Chain Saw

Alex and Jess bought a battery operated chain saw for Little Al and gave it to him when they were down here last month. He was so thrilled. He kept wanting to go outside and use it on the bushes. He's been enthralled with chain saws ever since he worked with Uncle Al up in Inkom while Adam was at OCS. Uncle Al was cutting down trees and working outside and Little Al couldn't get enough of it.

 

Haircut

Alex said he wanted his hair cut like Papa's (he has two Papa's: Randy and Adam's Grandpa Willis, and they both wear the same do).  So I indulged him . . .

 

for a few minutes.

Sink or Swim

Paige runs a tight ship when it comes to swimming lessons.  She has been teaching swimming lessons all summer to the neighborhood kids with great success.  These are no "dip your toe in the water" swim lessons.  Parents who can not handle the "save yourself" style of teaching are welcome to observe from inside the house or better yet, not stay for the lesson.  Paige honestly can get kids who are screaming and clawing at her the first couple lessons to be completely comfortable in the water and able to get to their backs when they enter the water at the end of a two week course.  Those in attendance whether it is the swimmer or a spectator will experience a range of emotions anywhere from heartbreak and anger to relief and a sense of success.  All the while, Paige never gives in while holding steady to her purpose and reinforces her tough love with words of encouragement throughout and hugs and high fives at the end of lessons.   

 

We went to Inkom for family reunions so Alex got his chance at swim lessons.  It was great.    

 

Hide and Seek

When we hear Adam parking the car downstairs when he gets home from work Alex runs to hide.  Lately this has been one of his favorite, most clever spots.

 

Our Stuff

We have survived a month in California without almost all of our stuff and have actually been using very little of our stuff, thanks to living with family, since we moved from Boston last fall.  The apartment we moved into here in IB is furnished so we have gotten by fine.  Although I am very excited that our stuff is here, I really kind of wish we didn't have so much STUFF!

 

 

Just to give a little history, when we moved from Boston to Idaho we loaded everything into a PODS shipping container.  This pod sat in a lot for a month or so in Boise while we decided what to do with ourselves.  Once it was decided that we would move in with Paul and Whitney for a while we unloaded everything into one side of their garage.  There it sat for 5 months.  Then when Adam started OCS and Alex and I moved to Inkom we loaded everything up in a Uhaul truck, drove it to Inkom and unloaded it in the loft at Randy and Paige's house.  When it came time to leave Inkom, the Navy moved our things for us.  Unfortunately we were on a waiting list so we had to leave for California before the movers came.  They had to repack a lot of things so that they could fully insure safety.  From Inkom our storage containers were moved to Boise, then transported to somewhere in the Midwest, (Nebraska I think) then they finally traveled to California where they were unloaded and reloaded somewhere in San Diego.  We left Inkom on June 10th and our stuff finally arrived in IB today, July 13!  It is amazing that the only things that have been broken along the way since Boston were the feet off of a box fan and one of the hooks on our vacuum. 

Beach

We took our first walk to the beach, Imperial Beach, where we live.  It was Sunday and we wanted to just do a quick walk over but it ended with Alex stripped to his underwear so he could properly enjoy the water and sand.

 

Goodbye Inkom

We finally had to leave Inkom.  We loved living there while Adam was at OCS but now that he is done it is time to move to California.  We arrived June 10 and Adam checked in onto base on June 12.  The first week we were here we lived in the Navy Lodge on the North Island base in Coronado.  As much as we liked living in a one room place that included a mini fridge and microwave we were very excited when we finally found an apartment to rent.  We really wanted to live in Coronado but after looking for many weeks prior to moving to California and looking more once we got here, we finally decided it was out of our price range for what we needed.  We settled in Imperial Beach (IB as all the locals say).  Our condo is only 10 minutes to the base where Adam is stationed and 15 minutes from Coronado.  We live 2 blocks from the beach and 5 minutes from church.