A return to "normal"

What a whirlwind year we've had.  One year ago today, the kids and I were moved out of our Homer house and living in temporary quarters while waiting for the HICKORY to return home from an extended trip to the Bering Sea.  Less than two weeks later, we drove out of town on our way to California.  Today we are waiting on a ship to return again, this time from a dry dock period that has had it away from homeport for over three months.  And somewhere in the middle, we lived in California for 7 months, and moved back to Alaska.  We still can't quite wrap our minds around how this all came about.  Our time in California seems sort of like a dream at this point--did we really live there, or was it just a vacation?

My unpacking "help"

 We've had people question our choice to pull the kids out of school mid-year, especially since we knew ahead of time that the ship would be going to dry dock pretty much right after we arrived, leaving us essentially as a single-parent household while trying to settle into a new town.  It seemed even crazier to some since we first were told that the dry dock would be occurring in Alameda, the very same town we were moving away from.  But we would do it all again, in exactly the same way.    Yes, Mike left after we were only in Sitka for two weeks, before we even had our furniture in our house.  The poor guy hasn't slept in his own bed on a regular basis since January.  But since it hadn't been that long since we lived the ship life, we were able to slide right back into routine.  It helped immensely that we had school and other activities to keep us busy and help us meet people.  We all made more friends here in two months than we made in seven months in CA.  We even have a nice older neighbor across the street who brings us cookies and dog treats.  The kids excelled in school, thanks to their new teachers jumping right in to assess their abilities and taking the time to challenge them.

A fish out of water

Mike was able to come back to visit for two separate weeks over the 3-month period, but his time here was anything but normal.  The first week was consumed by probably the first ever honey-do list I've given him, full of moving-in chores that I ran out of steam to complete on my own.  The second week was all about our boat.  Yes, our boat. We're doing Alaska the right way this time, which to us means having the ability to fully take advantage of the amazing natural resources around us.  So the time in Seattle afforded Mike the opportunity to find us just the right boat for fishing, camping, and exploring.  We had to put the boat on a barge to get it here, and it conveniently came during a time that Mike was here to help get it fully outfitted and in the water.

Our new money pit

Somehow, we managed to be together for Mothers Day

In the past four months, Emerson turned 6 and Midas turned 11.  Charlie grew into a full-sized dog.  Ava had a fabulous ballet recital, Emerson played on his first t-ball team, and both kids have been participating in regular swim lessons.  Mike and I celebrated 11 crazy years of marriage, with many crazier years to come.  It snowed and melted, spring sprung, and our garden grew.  Summer has come, and I now have a first grader and a third grader.  How is that possible??

Only in Alaska do you spend the last day of kindergarten digging pits for crabs with your classmates at the beach.

Ava loved her teacher so much that she wanted her again for third grade.

Rough life these guys have.

When we are all finally reunited and the ship is back where it belongs, we will get back to "normal."  We are all looking forward to our first regular weekend of regular things, like coffee and pancakes, and a morning trip together to the beach.  Just to have a week with work during the day and coming home in the evening will be fabulous.  Even some normal time with the ship deployed, doing real work, will be a welcome routine for its new captain.  We have quite a bit of fun planned for what I see as our "bonus year" of Alaskan summertime, and I can't wait to get started!

Settling in to Sitka

We have officially been back in Alaska for over two months now.  Our past year has been such a whirlwind that it sometimes feels like we never left.  When we were leaving Homer, headed for California, it was really difficult to go. But we also thought that maybe we were ready for a break from small-town life, isolation, and high cost of living.  Once the shiny surface wore off life in the Bay Area, one of the most congested metropolitan areas in the country, we realized once and for all that we were not meant to be city people.  We need trees, mountains, open spaces, clean air and water, and neighbors who look out for each other.

Sitka by the Sea

Moving back to Alaska has been like going home.  We may be in a different town, full of friends yet to be made and places yet to be explored, but the Alaska state of mind has become part of us.  As of last week, we have even officially changed our state of residency, after holding onto our Floridian status for so long.  Attaching Alaska license plates on our vehicles was a big cause for celebration.  After waiting at the DMV for about 3 hours to get them, champagne was definitely in order.

