresser, your dishes out of your cabinets, and your books off of your shelves, pack them, and unpack them all into the same locations in your new house - wherever that may be.  The other camp believes that they are somehow "better" than the people who get paid to do this all day every day - and they pre-pack all of their boxes.  I'm not sure if we're under the mistaken impression that this will somehow make our movers like us more and thereby not destroy everything we own, or if we really just have nothing better to do.  If you can't tell, we kind of fall into the second camp.  By myself, I'd probably go with option A, but Josh is a firm believe in pre-packing.

And so we spent the weekend sorting through boxes in the garage, emptying the linen closet, and packing up our spare bedroom to make room for all of our unaccompanied baggage and household goods.  Nevermind the fact that I'm also storing Christmas presents in the guest room.  I think he'd pack those up too if I gave him the chance.

In other news, we took the side rail off of K's crib and she seems pretty happy with the change.  For myself, I'd just as soon keep her in the crib as long as she's happy (and she is), but travel will be easier (we think) if we can count on her sleeping in a regular bed.  It makes me a little bit sad to not have her in the crib.  Guess she's not really a baby anymore... :(

Moving Right Along

This morning we had our survey visit with the moving company.  We are scheduled to start our pack out in a little over 3 weeks.  It's really amazing how quickly all of this is moving along now.  We've received confirmation from the shipping office at the embassy that we are not authorized to ship food items in our consumables shipment, so I guess we'll have to ship snacks and things separately at our own expense.  I've also finally (I think) kick-started the search for a place for us to live.  I'm not sure if everyone just assumed that housing was tracking our arrival, but I'm pretty sure - reading through the lines mind you - that somehow we had been overlooked and they're not really sure where we're going to live when we arrive.  Luckily, we've still got some time on that one as we're taking quite a bit of leave prior to heading overseas.

I've managed to sell some of the furniture we're not planning on putting in to storage.  We were very close to our weight limit when we made our move here to CA - and it's not like people accumulate less things over time, so we decided to get rid of our guest room furniture.  That will save us a couple hundred pounds at least.  Plus, there are all the things I bought when we got here intending to get rid of when we left.  There's the outdoor playcube I passed along to another FAO family who has some time left here and the double jogging stroller that I inherited from a FAO that needs a new home before we leave.

I mentioned that we saw some antique furniture similar to ours in a previous post.  On that note, I have made contact with a furniture appraiser who is stopping by the house next week to do a formal appraisal.  Send that stuff in to the insurance company and we'll be ready to leave it all in storage.

The kids are scheduled to have their last medical checkups prior to leaving, and then all I need to do is pick up all of the records.  Slowly but surely, I'm ticking things off my list.

Last, but not least, I contacted my insurance company and made all necessary changes to cover our items in storage/overseas.  I also had them put a travel notice on our charge card, so we should not run into any issues of our card getting turned down.

Next up, plan our travel back east and make hotel reservations.  Oh yeah, and scan in every important document from our file cabinet so I don't have to bring that with us when we move.  The prospect is a bit daunting...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We were lucky enough this year to have my parents fly out to visit us for Thanksgiving this year.  The kids (and Josh and I) are taking advantage of having an extra set of hands around to help brush teeth, wash hair, and fix dinner.  Josh and I headed out to get dinner alone at International Cuisine in Pacific Grove - great Greek food!!  I even think I would have enjoyed it if we'd had kids with us.  But since we didn't, we also meandered through a large antique shop in downtown PG.  Happened upon a cabinet that looked quite a bit like the one we brought home from Korea - for a mere $3500.  I'm wondering if we need to get our furniture appraised before we put it in storage.  It's not like I feel we could replace the pieces we brought home with us; they're all special to me because each item is really a story.  But I can only imagine how I'd feel if any of them were damaged while they were in storage...  Maybe this is something I'll ask our insurance company about when we talk to them about our change in renter's insurance.

Tomorrow, we have an appointment with the legal office to update our wills and get all of the POAs that we'll need while we're gone.  More to follow on how that proceeds.

School - Check!

I'm  happy to report one more item on my list taken care of.  The School Liaison Officer (SLO) wrote back to me last night (essentially the equivalent of Monday morning their time as they work Sunday through Thursday) and sent me all the information I needed to fill out the forms required by DoD.  For anyone who's looking, here is where you can find all the information you might need on non-DoDDS school registration.  So I've managed to gather up all the stuff they need and I just sent everything off.  I've also gotten confirmation back from the school that they received everything I've sent and we're good to go on that end.  Now I just need a school supplies list so I can pick up all that stuff and include it in our shipment.

On another "pre-buying" note, we hit up Party City in Salinas - who now offers a 10% military discount - and picked up all of the party gear we'll need for the kids next year.  Normally, would I need all of the matching plates, cups, napkins, hats, decorations?  No.  But we're going to be away from family, in a foreign place, with a bunch of new people.  Birthday parties are a big deal because it's a chance to interact with both the other foreign officer families from the school Josh will attend as well as the foreign service families from the embassy. So we might as well make the most of it.  I draw the line however at pre-buying gifts.  Amazon ships where we're going, so we might as well take advantage of that.

50 days and counting

This past week we passed the 50 day mark before our movers will be here to load us out.  I need to start getting serious about setting things aside that I know are going to one location or another.  In case I haven't mentioned this before, we've got several shipments going.  We've got unaccompanied baggage that are things we want to bring, but won't fit in our suitcases.  Ideally, we'd get these things shortly after arrival.  In reality, it will likely be almost 90 days.  There's household goods - the bigger of the two shipments accompanying us - which will take probably about 120 days to get there.  And then we've got a consumables shipment (or do we? - more on that later).  Everything not in one of those shipments or physically in our suitcases will be in non-temporary storage for the next year.  So things like flannel sheets?  Definitely in storage.  Clothes - in the suitcases or unaccompanied baggage.  The rest of the house?  Slightly more difficult to decide.  While our orders indicate we are authorized a consumables shipment, the information from Transportation says we can't ship any food, and the liaison in country says Bangladesh is not a consumables post, so I'm a bit confused on that one.

