Catching you up!

Rob’s first couple of weeks in England has been very productive, or as productive as you can be without a car for the first couple of days.  So yes, we now have a car.  His sponsor sold us his car, so we now have a 1996 Subaru Impreza.

So to everyone that he told that we would not get a manual car, he did.  He has since gone apartment hunting.  He looked at four places on Friday and we found one we liked and it is right by the train station. I will put up pictures once we for sure have the apartment, I don’t want to be over optimistic.  He has also done a bit of site seeing in the towns nearest to base.  As for me, I have gone and sent in my passport application and that will take about 8 weeks, is what I was told.  Once my passport comes in I need to apply for my visa but that will only take about a week.  So as of right now it is just a lot of waiting.  I have sent in my application and did my phone interview with this new school and I was accepted.  Now I need to get them my most recent transcript and work out my financial aid situation. I have done a ton of packing, my closet is nearly empty and I am trying to completely empty it out and try to just put them in my wardrobe.  I have started sending boxes to Paula’s house.  Just a heads up you should start getting them soon.  Lately, it has just been packing.  Although, I did my medical approval to leave the States and I went into school to visit some friends while I was taking care of some stuff.  I really miss being in school and the people that are there.  I can only hope that I meet as nice of people at my new school.  Other than that there has been a lot of time with me hanging out with my Steve and the family.  We have spent a lot of evenings outside and the weekends are mostly outside.  Yesterday we bought pools, one for the boys and one for Xander.  So we blew those up while Steve and his friend split wood.  I’m sure we had more fun than they did.  The weather is gorgeous here right now and it doesn’t get dark until well after 9 o’clock.  Rob starts work on Monday and he should be excited because he is always complaining about how bored he is.  Due to everyone over there being deployed they aren’t working regular shifts.  They work around the flight schedule, so they are crazy hours and longer than usual.  The time difference is hard.  He is waking up as I am getting ready for bed and when I wake up he is getting off work.  So when he is going to bed it is usually the middle of the day.  It makes it hard to do anything when he is sitting in a hotel room wanting to talk all during my day.  But we are making it work.  So the waiting has officially begun, especially since I feel like I have packed more than half of my room up.  

Two Weeks of Family Time

Week 1

Well Hello everyone! Things have been very busy for us for the past couple of weeks.  So in my last post I know I told you about how we were both having pretty bad travel days, well after that happened his flight out of O’Hare and into Indy was delayed by an hour so I was sitting there for 4 hours.  Luckily, Paula (Rob’s Mom) and Heather (his sister) came and we loaded all of my luggage into the car and we sat and talked for about 2 hours.  We ended up getting home after one am, so it was an extremely long day for the both of us.  The following day we had a BBQ at Paula’s house and I met everyone in his family.  It was a lot of fun and we had great food.  We were then supposed to go out with a couple of friends from his hometown but we ended up passing out at like 9.  Obviously we are big partiers if you couldn’t tell ;)  Saturday morning we went out to breakfast with Rob’s friends Emily and Paul.  It was Paul’s birthday and we were all getting together so we could go to Ball State for the night.  Once breakfast was over we drove on up to Muncie, IN.  Ball State is a beautiful campus (I made Paul give us a driving tour).   During the day we just hung out and watched a couple of movies and smoked some Hookah.  We went out to dinner and then we came home and started getting ready to go out to the bars.  There have not been many times since I really miss ISU (my old school) but this night was one of them.  College bars are amazing the alcohol is cheap and everyone is just out to get drunk and have a good time.   After we successfully liquored Paul up, Rob and I got a ride home from one of Paul’s friends and just passed out.  On Sunday we had to drive back to Eaton and go to his other sister’s house for another BBQ.  This was the day I was going to meet his dad, so I was a little nervous.  We had some hamburgers and hot dogs and hung out with our nieces (Lucy-5 and Nicole-2).  Overall it was a very good day and when we got home we were able to just relax.  Monday morning we went to get Rob’s new id since ours will expire while we are over in England.  We then spent the rest of the day going through boxes and boxes of stuff from Rob’s childhood.  It was surprisingly fun and I learned a little bit more about my husband.  That is all we did on Monday so it wasn’t really busy at all and then Heather made us baked spaghetti for dinner.  Tuesday we went to the mall in Dayton, so Rob could get some jeans since he owns like a pair.  The sad thing was, is that I had to convince him to buy them since we are moving somewhere that it is actually cold instead of Vegas.  After the mall we went to his grandma’s house for dinner and we went through pictures and had another great night with the family.  After we got home from his grandma’s we rushed home to watch Biggest Loser, because Rob is obsessed with it.  After that we called it a night and then onto a lazy Wednesday.  During the day we laid around and watched movies and then did the same thing through the night.  Thursday was definitely more interesting.  We went out to breakfast with his dad at Waffle House and then came home and cleaned out the garage.  Rob and I had made plans to celebrate Mother’s day with Paula on Thursday because we weren’t going to be there on Sunday.  So we went to the puppy store and played with some adorable baby puppies.  We also went out to dinner at Panera Bread and then went to see Star Trek.  Paula is a big trekie and we thought it would be fun to go see it.  After the movie we came home and gave her, her mother’s day presents, which she loved.   On Friday, we had another BBQ with the family since this was the last time they are seeing Rob for a year and a half.  We were again supposed to go out with friends afterwards but it wasn’t going to be until super late and we both had to pack and get up at like 6 in the morning so we decided against it. 

