We made it to Alaska! What a hectic month it has been. Anthony came home on March 27th, and we got to surprise everyone since he was home earlier than expected. But as soon as he was home, we had to spend most of the next two weeks getting the house fixed up, finishing packing, and saying our goodbyes. By the time the movers came, we were exhausted. Has anyone ever seen what a professional moving company looks like in action? What an experience! Five people showed up with a huge semi, and immediately our things started disappearing into boxes. We had tried to stay up and finish packing the night before, but by 4 a.m., we couldn't do anymore. Which meant some things disappeared into boxes that shouldn't have, such as Anthony's caps for his uniforms, his uniform belt, and his civilian coat. Who needs a coat in Alaska? I was able to grab most of the things for the boys, but every once in awhile we come across something--or technically, the lack of something--that shouldn't have been packed. We will be glad to get our things from the movers, especially Ethan, who is missing his swing.
The day before we left town, I received a phone call that our passports had arrived. Nothing like waiting until the LAST possible minute, but I was so glad to have them with us instead of coordinating getting them sent to Alaska. The number of times we've used them since then: Zero. I'm so glad I spent all of that time and energy on them.
Our first leg of the trip was to St. Louis, where we were scheduled to drop off our car so it could be shipped. We made it there half an hour before they closed, but the rules were that there couldn't be more than 1/4 of a tank of gas. We had about 1/16 more than that. So while Anthony had to wait with kids that were no longer happy to be in the rental car, I spent half an hour driving around the highway, trying desperately to burn through that little bit. Our other option was to pay a place down the road $10 to empty our tank. Pay someone to take out gas we paid for? I don't think so. I also had to stop and vacuum Cheerios off the floor, and I made it back 3 minutes late, but Anthony was able to get them to wait for me. We then made a stop at Scott AFB to purchase Anthony's missing uniform items, and afterwards we headed back to St. Louis to stay the night. It was a huge hotel, definitely older and renovated, but they put us about as far away from the lobby as possible. We had to drop off the rental car that evening, and planned to take the shuttle to the airport in the morning, so we had to drag 9 huge pieces of luggage as well as the boys and their car seats to the room. It was not pleasant. We ended up ordering Chinese food, which Will kept dropping on the floor and then eating it (I had to squash the images of Dateline reports on the germs found in hotels!), and then we got a few hours of sleep before dragging the luggage back out the door.
The plane rides went pretty smoothly. The boys did very well. Ethan ate or slept most of the time, and Will was okay as long as he could get up once in awhile. Anthony was behind us during the second, and much longer, flight, so we traded the kids back and forth over the seats. The main downside was that we didn't have time to get lunch between the flights, so Will had a $6 fancy fruit and cheese plate on the plane, and I had a $7 sandwich at Starbucks once we landed in Anchorage. Shouldn't it be the most delicious meal you've ever had for that price hike-up? When we got off the plane, we were very impressed with the airport here. The view of the mountains was amazing. (It's unbelievable to look out the window each morning and see that view.) Mostly we were just glad to be out of our seats and up moving around. It took a little while for our ride to pick us up at the airport, and then we got to see a lot of Anchorage on the trip to base. I found two Starbucks, a Papa Johns, and even a Dairy Queen, where I got to do some comparison shopping as they had advertised their value meals--buy 2 items for $4, unlike in Indiana with 2 for $3. We made a stop at the Commissary to buy a few things since we wouldn't have a vehicle, and then we checked into our room in Temporary Lodging. It was very nice, with a full kitchen and a living room, but we were surprised that with four people, we'd only been given a one bedroom. There was just enough room to set up one crib by our bed for Ethan, but Will had to sleep in the closet. He did fine in there, especially since it was dark, but we worried a little about the ventilation. We also had very sketchy Internet service (only for a few hours the first week) and a dishwasher that didn't work. Overall, everything was okay, not ideal, but definitely livable. Will's sleeping habits have gotten better, since he used to be a light sleeper but he's had to get over that. With being in such close quarters, it's pretty loud, and once you add in "Reveille" being broadcast across base at 7 a.m. and the planes starting right after, Will's learned to drown out the noise. Ethan, on the other hand, has regressed horribly in his sleep habits. If he does manage to sleep, it usually only lasts as long as someone's holding him, and he went from 7 hour stretches at night back to 3 hour stretches. One day I'll get some sleep, but not any time soon. Luckily we were able to move into a two bedroom last week, and the extra space has been great.
