First Day of School

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2012/2013

IN GTMO

Yesterday was the kids' first day of school and my first time with all 3 of my kids in school all day (and no where to go LOL).  Needless to say I got a lot of boxes unpacked yesterday, unfortunately I still have a ton more boxes to go haha.

They all had a great day and like their teachers.  Tim went in to work late so that I could take the boys in and meet their teachers and he walked Paige in.  She was pretty nervous with it being her first time in a Junior High and having a locker and to change classes.  Here it's the high school campus so it's 6-12. The first thing she said to Tim was, "everyone is so tall."  She also was all of a sudden walking a whole lot closer to him.  He got her to the Gym where they were going to pass out the schedules and explain everything and then he met me at the Elementary School.  It was so hard to send Paige in there UGH I didn't sleep much the night before and was worried about her all day long.  She did good though and when we picked her up from school she had a slight frustration in her voice and said she couldn't get her locker open once all day.  So her and I went back in and asked if we could go practice and also she wasn't sure where her classes were or which schedule the next day was. They alternate A schedule and B schedule every other day so she was a bit worried.  She got the hang of her locker and we walked the class schedules and she felt more at ease.  Sweet thing asked me to walk her in today to make sure she could do her locker and then walked her to her first class.  She asked if I could just go with her to all her classes, knowing I couldn't but we were just saying we both wished I could.  She asked if I could help at the school, I think she just feels better if she knows I am somewhere around!  It was so hard to leave her there again today.  This stuff is so hard on my heart OUCH!  But I know that this is good for her and she needs it to grow in confidence and independence and that is partly why we picked GTMO this school is small (overwhelming to her at the moment but Tim and I know how much bigger other schools are!)

The boys have poles for each class to line up at.  So I walked them to their lines and then followed them into the Gym where they had a small assembly and then the kids were off to class and the new assistant Principle met with the parents who were there.  So we never actually got to go into their classrooms.  Today was another heart wrencher for me!  The boys want to ride the bus instead of me taking them which works out good because Paige has told me she isn't ready to ride the bus yet so wants me to take her and with both schools starting at the same time it would be hard to make it to both.  This way I walked the boys to the bus stop (right across the street from our house) and then once they were on Paige and I hopped in the car and off we went.  We just beat her bus there because we were chatting and I missed my turn and realized we drove way past the school LOL.  I love driving my kids to school so it was hard for me to put the boys on the bus but..... all their buddies are on there so it's a fun time for them to visit with their new friends and hopefully get some of that playful stuff out of the way before school starts!

Oh and I almost forgot that Tropical Storm Isaac was nothing much for us thank the Lord.  We were prepared and ready and now know how to prepare for a hurricane.  We had lots of canned food, water, flashlights.  Pulled all patio furniture in even decorative rocks that could end up a projectile and even the welcome mats we brought in.  We put sandbags along our garage and glad we did they were soaked even just from the rain we got.  All we ended up with was a whole lot of wind and rain for one night.  Thunder and lightning of course but our power never went out.  We sure thought it was going to hit us a lot harder.  The base shut down, even the roads were closed and were not aloud to go out.  Timing was fine for us since Tim and the kids all came down with a nasty cold so we were housebound anyways.

Enough of me chatting here are some pics of the first day of school and then a few other fun things.

All ready for the first day of school.  Nixon 1st grade, Simon 4th grade and Paige 7th grade!!!!

Oh my she looks so grown up!  She wore her Hunger Games shirt and a couple girls at school pointed out she looks like Fox Face from Hunger Games.  They are right she does!  For those of you who haven't seen the movie or read the books it's one of the characters and she has red hair just like Paige and actually they do look similar!

Nixon and his teacher Mrs. Hawkins

Simon and his teacher Mrs. Reindtheart (I may have spelled it wrong)!  Can't go wrong with red hair!!

Nixon waiting for the bus with his little buddy that lives right next door!

Simon and one of his buddies that lives right across the street, waiting for the bus!

Awe there they go.... Tears :-(  okay I am not going to cry!

I have to give a big huge THANK YOU to Michael W. Smith!!!!  He came and gave us a concert as part of his world tour!  It was like our own little worship service with him.  Nothing is big here in GTMO so there were probably a couple hundred people maybe a little more.  He has a huge heart for the military and it showed.  He sang some songs he wrote after 911 for the military, wow talk about chokes you up.  And it was so cool when he sang praise songs and everyone joined in!  Just a really neat experience to see people from all over and different cultures, Jamaica, Philippines, Cuba and all the branches of military, to join together in song and worship God.  He sang some good oldies like Friends are Friends Forever.

This is my favorite flower, Hibiscus, and I have this plant right out my front window!  This and a palm tree out my front window are you kidding me?  Life is good!

