House Camping

Today we moved in to the house which will be our home for at least the next two years.  We were less-than-thrilled to see the neighborhood watch at our place. 

After unloading the van we wanted to find a spot for dinner and shopping. We were at a loss without Google…but then I found the phone book. I told the kids they could look up local attractions in the yellow pages…”really?” Oy vey – holes in their education! ::snort::

We decided on Hometown Buffet (good for vegans and cannibals  carnivores) and Sam’s Club. We smiled for our alien looking membership cards (camera is out of kilter) and proceeded to shop….We usually have some food in our shipment but this time we packed NO food items at all.

The younger three enjoy catching and releasing after getting a good look…..

It was late by the time we had things unloaded…and tomorrow is our first day at Beale chapel. We SHOULD go to bed. Michael and Arielle started settling down for the night – the others and I walked around the neighborhood.  

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Decorating conundrums

I have a video of the closet to show you....but my computer says it's running low on memory each time I try to load it. We have a fantastically HUGE walk in closet as well as a normal closet in the master bedroom suite. I'd like to reclaim the space in the suite.  I loved Jen's room and I think I may make my own spot in the closet. ::snort::

My other decorating conundrum is this...what would you do with this spot if you didn't have art work...and I don't want to buy any to live in a home for two years..... Would you leave it as is with nothing, put something else up there???? This is high in the ceiling of the living/dining room. I assume it's for art? As it has lights shining on it.....

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Cleaning....

I often heard complaints about the size and selection at the  commissary in Misawa. It was much bigger than the one at Goodfellow AFB.  I checked out the Beale commissary yesterday....it's small too. This is the entire natural foods selection. Some of our favorites from Misawa are not here. ::snort::

Not to worry - the difference is I can still shop via vitacost and I have many other stores to select from in the area. LOL

 We visited the club for lunch today (WOW - MUCH more expensive than Misawa and much less selection - what's with THAT????). I noticed the vegetable panini  option. I asked for it without the cheese. He offered to sub other cheese. I explained I don't eat cheese.  He made me a wonderful panini with tons of asparagus on it....and told me I can ask for him to make a vegan panini even if they aren't on the menu. SCORE....better than the grilled chicken salad without chicken of yesterday - aka bowl of iceberg lettuce.

These two enjoyed playing in the sprinkler outside our trailer....the only other kids in the camp were drawn to us. If we were all staying here a bit longer I think they'd have new friends. Another homeschooling family. They are moving 45 minutes away....I was hoping maybe the same neighborhood. ::grin::

We packed again today....this time to move from the trailer into our new house. We'll finish packing, pack up the trailer, take the trailer to storage and move into the house tomorrow.

We CLEANED at the house today. I was proud of the kids. We discovered where the mice were living. We set off spider bombs. We scrubbed tubs and showers and sinks....washed baseboards and walls and railings...replaced filters...and scrubbed appliances....we are going to LOVE our new home.  We're excited to  "move in" tomorrow and begin house-camping.  We have a few more projects but we can work on them while we live there....cleaning window tracks, behind appliances (Michael pulled out the fridge and stove which led to me begging for a reprieve),getting rid of wasp nests up high by our front door, and cleaning pigeon mess off the high windows and front of house.

She WAS washing walls in the boys' room...the floor was too exciting

All of our sleep patterns are off. We are used to the sun going down between 4:30 - maybe 6:00 p.m.  The sun here doesn't go down until much later....and so we are constantly realizing it's 10:00 p.m .and we're still out and about. Tonight we got home at 11:30 p.m.  

Arielle mentioned being ready for dinner and we thought it would be fun to head into Roseville for dinner,  a quick look around, and to buy spider bombs. I LIKED Roseville - but I think I'll do more of my shopping locally if I can find options. I hope to visit the area at least monthly...but not weekly.  Too much gas.....I want to save my gas $ to explore California. 

Like Owner Like Beagle? 

I made lots of videos. I thought it would be a good time to tour the house (before things are in place). Michael pointed out my comments accomplished the same thing seeing the furniture would (here is where the electric keyboard will be, here is where the printer will go...). ::snort:: 

A productive day.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Culture Shock Tidbits

 We're sure to have bigger and more profound thoughts on this - but here are our random thoughts. 

We've looked repeatedly - there are no buttons to call your waitress in America. This was Stacia's job and she misses it.

If your baked potato doesn’t arrive with you meal – don’t patiently wait for it to come out. Assume the chef forgot.  In Japan, food comes out piecemeal as it is served.

Chopsticks really DO make eating noodles easier…..

Beware of scantily clad old men sitting in doorways at night.

“All the bathrooms are Western style, Mom.”

“Gross! Where are the squatties? I’m not putting my bum there!”

Beale AFB has a phobia about “hand hygiene”….stations ALL over the base with antibacterial gel….several in the chapel, every office, every building…..what’s up with this?

