Well, my meltdown/culture shock phase of this move is winding down. We’ve spent the last week looking at houses and rentals and have decided to purchase this time around.
We have about 2 weeks until it’s all ready for us. We are also getting geared up for school registration! (Yeah, that sentence made me throw up a little!) In the meantime, we are living in the interim at the Navy Lodge.
Ahh, life at the lodge.
There is much to be irritated about when you are living out of suitcases; most of your earthly belongings are in a warehouse somewhere, lodge kitchenettes are TINY, etc. What I do love about this phase of a PCS move is that there isn’t a lot to do, and it’s okay to sort of just hang out and be.
We’ve been playing lots of games such as Old Maid, War, Slap Jack, and we attempted Crazy 8s, but, to quote Jake, it was a bit “too long and too boring”. We are good with Sorry! and I have a few books we’ve read, not to mention the iPads have been lifesavers, especially while driving all around a new town trying to find a place to live.
We’ve also discovered that with life in Texas, we have to get in our outside time either in small doses, first thing in the morning, or at dusk. It is HOT, and our Washington bodies need just a little while longer to acclimate. But this morning when I walked out at 86 degrees, I thought it felt good, so we may be getting there sooner rather than later!
We’ve also encountered some neighborhood kids, one of which was about Jacob’s age and they had a muscle inspection the other night. (Muscle inspection = each one flexing and asserting (read: SHOUTING!) that “I have HUGE muscles”!) Following the showing of their ‘guns’, they proceeded to have bike races and then a great game of hide and seek with Hannah. Poor girl hid in a great spot, but immediately discovered the wonder of fire ants. Welcome to Texas!
Until our new home is complete, I’m trying to savor the little things about this time. Things like:
- I don’t have to clean! Maid service!
- We cook here, but don’t dirty up too many dishes so meal time is a cinch!
- I’m not tripping over toys in the hall, or in their bedrooms – cause they don’t have many and we are all in one room!
- God bless the iPad. It’s been a lifesaver in so many ways.
- Hooray for PBS Kids TV. Educational programming so they might actually learn something
- Cheap story books for bedtime.
- The Navy lodge is not fancy (by any means) but it is clean. I have yet to see any nasty critters.
- We are within walking distance to 2 playgrounds
- We went to Padre Island Seashore – it was LOVELY. I can’t wait to go back!
- Teaching the minions fun card games that I played as a kid keeps the screen time down, but it’s been really fun, too. I love hearing my little girl say, “Go Fisssh!” or the way Jake dances around when he doesn’t get the Old Maid.
- For now, just right now, I have nothing that NEEDS doing. And I’m enjoying it!
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