home sweet home

we got the keys to our house today.  we spent all morning cleaning and bleaching the bathroom and kitchen.  a guide to the pictures

1.  view of classroom from sunroom

2. master bedroom

3. kitchen

4. sunroom

5. bathroom (cute tile huh?)

6. sink area

7. dining room

8. living room

we also have a huge storage room in basement and a maids quarters in the attic. i think we can make do here for 6 months.

Rainy Wednesday

It rained practically all day.  We decided to be proactive and visit the MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) department on base.  Wes fell asleep in the car, so Brandon went in and got a lot of info about activities on base and in the community.  There are actually a lot of things for families here (a lot more than Quantico).  We even learned about a railroad museum that is having a train ride this coming Saturday  (perfect opportunity to celebrate Wes' second birthday).

Next we headed to the base bowling alley.  Bowling is a favorite pastime for our family.  The bowling alley here is huge compared to Quantico's.  I love bowling on base because it is so much cheaper and completely smoke free.  The kids had a great time.

We get the keys to our house tomorrow morning,  I hope to post inside pictures soon after.  The kids are adjusting well to life in the hotel,  we are all very happy.

we have a home!

We were shown our new house today at 1400.  The location is the best in the neighborhood.  Our "complex" is on the corner and you can see the academic building that Brandon has class in from our sun porch.  We accepted the quarters today, take possession of the quarters on Thursday and get our HHG's  (household goods for non military) next Monday.  We are going to stay at our hotel thru the weekend.  The Marine Corps will pay us 10 days for temporary lodging,, so why not take full advantage?  We are going to keep enjoying the free breakfast and my favorite (the maid).

I attended my first coffee since we arrived.  A coffee is a social gathering of military spouses where we chat, catch up on events going on around the base.  No one really drinks coffee, but that is just what we call them.  This coffee was for all the Marine spouses who are assigned to Fort Sill.  It was great to see some familiar faces and to meet a lot of new faces.  Everyone was very welcoming.  Our coffee was actually at a winery.  This was my first time at a winery.  It was great,  the food was delicious..and the wine I tasted was a moscato.  It was a delicious fruity white wine,,  I am really a fan.  

The picture I have posted is of our "complex".  Now let me explain this picture as best I can.  These complexes are confusing.  our unit is the right side of the lower floor.  Our front door is the second from the right.  The first door from the right is for the unit above us (which is also empty).  Our sun porch is all the way on the right of the screen.  It is completely covered in windows and has a great view.  I didnt get any pictures of the inside of the house.  It was too chaotic and I plumb forgot!

Today was full of checking out all things in Fort Sill.  We checked out a few parks that are all within walking distance from our neighborhood.  There was also a community picnic that we attended with our friends the Loomis'.  Here is a picture of our street and some from the park.

The Loomis' got the keys to their house today and will be living across the street from our house.  We went over and checked out the inside of their quarters to get somewhat of an idea what we will get.  We cannot see the inside of our house until Wednesday morning.  The houses are old,quaint,  but will do fine for the next six months.  We can actually see Brandon's classroom from our street.

I cannot wait to take pictures of the inside of our house and post them on the blog.  Tomorrow we will spend getting more check in things done around base.  Oh there is a tornado watch as we speak..typical Oklahoma!

Oklahoma!

We made it to Fort Sill this afternoon about 1430.  We got on the road about 0830 and didnt even make one stop.

Our first stop was to ride around on base and see where we might be living.  We hope to have pictures of our neighborhood soon.  The housing is old (historic)... but very convenient to the building Brandon will have class.  We can actually see his the building from our house.  

Somethings have changed since we have been here.. new parks on base, the front golf course closed.  The town of Lawton is pretty much the same.  There are some new restaurants and of course our super hotel.

Just a word of friendly advice for anyone moving,, stay at Laquinta Inn and Suites!  They are all pet friendly and we have had GREAT rooms/breakfast/indoor pool... at every stop along the way.  The plain ol Laquinta Hotels are older,  but the Inn and Suites are top notch.  This one we are in here is great.  Less than a month old!  Our friends the Loomis' are staying here as well.  There is also a good smattering of young Marines staying here for some sort of school.  They almost killed me in the elevator earlier with their cologne!!  Heading out for a night on the town in Lawton I guess.