When I asked Stacia why she’s not talking to people she responded, “You warned me not to talk to strangers.” 

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Getting Acquainted with Beale

We’ve been occupying ourselves doing laundry, organizing the trailer, taking care of “move in” things for the house and acquainting ourselves with the base and local cities.

Good sport - helped me shuttle laundry back and forth

We’ve learned the GPS sometimes gets creative in the routes it advises. At least the instructions are in English. 

Others have obviously come this way.

In our wanderings we’ve seen lizards, ANTS (lots and lots of little sugar ants), pigeons, owls, rabbits, deer, frogs, turkey and hawks and beautiful sunsets.

This photo could work for "culture shock" too....the sign before the light said, "One lane bridge" and/or "narrow bridge." Shoot - this is a highway by Tohoku standards. We are use to smaller than this being two way.

Fam Camp 

I had to convince Stacia and Zander this was NOT swimming water. I had planned to take them to the base pool, but without a car and with the heat....walking was out of the question.

We enjoyed the AC in the Fam Camp lounge when the heat went into triple digits and our AC went on the blink in the trailer. Imagine living in a can of spam in the desert and you pretty much have the idea.

Ah, indulgence without sticker shock!

Driving to the Housing Area...can you imagine how pretty the rolling hills will be when they turn green? 

Michael's office is in the Foothill Chapel in the housing area

We enjoyed dinner with a couple of chapel staff families. I enjoyed the time to visit with Barbara and Valerie and look forward to getting to know both (and many others) in our time at Beale.

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

"Settling" In

Michael ran into work. The kids and I continued to try to dig out from under luggage and to create a "home" for the next "however" long we are here.

Last time we used the trailer Stacia still had binkies she desperately needed.  We had a good laugh when  I found one today. Memories...

No, this isn't a good look! 

Around 1100 Michael and Ch. S, our new Wing Chaplain, showed up at the trailer.  I am AMAZED at how quickly we could in-process here at Beale. Ch. S took us to the personnel building and all of our id cards are now entered in the DBIDS system for Beale and Michael met the CPTS commander and scheduled an initial in processing briefing for tomorrow a.m.

We did a windshield tour of main base and then went to the food court. My lands...it's WAY smaller than Misawa....about the same as Goodfellow AFB.  The people were friendly.  Ch. S left us at this point.

We continued on to switch our tricare from Pacific to West and signed  up for Peds and Flight Med. We have the option of seeing a civilian doc if we want as we are far enough from base. We weren't sure so just went with this for the time-being. The clinic IS very nice looking. VERY NICE.

We headed to the house with a load of things we don't need in the trailer. It is a very nice house. I had forgotten we always want/need to do some cleaning before moving in and this time will be no different.  We will not have our household goods delivered until we get some deep cleaning done...but it's going to be a GREAT house  in which to live.

Zander and Stacia love the palm trees..."We've been transported to Hawaii." ::snort::

We are discussing how we want to configure the space...a "projector" room/school storage upstairs and then library/school/office etc in the family room OR projector in the family room and books, office and storage upstairs.....I have a vision for the downstairs to be the hub of family life...rather than an upstairs "school/computer" room.  While all like the idea....Arielle likes having the computer and books sequestered in a room upstairs....we shall see...still thinking, praying and discussing.

It's a BLAST to have options!!!!!!!

This is the kitchen/family room....the room continues and ends with a fireplace.....The left corner of the kitchen is a desk.....and the space to the left is big enough for our "first" table in Misawa. The dining room is carpeted and  we will NOT be eating in it. ::snort:: We think the big table will be great in the family room for projects and entertaining..... but do we want to go ahead and put the bookshelves down here....and make it a family/school room.....or make it more of a traditional family room with the bookshelves up in the 4th room/school room.....so many options. The doorway to the right is the "butler's pantry."

 WE HAVE AN ICE MAKER!!!!

This house is BIG - it's just a matter of figuring out how things will fit best to create the environment we want. We're also trying to figure out what to do about window coverings on these lower arched windows in the living room. It's obvious the previous tenant taped something to the glass....What would you suggest?

Looking down from landing to entry/living room 

We also need to figure out how to CLEAN the upper windows....lots of birds feathers and poop out the windows. The windows are too lovely to allow that. ::snort::  It seems we have some doves nesting up high....what to do....

The kids have chosen rooms.....we think we figured out a spot for all the big furniture....the biggest surprise was the SIZE of the  master bedroom. We had seen photos....but really the photos didn't give us a real idea of the size of the "suite."  We made a video but it won't load...maybe tomorrow.

It has a walk-in closet that is HUGE - big enough to be another bedroom. There is no electric in the closet, but there is a ceiling light. We are trying to figure out if we can better utilize the space. There is a second closet which is normal sized and enough closet for us.

