Author Archives: Reb

Boxer lurve…

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And he’s the one who swears he doesn’t even like the dog. Please.

We have SUCH a great dog. I don’t know if we just got lucky or what.  We know the people who have his brother and their dog is out of control.  Bowser may dig a hole every now and again but other than that (oh and that time when he chewed the leg off of one of Mckenna’s Monster High dolls) he is SO good.  He loves the kids, he barks and growls when there are strangers in our yard, he gets along great with other kids and dogs.

He is my shadow pretty much all day when I am home. Today the internet was out most of the morning (horror of horrors) so I actually had to clean my house. He just marches with me as I was walking from room to room, napping on the kitchen floor near me while I did the dishes.

Anytime people ask, I gush about this breed, they are very high energy, don’t get me wrong, but he has been a wonderful addition to our family.  I love this crazy dog!

It’s starting to feel real

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We got our plane tickets! It’s crazy, it seems like we may actually be moving! I don’t even really want to talk about how long the flight from Spain to Hawaii. Amazingly we are going to land the same day we take off, but actual travel time is 26 hours. Yikes.

I’m still crossing my fingers that we are going to be able to get the dog on the flight. Iberia (who we are flying from Spain with) says they don’t have any restrictions when it comes to breed or heat. Flying with a boxer in July I am worried about both.  We are flying United out of LAX and they also say they don’t have any restrictions. THANKFULLY we are able to fly him as excess baggage with United, originally they told us he was going to have to go as cargo which meant in our 2.5 hour layover we were going to have to leave the airport and navigate our way to the cargo terminal. I can’t even imagine.

So my focus now is going to be to actually pull our suitcases out and start to slowly fill them up. I am trying to keep it as light as possible. I don’t think we’ll need anything but clothes for the first few weeks. I am reeeeeeeeeaaaaally not looking forward to being in a hotel long term with two kids so I am hoping and praying that we get a house sooner than later. The problem with that is that no property management companies or anyone else renting a home wants to talk to you if you are not on island. Also hoping that Navy Housing has us bumped on the list for some reason. I am starting to feel like I’ll take ANYTHING at this point which could backfire if we end up settling for something that we end up regretting.

So. Getting excited but there is also a never ending list of things to do, things to book, packing lists to create. Hawaii, you better be worth it!

(Also if anyone has any input on Kamehameha Loop or Manana housing, let me know! They both have a very short wait list. I really wanted Radford Terrace but don’t think I can wait 4 months!)

Check out my interview!

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Kristina from My Traveling Troop asked if she could interview me about living in Rota, Spain. What? You want me to talk even MORE about living here? Why I’d LOVE to! If you have the chance pop over there and read it and browse through some of her past interviews. It’s a great way to learn more about a new duty station!

My Interview

Thanks Kristina! I had so much fun doing this!

Faro, Portugal

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We had the chance to take a quick day trip to Portugal last week, believe it or not after living in Spain for 4 years we STILL hadn’t made it the few hour drive to Portugal!  We finally made the trip and while we had a nice time, I highly recommend you drive a bit further than Faro and spend time in Albuferia, there is a lot more to do there.

We started off right by the marina and proceeded to walk just about the entire old town, eating as we went.

The churches were beautiful. I was very upset that we tried to go to the Bone Chapel too late in the day and they had already closed. Also LOTS of storks roosting on the buildings. Baby storks everywhere! (And I’ll be using LOTS of collages today, I tried weeding my pictures down and I still had a million)

And I just LOVE the pyramid shaped roofs that a lot of the buildings have. That is a distinctive Portuguese style.

 

Lunch and some pretty trees… Omar had this calamari/prawn skewer, looked amazing!  I on the other hand need to stop being so adventurous when I eat in a foreign country. My entree tasted good but had some unidentifiable chunks of meat that did not look delicious. I *think* it was veal but my Portuguese is non-existent!  Our lunch spot was beautiful, the restaurant had a garden/patio in the back covered with a pergola. Very relaxing.

 

Taking the opportunity to get LOTS of photos on the steps to this church…

Oh my. The tile and stonework here was a-mazing! I took many many more photos of the ground than these. In the pedestrian shopping area each street had its own design. Beautiful. And this archway is into the ‘old town’ and was insane. I can’t even imagine building that.