After moving so many times (this was number six in the past 10 years), I have learned to jump right in and get involved in things the "locals" do.  For such a small, isolated place, Sitka offers an amazing amount of opportunities.  The kids have more activities to choose from than we can reasonably fit into our schedules.  Ava is taking ballet from the Sitka Studio of Dance.  The studio is very professional, and Ava just loves it.  The instructor was even able to get her up to speed for the spring recital.  Both kids started swim lessons at the Baranof Barracuda Swim Club, and although they had to start from the beginning yet again, I am confident that this is the place they will finally learn to swim independently.  Emerson even put his head underwater for the first time today, excitedly and all on his own.  The Sitka Conservation Society runs a chapter of 4-H called "Alaska Way of Life."  It focuses on just that--living in harmony with the state's resources, and learning to take advantage of them.  We have already learned a great deal by attending their programs, about things like local birds and the herring sac roe fishery.  Ava's new favorite food is herring eggs, and both she and the dogs try to gather them off the seaweed on the beach and eat them on the spot.  Luckily, Ava (mostly) listens when I tell her that they aren't really fresh enough by the time they have washed ashore.  Emerson joined the Sitka Little League, and we will soon be knee-deep in practices and games.  We attended opening ceremonies on Saturday, and we were amazed by how many kids participate.  The high school has a beautiful turf field, with Mt. Edgecumbe as a backdrop.

Settling the adults in usually comes after the kids are situated, but this time around I feel like I have met quite a few friends already.  I signed myself up for a booth at a bazaar last weekend, and my handmde goods were a big hit.  I'm hoping to have a table at the farmers market a couple of times this summer, while the cruise ships are in town, and I'm looking into getting some of my items into a couple of local shops and galleries.  I've been taking classes at a couple of different fitness places (re:fresh and the Hames Center).  I'm volunteering in kindergarten every week, and going on lots of field trips.

Aside from organized activities, we are really just enjoying life.  Our house is in a great spot for walking, running, and biking.  We can walk to the harbor in about 5 minutes, and continue on through downtown.  I love walking the dogs up to the coffee drive-thru window, and strolling back home by the fishing boats and totem poles.  We have a couple of favorite beaches, where we go instead of playgrounds, because the kids would much rather build driftwood bridges and dig sandy trenches than climb on slides.  They always come home with sea glass, favorite sticks, and rocks.  We have even had a dead crab in a jacket pocket, and a fishy-smelling barnacle-covered rock that ended up on someone's dresser.  We have a large, terraced garden that we have been prepping for planting season.  It hasn't been used in a couple of years, so it took some muscle to get it ready to go.  We even uncovered a rhubarb plant under the overgrowth.  Now that the leaves are starting to peek out of the branches surrounding the house, we are realizing that we have quite a few berry bushes as well-salmonberry, huckleberry, blueberry, and maybe even raspberry.

We have also found bear scat a little too close for comfort to the garden.  The bears are out and about, looking for trash to eat until the plants grow and the salmon swim upstream.  One day last week when I picked up Ava from school, the police were patrolling the back of the parking lot that is adjacent to the forest, as a bear had been seen nearby.  We were giggling at the contrast to the last time we had seen police at school, in Alameda, when they were there due to vandalism and parking violations. We'll take bears any day.  But we'll keep our trash can in our garage so we don't see them in our driveway.

In true Coast Guard fashion, we were all together in Sitka for about two weeks, and then it was time for the ship to head to dry dock.  If you're at all familiar with what that means (pulling the ship out of the water for major maintenance and repairs), you probably also know that it's a lengthy process.  At this point, we're just hoping that they get back not too long after school is out for the summer.  We have seen Mike for a total of about 4 weeks so far this year, due to the crazy circumstances of his job change.  He was home on leave last week, which was the first time he saw our new house with our own stuff in it.  It was also his first time in his own bed since January.  The kids have eased right back into having him gone, and it helps that they are busy with school and activities.  At least we have been able to talk on the phone and via FaceTime.  Once the ship gets back home, we should see much more of each other.  As an added bonus, Mike found us a fishing boat down in Seattle.  We can't wait to get it up here and fish for king salmon and halibut, as well as go explore more of the area.  There are quite a few forestry service cabins and even a couple of hot springs that we can reach by boat.

We're already gearing up for a fun summer of long, hopefully sunny days with not enough sleep and plenty of visitors.  In Alaska, you learn that if the sun is shining, you go out and enjoy it.  The sun is still up until around 8:30pm right now, and I already feel the itch to be outside if it's not raining, even if it's just to read the evening paper on the front porch.  I think we will have lots of company while we live in Sitka.  It's hands-down the most beautiful place we have lived, and it has pretty much all of the best parts of Alaska at your fingertips (after paying the $1000/person round trip price it costs to get here, of course).  Hiking, kayaking, fishing, boating, and exploring are all accessible right from the 14 miles of road on the island.  If we run out of room in the house for visitors, we can always pitch a tent in the backyard--just watch out for bears!

