So I had absolutely NO intentions of letting this information slip until we got Jonathan’s “hard copy orders”, but here we are, just FIVE DAYS till Jonathan graduates Navy A School here in Pensacola, Florida. In less than a week we will (hopefully) be leaving for our permanent duty station.. I say hopefully because there’s still no hard copy orders!
I used to think the whole, “Welcome to the Navy! Hurry up and wait!” thing was funny. Or cute. Or, ya know, a joke. I didn’t think it was so sadistically literal! Grrrr!
We technically know WHERE we are going, and have known for well over a month now. It’s just not set in stone, or “official”. Which is why I’ve tried to keep it on the down low, and why it is so crazy maddening to not have the “you go here now” paperwork in hand. Without his orders it makes organizing our upcoming cross country move all but impossible.
I. AM. LITERALLY. LOSING. MY. MIND. If we don’t get his hard copy orders soon I’m going to flip out. If this is some kind of Navy wife first level boss fight, I am losing and I need cheat codes. Pronto.
Anyway, so where are we moving you ask?
We got stationed in Lemoore, California!
For those of you new to my blog, Lemoore is where Jonathan and I were living when we signed up for the Navy! It’s where I was born and raised, and it’s been home for the past five years to Jonathan and I. It’s currently where most of our friends, some of our family and all of our belongings are. So it’s kind of like, “YAY!! We got Lemoore!” and “Ugh, we got Lemoore. So much for seeing the world..” all rolled up into one. But mostly it’s yay! Like 98.99% yay. (Yes, I made up a mental pie chart of my emotions in order to articulate my feelings in statistical form. And?)
Anyhoo, Lemoore is awesome because my dad is retiring in just a few weeks, and we’ll be close to Disneyland and all of the events and conventions we like to frequent and we already know the area and and and and… we really can’t complain! Well, except for the not having our orders yet. We’re complaining about that. A lot.
So this weekend was our LAST weekend in Florida! I am doing some major last minute scrambling to meet with friends and see the sights before we bid Florida farewell. We are REALLY going to miss this place!
On Friday I met with my lovely friend Rebecca over sushi at Ichiban in Pensacola. We had been meaning to meet for quite some time, and she finally decided to kidnap me and force me to go have a blast with her. Whyyyyy had I not ventured out of my cave of a tiny apartment sooner? We had so so SO much fun!
Ichibans was one of those ritzy places that ask you to take your shoes off and sit on raised mats. I was geeking out pretty hard because in all my insatiable love for Japanese cuisine and culture I’d never managed to eat at a place with this kind of setup, aimed directly at nerds like me. So double score there!
Then yesterday the husband and I packed our car for a mini road trip and drove along the scenic coastal highway to visit Panama City Beach, Florida. I had made plans to go pick up a generous offer of breast milk for Tessa on this day and – small world that it is – we learned that Brittany, a childhood friend of Jonathan’s, had just moved there from Washington State!
We met up with her and her kiddos at their gorgeous 11th story beach view condo (her hubby had to work, boo!) and we spent the day visiting over yummy snack rolls and sunning out on the beach watching the kids play in the gentle emerald waves.
I am SO going to miss these pearly white sands! I knew I’d like it here in Florida, I just didn’t expect to LOVE it. Not gonna lie, it’s gonna kind of sting me to leave this state.
Anyway, it was a blast watching Tessa interact with Brittany’s kids. She is reaching that “acting like a child” stage of babyhood. – lots of communication, deliberate action and social smiles. I can’t get enough! Brittany’s kids are such gentle sweethearts, and seeing the way they all played together made me start dreaming of my big house with a bazilliondy babies. I mean, seriously.. look at this picture of Brit’s littlest one Savannah kissing Tessa on the head.. doesn’t Tessa need a little sister. Like.. NOW?!
Can’t wait for you to get here!!!!!!!!DISNEYLAND!!!! That is all.
YESSSSSSS!!!! Let’s doooooo it!
I disneyland it up all the time! Plus I wanna met your daughter! I wanna give her the same toy a gave Tessa teehee
Adorable baby cuteness! Your photos look like they belong in a “travel with kids” magazine article!
LOL, I spent about a trillion hours trying to clean up the sandspots on my lens for these photos. I REALLY need to get these professionally cleaned after having them on the beach these past few months! But thanks!
Last Minute Moves totally Normal,just wait till his time is up and you get to meet your Detailer. We called ours every month 9 months out and he decided to wait until the very last month to give us our orders. (Rumor has it our detailer got fired shortly after giving us our orders)Not to mention we have NEVER gotten any place we have wanted on our wish list. Apparently uncle same really wanted to give us a tour of Virginia because we have only been to Virginia so far. We were really hoping to either get San Diego or Washington state. But as time has gone on my more adventurous side has come out, and Im actually considering like Hawaii or Japan… Places We would Never get to see much less live other wise. 2yrs and 4more months here(sigh) then maybe we can go someplace cool… Not to mention he will be on shore duty by then so Double YAY!!! anyways I wish you luck in Lemoore! You are so lucky yo be near all your family and friends!!
I guess these orders are a little later than usual because the place that does the paperwork for the hard copy orders were shut down for a few weeks due to the weather (remember, back when it was all cold everywhere in the US?). So everyone is like 2 weeks behind on when they WOULD have gotten orders. When did you guys get the hard copy orders for your first duty station? Like, how close to graduation? I’m seriously NOT cut out for this last minute wait thing haha…
You totally made me cry! 🙂 I’m going to miss you soooo much!!!
Sometimes orders can take ages to come in and other times you have to have them amended umpteen times before they are officially official. It sounds like a DITY move would be easier than dealing with TMO this late in the game being that they have to have the orders to pack you up. My prayers are with you all as you move!
We are antsy for our next duty station but still have 1.5 year left here.
We’re actually having to move on our own dime.. I wasn’t authorized to move to Pensacola since his A School is considered a “deployment”. The Navy still considers me living in Lemoore… we moved me out here on our own dime and have to move back the same way. 🙁
Oh that stinks big time! Worth every penny to have the family together though! I did the same thing when my hubby was training where we are stationed now. He had surgery and it prolonged his stay. In two weeks, I quit my job, had some of our things taken to storage, packed our car, shipped some stuff down, and drove from CA to here. Meanwhile, hubby was hunting for an apartment that allowed two cats.
Your story sounds so much like mine, I swear I have a bunch of doppelgangers running around! haha.. Craziness! Anyway.. hubby graduates on Friday and there’s STILL NO ORDERS!!! Wtf?!??!!
Good gravy, that is nuts! We do have a friend who got CONUS orders from where he was to half the US away in two days. Yep, two days. Insanity considering the military only allows a military member to drive no more than 8hrs in a day with a break every two hours. Yes, there is a regulation for this.