My Nations Call Pt. 2

 Here is what Tech training for the Cyber Transport Systems as we finished up (all based on our experience and current knowledge):

It's broken down into three, now completed, classes:

1.  IT Fundamentals  November 30th 2020 - January 6th 2021
2. Cyber Transport Systems January 11th 2021 - April 13th 2021
3. Security Plus April 21st-May 25th 

Out Processing: 

This outline was finished on or by May 26th 

• Leave in Route - Was updated as follows take transportation from base to Gulfport, MS airport, fly home May 27th on Delta with one stop in Atlanta, GA and then the arrival time in Arizona at 1:38pm.  
  

Then take leave until June 9th 2021. The kids and I had written our a whole list of things we wanted to do with Da Beast when he got back which included:

Getting Ice Cream

Going to the Movies

Going out for Breakfast

Getting Donuts

Date Night!

Baby put on her list to have a date with daddy, eat cheese, wear sunglasses, and drink juice so Da Beast asked her out on a date to do all of those things together! 

Get coooookies!

Get pizza for our home remembrance dinner

• Government Assisted Moves (Packing and moving your household items from one place to the next)- Set for the first day of travel on June 10th for pack up. The week before they sent us email reminders and a list to estimate what kind of things they were going to need to pack. A day to two days before they text and called the time window we should expect the movers to arrive. From our understanding they will then move our things from our apartment to a storage location on Beale AFB since we don't have housing on base yet nor had we at the time heard back from them yet. 

• Seven Days of allotted travel with a mandatory break every 8 hours or 500mi, we can never seem to remember the amount we just knew we had to stop roughly around L.A. and we took the opportunity to make a vacation out of our break by stopping along the way:

Mariposa (butterfly) Alley in Riverside, CA 

The wall across from us was really bright, ha ha. 

We drove the rest of the way to Los Angeles checked into the hotel and then went to bed to get some rest for the next morning when we were going to Universal Studios! With two old tickets from last year, the kids tickets having never been printed, and the new COVID guidelines we were unsure how it was all going to work out but we were very blessed. Our tickets were reprinted with no problem but the kids tickets were difficult to find so a manager had to bring us to guest services where they were still difficult to find. While waiting I looked at the newly printed tickets and the blackout dates were different this year than last year. Last year said we could go on the 12th of June, the new tickets said every weekend in June but the 26th was blacked out. Once the kids tickets were found and printed the manager said that everything was good with the tickets and asked if this was our first time back. We said yes and she personally walked us through the gate and also handed us express passes to get onto the Secret Life of Pets ride quicker for the difficulty we had in getting the kids tickets. We couldn't believe it! We were in Universal studios and our first ride we wanted to go onto was Jurassic World! 

Bubba was tall enough but Baby had to wait and so we got to do parent switch on the ride and Caleb got to go twice. The ride was 130min wait normally but the nice woman at the express lane must have felt bad for Baby having to wait that long not just once but twice with nothing to do (they have a dinosaur playground right next to it but it was still closed) because she let Da Beast and Bubba through the express lane. I thought I might just cry from how blessed we were already for the day!

After we went on Jurassic World and then Transformers that everyone could go on it was time for lunch:

At the three broomsticks of course! Bubba loved the butter beer!

For the rest of the day we only went on rides that everyone could go on like Despicable Me, Secret Life of Pets, and a ride a Super Silly Funland and even watched a few shows that Bubba complained about at first but ended up loving like Water World: 

We decided to end out day with a very long wait for the well worth it studio tours. Our tour ended up leaving right at sunset and it was an awesome time to go but next time we might go first thing in the morning when the line is much shorter! 

On our way out we bought a doughnut at Lard Lad's to eat the next day...

It was pretty delicious and "dough" not worry we shared with the kids too 😜. For most of Sunday we just sat in the hotel and rested taking the children to the park for a little bit in the afternoon since they were going a bit stir crazy. On Monday we left the hotel first thing in the morning and drove two hours to a cute little town called Solvang: 

We ate breakfast at a cafe, walked through the chocolate and candy shops, bought some cheese and sourdough bread, and saw some cool clocks and a little mermaid statue. 

• Base Housing & Housing Application - Just before we arrived to Beale on the 12th or 13th we found out we were 6th place for housing now and will be checking into temporary housing through Gold Country Inn by Air Force Inn's which we checked into Monday the 14th 2021 for the next two weeks.      

  

What's Next?

On our way to Los Angles Bubba had mentioned that he wanted to go home which confused Da Beast and I a little. He knew we were moving. We've been prepping him for this for a long while and he knew that our home was going to be in California now. In fact he told everyone on our trip after that comment that we were moving. It wasn't until day two of being in temporary housing that I also had the  thought, "I want to go home". It's feeling like a long vacation where you get to the point where you've had your fun but now you're ready to go home. It was in that moment I understood. 'Home' really isn't a place because if it was it didn't matter where we were because we were moving and we've had places to stay. It's a feeling of safety, consistence, and familiarity. When Bubba said he wanted to go home and when I felt it it wasn't that we didn't understand we were moving or that we wanted to "go back" to where we left (although that might be a part of it because of the familiarity, safety, and consistency we felt there). It was because we felt the sudden severing of all we knew, of all the familiarity, safety, and consistency we felt. 