Stacia checked out the large mbr bath and said, "WOW - two can take showers at  the same time." ::snort:: You'll have to wait for the video.

We left the house and headed for our first dinner out....in Linda....and saw a really strange sight as we exited the restaurant. Some of us think it was a gray-haired, naked man sitting in the doorway....others think he had on skivvies....in any event....seriously classifies as strange. We left and went across to Walmart for breakfast food.

As we drove out of the Walmart parking lot Arielle commented there was something to be said to the Japanese culture where all strive to  "fit in"....all this individuality can be a bit much. Michael asked for examples. As she and I supplied examples I made the comment that it was, "Strange beyond all reason."

Stacia piped up with, "And we have to LIVE here for TWO YEARS! Can we visit Tokyo at least one time a year? We need to take lots of trips." ::snort::

Tomorrow we'll tackle the laundry, the rest of the unpacking, take another load to the house, try to schedule the delivery of our shipment and maybe even begin cleaning the new house.  We may not make it beyond the laundry....it's been 9 days.

Choosing Joy!

©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Just the Usual Travel Experience

FB status: "Arrived Beale AFB Fam Camp 12:13 a.m." 

No, as a matter of fact, we did NOT plan a 7.5 hour trip to arrive after midnight the day before reporting to duty. ::wink::  

HOW did a short jaunt down the road turn into this?????? 

We started with great hopes for a 3 - 5:00 p.m. arrival......The boys were happy to step into their new roles on Trailer Prep. 

We ran into a bit of a snafu with the Alaska DMV..."No, ma'am, we don't know someone who can just walk it in."  Since this was obviously taking more than the expected amount of time, I headed to the local Arco to fill up the big red van. 

S*T*I*C*K*E*R shock! Whooee.....and gas has only gotten more expensive the further south we've traveled. 

We finally left OR 2.5 hours after we'd planned...but still projected a 7:00 - 8:00 p.m. arrival. 

A word about "Google maps"....it obviously doesn't factor in  "towing vehicles" which  only go 55 mph,  not 70 mph, in CA.....and that towing vehicles really can't go much more than that anyway over those mountains. ::snort:: 

FB Status - "...wouldn't be a Gherkin trip without a blowout. Running late."

Shore nuff....Yuuki was riding at my feet....we heard a loud pop and a bit of swaying and she leaped to Arielle's side and seemed to give us the Gherkin scowl. She's been a GREAT travel dog.

 We were blessed this happen just a mile outside of the last Roseburg, OR exit.....and we were able to drive very, very slowly to the local Les Schwab. Three hours -  four new van tires later -  we headed down the road again.

 I am so thankful for this man. He's unflappable. We simply kept moving.....and at 12:46 a.m. we had a spot at Fam Camp and were setting up..... It was dark, but we think we drove through some pretty land on our way here. We discovered the gates the GPS selected are closed at night - finally happened upon an open gate.  We're hopeful it will be pretty here.

Somewhere in here we called our sponsor to let him know we'd arrived. We knew he'd be worried we were so late. He's already checked off the base. He hadn't been worrying about us up in Tahoe. ::snort:: Poor man. He DID tell Michael not to worry about showing up at 0715 in uniform.....and with that assurance we continued "setting up." 

We cleared a path, unloaded the beds, found the kids sleeping bags and they were set.  (YIKES someone grab that ipad!)

2013 is the year of the great vandal/mice party at the Gherkins trailer. Mom and Dad had overseen the repairs and mom had washed sleeping bags etc. Michael, Izaak and Nolan spent the good part of a day cleaning the trailer out. Last night I realized we needed sheets and the comforter for our bed was missing.... Michael threw out the foam topper for our bed as it was full of mice dooky.

It seemed simple to buy a 3in memory foam topper....and Bre and I picked up a "complete bed set" to throw on. The foam topper was smashed in a box.....and had to be zipped into a liner - which was NOT easy but WAS fun. ::snort::

Finally at 0200 our bed was MADE......and I KNOW it doesn't match the headboard and curtains...maybe I'll  make curtains and a headboard from the bed skirt and pillow shams we don't need....and maybe it simply doesn't bother me enough to warrant the work. ::snort::

I woke full of hope this morning (23 July). I remembered the orchards and fruit stands 20 miles away....surely it would be pretty....... I stepped out to enjoy the early a.m. cool and view before anyone else was up....

 
I believe I found the "Golden Hills of California." Looks a lot like San Angelo to me.   This cheery sign greeted me at the bathhouse....

Stacia and Zander woke up and immediately went for the fridge. I could have warned them....instead I watched. ::snort::

They looked at me, shocked. I couldn't help laughing and asked them, "When do you think food would have been purchased and stored?"

We've got a full day ahead of us..... the immediate challenge is finding the bag or box with clothes which can be worn for the day....and clearing some of this out by tonight.

I'm blogging from the end of this roll of carpet

Choosing Joy!
©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...