Speaking of front window, Piper is so funny, this is her favorite napping spot and she works very hard to tuck as much of herself into the window track as she can.  So funny to watch her settle into it including her cute little face.

As hard as they play and fight when it comes down to it they are buddies and will curl up and nap together!

Some things we are getting used to here in GTMO and some fun facts:

-When putting things in my shed this morning a big huge crab scared me pretty good!  Land crabs.  So weird I expect them in the water but not in the middle of my lawn!

-Being sweaty all the time!!!  I don't know how Tim does it in his dark blue uniform!

-Little geckos and lizards everywhere, including running across my kitchen under the freezer!

-Paige saw another tarantula at her school

-If you are outside at about 8am or dusk you will stop and stand at attention.  For both they give a 5 minute warning and then in the morning they play the national anthem over loud speakers all over the whole base and at night they play evening colors.  Not matter what you are doing, driving, walking, sitting in chairs on your back porch with friends you get up, face where the sound is coming from and stand at attention.  I love it!  Respect for our country!  All cars stop, everything comes to a halt outside for less than a minute.  It also is a great timer for the kids to head in!  Our boys know at the 5 minute warning it's time to head in!  Also, I am learning that it's a good timer for when you need to put bug spray on  if you are outside.

- Which brings me to... if you are out at dusk or any later put on the bug spray or you will get eaten alive!  Well I do anyways!

Tim was supposed to be in Miami this week for training but had to stay here due to some work stuff going on that needed him here.  So yay for us!  Not so much for the people it causes more work for but, yay he is home!  Plus he is still pretty congested so flying wouldn't have been fun or a good thing.

Okay I am now off to unpack more boxes which I think is going to be my life story for a while! LOL.  These movers did a number on all my stuff mixing it all together making it a huge sorting job.

GTMO!!

We made it.  Sorry it has taken me so long to post.  We didn't have internet or phone (or anything like our household goods or car) for a while.  We got our stuff a week ago and our car 2 days ago!  So now we are in the unpacking process.

So far we love it here and Tim loves his job.  The kids are having a blast with all their new freedom that we used to have when we were kids.  They just hop on their bikes and are gone all day some days but check in with me often of course. Our neighborhood alone has 4 or more parks each with fun toys and there is a rope swing and tire swing.  Lots of kids all on bikes and running around having fun.  The boys have met quite a few kids their ages and Paige has met a couple but so far mostly kids 1 grade above or below her.  We have made use of the library and the pool which has a fun slide and rock climbing wall for the kids.  We have learned that if you see something at the store you like, want, need or think you will need.... buy it!  It will be gone the next time you come in even if you come back in an hour LOL.  We bought a patio set the second day we were here and ran into a couple waiting to register their car while we were who got here the same time as us and they were telling us about how you have to buy it when you see it.  They told us about a patio set they wanted and then the next morning it was gone in conversation they said oh that was you guys!  They also run out of stuff that we take for granted back in the states like..... Sour Cream I have been waiting to make a certain recipe for dinner but it takes sour cream, I have been waiting 2 weeks so far!   You get used to it!  Iguanas are everywhere and they are really cool to look at and watch and don't bother you at all.  We have seen lots of movies some with the kids some just us.  Brave, The Newest Ice Age, Total Recall, Batman, Spiderman, The New Marigold Hotel, The Campaign, The Bourne Legacy tonight MIB.  All free, no way back home could we afford to go to all those movies.  They do sell popcorn and candy, water and pop and stuff or you can bring your own.  You can even bring your own chairs and a cooler if you want.  Important remember the bug spray! It is hot however and outdoors so even though the movies start at 8pm and 8 and 10 on Sat. it's still really warm out so you need to drink lots of water!   We have also learned if you go out at dusk or later put on the bug spray you will get eaten up even just walking to the trash can!  They have mosquitoes of course but also these little black biting flies called Nik Niks and man do they itch!  We have gone to a couple beaches not all yet we are still in the checking things out phase!  So far our favorite is glass beach it has awesome snorkeling for the kids and lots of sea glass and shells to collect.

It is like someone from church told me, "It's like living in Mayberry"  and he is right it's word of mouth for most stuff and you can get things if you know people or know someone who can make or offer what you need.