Humpback whales viewed right from the beach

Eagle fights during herring spawning season

Rhubarb!

The muscle needed to prep the garden

Mini muscle, amazingly effective at garden prep as well

We'll just call her the garden manger

Sitka: We made it!

I just realized that I never posted upon completion of our winter Alaskan adventure!  We made it! After a 4-day ferry ride, with snow in every town that we stopped, we made it to Sitka on Tuesday afternoon. 

It has been snowing on and off in Sitka for a week, which has left an unusual amount of snow in the ground for this area. The kids and dog have been loving it. 

We really like our new home, which is set back in a nice surround of Sitka spruce and has mountain views from every window. The people in town have been very welcoming. We have gathered tips on just about everything while wandering through the fabulous little shops in town, and even had an offer to stay at someone's house while we are waiting on our things to arrive. We have word that they are on the barge and should be in town next week, though. Hooray for that. 

The kids started at their new schools on Wednesday, and so far we are very impressed. They really love their new teachers and smaller classes. Next week, they are already starting dance, Girl Scouts, and karate. This transition has been pretty easy so far! 

In the new backyard. 

View from Totem Park, which we walk to from our house:

CA to AK: The Ferry Journey, part 1

After nearly 48 hours, we are halfway through our ferry journey to Sitka. We have survived the long stretch from Bellingham to Ketchikan, which is 36 hours straight at sea. 

We really lucked out with our stateroom on board the m/v Malaspina. We reserved a 4-berth room with sitting area, but they don't assign a specific room until checking in on the ship. There are only a handful of rooms with sitting areas. The rest have only bunks and a restroom, or maybe only bunks. The purser saw our  party of people and stuff and changed our assignment to the best room in the house, with two big windows and a double-size sitting area. Score! Having the extra space to be able to sit at the window while the kids are spread out watching movies has saved our sanity. If you're ever traveling on the Malaspina, request room 106 if you can. 

As we are traveling up the Pacific coast in winter, we expected a bit of a bumpy ride. We had two open ocean stretches during the day on Saturday with the waves rolling in on the port side, big enough to send our collection of water and wine bottles rolling around. At about 2am, we awoke to the bow of the ship (where our stateroom is located) rising and crashing on what had to be some pretty large waves. It continued on and off for two hours while the kids pretty muh slept through it. Ava woke once to laugh at the creaking sounds the walls of our cabin were making. We were very happy that our car full of dogs was tucked safely in the stern of the ship where it would take less of a beating. 

This morning we pulled into Ketchikan and got to go ashore several times over the course of the 7 hours we were there. There was an inch or three of fresh snow on the ground, and the kids were extatic to dig out their snow boots and kick it around. We walked the dogs three times, bought a few groceries, and ran off some energy. I even got to sneak away on my own to appreciate being back on Alaskan soil and find a good latte. 

Now that the long stretch is over, the rest of our voyage will go by much more quickly. We will be stopping in Wrangell (where this is probably posting from via my phone) and Petersburg tonight, and Juneau in the morning. The dogs will get to take their walks on land rather than the car deck. We are going through the Wrangell Narrows late this evening. Even though it will be dark, we are hoping to see some of the passage. It is said to be so narrow that you can toss a coin from the ship onto the shore. Hopefully we will sleep better tonight--we are finished with the open ocean crossings and will be in the Inside Passage for the rest of the trip. We are also in some snowy, windy weather...winter in Alaska!

The sitting area of our stateroom

Lighthouse in Bella Bella, Canada

Inspecting the shoreline 

Somewhere in Canada

Ketchikan

Another Florida native loving his first time in the snow!

CA to AK, Day 2

Yesterday we completed the driving portion of our trip. We are in Bellingham, WA, where we will board our ferry this afternoon. Yesterday's drive was much easier, with mostly dry skies and beautiful  scenery.

We loved driving through Northern Oregon, with green fields full of grazing sheep in front of rolling hills. Since we definitely qualified as a high occupancy vehicle, we were able to take the express lanes through Seattle. While we missed most of the city skyline, we zipped through the city in less than 10 minutes. 

