Guam, here we come!

Whew!  It has been an emotional roller coaster the past several months here in Air Force land.  It has been almost a year of back-and-forth regarding various jobs or paths for Mason.  Without dwelling on that too much, we found out the first week in January that Mason got the job he's been wanting and we are moving to sunny GUAM! 

Visiting Dad at work for a squadron potluck

Guam will be quite different from Minot, and I think it's part of the secret plan that we keep going to places that are smaller and smaller.  It is definitely going to be an adjustment going from snow and cold to hot and sunny.  While I have had some reservations about moving to Guam, I'm very excited that our family will get to be together (instead of Mason going on long deployments), and the opportunity to see a different part of the world while our kids are at a good age for traveling and we aren't too tied down to school, etc...

Mr. Cool picked out his own clothes

We did a big purge of stuff in the Fall when we thought we might be moving, and we've spent the last five weeks doing major purging.  We still have lots of stuff!  This week we have moved from the main purge stage to sorting out shipments.  We won't be flying to Guam until mid-April, but since our belongings can take so long to get there we are having the majority of our things packed in early March. 

Teaching the little ones how to play Rock-Paper-Scissors

For an overseas move we have a Household Goods shipment which is the majority of our things going to Guam.  This can take around 2 months to arrive since it travels by boat.  We'll have a Non-Temporary Storage Shipment which is stuff we want to keep but don't want to take to Guam (larger furniture, winter clothes, pictures, etc...), and we'll have our Unaccompanied Baggage shipment that will get picked up the end of March and contain a few smaller items (small tv, computer, crib, microwave).  This shipment will travel by air and ideally be in Guam when we arrive. 

Doing a little pre-Guam shopping

The military will pay for one vehicle to be shipped and we are paying for our second car to be shipped.  Mason will drive by himself to Seattle in mid-March to drop off one car, and then we'll drop off the second car in St. Louis after we leave Minot.  The car we're shipping in March should arrive in Guam in early April and fortunately Mason's current squadron will be out there, so we have a friend that's going to pick-up our car for us and use it until we arrive on the island.

Playing Dress-up

Lots to do, but we're working on everything together and things are going well.  The kids are adapting to all the chaos around the house and are interested in the adventure ahead.  Hopefully between all the boxes I'll be able to keep up with the blog and provide some fun anecdotes about our moving travels.

Brother Time