On a definite high note, after waiting over a month and a half, the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) at the embassy finally wrote me back and acknowledged that we would be arriving soon.  I've sent several e-mails, and I have to admit to a bit of frustration that I wasn't even really sure who else to talk to.  Luckily, with a little less than 90 days to arrival, we have established positive contact.  I've taken the first steps to get B enrolled in kindergarten next year.  Schools overseas in general require very early registration because they hire teachers and "import" them based on the numbers of students they anticipate.  In addition to school registration, in order to get the fees covered - since there is not a Department of Defense school in the region - we have to do a completely separate registration through the DoD.  My first attempt did not go so well.  I e-mailed the POC on the DoDEA webpage to get my regional contact, and the information they provided was for a State Department employee who kindly informed me that he was reassigned out of Dhaka over 2 years ago.  DoD not on top of something??  I wish I could say I was surprised.  Luckily, the former POC forwarded my questions to the person I hope is the current POC.  So with a bit of luck, I can have one more loose end tied up by the end of this week.

I spent a bit of time yesterday trying to plan out our drive from here to the east coast.  It's definitely going to be long, but I hope we've found some good stops along the way to help relieve the tedium of sitting in the car.

Inspired by the Harry Potter marathon on the Family channel last week, I decided to go ahead and get the rest of the movies that I was missing, so tonight, I hope to make it through Half-Blood Prince.  Chat more later!

Veterans Day

K's actual birthday was an exciting day.  We shared cupcakes with friends at the park, and then we got to spend an eventful afternoon at the emergency room.  It was my third trip there with one of my children, but B's first.  He was apparently tired of listening to K cry during her quiet time, so he stuck a popcorn kernel in each of his ears - makeshift earplugs.  I was able to remove the one in his left ear, but the one in his right was firmly lodged and too far in to reach with tweezers, so I called the clinic to get authorization to take B in, called Josh to come home and keep an eye on K, and headed to the ER.  B was calm the entire time, and there was no line at all, so we were in and out very quickly.  Our longest delay was being formally "admitted" in the computer.  Shortly after I arrived home from the ER, the peds office returned my call to let me know they thought I should take B to the ER (gotta love timely medical care).  Later that evening I headed out for the FAO spouse's meeting that caused us to celebrate K's birthday early.  We met at a local consignment shop and spent the evening trying on items which might or might not be of use to us in the future.  I found 2 long-ish skirts that I'm hoping I'll be able to wear as well as a few tops.  I highly recommend the shop - the salespeople were very friendly and helpful.  The owner mentioned that they have a high turnover rate - they only keep items in the shop for 60 days, so I think it could be worth my while to go back once more before we leave to see if there's anything else I can use.  The downside that was since Monterey really only has one season (long sleeves and pants), while they had lots of sweaters, there were not a lot of tops that I could reasonably wear in the heat of Dhaka.  All in all a good trip, and I recommend the shop to anyone who's looking to pick up a few new (or new to you) pieces.

With the long weekend, we decided to head up to the Sacramento area and check out some sights.  First, we stopped by the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield - just over a 2 hour drive - to see how they made jelly beans.  We had a bit of a wait as it was actually one of their busier tour days, but it was well worth it.  Both kids were totally entertained - and really, who doesn't love jellybeans.  I think the kids could have watched the drums turning all day.  Alas, we had other stops to make.  Next up was the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento.  They had plenty of trains to check out, and on the second floor, they had 7 different Thomas tables set up for the kids to play trains.  How do you beat that?  Josh and I particularly enjoyed the Sleeper Car they had set up on a platform that actually swayed slightly as you walked through - it was just like being on a train (or what I have to assume being on one of those cars would have been like, right??).  Kids under 5 are always free, and since it was Veterans Day, Josh and I got in free as well.  Bonus!  There is a parking garage right across from the front entrance, so the entire stop was very convenient and lots of fun.  From there we headed out to pick up a pizza and then on to our hotel.  The kids were pretty worn out, so they went to bed pretty early.  On the way home today, we stopped in briefly at Travis AFB, then hit up the outlets at Vacaville, and had lunch at Chick Fil A.  Oh how I miss Chick Fil A.  The kids had a blast and I got waffle fries :)

Hope the rest of the weekend is just as successful.

And lest I be remiss, I remember this weekend all of the incredible people Josh and I have had the pleasure of serving with.  I give thanks for the sacrifices made by those who came before us, and hope that there never comes a time when there are not men and women willing to step forward and make those same sacrifices.

Birthday Fun

We're celebrating K's birthday a little early this year because of scheduling conflicts, and it brought to mind that I need to do some pre-shopping for birthdays.  On top of thinking about gifts, I need appropriately themed giftwrap, cards, bows, and decorations.  Now if only I could predict what "phase" we're going to be in a year from now.  Minnie?  Dora?  Some yet to be discovered character??  I suppose when it comes down to it, Oriental Trading Company delivers anywhere :)

This was definitely a day of running around - literally.  We started our day with a brisk walk from Lover's Point up past the aquarium here on the coastal trail.  You can't beat the weather right now - cool enough and breezy enough to be really comfortable when you're doing some exercise.  Plus, there were plenty of great friends from our Mom's Group to chat with on the way.  With all of the sickness going around here lately, it's been a few weeks since everyone's been there, so it was really nice to have a big group again.  By the time we made it to the far end of the walk, we'd managed to put ourselves behind schedule, so I said a quick goodbye and ran back to the car.  Naturally, I wasn't wearing my running shoes, nor was I wearing running shorts, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.  The kids and I jumped back in the car and headed out to Salinas for Kate's birthday pictures.  Had I known the photo studio was running 30 minutes behind schedule, I might not have rushed so much.  So I cooled my heels for a while (and watched my cushion between photos and B's afternoon class slowly evaporate) and then quickly got Kate into picture mode.  It went slightly better than her 18 month photos in that we didn't start the process with a tantrum.  But with the exception of 3 shots she took right at the beginning, the photographer wasn't able to get K to even look at the camera.  She was much too busy running behind the backdrop...  Oh well.  Less good shots made my selection pretty easy!  If only I wasn't in line behind the person who selected 45 shots of her beautiful infant and wanted a different background and border on each one.  Luckily, her older son needed a bathroom break, so we slipped in, ordered our pictures and were gone before they even managed to get back from the bathroom.  Yay for organizational skills!

We hopped back in the car, ran through the drive through and drove straight to B's class at the rec center - Junior Detectives.  He had to miss last week because he was sick (along with at least half of Monterey), so I was really excited that he was feeling better and really wanted to participate.  K and I headed home finally for about half an hour before we went back and picked up B.  By the time I got home and got both of them into their rooms for quiet time, Josh was home.  After naps, we had presents, then ziti, cake, and bed.  It was definitely a full day, but it was a fun day.  Now, I'm just waiting for the cupcakes to cool for K's birthday meetup with her friends tomorrow.  They smell really good, and I'm sure no one would miss just one...