In the last few days, everything else has come together. We visited the Base Housing office, and our wait time to get housing went from one year to two weeks. So we'll have our new home on May 8th. We got to see an example, and we were really impressed. We'll have 2200 sq ft, almost double of our home in Indy, with 3 floors, including a finished basement. There are 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Anthony and I even have double sinks! Which doesn't at all matter. I always laugh at those people on the show House Hunters when they care so much. And now we have double sinks when we're never going to have a problem since I'm not getting up and ready at 5:30 a.m with Anthony. But I could! We're very excited to get into the house and settled, especially since we realized that if we stay here for the three years they're projecting for us, that will be the longest either one of us have stayed in one place since high school. Normally we're moving every year. Who knew that the military would actually make our lives more stable?
Our other big news is that we were able to purchase a new car. Well, an 11-year-old car, but new to us. It's a 1998 Toyota Landcruiser, and it is one sweet ride. Heated leather seats, room for 7, and a remote starter--my dream. We found it on craigslist, and we were able to pick it up Saturday. It's still hard to believe it's ours. Our neighbor in the temporary lodging, a Major, also has a Landcruiser, and he had been looking at this one on craigslist as well and thought about buying it. He had nothing but good things to say about the brand, so we're really happy with the deal we found. I'm glad just to have a way to the grocery store and a chance to get out of the house. A week and a half of bumming rides was not fun. Since we had the car this weekend, we were also able to visit our church for the first time. Our building, but not our ward. We were having issues for several days again with the Internet, so we ended up driving all around downtown Anchorage for a couple hours before finding the building (and Anchorage is not that big). We attended Sacrament meeting in the other ward, but we met the Bishop and a few others from our new ward, as well as Will being able to go to Nursery. As always, he did just fine and had a great time with the other kids. I met the Primary President and let it "slip" that I'd been in Primary in our previous ward, and she hurried to write my name down. Anthony met several other AF men, one of whom is married to a woman named Laura. So she's going to have to be my new best friend, just so it will be more confusing. Everyone was very nice and helpful, so I think this will be a great place for us.
Will's adjusting well, and he has been very excited about all of the planes around us. He wakes up every morning saying, "A plane! A plane!" whether he can hear one or not. But he does recognize the sound and he can spot one anywhere in the sky. He's learned to climb up on the kitchen chairs and even the table, and he's all over the place all day. The other day, I laid him down for his nap, and when I went in to get him, I looked down in the crib, and all I could think was, "Did I forget to put a diaper on him?" I thought the lack of sleep was finally catching up to me, but then I saw the diaper, which was dirty, lying on the other side of the crib. I guess he decided he'd change it himself if I wasn't going to. He also likes to hide in the coat closet with the sliding door and then pop out and say, "Boo!" Every day we're surprised by how much he's grown. He's definitely not a baby any more. He's still being wonderful with Ethan, and he's even able to get Ethan to stop crying by coming up and talking to him. You can see how much they love each other, and already Ethan looks at Will like he wants to be just like him. Before long I'm going to have two of them standing next to me saying, "A bite?", or hiding in the cabinets, or grabbing the stick of butter I set out and eating it together. Boys.
I have lots of pictures to post, and I'll try to do that soon, once I don't have a baby in my lap. But I wanted to let everyone know that we're doing well, and we're so happy to be here in Alaska, even though we miss you all! Sorry we haven't kept in touch as well as we'd like. The four hour time difference is hard to remember, especially when the sun's still up at 10 p.m. As we get more settled in, we'll do better!
