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 :)