Our ferry journey will last 4 days. We were supposed to travel to Juneau, where we would have to lug everything out of our stateroom back down at least two levels to the car deck (this is definitely not like a cruise ship with baggage service!). Then we were to drive off the ship at 8am Monday, visit with friends, check into a hotel, and head back to the very same ship at 2am. After loading and unloading people and bags several times over the past few days, not to mention the very real possibility of having to drive around a snowy Juneau without snow tires, I called the ferry service last night to see if it was possible for us to just stay put and take the ride to Skagway, Haines, and back before heading to Sitka. To my surprise, not only did they allow us to do just that, but it is only going to cost the extra night for our stateroom! So for my Coast Guard friends who end up in a similar situation, just choose the "military on orders" option when calling the AK Marine Highway and ask if they can set you up with a "thru fare" to avoid a layover.  Juneau friends, we are sorry to miss connecting with some of you!! We will be at the ferry terminal Monday morning from 8:15-10:15. But there will be a next time once we get settled in!

Today we are going to do a little last-minute shopping to stock up on snacks and new movies before we head to the ferry terminal. Saturday will be spent at sea. Our next update will come from Alaska!! We will be in Ketchikan on Sunday from 7am-2pm AK time. 

Oregon scenery

Old snow right over the Washington state line. 

CA to AK, day 1

Today we began our journey back north to Alaska. First we had to pack everything in and on top of the car, which counted as our morning workout. We aren't used to making road trips without our Master Car Packer, which was evident to each neighbor walking by with their dog while The Nana was sitting on top of the roof box while I tried to get it to lock. 

Two hours later, we were finally on our way, with zero space left in the car. We made our way to Roseburg, OR. It rained about 3/4 of the day, and we were surprised to find how ignorant we were of Northern California geography. The entire I-5 corridor from Sacramento to Oregon winds up, down, and through mountains. I'm sure it's beautiful when you can see it without blinding spray from semi trucks. 

We were especially excited to arrive at our hotel--it includes actual beds and chairs. We have learned that sleeping on air mattresses for 12 days is cold in a house that doesn't hold heat when empty of furnishings. 

Tomorrow, it's on to Bellingham, WA, where we will catch the ferry Friday afternoon. We are thankful that we only have two days in the very-packed car this time around! 

This is the only scenic view we got a thru-the-window shot of, Lake Shasta in CA. 

First day at the new job

Yesterday was the big day.  While I was really disappointed to have to miss it, I just couldn't get us moved from California quickly enough. Six weeks is not enough time to complete an overseas screening, arrange the move of household goods, and find a good point to pull the kids out of school mid-year, not to mention the week it takes to actually travel from Alameda to Sitka via car and ferry.  Luckily, the local media did a nice job making me feel almost like I was there.

Here are a few links:

Coast Guard press release
Sitka Sentinel

And my favorite, because it's the one with the most complete and accurate story (and some great photos).

Raven Radio

Photo from kcaw.org

Meanwhile, we managed to get the movers to finish up late on the third day of packing rather than adding on a fourth.  Thank goodness.  Supervising a house full of strangers packing my stuff is my least favorite part, although we are very lucky to not have to pack and move everything ourselves! Today's agenda included a trip to the store for new air mattresses, as both kids woke up on deflated beds this morning.  They have done so well through all of this craziness, I felt terrible when I saw the half-inflated heaps of well-used air mattress.

So, we continue to camp out here in CA for another 7 school days (yes, we are counting down!) while our household goods get a head start to AK.  Thanks to FaceTime and iPhones (how did people manage these crazy moves without all this technology?!), we have "walked" through our new home and yard. Our unaccompanied baggage was delivered today (we have chairs and a table at the house now), the kids are signed up at school, and utilities and internet are turned on.  Are we there yet??

Another Adventure Ahead

We have lived in California for about seven months now.  And as I type, there are packers in all rooms of my house, boxing up our belongings.  Yes, we're moving.  Again.

Family and most friends know what's up, but I thought I'd better catch up here because it's been far too long.

Just a few months ago, we were mostly settled in to living in California.  But a very unusual situation came up on a Coast Guard ship in Alaska, resulting in the need of a new commanding officer. I'll spare you all of the military procedural details, but in short, my newly-promoted lieutenant commander husband was the right rank with the right experience to take on such a job. And his bosses here in California knew what an opportunity this could be for him.  The stars aligned, and as of tomorrow he will be the new commanding officer of a buoy tender in Sitka, Alaska.  This is the position we have been working toward ever since his first tour over ten years ago aboard a buoy tender in Kodiak.  It's definitely not something you turn down. So, off we go!

We have been to Sitka once before...on our ferry trip to move to CA!  We even went for a little hike while there.

