The G’s At Sea

 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...

People on Kwajalein have a name for non-working spouses: fluff. When Jerrod first heard that term, he thought it was hilarious. But it's a big thing! There are stickers and koozies and everything! So, here is what my day as a fluff typically looked like in my first three weeks: 6:45am - Jerrod's alarm goes off. I will get up with him if one of the kids is awake or if I can't sleep. 7:30am - My alarm goes off. I wake up the kids if they are still sleeping, get them dressed, make them breakfast, and get their toothbrushes, backpacks, and snacks ready. 8:10am - Hug and kiss the kids goodbye as they head off to school on their bikes. 8:15am-11am - Shower and get dressed, wash the dishes, do a load of laundry, make the beds, connect with friends from the States, and maybe read a little. Have coffee with my new girlfriends on Fridays. 11am - Watch Wheel of Fortune while getting lunch ready. 11:45am-12:15pm - Have lunch with Jerrod and the kids, talk to my parents...

As many of you know, I love hosting parties. I usually don’t even make it 24 hours after one kid’s birthday event before I start thinking about the next kid’s. From the invitations to the food to the favors, everything is strategically themed and meticulously planned. So, when I realized that we would be arriving on Kwaj days before Johnny’s birthday instead of having the nerf gun party I had planned, I had a bit of a panic moment. How was I going to make this birthday special? We celebrated with extended family the weekend before Jerrod left for South Carolina, and he was so excited to have Uncle Dude in town! I had become Facebook friends with some teachers over the summer, and they told me to just post on one of the local pages that we were going to the beach with cupcakes to celebrate his birthday and people would come. I was skeptical, but decided it was worth a shot. So, once we arrived on island, I quickly became aware that cake mix was a rare commodity. How was I going to do cu...