Falling Into Place

We signed a housing agreement this week to live on base. There were two very attractive new-build houses available off-base with 4 bedrooms, but after a lot of thought, consideration, and advice, we decided that on base would be the most practical option for a family of our size. We'll have an oven, storage, and a dishwasher, all of which are not typically available in off-base housing. The base is under a lot of construction constantly and there are many new-build homes in the works as well as renovations happening to the older homes in our pay category. We will moving in this week to an un-renovated 4-bedroom townhouse. The perk there is that the military will pay to move us into either a renovated townhouse or a new-build townhouse depending on which one becomes available first. So, we will be living temporarily in the older style townhouse for up to 6 months before we get moved. Chris is thrilled we won't be hanging any decor in the meantime. I will post pictures this weekend of our house after we've moved in.

Last night we started the process of buying a car. We bought a nice van (no SUVs in Japan) and are thrilled. The downside is that it's quite the process to actually get the car to drive it. In the states, you can drive a car off the lot that day, but here is takes about 4-5 business days to process paperwork and get through inspections for us. We are hoping to take possession of the vehicle by next Tuesday at the earliest. Oh how liberating it will be to have a car! First trip on my agenda is the trek to Costco in Hiroshima, haha.

Quinn started school today at the base school. She was very nervous and it was harder than I expected. She was death-gripping my arm and after a while, I had to pry her off and run out the door as she resolved to tears; such a heart-breaking moment for this mom. I know she'll be okay and make friends and transition well, which helped me feel okay walking away. I was hoping to get a picture of her, but it turned out to not be such a picturesque moment and maybe I can try again when she's less uncertain.