Sitka view

This move holds several firsts for us.  It's the first time in six moves that we are traveling separately.  Mike is already in Sitka, living aboard the ship, while I am back in California handling the move of all of our stuff.  It's the first time we have moved in the middle of a school year.  I'm sure some people would have chosen to wait out the rest of the year and head to the new location when school lets out for the summer, but keeping our family together as much as possible is more important to us.  And honestly, both of the kids are excited to move now.  At least one of them could benefit from the smaller classes and new set of friends waiting in Sitka.  While California has been a fun break in the "real world," our hearts are really in Alaska...and this is quite possibly our last chance to go back.

This move has the shortest turnaround time of any of our moves so far.  Thanks to all of the extra hoops to jump through when moving OCONUS (Outside of the Continental United States), we didn't have the official travel orders in hand until about 5 weeks ago.  One week later, we had already sent one shipment of basic essentials to our new address, and Mike's brand-new Subaru with only 400 miles on it was dropped off in Richmond, CA to make its way north.  Thank goodness we have done this enough times to know how an Alaska move works, because there is quite a bit involved in arranging everything.

Things have actually gone very smoothly so far.  We found a new house to rent in Sitka almost immediately.  It's a bit small for all of our stuff, but we have learned that you have to compromise when living in Alaska.  It meets our major requirements: single family house, fenced yard, pet friendly, energy efficient, and not on an icy-in-winter hill.  As a bonus, this one is even on a paved cul-de-sac and has mail delivery right to the house.  Those things aren't standard in all AK locations.

The moving company we were assigned this time seems to know their stuff, and even started packing a day earlier than planned.  The only downfall of moving to Alaska in the winter, though, is that it can take up to 6 weeks for our shipment to Sitka.  Like Kodiak, Sitka is an island, only accessible by boat or plane.  From what I hear, there is a barge once a week on which our household goods will need to take a ride to get to us.  So, we are sending everything this week, but we don't depart CA until the second week of February.  We'll be "glamping" in our house until then.  We have a stash of air mattresses and basic kitchenware in our "do not pack" closet.  We managed to mix chocolate chip cookies last night in our camp pot with a fork and bake them 6 at a time on our one small baking sheet, so I think we'll survive.

Seeing as I have two more days to "supervise" the packing up of our home, I'll fill you in on the details our upcoming trip to Sitka tomorrow.

Veterans' Day 2011

We feel like we are sort of carrying on part of a family legacy of military service in Alaska.  The LT's grandfather served in the Army as security for the Air Force base in Anchorage between World War II and the Korean War.  My grandfather was in the Navy and served as a postman in Sitka.

In Honor of Veterans' Day, the town of Homer had a really nice ceremony and parade today.  Several Coast Guardsmen participated, so Little Man and I went down to watch.  In true Alaska fashion, by the time the parade wrapped up and the bugle played at the ending ceremony, snow started to fall and a bald eagle flew over as if right on cue.  Looks like we are in for a snowstorm this afternoon through tomorrow morning!

Happy (belated) 221st Birthday to the US Coast Guard

August 4th is Coast Guard Day, and this year we celebrated in style by getting underway for the day on the USCGC HICKORY.  What a great opportunity for all of the families to experience what it's like onboard a hard-working 225-foot buoy tender.  We toured, we fished, we saw some killer whales.  Fun was had by all.

The mighty HICKORY, which is too large to fit in my camera's lens while in the harbor

View off the stern at the pier, with the buoy yard in the background

The last time we saw The LT in action on the bridge of an Alaskan buoy tender, he was a new Ensign.  Eight years later, we have come full-circle.

The XO with his proud kiddos

Did you know that Alaska Governor Sean Parnell recently declared August to be United States Coast Guard Appreciation Month?

Day Two: CT to AK

States Traveled: PA, OH (stopped in Perrysburg, outside of Toledo)
Weather: High Temp: 76       Low Temp: 61         Sun and clouds, but no rain

Today was a pretty uneventful day.  We took our time getting the car re-packed and had breakfast at our hotel before hitting the road.  Even moving a leisurely pace, we still left at 7:30 since Little Man wakes up so early (6am!).  Trying not to thing about the time zone changes coming up, meaning that he will be waking even earlier!

We had a picnic at a rest stop in PA for lunch and arrived at our hotel in Perrysburg around 4:15.  The kids watched DVDs most of the day, and everyone is doing well so far.  I didn't expect a chorus of, "Are we there yet" this early on, but the little guy is definitely not old enough to understand how long 16 days actually is.

Tomorrow we only have a 4-hour drive to Chicago, where we plan to wander around for the afternoon and evening (and eat some pizza!).