Halloween

San Jose is really just a hop, skip, and a jump away, but we haven't spent a lot of time there.  When Josh was in school, he didn't want to ever take a whole day off from studying, so we tended to stay close to home.  Now that he's blackbirding, we have the opportunity to get out a bit more.  So we went up to Happy Hollow park and zoo.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the parking fee (normally $10) was only $3 for military (or was it 2?? I can't remember).  And the tickets themselves (normally $12) were $11 for military at the gate.  So that made a $46 trip into a $35 trip.  Always nice to save a few bucks.  The kids were entertained brushing the goats, but they had the most fun digging in the sand and unearthing dinosaur fossils with big blue brushes.  We happened to go the day before Halloween, so they had a special trick-or-treating session in the afternoon.  My guys weren't really in to that, and we quickly lost patience with the random tantrums being thrown by the four year old, so we ended up cutting our trip short.  BUT - the park was really nice, and we had beautiful weather. I wish it were closer because it seems like a place that we'd be better able to visit in many short trips than a single long trip.  And really, what parent of small children wants to spend an hour driving home when their kids have really had it??

Trick or treating was a big hit with the kids last night.  B was much more into it this year than he was last year, and there were a lot more kids his age going around together, so I think he felt like he was part of a group instead of being by himself.  Since we didn't get a single trick-or-treater last year (and I really can't blame them for not wanting to walk up our hill), Josh decided to come with us.  K was a bit slower than B, but she was pretty excited and even managed to say something that sounded vaguely like "trick or treat".  She needed a bit of encouragement to get close enough for people to actually put candy in her bucket, but she had a good time.  We only hit about 30 houses or so (is that alot?) before B told me that he was pretty sure he had enough candy.  I told him that clearly he was not my child, and then agreed that we could head back to the car.  On the way, we ran into a fellow South Asian FAO who had a Pakistani officer from NPS that he was sponsoring in tow.   I have to wonder if this sort of custom seems strange, or if there's some equivalent in other cultures.  I've heard the embassy sponsors a Halloween trick or treat session for the kids, but I'm guessing next year won't be anything like what we experienced this year.  Here's to one more thing that will just be "different" next year :)

Tickets, please?

I guess I've been a bit of a slacker this week.  I didn't do ANY of the things I said I was going to.  Honestly, though, we've been busy.  The first few months we were in Monterey, I spent a long time trying to get the kids on a schedule.  We tried out story time at the library like we'd been doing in Texas.  We tried all kinds of different playgrounds.  We just couldn't really come up with a good routine like we'd had previously.  Then, based on the recommendation of someone Josh works with, we found the Monterey Moms meetup group.  It saved my life.  Seriously. Since last November, we've been doing 2, 3, and even sometimes 4 different activities with the group every week.  Some weeks, like this week, are pretty busy.  But it's so good for B and K to get out and socialize that I wouldn't have it any other way.  So on Tuesday, we had a walk along the ocean followed by another meetup where the kids made painted handprint spiders (in honor of Halloween).  Wednesday, we had a Halloween party followed by B's class with the Monterey Rec Center.  Then this morning, we had our FAO Spouses group monthly potluck and skype session with a lady in Jordan.  It was all lots of fun, but this week has been BUSY.  Maybe tomorrow I'll actually get around to making all those phone calls.

In the meantime...  I'm happy to report that we have plane reservations!!  It took many emails back and forth, but we got the flight that we wanted on the airline that we wanted.  The only downside (if you can really call it a downside) is that there is no airport hotel where we have our scheduled layover, so if there is a delay of some sort on our connecting flight, we're really just stuck sitting in the airport.  We've got a 6 hour layover as it is, so any sort of a delay really pushes us in to that window of "what are we going to do with the kids".  Luckily, there is a play area in the airport, as well as plenty of restaurants.  And really, this is much better than our other two options of an early morning flight to New York followed by a long leg to Hong Kong, then a connection to Nepal, and on to Dhaka or - my personal favorite - the flight that had a layover in Pakistan.  Super!  Not that I have anything against Pakistan, but when you're talking about places that you could get stuck for a while, it's just not at the top of my list.

Plane tickets, shots, and other great things

Today, I finally feel like we're making some progress and closing things out.  So many of these "tasks" to get ready to go are long term items that it really takes a while to feel like you're moving forward.  So today, the finance guy called up the ticketing office and got us a quote on how much we would likely be reimbursed for plane tickets.  This quote was almost $2000 per person different than the quote transportation gave us last week, so I can't help but be really REALLY happy that Josh insisted on going to finance to check.  Even with the new quote though, we can afford pretty much any flight we're currently looking at.  Armed with that information we picked our first choice itinerary from the 4 options that SATO provided and we're hoping to hear back from them tomorrow on how we need to go about paying for them (probably the personal credit card since we've still had no progress in the government travel card office).

Josh and I headed over to the immunization clinic this morning and got our second (and final) dose of Japanese Encephalitis vaccine - so now the whole family is done with shots.  Josh also got his DA photo done today - another item off the list, and I stopped by the AAA office to pick up international drivers licenses for both of us.  Yay for progress!

On tomorrow's list is scheduling a final well-child checkup for K as well as dentist appointments for both kids so they're in tip-top shape before we leave the area.  Sadly, my last dental checkup was not quite 6 months ago, so I won't get another one before we leave the area (is it weird that I really like my dentist here??) but I'm hoping to schedule a cleaning while I'm on leave in VA before we fly.

Monterey Fall

Well, we got the information from the Transportation travel section about how much money we can spend on plane tickets, but it seems so exorbitantly high that Josh is rechecking with the finance office to find out if they will use that estimate provided by Transpo to reimburse us, or if they have their own formula.  Unfortunately, the finance guy is out of the office until Monday.  The good news is that apparently this guy really knows his stuff.  It's always nice to run across someone who's honestly really good at their job - and wants to help you out.  Just wish there were more of those people around when it came time to PCS...

Based on the numbers we got though, it looks like we've got plenty of options.  We can fly east, we can fly west.  We can go through Europe, the Pacific, the Middle East...  The only real drawback is that no matter where we go, we seem to have long layovers.  Nothing totally unmanageable but I'm taking offers if anyone wants to sit with my kids for 6 hours in Abu Dhabi about they just got off a 14 hour flight.  Going once, going twice...