I am going out with Anja tonight to celebrate my birthday,  and tomorrow we are going to take the kiddies to the wildlife reservation.  We are also going to take some pictures of the housing areas.  I am just thankful to not be in the car tomorrow!

We are thankful to be here, and the kids are doing great!!!  Couldnt ask for a better birthday!

Moving Day Two

Well we made alot of traveling progress today.  We only intended driving from Knoxville TN,  to Forest City, Arkansas.  BUT  when we got to Forest City it was only 1400.  So we pressed on thru most of Arkansas and are staying tonight in Russelville.  Not too much here,  but our hotel is fabulous with a super indoor heated pool, huge flat screen TV,  free chocolate chip cookies in the lobby.  Our bathroom has all granite and hardwood floors.  Not too shabby for Arkansas.

We only stopped twice during the 500 mile trip we made today.  Once at a rest stop that was 50 miles East of Memphis.  We had a picnic and let the kids run around.  Our next stop was in Little Rock at a Cracker Barrel for an early dinner.  Overall the kids have been great..  Carter is really excited to go swimming in the pool tonight.

As for me,  I plan on turning in early and gearing up for my birthday tomorrow!   We will arrive at our final destination tomorrow!

Moving Day One

As mentioned previously,  we left Quantico this morning at roughly 1030.  The kids were really great in the car.  We have meticulously packed/organized everything.. so that definitely made the ride easier.  We stopped in Roanoke, Virginia for lunch at Cracker Barrell.  The kids were able to get out some energy and have a substantial meal...with plenty of left overs for dinner tonight.

Next stop was at the Tennessee state line.  We were there about 15 minutes for bathroom breaks,walks, diaper changes.  Our final destination being in Knoxville TN.  Our hotel is practically brand new with an indoor pool.  Carter and Brandon went down to the pool and hung out in the hot tub.  We had our leftovers for dinner and then got PB and Jelly and cheese/bread to have sandwiches for a picnic tomorrow.

Our goal tomorrow is to make it between Memphis and Little Rock.  We are just going to play that by ear.   The hills and mountains of Virginia were beautiful... I never imagined Virginia was such a beautiful state....  much prettier than Northern Virginia.

I do not miss Quantico that much,  however I DO miss my wonderful friends.  You know who you are and I love you all.  I also am very appreciative to my parents for all their hard work the past few days.  They were completely selfless and helped us out more than I could have ever imagined.  They are babysitting Brandon's truck for the next 6 months and made the treck back to Myrtle Beach today with two vehicles in tow.  All the countless hours of steam cleaning, scrubbing our stove... I am truly grateful.

Brandon and I are excited about our adventure to Fort Sill.  We already have confirmed housing and our good friends the Loomis' will be living across the street from us.... LUCKY US!

More updates tomorrow...and lots of thanks to Brandon for buying me this awesome new MacBook!

Catching UP

Our packers arrived on Tuesday April 21st.  They were an excellent crew of three base out of Ft. Meade, Maryland.  While they there packing,  the kids and I checked into Liversedge Hall on Quantico.  This way they could run around and stay out of the way during all the packing.  Carter also had his last day at Rosalind Rhymer Preschool.

Unfortunately,  the packers did not complete all our moving on Tuesday like we had thought... so they returned on Wednesday for about 2 hours to get the rest moved out.  We spent the rest of Wednesday night cleaning, shampooing the carpet... and packing the van.  My parents took me out for dinner for my birthday..while Brandon went out with some friends from TBS.

This morning we checked out of the Liversedge,,checked out of housing.  Thankfully we only had to pay $48 in damage charges because I noted the stained carpet on our check in sheet.  If I had not written that down,  we would have been charged $1400!  Thank God!

Here are some pictures of us during the packing days.