Editing in to add: After dinner at Cracker Barrel tonight, The Nana and The LT decided to run in to a liquor store for a bottle of wine and emerged with a full box of assorted bottles.  Guess that even though the past two days have been relatively smooth, they are preparing for the chance that it could get worse.  Much worse.  Let's just say that a certain 3-year-old boy definitely has the potential to make some of us a little crazy.  Now we have to shove all of the bottles into the already overflowing car...and make sure they are all emptied before we cross into Canada next week!

Eight Years of Adventure

Today is the eighth anniversary of the Nomadic Newells as a family unit.  Leave it to me to be so preoccupied with what was on the moving agenda today that The LT was actually the first to realize what the occasion was, about an hour after we all started our day.  Out of the 8 anniversaries we have celebrated, this is the third one (along with our wedding) that has occured during a move.  We decided it was unfair to a sitter to ask her to watch the kids in an empty house, so we are going to wait until we get to Homer to celebrate.  Today we went on a family date to a playground at the beach in Niantic and then to East Coast Taco for dinner.  Very romantic!

 Guess it's time to teach one of the kids to use the camera phone so we we can avoid self-portraits.

We are finally starting to feel like we're on vacation.  The LT finished up work at the CGA on Friday, earning his first Coast Guard Commendation Medal.

After 22 hours total of packing and loading (by 1.5 moving guys), our household goods are finally on their way to Alaska.  We have been told that they are going via ship from New Jersey...so no wonder we won't see them again for up to 2 months!  One of our cars is also on a ship, making its trek.  We had to drive it to Edison, New Jersey, which is an 8 hour round-trip drive from our house.  Let's just say that we are choosing to forget that day entirely.  Our "unaccompanied baggage" (aka cookware and a bin of toys meant to get us through at the new house until the rest of our stuff arrives) was picked up today...but we were told that it is also riding the slow boat.  Guess we will be dining out for many, many, many nights in the next few months.  We have one more pick-up tomorrow of the furniture we will be sending to storage for the time we are in Homer.  We are happily down-sizing our living space, so we don't need as much stuff to fill it.

The dog has started to get nervous that we are leaving him behind, so we had him watch us put his kennel in the car.  Two more days in CT and then we hit the road!  We will have wifi for the whole trip aside from the two nights we are spending in Yellowstone National Park, so we intend to update the blog daily with favorite highlights from our travels.  Stay tuned!  First stop, outside of Scranton, PA.

Drowning in To-do Lists

Semper Paratus.  Always ready.  That's the Coast Guard motto.  But a well-known unofficial motto among Coast Guard spouses is Semper Gumby.  Always flexible.  And it is so true.  You really do just have to try to go with the flow, and never be surprised when things don't go as planned. It applies from everything to ship schedules, duty days, orders to new duty stations, and especially government moves.  I have to remind myself that it will all work out in the end somehow, even if it's not the way we originally thought.

So here we are, exactly three weeks until we pack the car and head west.  The LT has been away at training for his new job for the past two weeks. I have been trying to keep us all organized and on track, hoping that I am not forgetting anything but knowing that I probably am.  Oh well, whatever it is, it must not matter that much, right?

We have three separate shipments of our household goods being picked up, and of course three separate companies are handling it.  One load is called "unaccompanied baggage" and will contain all of the stuff that we will want right away to make camping out in our new home a comfy as possible (clothes, cookware, small TV, folding table and chairs, etc.)  They send this stuff "express" in hopes that it gets to Alaska around the same time that we do.

We also have stuff we are sending to storage because it won't fit in the new house.  They call this "non-temp storage" and it is only authorized for overseas moves.  We can't access it until we transfer again, so we better be sure about what we're sending.  I think they store it somewhere around our current location, but I'm not positive because we haven't heard from whichever company is handling it yet.  Yikes.  Apparently they have up until 3 days before our requested pick-up date to contact us.  As a planner, that is not an acceptable rule to me, but I can't change it.  So hopefully we hear from them soon or we are going to have a dining room table, guest room furniture, and some other stuff hanging out in our otherwise empty house.