Enough on the move though.  Apparently our 2 weeks of summer is at an end (summer always comes late in Monterey), and we have now entered fall.  While I'm sure I'll miss all this nice, cool weather when we're enduring endless rain and heat next year, part of me really misses having actual seasons.  Sun and heat in the summer, snow in the winter, changing leaves in the fall.  Is this too much to ask for?  Oh, and rain in the spring instead of all winter long :)

More time passes

Just a few updates.  We requested our transportation dates a while back now, but they have not yet confirmed those dates.  The landlord stopped by yesterday to check out some exterior home maintenance and I gave her our whole song and dance about not really knowing exactly when we'd be out of the house.  Wish I had a better answer for her at this point, but we've still got plenty of time before we're close to our "30 day notice" window.  Josh is going to try to get ahold of Sato travel today so we can talk to them about getting constructive cost of travel estimates for flying from the west coast.  This will at least give us a ballpark number for how much we can spend on plane tickets flying from the east coast without having to pay out of pocket.  I'm hoping he has good news when he gets home.

And in other news, I'm housebound today.  B has been running a fever off and on since Friday night.  Friday and Saturday, he was feverish, but then fine on Sunday and most of the day Monday.  Then last night, he was running a 102 fever again.  Very strange.  Of course, it might not have helped too much that we all got our last rabies vaccine on Monday.  I'm hoping he starts feeling better soon.  Keeping him confined becomes progressively more difficult.

Pumpkins and Parties

Kids in the cornfield

We had a rather uneventful week, and with Halloween coming up, we decided to take the opportunity to go get pumpkins on Saturday.  It's likely that there will be no pumpkins for Halloween next year (which I have to admit I'm sad about), so we made the best of it this year!  We headed down to Earthbound Farms in Carmel Valley, did a pseudo cornfield maze, played in the corn box, and picked out great pumpkins for this year.

Later that night, I had the opportunity to attend a Spouse's Dining In hosted by Josh's Battalion.  For the past few months, some of the wives in the unit have been planning and fundraising for what turned out to be a great event.  Everyone was in costume - our theme was "patriotic" - so I decided to go as a 4th of July firework.  We had great food, and the grog wasn't too bad. 

On Sunday, we headed down to Asilomar State Beach to enjoy the beautifully warm weather we've been having for the past two weeks.  Naturally, the first thing we needed to do was put on jackets.  It seems anytime you get within sight of the water, you need to put on a jacket.  The second thing K needs to do once she gets within sight of the water is find a way to get absolutely soaked.  So she did.  It cut our visit a bit short since she actually managed to submerge herself several times and we had failed to bring a complete change of clothes for her, but it was a nice trip.  We might to try head back later this week if the weather holds.

Yosemite

One of the real joys of being in the military is getting to see things you otherwise wouldn't.  We try to make a point of really exploring the local area as much as we can.  With Josh's study schedule for the past year, we really haven't had as much free time on the weekends to do long trips as we would have liked.  Now that he has graduated, he still has to study to maintain/improve proficiency, but we don't have to worry as much about tests/quizzes/schedules/etc.  About a week ago, we up and decided to try to visit Yosemite National Park for part of our Columbus Day weekend.  Most people schedule a trip like this months in advance.  Not us.  We waited until one week out and then just happened to get reservations at a place in the valley on the night we were looking for.

We had high hopes of leaving "really early" - like 8:00.  Since my guys don't normally roll out of bed until around that time, that's pretty early for us.  We're not die hard or anything (wake the kids at 2 am in their jammies and hit the road), but we don't like "wasting" the day.  As it was, we couldn't actually check in to the hotel until 5:00 pm, so we hoped to arrive around lunchtime.  We weren't too far off schedule, and managed to stop for lunch at the last town on the way in to the park.  The drive in was beautiful, but I was totally unprepared for the breathtaking views as we entered the valley.  Both Josh and I were fortunate enough to visit several national parks when we were growing up and remember them vividly, so while the kids might not really remember this, it was important that we take the opportunity to visit while we're here.  We might not get another chance.

B on our way up to Vernal Falls

The road system in the park took a bit of getting used to.  Luckily, we were able to arrive on Friday, so it was not terribly crowded.  We stopped in at Bridalveil Falls first to stretch our legs before heading further in to the park to start out trek to Vernal Falls.  We parked near Curry Village (not realizing it was still almost a mile to the parking lot we were supposed to park in) and then walked to the trailhead for Vernal Falls.  The description for the hike to the lower falls said something about a "mild" 400 foot gain in elevation, but I swear to you, it was rough.  The second half of the hike - from the lower falls to the upper falls - was mostly stairs, and honestly, I found this much easier to take.  Josh meanwhile felt much more uneasy on the second half as he had the task of corraling the boy and making sure he didn't walk off the edge of the path.  The hike was well-time though as we arrived back at the car (taking the bus this time to get back to our parking lot) just in time to head over to the hotel and check in.  The room was... well, it was a room.  Clearly, you're paying for the view when you stay in the valley.  And what a view we had!  We could see Yosemite Falls just outside the front of our room.  Can't beat that.

The family at Vernal Falls

We had dinner at the food court by our hotel, had showers and baths for everyone, and then tried our best to sleep.  While the shower had nice hot water, the towels were relatively soft, and the sheets were nice and warm, double beds for two fully grown adults (one of them taller than average) just aren't what I call relaxing.  I suppose that's the price you pay to stay somewhere that gorgeous...

After breakfast (again at the food court) we walked from our hotel to Yosemite Falls - the fifth tallest waterfall in the world.  It was truly awe-inspiring.  The kids were totally happy climbing on the rocks - I mean, who really cares about waterfalls when there are cool things like logs, rocks, and dirt.  It was a bit brisk in the morning (when we checked the weather on Thursday morning to help decide what to pack, it was only 21 in the valley - BRRR!).  Lucky for us, the weather on Saturday was not quite that cold.  I think it was probably in the 40s.  Once the sun starting hitting things, it warmed up quickly though to the mid 50s - perfect weather for wandering around.  We got on the free shuttle bus and took a trip around the valley.  The kids were good until we had about 10 minutes left; then they pretty much made everyone miserable.