Bye Bye TBS

Brandon is officially checked out and done with his three year tour at The Basic School. It was full of ups and downs (mostly when he became an SPC 2 weeks after Wesley was born). But it was a nice three years of deployment free living. We are very grateful to the Marine Corps to have these three years together as a family.

It is very possible that he could deploy again in less than a year.. but we are ready, bring it on!! He was awarded with a Navy Commendation Medal and recieved quite a few plaques and even a knife. He is glad to be done and ready to get back to the fleet.

I am so grateful for all of the wonderful friends I have made here. It is such a blessing to find people you just "click" with and you can truly be yourself around. I will cherish these friendships forever. There are alot of things about Quantico I will NOT miss: traffic,lots of rude people,I-95,no sundrop or sweet tea,Quantico commissary. But overall it has been a great three years.

We have made further progress in our prep for the move. I have moved alot of pre-packed totes to the garage,medical records,thrown out broken toys,taken pictures off the walls downstairs. The kids are doing great and Carter is especially excited about moving. Wesley is still too young to understand what is about to happen, but I think he will adjust fine. My parents are coming tomorrow to help out and spend time with the boys. I am so excited to have a shopping spree with my mom this week. They are going to stay until Thursday and take Brandon's truck back to the beach with them. YES we are only taking one vehicle to Oklahoma, but it is only a few blocks from our neighborhood to Brandon's classroom so I think we can wing it with one car.

We also have finalized our wish list on where we want to go after this 6 month class is over. We should find out roughly in July where we move (yet again) in November.

1.Camp Lejeune NC

2.Camp Pendleton (San Diego California)

3.29 Palms California

4.Kanehoe Bay Hawaii

5.Okinawa Japan

We are fairly confident we will get our top choice, but nothing is ever 100% in the Marine Corps. I would secretly love to live in San Diego because of the great weather and lots of activities, however I have friends anxiously waiting for us in Camp Lejeune. We shall see.

7 days until packing

One of the major benefits of being a military family is that a moving company comes and packs up all your stuff and moves it wherever you are being sent (if you so choose). Our packers come in exactly 7 days and we are making progress slowly but surely.

-We have grass growing in the yard to make base housing happy and not charge us a ridiculous amount of money!

-Medical records are being copied and will be ready before we leave.

-Brandon took our van to have it weighed empty. (the govt. reimburses you for how many pounds you have in your vehicle... so we have to weigh it empty and full)

-We have condensed our food supply to two shelves in our pantry!

-Two huge bags of clothes dropped off at Goodwill

still more things to do, but we are coming along

Happy Easter!

"Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives...all fear is gone. because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives"

Our morning began with a visit from the Easter bunny. He left Carter and Wesley an Easter basket filled with chocolate bunnies, eggs and bubble tape (for Carter). He also left a paintbook and brush. Not to worry the boys will have their teeth brushed numerous times today.

Next we headed to Burke Lake Park in Fairfax. We just love this little park complete with putt putt, train ride and carousel. The boys were full of energy and very excited to ride the train. I am sad this was our last trip, but happy we were able to go one last time. We are taking time to relax the rest of the day and save our energy for countless hours of packing and projects we will take on around the house.

I am setting a goal to get the following accomplished this week:

-make a master pack list for everything we will keep with us

-buy and label big ziploc bags and organize EVERYTHING we will pack.

-remove all the pictures from the walls and move them into one closet (just to make it easy for the packers)

-continue depleting our food supply

-medical records

-and last my most favorite thing on this list.. a GRAND shopping spree for all summer clothes. we are moving to a town that has a teeny mall..no Target..definitely no Gap or Gymboree,, so I am going to stock up!

Welcome!

Welcome to our moving blog!!
We have created this blog to keep our friends and family in the loop as to our moving adventures. Brandon has been selected to attend Field Artillery Captain Career Course in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. His class begins 12 May and will graduate late October. We are counting down the days (eleven as of now) until our packers arrive. Hopefully some of you will find our experience interesting..so please leave us a comment. We hope to update this blog daily and include pictures.