Then there's the rest, or our "household goods."  The company handling that shipment contacted us yesterday, and so far we are pleasantly surprised with their service, which is great.  They even have an online tracking system so we will know exactly where our stuff is.  Let's hope for smooth sailing for the barge from Seattle so one of our tracking lines doesn't read, "Container jumped ship in the Gulf of Alaska."  That would be my worst fear.  The only bad thing is that the packers are coming 5 days earlier than we requested.  We now have no more weekends left with both The LT and I home at the same time to tackle a very long to-do list.  We will also be getting packed up on a Thursday and Friday and then living among the boxes for a weekend before they pick up on Monday.  Then we have 4 days of camping in the empty house before we hit the road.  But with 16 nights in hotels to follow, I think staying in our empty house may be better than adding on extra days of sharing a room with the kids and dog.  Then of course we have to wait for our stuff on the other end.  The moving company gives a date that it is guaranteed by...that date is August 8!!  That's up to six more weeks of camping after we arrive in Homer.  They assure me that it shouldn't take that long (last time I believe it was about 5 weeks from the time they picked up), but they are fined for each late day so they give themselves plenty of wiggle room.

Now that the to-do list is made, I suppose I should get to work on it rather than be sitting here on the back deck in the sun enjoying my lunch.

Nothing is ever as easy as it seems...

We knew this move was going a little too smoothly.  We have the dates set, the whole trip reserved, and have been spending weekends emptying out the extra stuff in the house on Craigslist.  We even found a fantastic rental house the day after we got orders to Homer.  Or so we thought.  After going back and forth for the past month with the owners of the home (who are also a Coast Guard family leaving the same ship we are going to) about deposits, dimensions, appliances, neighbors, everything, they suddenly decided that they are going to rent their house to someone else instead.  There are no words for how upset we were upon getting that news in an email yesterday.  Besides the fact that what they did is apparently illegal (nice to have good friends who are lawyers to tell us such things), we are in disbelief that they would do such a thing to a fellow CG family.

So now the stress has really begun.  We have discovered that the rental market in Homer is tough.  Really tough.  As in, when we call about rentals we are finding that we are the fifth Coast Guard family to call about the same ones, and nothing is available right now.  There is government housing, but it is apartment-style, and we could rent our own apartment for about a third of our monthly housing allowance (if it came to that) and pocket the rest rather than fork over the whole thing to live in housing.

We bought a house when stationed in Atlantic Beach, NC, and loved owning but hated the added stress of selling it while moving on a specific timeline.  We said we would never buy again until The LT retires from the CG.  Now that we are faced with a location with an obvious need for more nice rentals, we are toying with the idea of buying a home and then renting it out when our time there is up.  That would mean that we may end up buying a home before seeing it in person, but between the great realtor who has been helping us and some contacts we have in Homer who would probably be willing to check out some places for us, it could be done.  We have also gotten some great help from fellow Coast Guard families on the Facebook group Coasties on the Move.  People we have never met are calling around to their contacts, trying to help us out.  So in the meantime, we will wait out the next month or so and hope that we find a rental or make the decision to buy.  Let's hope that nothing else goes wrong with this move...and if you have any contacts in Homer who may know of some rental openings, please let us know!

A few photos...

We have been going back and forth on whether to post photos of the family on this blog since it is public.  We realize that when we begin our cross-country journey we will probably be posting pics of us all anyway, so here are a few recent shots for our non-Facebook friends who haven't seen us in awhile.  We will just refrain from using our first names, so please do the same in your comments if you know us in real life!

In other news, our Overseas Screening paperwork was finally submitted this week.  We had to visit all of our doctors and dentists to be cleared.  It was a little bit of a surprise to see in writing that The Princess's asthma "could escalate to a life-threatening situation under extreme circumstances" but I guess that's the same with anyone with asthma.  The pediatrician was sure to note that, also, and indicated that it is now well-controlled (NO wheezing episodes this winter, yay!) so it shouldn't be an issue.  Other than that, we are one healthy family!

The LT has been working on Move.mil to get our actual move process going.  This is the first time we have moved since they started the self-service military moving process online.  So far, so good.  Our only hiccup is that, due to the ship schedule in Homer, the family whose house we will be renting may not have moved by the time we are scheduled to arrive.  That means the possibility of a few extra nights in a hotel at the end of the trip that we hadn't planned on, but we are so thankful to have already found a great place to live that it will be worth it.

Overseas Screening

We received our "official" orders last Friday, so now the insanity officially begins. First stop is to pass the Overseas Screening. Yes, I said overseas. The military considers Alaska overseas because it is OCONUS (outside of the continental U.S.). In order to be allowed to make an overseas transfer, we are required to pass a screening process that includes medical, dental, and financial information. They want to make sure that we won't need any specialty care that we can't easily access in our new location, and that we aren't in a poor financial position to handle the high cost of living in Alaska. It really does make sense, but it can get very time-consuming.