After the bus ride, we headed back and had some lunch at the food court, then picked up the car and headed up to Glacier Point.  I will say it again - the views on the way were incredible.  But now for reality.  A short while in to the drive, I had to pee.  Naturally, a portion of the two-lane road was closed on the way to Glacier Point and so traffic was reduced to one lane requiring everyone to stop and wait for an unspecified amount of time...  That's always nice.  So we get past that delay and get on to the road heading up to Glacier Point.  There was snow on the ground, so we started rethinking the wisdom of taking a 2 mile hike with kids and no boots.  Upon arriving at Glacier Point, the traffic has stalled to a standstill, so I get out of the car and head toward the bathroom - only to discover that for all of the people visiting this particular attraction (and there were a lot), there is only 1 single functioning chemical toilet.  After waiting in this line for about 20 minutes, I hear tell of another bathroom a short distance away "that has no line".  Immediately I am suspicious, but curiosity got the better of me - which was good since B (who was stuck in the car with Josh and K - who was sleeping) had decided in the interim that he really had to pee as well.  Luckily, this mythical set of bathrooms did in fact exist and I got B in just in time.  Again - gorgeous views at Glacier Point.  On the way out, however, all traffic was again stopped because someone had managed to drive all the way to the Glacier Point parking lot and promptly run out of gas.  So the tow truck delivering the fuel blocks the road for 15 minutes while he delivers said gas to the stranded motorist.  Meanwhile no new guests can come in, and we can't leave.  Eventually the flow got moving again and we got out and back on our way home. 

View from Glacier Point

I'm not going to lie - the ride home was pretty miserable for all of us.  The kids hadn't napped in 2 days, and none of us really slept well, so the kids were loud and we were DONE.  After the sun went down, they finally started checking out, and silence reigned supreme.  In the words of Tom Chapin - It was a long, long, long, long, long way home.  And if you haven't heard the song, you really need to.  So, check Yosemite off the list.  Now we need to figure out what to do for Veterans Day... 

Expectation

How random of a post is this...

I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this, but when nothing exciting is happening in the present, I tend to look forward to things I know will happen in the future.  This is all fine and wonderful in the confines of my own head, but when the things I'm thinking pop out and show up here, suddenly I've created a "situation".  I'm trying my best to get into a good blogging mindset where I use this to share things that have already happened - thus limiting the risk of someone knowing our plans ahead of time. 

It seems like a good idea in theory, but now I'm consumed with thoughts of something I'm going to do soon, and I can't say anything about it.  Does it make sense to keep a secret from yourself??? 

Rabies - Take 2

We had a pretty uneventful weekend (which is in most cases good).  After some review of the documentation we got from the Transportation office, it appears that while we're authorized a consumables shipment, we might not actually be authorized to ship "food", just other consumable items (laundry detergent, toiletries, etc).  I haven't actually bought too many food items yet, so I guess this is a good thing, but I'm waiting to hear back from the CLO to get some sort of official confirmation of this as it's a bit strange.

On that note, I finally got around to shooting out a note to the CLO to let them know (officially) that we're inbound.  Up to this point, we've done all of our communication with the embassy through the family we know that's there.  I guess you could say I'm cutting the cord.  With a few months to go, it's time to make direct contact and start the ball rolling on housing, school, etc. 

We looked at dates for scheduling our pack out and realized that we just don't realistically feel like packing everything between Christmas and New Years will happen, so we're considering pushing in to the first week of January (and paying January rent) so we can have a bit more time to sort, organize, pack, and clean.  While the cost definitely factors in, having a real Christmas with the kids is important as well, especially with all the other changes coming soon.  So we'll open presents and then immediately put all of them into boxes on Monday with the movers.  Ideal?  No.  Liveable?  Yes. 

Last, but not least, we had our second round of rabies vaccinations today.  Keeping an eye on K to see if she has a reaction to this one.  The peds clinic has called a few times this week to check up on her after the last one, and we're all kind of hoping it was a one time thing.

Government Travel Card

Although "everyone" is supposed to have one, I somehow survived my time in the Army without a travel card.  In fact, Josh did too - until now.  We finally agreed to get one because he's supposed to use that (as opposed to a personal credit card) when he's conducting his regional travel.  I'm guessing it's all in an aim to prevent people from going into debt while conducting lots of international travel.  But the real reason we got it was to solve a rather simple problem made infinitely more complex by the Army (but... that's probably not very specific).

Because we are not flying out of a local airport when we start our PCS (we're heading east to visit people), the transportation office here cannot - I repeat cannot - just issue us tickets.  We must instead purchase the tickets up front and wait to be reimbursed on the back side.  We "could" do this with our personal credit card.  But with fully-refundable one-way tickets to Dhaka, that will likely get pricey.   So then we hear about this great travel card PCS program whereby they open a PCS "window" and you can rack up expenses on your GTC without having to pay them back until after the government pays you for your moving expenses.  Sounds like a great plan, right?  But, you have to get the card limit raised.  And, oh by the way, you also have to somehow convince them to open your PCS window before you leave POM even though you're not PCSing for another 45 days.  <sigh>  So Josh went to talk to them, and sure enough, even though there's this great PCS program, we were told that they would not approve any card limit increase (so we can't even afford to put one ticket on the card, much less 4) and really, the card office here exists just so that they can open accounts for people - not actually do anything.  I'm not kidding.  That's what they said.  Okay, so I changed the wording a bit.  But only a little.

Anyone who knew me when I was in the Army will tell you that I'm a bit of a stickler about making people do their jobs.  I mean, I have to do mine, why don't they have to do theirs??  I'm also a bit of a pain about making systems work the way they're supposed to.  It's the logistician in me.  If there's a system, and it's broken, someone needs to fix it.  We don't all need to reorganize our lives and put our personal financial well-being in jeopardy just because someone else is too lazy to do some paperwork (that they're getting paid to do I might add).  So while I'm gearing up for battle, Josh is totally willing to just let it go and charge this on our personal card.  Could we do that?  Sure.  Does it go against everything I believe in?  Absolutely.

 So I guess we'll see what happens.

Rabies

K appeared to have a reaction to the rabies vaccine about a day afterward.  She had splotchy hives on her face.  After several phone calls to track down someone at the clinic, I found out that another young child (also under the age of 2) had the exact same reaction a couple days before K to the same lot of rabies vaccine.  Coincidence?  Maybe...

So now we'll need to be a bit more careful with our shots as she could be sensitive to that one.  Good thing she only needs 2 more rabies shots :)

And on a completely unrelated note, I stopped by REI this morning and think I have found the travel purse I'm going to try out for the next year.  It's made by a company called pacsafe and they specialize in "security" bags.  There's wire mesh built into the fabric of the purse to prevent someone from slashing the purse and stealing the contents.  There are other safety features too, but they've got a video to watch on their website if you're really interested.  The downside of this is that the reviews I've seen indicate that the purse doesn't wear terribly well and some of the wire can start poking out after 8 months of use or so.  For the average traveler, this might not be a problem, but for someone who plans to use this regularly, .... well, I don't know.  Maybe I just save this for when I "really" need it.  It has room to securely store 6 passports and sippy cups, and as a mom, I can't ask for more :)

The Preparation continues

Josh is back at work as of this morning and will likely be actively engaged for the next few months as we continue preparations for the move.  I think he set up our appointments with transportation this morning - one each for consumables, unaccompanied baggaged (UAB), household goods (HHG), and storage.  We're hoping to split them up a bit so we have time (and space) to separate out the important things that need to go into each shipment.  Not sure if Transpo is going to give us the go-ahead for that or not.