Oh and this graffiti?  Loved it! These shots also show off the nature reserve in the background. It is a beautiful area where a river meets the sea. The sandy beach is actually on the other side of the reserve.

If you get the chance take one of the boat tours… You can kinda barely see the beach on this picture…

 

I thought this was very funny… This sign says “The Sea” in Portuguese but if you look at it in English it says Omar! Love it!

Some gelato to tide us over on the ride home…. The looooooong ride home. While we did have a great family day and enjoyed our walking and eating and photo taking there really isn’t a lot to do in Faro.  Head another 45 min west and go to some of the bigger resort towns (or even further and hit up Lisbon!) I was just happy to spend the day with the family and check another country off of my map!

 

 

One pack out completed!

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We really are starting to get down to the wire. When I stop to think how few days we actually have left my heart hurts and I feel like I am going to have a panic attack!

I am SO not ready to leave Spain! It’s our home, it’s where my baby grew up, it’s where my daughter knows every kid she sees. I am hopeful that one day we will come back because I love it so much here.

Also, holy crap, the amount of things that need to happen from this point until we actually are in Hawaii are a bit overwhelming. I am STILL trying to figure out if we are actually going to be able to take the dog with us. The way the airlines work in the summer drives me crazy. I know that they are strict in the summer to try and minimize risk to your pet but we really have limited options! I *think* I’ll be able to get him on a United Cargo flight from Madrid to Honolulu, and I am just hoping that we can get an early enough flight from Jerez to Madrid that the heat isn’t a problem. 

Anyways, today we had our Unaccompanied Baggage/Express Shipment pack out. It should hopefully be there in 30 days so if we do (by some miracle) find a house in that amount of time we’ll have some basics to hold us over (along with the furniture from the housing office) 

Basically I just packed one of my multiples of everything I had in the kitchen, linens to include sheets, towels, hand towels, air mattresses, a tv, toys/games/bikes for the kids, a playstation for games/dvd player, a vacuum (we got rid of all of our area rugs and are down to tile here). Really just trying to lessen the amount of stuff we’ll have to buy on the other end. Shopping for the sake of shopping is fine, buying stuff you already own because you can’t get to it is the worst!

After the packers were done they did a quick walk through of the house to see how much stuff they have for when they come back for our big pack out. I’m sitting at my table crossing my fingers and praying they won’t open the closets… nope there they go peeking into the closets. Oh well. They are better than they used to be. 

Still need to clean out the lawnmower and firepit and patio furniture and power wheels. Also trying to get rid of as much stuff as possible. The thrift store is going to love me in the upcoming weeks!

Happy Father’s Day!

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Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there! I couldn’t have picked a better man to have children with. We are lucky to have him home with us so we can celebrate the day.

And seriously could I have ended up with a cuter family? I think not!

Father’s Day brings up a lot of stuff for me personally. I grew up without a father. My dad passed away when I was very young and I never knew him.  Thankfully I had lots of uncles and two wonderful grandfathers who tried to step in and fill the void. It wasn’t the same and every time I opted out of going to a daddy/daughter dance with an uncle I was reminded of what I was missing. My mom did remarry when I was a teenager but by then I was already a pretty independent girl and I think my stepfather had a tough uphill battle with both me and my older sister.

Because of my ‘daddy issues’ (and it’s amazing I’m not more of a mess than I already am) I feel like I am always trying to make sure my kids (especially my daughter because you know how screwed up girls can get over this stuff) know how much their father loves them. And he does. So damn much. He is one of the more playful dads I’ve ever met. He bought a ripstick and learned how to ride it just so he could ripstick with our daughter. Even if he isn’t in the mood at all, if our son asks to play basketball, he’ll drop what he’s doing and go shoot hoops. Always in the back of his mind is: there will be a deployment in the future, these memories need to be made and the kids need to know that daddy loves them and loves spending time with them. It’s a wonderful and horrible thing living with the knowledge that there is an upcoming family separation.

Anyways, with that rambling I was really just trying to say, I really appreciate my husband I am so very happy my kids have such a strong, smart man to grow up with as a father. Happy Father’s Day to the father of my children, I got the best one.