After all of the hoops we need to jump through to get to the actual packing-up and moving-out stage, we may very well be certified circus performers. The kids are easy. They see civilian medical and dental providers who will complete the necessary forms (that's the 4.H.2, for those wondering). The LT doesn't have it so bad, either. He can make the necessary appointments right at his workplace. I, on the other hand, am a bit more complicated. Because we live near a Navy installation (Naval Submarine Base New London), my primary care doctor is at the Navy base clinic--the clinic at the Coast Guard Academy does not see dependents. I also see civilian specialists and dentists. Rather than the Coast Guard Academy being able to complete all of my paperwork, I have to go through a special office at the Navy base. The past two days have been spent making appointments and dropping off authorization forms to my civilian providers so that the military facility has all of my records up-to-date. The reaction of the dental receptionist when I called to say that I was supposed to have all of this completed within 10 days (making my previously-scheduled appointment in April way too late) was impressive. She made me an appointment for Thursday with the dentist himself doing my cleaning and exam rather than the hygienist, just to make sure all bases are covered. I'm not sure that is a good thing, as my dentist is close to retirement age and does things the old-fashioned way. My mouth aches just thinking about it. But at least it will be done.

In true military clinic fashion, the Navy clinic can't get me in until mid-month, while the Coast Guard expects me to have everything completed within 10 days. I can't just drop off paperwork as I did for the kids...that would be far too easy. Yet another reason to be excited about the move--we will live too far from military medical providers and will be allowed to see anyone we would like, at no cost out-of-pocket (this is called Tricare Prime Remote).

Keeping us organized and on track could easily become a full-time job in the next couple of months. Knowing that in advance, I have put my lia sophia business on the back burner for now. I have access to the new Spring catalog and can place orders, but I'm not planning to do any more parties for now.

On a side note, this blog no longer sends a message to a Google Group when a new post is made. To make sure you don't miss new posts (because that would be terrible), see the subscription options in the bar to the right. If you're on Facebook, you can follow with NetworkedBlogs.

Questions? Helpful advice? Please feel free to drop a comment below!

Buried Treasure and Library Books

After looking over big-ticket items that we need to get rid of before a move (which, thanks to Craigslist, are already out of the house!) my next stop is always boxes that still remain packed from our last move. In this case, that means they have been sitting untouched in the garage for nearly 4 years. We did a pretty good job going through everything after moving into our Connecticut house (especially after having "lost" our Crock Pot in the move and finding it packed up with the old computer and labeled as "books"), but there is still a stack of boxes in the garage, collecting spiderwebs.

Prompted by the need for our references from our last move to Alaska, I went on a hunt the other night. It's amazing what we have forgotten that we own. While much of the boxes were filled with college textbooks (really, will I ever need my Organic Chemistry book filled with old exams?), I also came across several trash/treasure items. Included in a box of old middle school yearbooks were 2 full books of mini-discs for the mini-disc player that The LT just had to have while in college (and which never became the next big think as was hoped at the time). I also found my own baby book, complete with a family tree and tons of photos. One of my best finds was this book:

As you can see from the inscription below, it was given to my paternal grandmother, who I spent a lot of time with growing up, when she was 14. She gave it to me when I was 11.

We had this selection read at our wedding. The script I wrote for my brother to read along with it was still in the book.

What a find, especially because Grammy B is currently 83 years old and living in a nursing home under Hospice care. This is one of those things that belongs with us in the car rather than entrusted to the movers who had no idea what they were doing when they packed it up with my old clarinet and porcelain dolls (which also probably need to find a new home).

And, amazingly, I also found exactly what I was looking for. The kids had been asking what Homer looks like, so I wanted to find these books to show them:

One of the most important things for trip-planning is the Milepost. I found out 2005 copy, which was from our move from Kodiak to North Carolina. Unfortunately, our 2003 copy, which had more notes in it, is MIA. I think one of our Coast Guard friends borrowed it, but we never got it back. If you are the one who has it, please let me know!

For those of you who don't know of the necessity of the Milepost, it is a publication that is updated annually and includes mile-by-mile information on all of the highways leading to Alaska. We will of course be getting the 2011 edition but are waiting to see if the new ship sends it to us before forking out the $30 ourselves to get a copy.

Of course, after digging out these books, there was not a Homer photo to be found. Luckily, the kids and I have recently graduated from the fiction to non-fiction section of the children's room at the library, so we were able to find plenty of information on our weekly visit today:

Hopefully these books will give the kids a broader idea of what Alaska will be like, since right now Little Man only tells everyone, "We are moving to Laska. They have volcanoes!"