We have adopted two kittens and are loving it!  A girl we named Piper and boy we named Tucker they are about a week apart in age we think.  When we got Piper on the 3rd day we were here she was 7 weeks tiny cute little thing.  Then a week and a half later the vet got a hold of us because we had said we wanted a boy but all she had was Piper and she had a tiny little guy that was skin and bones and a week younger than Piper and needed a good home.  So we took him!  He isn't skin and bones now wow his little belly is fat!  Piper wasn't happy at first but now they just play play play.  Rough too but that's what kittens do.  They will lay down and eat together so I know it's all good!  The kids are loving getting the experience of having a cat from the kitten stage.  Piper sleeps with Paige and then comes in with Tim and I in the morning and Tucker usually sleeps with Simon.  Although last night they ran and went crazy til about 1 am. LOL

The kids start school next week the 27th and are excited.  The boys are at the elementary school and wow do they have huge classrooms about 3 times the size of their old schools.  Paige is at the high school campus which is 6-12 and actually a smaller campus than the boys'.  Complete with tarantulas we got to see our first one by the lockers!  Yuck but harmless thank goodness and snakes.  There tends to be more iguanas at the boys' school the principle said. Last night we had a lizard in the kitchen but Paige and I caught him and took him out.  We also have a bad ant problem in our house.  I had to have them come spray and the guy said how long have you lived here and I said couple weeks and he turned to the other guy and said is this the one?  And he said yes and then they told me I inherited a bad unit and that this house has a worse ant problem than most.  We also determined they are in the walls which he said is harder to treat because they just keep moving and find new places to come in which they have.  They are even upstairs in Paige's closet!  But they are more than willing to keep coming to help me so that's good.  They sprayed everywhere and put bait house things and gel and all kinds of stuff so hopefully we can keep them at bay.  At least it's not spiders or scorpions or something worse!!  I will take tiny ants over those!

Well I want to write more but I will save it for another post this is my first time uploading the blog and they say internet is slow here so I am not sure how uploading pictures is going to go so I better do that part!  We sure love and miss everyone back in the states!

One of the guys that works for Tim and his wife picked us up and were holding this sign for us.  Reminded me of when we moved to Renton and Aunt Jaime and the kids covered our garage with a sign for us.

Flying out of Jacksonville!

It's a big plane 3 seats on each side, we expected a small plane.  The service was incredible free movie players for each person, free lunch and they even brought hot towels out to wash your hands or face after the meal!

These guys are everywhere even when trying to walk into the store.  This guy is medium size.

One of the beaches Girl scout beach maybe.

Found our first coconut it's now brown and sitting as a decoration in our house!

They have a museum you can walk around and this is part of it.

Another beach more rocky and has a snorkeling pool, I forgot the name.

Same beach lots of rocks and shells to gather.  The island is actually a coral reef so even in our yards it's more sand type dirt and fossils and coral.

Tim's Office building

Tim's Office, he has now put up his own decorations from his old office but I haven't been there to see it yet.  You have to time it right to get there with the ferry.

Introducing Piper.  We didn't have our stuff just some loaner furniture but we had a cat!!!

She is awesome!  Crazy little thing at first but has calmed down now after a few weeks and getting Tucker for her to run energy off with.

Tim's 39th birthday, his second day of work and our first patio set ever.  I have always wanted one!

The kids were so excited they had an archery clinic for free!

All three kids were good and got the targets.

Paige was the most excited to do it between the Hunger games and Brave I think it has created a movement with girls to do archery.  They are going to start a club here and all 3 of my kids have already told they guy they are in!

This isn't a good pic but for a week or two at night these big blue crabs would come out from the bushes and cross the road it was an obstacle course not to hit one.  Crazy but fun to experience!

This is our favorite beach so far, Glass Beach.  It's just a perfect spot to go snorkeling and collecting sea glass and shells for the kids.  There are crabs all along the sides of the big rocks and hermit crabs all along the ground.

Fossils everywhere with it being a coral reef, just really neat to see everywhere!

It has all these little spots like this the kids just love.

Fun day of snorkeling

This view is just behind our neighborhood on top of a hill.  That is Cuba off in the distance!  We live very close to the border of base and Cuba. Our neighborhood is the farthest out.

This way looks out to the ocean and the small islands offshore.

Introducing Tucker!

Snorkeling at Glass beach

They go round and round all day!  It is hilarious but sometimes I just have to break it up!

Paige's school.  We saw a tarantula by the lockers!!

Really cool school and I think going to be a great fit for her!

No indoor hallways everything is open.

She is looking forward to it.  Nervous with changing classes but she will be fine!

They also had a free soccer clinic!  Boy was it hot out!

Piper and Tucker this morning.  They have already double in size in just a couple weeks!

The Boys' school

Also no indoor hallways

Lots of iguanas around at this school (not in this pic)

They have an outdoor stage and also an indoor one

This is our church!

This is our movie theater!

Well it took just over 2 hours for those pictures to load LOL!  Welcome to GTMO!  I will post pictures of our house once I get everything unpacked and pictures hung and the boxes out of the way!

There is a tropical storm heading our way that may progress into a hurricane and hit us on Saturday.  Pray it doesn't or moves another direction.  They say it's rare here but our first weekend here we experienced a tropical storm wow was it crazy but cool.  Never have we heard thunder like that or seen lighting like that!  Fun as long as everyone is safe!  I will post again soon!  Miss you all so very much!