B and K on the fire truck

We went in this morning and got our first round of shots which conveniently means that I'll be getting my last shot on my birthday.  Super...  But the kids were okay with the shots.  K didn't even cry for the first one.  Can't get much better than that.  Somehow I managed to forget just how much Typhoid hurts.  You'd think by the third time you do something, you'd develop some sort of memory.  Then again, maybe it's just better to forget that kind of thing.

While he was on leave last week, Josh was able to come with us on a mom's outing to the Monterey Fire Station where the kids had lots of fun climbing all over the engines and learning about all the special tools on board.  Even he had to admit that the kids were fairly well behaved - for about the first half hour.  Then they (and by they, I specifically mean the boy) hit overload and got a bit ridiculous.  But overall, it was a good outing with great friends.  Sadly, two of the ladies will be leaving soon to start their overseas adventures - and then... it will be our turn.

"I think this one's good, Dad."

On Saturday, we headed up to Watsonville to Gizdich Farms to do some apple picking.  One of my favorite childhood memories (right up there with strawberry picking and going to the pumpkin patch) was going to the apple orchard each fall.  We'd drive what seemed like forever (which probably just meant it was over an hour) to get to the orchard, and then pick (and eat) to our heart's content.  Then we'd come home and make more applesauce than we knew what to do with and store it in the freezer in the hopes it would last until next year's great adventure.  While we don't have the luxury of making applesauce to last the next year, I did make an apple cake for breakfast on Sunday morning that the kids seemed to enjoy.  B asked me to take the onions out of his - he thought the baked pieces of apple were onions.  Little did he know that was the best part!

I spent that evening updating my Master Matrix.  Yes, with capital M's.  If it's not on the matrix, it's not happening between now and the move.  It somehow makes me feel more in control to have a spreadsheet that lists each and every item I plan to pack, and the purchase status of said items, as well as a future location for every piece of furniture we own.  Do I fully expect that things won't go according to plan?  Yes.  But it won't be for lack of trying. 

And on the note of hoping for the best, but planning for the worst, Josh took photos of all of the kids' larger birthmarks/moles after bathtime.  Do I really, really, really hope we never need to have those?  Yes. 

The Happiest Place on Earth

We took a trip earlier this week to spend a day at Disneyland in celebration of the fact that Josh finished his language training.  We originally bought 3-day passes almost a year ago and went down for 2 days prior to last Christmas.  The weather was not cooperating (to say the least) and we got rained on non-stop.  So we decided to cut our losses and leave early in the hopes of coming back later.  I'm happy to report that our trip was absolutely wonderful.  It's about a 6 1/2 hour drive from our house, so we arrived just in time for dinner on Monday night.  Then, we had a quick dip in the pool and headed to bed.

B getting ready to drive

We were at the gates at 9:00 and started off with B's picks - the Buzz Lightyear ride and Autopia.  We also hit up the Finding Nemo submarine ride, Dumbo (several times), Teacups (also several times), the Casey Jr. train ride, the carousel, the Winnie the Pooh ride, Disney Jr. Live, the Monsters Inc ride, all the kids rides in California Adventure...  It was a long day.  We did not break for naps, and the kids didn't go to bed until almost 9:00 pm.  We caught just a bit of a parade before jumping on the Small World boat ride - all in all, a really great day.  Lots of sunshine and warm weather (which we've been missing in Monterey).  And it truly was a pretty happy day.  The day after?  Well, the kids were tired, didn't want to be stuck in the car driving home, and made sure to let us know that we had messed with their schedule. 

Teacups

More teacups

Casey Jr - somehow they "miscounted" and there was no room for me on the ride.  Really.  How complex is that job??

Cheese!

K meeting Mickey - B wanted no part in this.

The end

Planning, planning, and more planning

We spent the better part of our evening tonight backwards planning from our expected arrival date in Dhaka back to now to figure out our leave dates, our transporation dates, and our everything else dates.  It was honestly a bit exhausting.  I'm not going to lie.  And we were left with a ridiculously long list of questions.  Like - Can we split the pickup of our consumables shipment from the rest of our pickups so we actually have somewhere to separate our HHG from UAB?  (household goods and unnaccompanied baggage for the uninitiated)  Or - When can we request our visas so that they don't expire while we're on leave before we even get to Bangladesh but we still actually have them in hand before we leave?

And since it's the weekend and I can't actually ask anyone these questions, what will I do instead?  That's right.  Go shopping.  I'm sure there's something else I can spend money on this weekend.  I've already been to Costco this weekend, but there's always Kohls and Safeway.  No shortage of things to buy.  Food for a year, anybody??  Add to that extra uniforms for Josh, new tires for his car, new brakes for mine (and the Disney trip we'd love to take while we're on leave) and I think I just want to put the credit card on auto-pay for the next few months.  Oh yeah - and let's just throw Christmas in there.  I almost forgot about that one.  Maybe Santa will buy me groceries for a year.  I promise I've been really good...

I hate to end on such a cynical note, so here's some good news.  When we got home from the store this morning, I saw a bright, shiny screw sticking out of my front tire (and HOW is this good news??).  First, believe it or not, I gave thanks that I found the screw today instead of on Monday when we're halfway to Anaheim and stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire in 100 degree weather.  Then, I called up Goodyear and took the car in to have the screw removed.  During my 45 minute wait (that somehow extended to just shy of 2 hours), I got to sit and read Game of Thrones totally uninterrupted - unless you count the really annoying customer who somehow felt like he needed to make comments to the entire room even though no one was listening to him.  And at the end of my wait, I found out that not only did I have one screw in my front tire, I had 2.  Yes, 2.  BUT - and here's the kicker - neither one of them actually punctured my tire.  This never happens to me.  So, I got free reading time away from the kids, and in the end, didn't have to pay a penny to have my tires back to normal.  Can't beat dumb luck...

