The last few weeks have been so crazy! To start things off, on the first day of September I took my advancement exam, then checked out of "Training Support Center, Great Lakes, Illinois" It has been one big long vacation ever since. We stayed at home for about four days slowly saying "hope to see you again soon" to every one in Illinois. Although I know that Stella and I will be missed by the family, It is Nikolaki and Penelope that make them weep and feel empty inside now that we are gone. I miss them. It was one of the hardest three years of my life, but I would not have known... So many things! I am getting distracted here. We are talking about September here. So we loaded up the Excursion with all of our belongings that were not already in Washington waiting for us, packed a portable refrigerator, put the kids in their car seats. We then kissed everyone goodbye and we were on our way to SLC Utah. I know that you thought we were going to Washington but we had to make a little pit stop to see my family and lets the kids regain feeling in their little rear ends. The trip to SLC is 1400 miles, we stayed for four days then drove another 1030 miles for a total of just under 2500 miles and EIGHT STATES. While we were in Utah we stopped at my grandmothers house to pick up my 1942 Pontiac that i have been storing at her house for the last eight plus years, since I went to Navy Boot Camp. After a few family parties around the greater Salt Lake area we headed out on Sunday night, September 12th. We were in a little bit of a rush to get to Whidbey Island we had to close on our New House on the 13th. The kids had been pretty good on this trip, all thinks considered, I tried to drive a night a much as I could. But the last leg of this trip the had had enough. I think I was about to pull out my hair, no wait I am Bald... Shaved, anyhow I was close to the edge, but with the remaining luck I had they fell asleep. So I am out of LUCK and my children are sleeping. We are just driving cross country in one week with four days rest, it is dark as a cavern outside and we were in the middle of somewhere Idaho about fifteen miles from Oregon when I heard a high pitched whistle or squeal. Since there is nothing around and interstate highways dont whistle we pulled over to investigate. JUST MY LUCK! That's right I was out of luck. And the trailer had a flat tire. We sat on the side of the road for three hours waiting for the Uhaul repair guy to find us the it took another hour after that to fix the tire. All in all it was just a hicup and we arrived on Whidbey Island as planned on the 13th. But had to wait until the 16th to Close on the house. We all slept in the house on a couple of air mattresses for three days while we waited for our Household goods to be delivered. What a great experience that is to watch as your broken and damaged items get unloaded from a truck by some furniture monkeys. I have heard some pretty horrible stories about military moves. We are missing fifteen boxes, both of my stackable rollaway tool chests are crushed, my futon was destroyed, one of my shelves that was a one piece unit arrived in nine pieces - no it cant be disassembled, my laptop computer wont turn on, one of my home made custom computers never arrived... and the list goes on and on--- get this we had what is considered a sucessful move. What high standards we strive to achieve. so now for the last ten days we have been unpacking, organizing, relaxing - just kidding- no time for rest here. Niko started school a few days after we got into our house, on a Thursday. On Monday he was to start riding the School Bus. We arrived at the stop at 8:30 fifteen minutes before they told us the bus would arrive. School starts at 8:55 and when 9:00 came and went we took him to school on our own. I call the transportation department and they told me a new time and acted like I should have known all along- 8:25. No harm, we make adjustments all the time, Just part of military life. So at the end of the school day, three hours later, I was at home depot picking up some black pipe to convert our electric laundry room in to a Gas Friendly laundry room, Stella and Penelope were going to pick up Nikolaki while I was gone- at 12:30. I got home at 12:45 and Stella and Penelope were standing on the corner and Niko was not there. Stella had told me that the bus was pulling away as she turned the corner. so she was waiting incase it came back. As it turns out school gets out 45 minutes early on mondays and so the bus gets ther earlier, as for Niko they took him back to school and we got him from there. The rest of the week and today we have had no problems with the bus system. Happy Birthday Mom! Your Present arrives tomorrow. On Saturday a shelf in the garage holding 15 gallons of paint mysteriously fell off of the wall and crashed to the floor four gallon cans full of paint exploded and redecorated the floor, the wall, the garage door, the over head and my 1942 Pontiac. What a mess. I was in there when it happened- i was startled. Not even two minutes later i heard some kind of alarm sounding outside. Apon investigation i learned that it was my septic tank FULL warning Alarm. little did we know but we were moments from a POOH disaster like in the movie "Meet the Parents". Luckily i found the manual overide for the pump and was able to advert disaster. Everything is fine now and we are really enjoying the place. it is so beautiful, and quiet.

¶ 10/03/2005 01:00:00 AM

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