Hello again, but this time from sunny San Diego!
Sorry that we haven't been keeping up with the posts over the past week, but it's been a very busy week for us. Here's what's been happening in our neck of the woods for the past several days.
We got into San Diego just before lunch last Thursday. We had not reserved any kind of transportation to the base (Naval Air Station, North Island) because we thought, assumed actually, that the taxis could get on base--similar to Japan. WRONG! There's only one company that is guaranteed to get on base and only a few drivers working for other cab companies who have paid for the required background check. We hailed a cab at the airport and along the way, the driver mentioned that he would only get us to the gate. Once dropped off at the gate, we had to sit in the sun and wait for another cab who I called from the visitor center to come pick us up and take us to the Navy Lodge. Once in the Lodge with our 7+ bags, car seats, pajama'd kids, and tired selves, we finally breathed a sigh of relief. At that point, we'd made it back to the States and had a bed to sleep in. That afternoon, we picked up a rental car from the Hertz on base and headed out to get new phones and see where our house was located. We managed to pick up one phone (the last iPhone 5S in the store) and saw where we would be living.
Friday, we went up to Poway (North of San Diego) and bought a 2013 Toyota Highlander Hybrid. It is FANTASTIC!! It's a blue color with tan interior. We'd been working with the dealer for a few weeks from overseas. It's wonderful to have a large vehicle again that can easily carry all our "stuff." That evening, we got the keys to our new house (a rental in the Otay Lakes area).
On Saturday, we laid low and spent some time on base. We made one trip off base to drop off some of our luggage at the new house.
On Sunday, we went to Balboa Park to the model train museum (a quick and easy thing to see in a couple hours) after sleeping in until 10:30 in the morning. Our switching time zones has been pretty rough, especially for the kiddos. They each have spent plenty of time up during the middle night partying like rock stars and wondering why Mom and Dad are not as excited.
On Monday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed out to our new house. At about 9:00 that morning, our first shipment of household good arrived. This shipment was the one that we had packed up on August 14th in Japan. It was nice to see our goods again.
On Tuesday morning, we received our shipment of household goods that had been in storage for the past three years. Mostly garage stuff and large furniture that we couldn't take to Japan, it left Virginia a few weeks ago. Seeing our long lost goods again has been great, but it's daunting to see how many boxes are in the garage that have yet to be opened and unpacked! Also on Tuesday, we got our TV and internet turned back on--double yay!
Wednesday and today have been filled with unpacking, keeping kids entertained, and making trips to places like the commissary, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, and K-mart.
In our current condition, we have the inside of the house almost fully clear of boxes. The garage, on the other hand, is filled. We have plenty of work remaining to get settled, but we've made some good progress over the past few days.
We are happy to be back Stateside, but it's been slightly stressful. We're looking forward to the day when the children sleep all the way through the night, we have a normal routine, our stuff is put away, and we are truly settled.
Have a great night and we'll be send more updates and pictures soon.
-Jip