Graduation and other big things

Well, not really other "big" things.  Little things - more on that later.  Josh graduated this morning!  His ceremony was at 9:30, so the kids and I were in a bit of a rush to get ready.  We normally don't do things before 10:00 because it takes them a while to ... I don't really know what.  All they really need to do is eat breakfast and get dressed.  But somehow it takes a long time.  So to have Josh at his ceremony 15 minutes early and have everyone in nice clothes was a stretch.  Luckily, we all made it.  B was only loud once (he didn't want to stand during the National Anthem, and I was pretty insistent that he WOULD stand).  K is feeling much better since she started her antibiotics yesterday (ear infection) and was pretty complacent as well.  They were both excited to see Daddy walk across the stage, and - I have to admit - it was nice to be in a military setting for a short time this morning.  Sadly, no pictures to share as I had my hands full with the kids (literally), but I promise he graduated.

But now for the fun news.  I took the kids to Michaels yesterday and we picked out materials to make bag tags for our suitcases.  B and K both agreed that blue and green were good colors, and K picked up a packet of pony beads to decorate hers with.  If the kids were older, I might actually try to teach them how to do this, but as it is, this will be a fun quick project for me.  I had been looking in to buying fluorescent (or some other distinctive color) tags for our bags so they'd be easy to recognize, but those ran anywhere from $8-25 a piece.  With the amount of luggage I anticipate toting around the world, I figured this would be much more cost effective.  And each of the kids can feel like they contributed.  I haven't made these in probably about 20 years though (credit to my cousin Marissa who taught me one summer), so I was a bit rusty.  My pace is picking up...  Just need to add my keychains on to these and they'll be suitcase ready.  And, by the way, if you're local, I had to buy 100 yd spools of this stuff, so I'll have a bit left over.  Let me know if you'd like to borrow some :)

Things to fill up the weekend

First doughnut

I have been working my way through the Curious George collection with B for his bedtime stories, and on Friday we happened to read the introduction to the alphabet.  I've seen the TV episode based on a portion of this story, but I can't really remember reading this one (although I'm sure I did...).  Anyway, George takes a note to the bakery to pick up one dozen doughnuts.  He crosses out the word one and writes ten instead.  First off, who trusts an animal to pick up doughnuts?  Second, does the man with the yellow hat actually have a tab at the bakery, or are we to also believe that said monkey has a credit card?  These thoughts run through my head as I read children's stories.  I feel a bit like the guy in Despicable Me talking about how horrible the bedtime story is.  Although, of course, Curious George is pretty classic, so I try to limit my negative commentary.  I say all of this to justify our decision Saturday morning to purchase one (not ten) dozen doughnuts.  I'm pretty sure K has actually never eaten doughtnuts before.  She quickly learned just how good they are - "Yummy do" was how she asked for the leftovers on Sunday morning.

We headed out to Costco after doughtnuts to start "the shopping".  Because of the location we are going to, we are authorized to ship 1250 lbs of consumable items - paper products, food, toiletries, etc.  You have two options (well, probably more, but two main ones).  You can either purchase all of the items on your own and store them at your residence, or you can go to the commissary and order items by the case to be stored there until your shippers arrive.  I tend to feel that the commissary is overpriced, and I truly hate (with a passion) the 5% surcharge they add to my bill and then act like they're doing me a favor because everything is "tax-free".  Maybe they didn't notice yet, but neither TX nor CA charge sales tax on food items.  So...  this makes me lean toward option number 1 even though it will require a large amount of space.  As it happens, we have some extra space in the house and I have started with the bare necessities of shopping - vitamins, toilet paper, paper towels, and shampoo.  We have visitors coming in November, so I'm going to try to limit my shopping to items I actually have coupons for and save my big shopping until after we can totally take over the guest room. 

We spent Sunday morning letting the kids roam wild at Garland Ranch Regional Park.  This is really a local favorite of mine as it's relatively close (only about 20 minutes away), but it's in Carmel Valley, so it's a completely different weather pattern (SUN).  We normally pack K up in the ergo and walk at our pace, but we decided today that it was the kids' turn to choose our path and set the pace.  Some people chose to walk, while others focused on digging and rock-piling.  But in the end, a good time was had by all.  This is probably K's favorite place to walk because it's one of the only parks in the area where dogs don't have to be on leashes, so EVERYONE has a dog out there and she can stop and say hi to each and every one.  Both kids got a bath when they got home, then had some "Yummy Sa" (otherwise known as pizza), and had some much needed quiet time. 

Happy weekend, everyone!

Shots

Well, the title pretty much says it all.  The kids and I need to schedule appointments to go in and get our typhoid, rabies, and Japanese encephalitis shots.  I got our prescriptions a while back (before we went home in July), but scheduling these things requires a bit of advanced planning.  Typhoid is easy - one shot.  Rabies however is a 3 shot series on 0, 7, 21, or 28, and Japanese encephalitis is a 2 shot series on 0 and 28.  So whenever we start our shots, I have to make sure we'll be here for the other ones or we have to start over.  Now that Josh is done with class (he graduates next week), we'll have a bit more flexibility in getting things done during the week.  While he still plans to spend most days at the library studying, he's obviously not tied to that, and can leave to help out if I've got appointments during the day.  Every now and then it's nice to have an extra set of hands to help out (just not, apparently, at the grocery store).

Labor Day?

For pretty much my entire life, I've been really confused by Labor Day.  We all stay home and celebrate those who work by (yes, that's right) not working.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm all about paid holidays, but this one, I just don't get. 

So we celebrated today by... going to the grocery store.  I had to try to find a place where people would actually be working so I could thank them.  Okay, I'm lying.  Really, I just needed groceries.  And on that note (ugh), please remind me - however tempting it may seem at the time - not to ever bring both my husband and my kids with me to shop for groceries.  It's not that having an extra pair of hands wouldn't be helpful in theory.  It's that the reality of life is that he's just not "into" my routine.  So if the kids scream, they scream.  I don't change what I'm doing.  No one at the grocery store cares that my kids are loud.  Which is exactly why I go mid-morning on a weekday.  Everyone else there also has kids (or had kids at some point in time and therefore find my screaming children to be oddly charming).  When the hubby is along though, if the children scream or are uncomfortable in some way, he feels like some action needs to be taken.  So K is happily riding in the car on the front of the shopping cart - and then she stands up.  Josh tells her to sit down (we're good so far), but then when she sits down and starts crying, he PICKS HER UP.  Well, folks, that was the beginning of the end.  Anyone with kids knows once you pick a kid up, they've won the battle you don't even really know you're fighting.  So for the rest of the trip, K alternated between walking next to the cart, dragging her blanket (very convenient for everyone else in the store - and, oh by the way, wasn't doing a good job of keeping her hands to herself) and screaming because Josh wasn't letting her walk.  What a merry way to spend the morning.