We were called here for duty, obligation, and desire but we are still trying to figure out our place not only in residency but socially and our new community. Not knowing which community to add our loyalties too or where we're going to reside increase those feelings of insecurity and the misplaced emotions have waved their flags high. There is a sense of desperation clouding the inspiration and sucking out the excitement of being somewhere new. 

Only after two days here I felt as though Beale, AFB was rather boring and I guess I expected something different because I felt a bit disappointed. I also acknowledged that we had only been here a few days and I'm not giving it much of a chance. It only took us that two days to walk the 8 minutes from temporary housing to the commissary and BX which wasn't much to look at and is a good majority of what you can "see" of base. 

The most exciting thing we saw on that walk was a very large rabbit the likes of which we thought was a small dog at first:

There is a movie theater across from the BX, playing four shows (two of which I doubted were children's movies). There is also a park in the family base housing on the other side of the base that we haven't seen yet but we've been a little busy trying to figure out where we're going to live after our two weeks is up at the temporary housing. 

After staying on base for a week and driving around to the nearby towns/ cities searching for houses to rent we started familiarizing ourselves with the area. I found out a few things that I've been loving about base and will miss when we will more than likely move off of it due to the waiting list for on base housing being a bit long. Those things include taps playing at 10 in the evening, Da Beast being able to come home for lunch, and the cheaper gas prices on base 😉. But that last one can easily still be used because Da Beast will be taking the car into work every weekday anyway. 

A few things we are glad we brought with us and what we wish we would've packed with us: 

What we Brought

• A step stool: This has been very handy in the hotel and temporary housing. In fact Da Beast and I have wondered why we haven't ALWAYS brought a step stool with us to every hotel we've gone too. It helps the kids reach the sink and there are never stools available for when you might need to reach something. 
• Food containers (especially kids sandwich containers): the temporary housing has food containers but the hotel does not and while traveling they have been a few of my favorite things to bring anyway because I can store leftover food AND reheat them in the microwave at the hotel so much easier! Plus it's easier to hand the children their food at lunch and snack times and it's easier for them to eat out of. 
• Two kids small backpacks full of their toys: This has been a lifesaver especially as we sit here in the temporary housing. Its been something I do for travels too just so they have a few toys to play with. 
• One set of our own bedding: this hasn't been necessary in the temporary housing but at the hotel it gave us extra bedding as we also brought sleeping mats for the kids and because I packed sheets and pillows as well it gave the kids something to lay on besides just the mat. When we got to temporary housing I just put their sheets over the other sheets for the past week and all I had to do was take of their sheets and throw them in the wash today and wallah! The bed was already made for me with the temporary housing bedding!
• Our food: I'm pretty sure they're not allowed to pack up the perishables anyway but I'm really glad I had necessities such as olive oil, flour, and seasonings. 
• Laundry baskets: these are one of those things that you wouldn't think to bring on a trip but they have been very helpful in carrying our more loose items in the car, carry in the groceries from the store, and to sort laundry and take them out of the dryer.  
• A different pair of shoes: instead of just tennis shoes all around I also brought dress up shoes and sandals for the children and I and Da Beast wishes he also brought different pairs of shoes. 

Things we Wish We Had:

• Reusable water bottles: I actually had planned to do this but before I knew it they were packed into a box and we bought new ones. 
• Children plates, bowls, utensils, and cups: These aren't super necessary but all they provide are breakables in temporary housing which makes me just a little more nervous. The kids are doing a really good job with the breakables but I'd be more at ease if I had kids plates, bowls, utensils and cups. 
• A few blankets: It may be about a hundred degrees outside everyday but sometimes it gets a little cold inside and a few blankets would have been nice but also not necessary. 
• Our X-box: There is "TV" in the temporary housing but the channels are VERY limited and there really isn't anything for the kids. Plus we wish we had some video games to play every now and then. Alongside this we wish we had an HDMI adapter to easily connect what we have to the larger monitor to watch what we want. 
• A dish drying rack: this is not a necessary item to have but I think it would have been nice to have because the hotel had nothing for that (but we didn't stay long enough to need to wash anything) and the temporary housing only has given us one towel. Having a drying rack would be nice for the smaller load of dishes that don't need the dishwasher. 

Things I Bought: 

• Refrigerated food (of course) as well as some bread, crackers, bananas, and onions. 
• Laundry soap pods
• Ice cream scoop
• Tongs 

Well that's it for now! 

Off to find a place to call home! 

XOXO

Megan 

Next blog post: Fly, Fight, Win!