The G’s At Sea

We’ve been on this island for a year now. And what a crazy whirlwind it has been! I fully expected to post about our adventures frequently, but homeschooling two kids got in the way of that. I hope to be more present this year and will use Timehop to help me fill in all of the gaps I should have posted about last year. Thank you for your patience and love and support through everything! August 2024 August 2025

We have made many adjustments with this move, but one of the most difficult ones to process is watching college football on Sunday mornings. EARLY Sunday mornings. Our latest game so far has been 11:30am, and we've even woken up for a 4am kick! A lot of people out here wait until Sunday night and have watch parties, but there aren't a lot of Longhorns...and WAY too many Aggies! 😂 Besides, one of my favorite parts of college football is "watching" with my friend DJ and all of the texts throughout the game. Speaking of DJ, if you're a Longhorn fan and are reading this, he is single-handedly to blame for the loss to Georgia. I won't go into details as to why...but it's his fault. 100%. Jerrod has loved his grill purchase, and although it's strange not grilling for games, we have all benefitted from his Monday afternoons outside. We've purchased fresh caught marlin and tuna from neighbors, and enjoyed an array of burgers, brats, and of course hot dogs...

 I've been trying to keep these posts in chronological order, but I'm in my feelings right now. My favorite human left the island today. I cried. I'm actually still crying. I wasn't expecting to be so emotional about someone I've only known for a month. But, she is the cutest thing on the planet. And her parents are pretty cool, and I'm going to miss them too. I wasn't expecting our first PCS (Permanent Change of Station) experience to come so soon after our arrival. We knew that the military was only stationed out here for two years, but for some reason I made the assumption that they changed stations over the summer. Wrong. I fully expected Emmy to struggle with her friends leaving when the time came. But I was not prepared for my own big emotions. I should have been...but I wasn't. Lauren, thank you for the month of friendship and for allowing me to buy all of your things as you prepared to leave. Thank you for sharing your ...

ROUND 2 So, after our failed attempt, we decided to recruit one of Jerrod's educational assistants to take us around Ebeye the second time. We boarded the same Monday afternoon ferry as the last one and headed on over. Ms. Rosita was supposed to meet us on the dock, but when we arrived, she wasn't there. Panic mode sunk in, knowing we had over 3 hours until the next ferry arrived and I was still clueless about where to go on the island. But as we stood on the corner and contemplated what to do, we saw her arrive in her taxi, and relief set in. She took us to several stores to get all the things we needed in preparation for Manit Week. I don't know how it turned into such an expensive trip with as cheap as things are there, but Emmy will admit to "both" when asked if she is spoiled or well loved, so maybe that's why. The kids knew what was coming at Triple J when we arrived back to the docks about an hour before our departure...but were in for a disappointing s...

 So, Kwaj has fitness classes that you can buy a membership pass to attend. I bought the pass. And Dee Martin (and others) laughed in my face when I told her (them) I had. Not long after the purchase of my pass, a 10 day wellness challenge was posted online. Y'all know I LOVE a good challenge...even if it meant fitness. I was ALL IN! You could earn "coconuts" (raffle tickets) for completing an activity. I earned EVERY POSSIBLE COCONUT in the ten days... but didn't win crap. Which was disheartening for my competitive spirit, but I made a lot of friends and learned that I could do hard things along the way. But I still feel I should have at least won something...as both a Kwaj and wellness newbie...but whatever... 🤪

Ebeye is an island a 25 minute ferry ride away from Kwajalein where the native Marshallese people live. According to Wikipedia, it is an 80 acre island housing more than 15,000 people. We decided to venture out and take a trip one Monday afternoon. Our first mistake was going alone. Our second mistake was not getting a map before we left. We had heard of many great opportunities on Ebeye, but did not know how or where to get to any of them! The kids had heard that there was ice cream on Ebeye, so that was originally their sole mission - FIND THE ICE CREAM! We started to leave the dock area in search of the ice cream, when we were chased down. Turns out our third mistake was not checking into dock security. Oops! There were two stores right off the dock: Triple J Department Store and Payless Supermarket. We decided to venture inside. Triple J ended up being the perfect stop for our family. Not only were we able to find the ice cream ($3 each for th...