PCS Season

PCS (Permanent Change of Station) season is upon us once again. For most moving this cycle (the military tries to move most families in the summer, or around Christmas/winter break, however it doesn't always work out that way), they are busy prepping and organizing their moves...well now we get to join in on the fun of the season! J found out last week there was an opportunity to move to Scott AFB reporting in July, he called to see what I would say (after he already said yes). Of course I was all full of questions...what would he be doing, does this fit into his "plan" for his career (which if you are familiar with the military you now I use the term "plan" loosely), when we would have to be there, does he need to go for additional training, etc, etc...most questions he really didn't know the answer to at that point. Thursday he called saying he got an email saying that his orders were going to be processed!

Both of us are super excited about heading closer to home (which 9 hours to my parents farm is considered close when we have dipped our toes in the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean within the past couple of years), to get back to a slower pace of living, and dare I say cheaper lifestyle (gas on base today is at a low of $4.05 today). As Grandparents and Parents age, it will be nice to be able to possibly have long weekends or summer breaks back in MN again without breaking open the boys' piggy banks. This summer we were planning on taking leave and driving back to MN, it will be two year since being back, but instead we will try to take leave with the PCS and be able to get reimbursed for some of our travel costs going east thanks to the military moving us.

We have brought up moving to boys in passing, but haven't officially said we are moving, and they seem up for a change. They did ask if certain friends will be moving with us, since it seems whenever we have moved in the past we have lucked out and have had similar assignments to other families we know (fortunately we do have friends already stationed at Scott, just not the specific ones they mentioned since they are stationed here with us now). I think they will be excited about being closer to their cousins and Grandparents, but most importantly to them is that they want to live somewhere with snow...check!

So starting today we have almost 100 days before we need to check into Scott AFB, that means less then a 100 days left here at Travis AFB (insert sad face about leaving some great friends). So less then 100 days to get things organized, have J go on a "trip", host my parents trip out in April, have the boys finish school and attend soccer camp, clean and pack up the house and hit the road for our new assignment. Hopefully we can fit in some fun trips and adventures in there somewhere since my CA to-do list still has some items that need to be crossed off!