Unsurprisingly, we spent the rest of the day at home.  Celebrating, by not working.

Happy Labor Day!

Reality Intrudes

One of the papers I picked up at the FAOOC earlier this week was a list of resources - official and unofficial websites to put you in touch with the embassy and expat community worldwide.  Some of them were more helpful than others. One in particular - www.talesmag.com - was awesome (well, kind of).  It was definitely a good news/bad news thing.  Good news was there were several post reports for Dhaka from within the past year.  Bad news...  Well, pretty much everything in the reports was bad news.  It's not that we hadn't heard most of it before, but to see the same hard facts from different people over and over again was a bit depressing. 

In our favor, everyone seems to agree that families with young children enjoy Dhaka more than any other group (families with older children, families with no children, and singles).  I'm willing to take a wild stab in the dark here.  One of the biggest reported "downsides" of Dhaka is that there's really nothing to do there.  No malls, no movie theaters, not a lot of restaurants.  And let's face it, parents of small children really have pretty low expectations.  You're stuck in the house so much of the time anyway, that it's not really a huge lifestyle change to spend lots of time at home.  I'm going to choose to see this in a positive light (because that's always a choice - right?) and go with it.

Of the people who completed post reports, no one said they would consider returning to the post voluntarily for another tour, and they tended to agree that the best part about working there was that it was very close (by plane) to nice destinations in Asia.  Really?  You can't even think of anything good about actually BEING in the country?  The high point is leaving?  <sigh>  Make that double <sigh>.

The FAOOC...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...  (Can I steal that?  Do I need quotation marks?)  Well, it was.  I suppose I should start by saying that I kind of went against my better judgement.  I wasn't really convinced that anyone was going to tell me anything I didn't already know (and considering we leave in less than 5 months, that's probably a good thing).   And I also only attended the Embassy Etiquette and Protocol class.  So it's not like they were delving deeply into important issues.  But I have to admit a certain level of frustration that they present information and pretend that it's applicable to everyone.  Clearly that is not the case.  I know it's not.  Other people (I hope) realize this.  But they never say it.  Maybe they just assume that we know the information isn't applicable to everyone.  Obviously, people feel most comfortable discussing things they are familiar with.  And our lead speaker today came most recently from Paris.  She also hadn't just completed In Country Training - she was the wife of a senior embassy official.  So her perspective is going to be different.  I'm not saying that she wasn't a really nice person and probably had loads of great info for anyone headed to Europe, but Dhaka is a far cry from Paris...  I just wish that we could start things like this by saying something to the effect of, "I know quite a bit about my area, but I really can't comment on other regions of the world," instead of glossing over the fact that there are significant cultural differences among Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central/South America.

So I was a bit disappointed.  BUT...  I also managed to meet up with someone who had just come back from Tunisia who agreed to speak at my next FAO spouses cultural meeting.  So, all in all, I say I came out even on this one.  I also ran into 2 wives from our region who I have the potential to be interacting with for the next few years, so I tried to take advantage of my opportunity to network.  I think that's all I'm going to say about that. 

On a completely different note, I find I'm back in an HGTV phase.  I'm sure other people do this, but I go through TV phases.  I NEED to catch every episode of Law and Order, or I'm totally addicted to the Food Network.  You get the picture.  Well, for the past few weeks I've been on an HGTV kick, and it's made only more annoying by the fact that I won't be a homeowner again for a long time.  So no putting in wood floors, no installing ceiling fans, no drastic redecorating, and not even really any painting in my forseeable future.  Well, maybe painting, but honestly, that's one of my least favorite tasks.  So I don't really crave that as much as I do the hands-on fun stuff - putting up crown moulding for example.  Does anyone need any crown moulding installed???  Please?

Final exams!

Lover's Point Beach - Monterey

It was 55 degrees on Saturday and overcast to boot, so what did my kids want to do?  That's right, go swimming.  I suppose it's my own fault for not just letting them go on Friday, but we spent Saturday morning "swimming."  They don't really go in the water - just up to their knees, or deep enough to fill up their buckets.  I can't really blame them either.  The water here is COLD.  But comfort seems to matter much less to kids than it does to grownups.  As long as they're having fun, they could care less about cold water.  We finished up our morning with some Moroccan chicken and roti-chapati - my latest Costco find.  It's similar to a whole wheat tortilla and they come uncooked, so with about a minute on the stove, you have a piece of wonderful, warm goodness.  Check out the refrigerated section at your local Costco if you're interested.  I plan to use them a lot from now until we leave - they remind me of the fresh tortillas we used to be able to buy at HEB in Texas. 

Josh has spent a lot of time studying this weekend.  He is scheduled to take his language exam this week, so stress level is pretty high right now.  I'm convinced, based on what he's told me about his class, that he will be one of the top 2 scores in his class.  The down side is that doing better than everyone else still won't count if he doesn't pass.  So I'll keep my fingers crossed...  Also, later this week, we have the FAOOC - an orientation course that Josh attended about 7 months ago.  Spouses are "encouraged" to attend, but they did not coordinate for childcare (I was totally spoiled by Ft. Hood...) this time or last time.  In addition, they don't have anyone briefing who has any experience in our region of the world, so my motivation to attend this time around isn't terribly high.  I am, however, interested in meeting the spouse of the new FAO proponency rep here at Monterey.  She just came from Tunisia and I'm sure some of the ladies in my FAO spouses group would be interested in picking her brain.

And just in time for all of this, both kids woke up today with colds.  So my week will involve lots of tissues, lots of crying, and not nearly enough sleeping.

4 Year old wisdom

I took the kids down to the beach today for a playdate, but didn't see anyone when we got there (and it was kind of raining), so I tried to talk B &K into going to Costco instead.  I was not terribly successful...  Halfway there, B asks me why Daddy has to work.  I explained to him that Daddy's job was studying words and letters and that meant he had to be in the office all day.  Just like it's my job to stay home all day and watch them (no comment here on who gets the better end of that deal).  B reminded me - even though it's been over a year now since I left the Army - that sometimes when I have to go to work, Daddy would stay home and watch them.  Being the sneaky mom I am, I asked B who he liked to stay home with the best - Mommy or Daddy.  "Well," he says very seriously, "I like it when you both stay home." 

I guess that's what I get for trying to trick him...