 

Week 2

On Saturday morning we went out to breakfast with friends again and sat there for about 2 hours after we were done eating, so I am sure the waitress loved us.  From there we met my parents and they met my in-laws and Rob and I unpacked the van of all of my stuff that is going to England and then we packed it full of our stuff that we needed.  We sat around the house chit chatting for an hour or so and then decided to take our parents out to lunch, so we drove to Richmond, IN and went to Chili’s.  We then proceeded to have a 4-hour car ride and then went out to dinner with Grandma in the city at Flat Top Grill.  It’s a great restaurant that I would recommend to anyone.  It is a create your own stir-fry place and such a fun time.  So Saturday was another very long day.  On mother’s day we went to the Sox game and had amazing seats thanks to my dad’s work.  We sat right between home and first about 10 rows up.  We went early and tailgated and played bags (corn hole for my Ohio readers).   

  Rob and my dad became best friends as they drank the day away.  When we got home they both passed out for a couple of hours so my mom and I ate dinner and watched some TV.  Monday we went out to lunch with one of my best friends from home, Missy.  We also found out the Rob’s dad was in Hammond so we drove out there to meet him and talked for a little bit and took some pictures and said our good-byes again.  From there we had plans to go out to dinner with some of my friends from school, we went to Mongolian BBQ which is another create your own stir-fry place.  It just isn’t as good as Flat Top.  After dinner I said we said good-bye to some friends and met some more at the bar.  We went to Rizzo’s in Naperville, IL, which on Mondays has dollar beers.  I also overlooked that fact that there was a Blackhawks playoff game on, so the bar was packed but it was a good time and I loved seeing my friends and seeing Rob with them.  On Tuesday we went to get my new id for my new name and to renew it.  Since the DMV is about 3 blocks from my mom’s work, we stopped by with lunch.  After lunch we went home and got ready to go to dinner with my cousin Michelle and her husband John.  I tried to give Rob the full experience so I made him ride the train.  We went to a sushi place in the city called Sunda.  It was delicious and such a great time.  After dinner we stopped and picked up Garrett Popcorn for my parents and for us.  It is the best popcorn out there.  It is something I feel I must do when going into the city.  On Wednesday we drove up to New Buffalo, MI to meet my cousin Emily for lunch.  Yes, I got Rob to go into Michigan, something he told me he would never do.  We went to a really nice bar and grill and just caught up and ate some delicious food.  We then drove home in a pretty nasty rainstorm but it wasn’t anything we weren’t used to.  For dinner we stayed home to eat with my parents and had steak, baked potatoes, and broccoli.  It is one of my favorite meals ever, very easy but such a classic.  After dinner my Aunt and Uncle stopped by and brought dessert.  Thursday was our last day together and we spent the morning packing and cleaning his stuff up.  We then drove up to my dad’s work so he could say good-bye and then it was up to my Aunt Cathy’s house.  She lives about 15 minutes from the airport and someone I really wanted Rob to meet.  We hung out there for a couple of hours and had Aurelio’s for dinner.  Aurelio’s is one of the most popular pizza places in Chicago and has amazing pizza.  From there we left at 630ish and we drove to O’Hare and had our tearful good-bye.  It’s a lot harder saying good-bye to someone when you aren’t sure when you are going to talk to them again.  I drove back to my Aunt’s house and hung out there till about 1 am catching up and just talking.  On Friday my mom and me spent the day together running errands and just spending time with each other.  The weather was absolutely miserable but it was an overall good day.  Saturday was my cousin Jenna’s graduation/confirmation party.  It was amazing to see all of my family again.  We played bags and ate and drank.  Saturday night Emily stayed over and then on Sunday my mom and Emily brought me to the airport for another good-bye.  

Getting Things Done

So things haven’t been incredibly busy for us these past couple of days.  We are just trying to get informed on what I need to do before moving.  It is hard because I am an hour away from the Air Force base up here and there are a lot of things that I’m sure it would be easier if I could just run over there.  I’m working on getting a new passport with the government and getting anything else that I need done.  No one has really told us what that is quite yet.  We hear different things from different people at both bases.  It’s been stressful but not too bad.  We are both very excited to go home and see everyone.  I am currently working on packing up my stuff for my vacation there and packing up stuff I don’t really need till I get to England.  I am packing up my room that I just got settled in.  Rob has basically nothing except a bag that he is living out of.  His stuff is already in transit over there.  We have been looking at apartments online together because he is afraid to decide on a place without me.  Some things have finally come into place, I am officially on Rob’s orders which if you don’t know means that the Air Force will move me.  I am currently sitting on a plane since today is both of our travel days going to Ohio.  We are flying into Indianapolis and will probably not get to Eaton until after 11.  It so far has been a very stressful and long day for both of us.  His flight was supposed to leave for Chicago at 8 and was delayed due to the weather in Chicago (shocking).  My flight was supposed to leave at 11 and didn’t take off till about 11:30 and I had a connecting flight to catch in Denver that I just barely made after I sprinted across the airport.  I will be so happy when today is over.  We will be in Ohio till May 9^th and then in Chicago till the 14^th.  I will be staying in Chicago till the 17^th.