Fairfax

A few weeks before A-100 started, the mentor group for DH's class put out an email with helpful tips. On it, someone wrote that Fairfax was too far away, and that you shouldn't try doing A-100 from here. While living closer in would have been wonderful (especially in one of the Oakwoods), that wasn't an option for us, and we had already secured this apartment. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. If we lived away from the metro line and had to drive to it, it would be too far away, but right on the line, it isn't a bad commute at all. Plus, we get the advantage of having the kids in an amazing school system. I am really happy with it. Of course, it does have its ups and downs...

Driving in Fairfax can be a challenge. During non-rush hours, the only thing to watch out for is the lane size. In MN, we are used to really big lanes. Here, they are a bit smaller. I have done more "curb checks" here in the last two weeks than I have in the last 5 years. And, they don't trim trees and bushes so that a large vehicle doesn't hit them while sticking to their side of the road. There are a couple of places that I always swipe tree branches if there are cars coming in the opposite direction. But on the up side, everything we need is sooo close. I can live my life in a 3-mile radius (other than going to classes/meetings at the FSI or Main State). I suppose some day I will venture out to Costco, which is 8 miles away (still in Fairfax), but until then, I have what I need right here in my own little bubble.

During rush hour, that 3-mile radius may as well be 30 miles. The roads are full to the brim, and any amount of rain will make the whole city come to a grinding halt. Stop light cycles are approximately 5 minutes each, making every red light something to be avoided at all costs. If your light turns green, you must look both ways really carefully, because it is likely that two or three cars more than should will go through that "orange" light. But never fear that you will miss that green light by daydreaming; the car behind you will honk their horn the second that light turns green, regardless of whether you were daydreaming or not.

Parking spaces are hard to get into with our Ford E-350 if there are cars on both sides. We have learned to love the back of the grocery store parking lot.

There are an amazing number of grocery stores within my 3-mile bubble. I can go to Safeway, which is right in my neighborhood. I can go to Giant, which is north of us next to our church (and which I have decided has better prices and produce, and is a time-efficient way to kill off the grocery task while waiting for youth activities). Walmart is only a couple of miles away to our west, and Target is only a couple of miles away to our east. There are also a CVS and a Walgreens next to Safeway, and a CVS next to Giant, in case convenience is an issue. Grocery prices here are terrible. Think Mackenthun's (my Waconia friends will get this), but with double the dairy prices. Milk is $4 or more per gallon. Eggs are $2.50/dozen, and butter is $4/lb. Ouch.

I have been to Target and Walmart, but they are both inconvenient to my normal driving patterns, so I mostly go to Safeway and Giant, unless there are household things I need that I can't get from the grocery store. There are also office supply stores all over the place. If I need something I can't get from CVS or Walgreen's, Staples and Office Max are both within a mile. Hardware stores are a little farther away. I would love to get to one so that I can make copies of the apartment keys, but I never find myself in that direction, so I will have to just make a point of it soon. I believe Home Depot is right by Costco, so I'll have to plan a combined trip.

Of course, I must also compliment the weather here. It has been gorgeous every day. When it is hot, it is not as humid as MN. When it is cool, it is not too cool. It is sunny most days. I am not thinking Fall yet, and that is a wonderful thing! The landscaping here is also gorgeous. For such a busy city, it has a lot of green in it.

Church is good in Fairfax, but keeps us way too busy with our big family. Youth activities are not all on the same night of the week. Mondays at 4pm we have Wolf den meeting every other week. Wednesdays at 7:30pm is Webelos. Thursdays at 7:30pm is Mutual. I am getting worn out from all the driving. I think DS1 will be ready to do the Thursday drive soon. This week, I started having him drive whenever he is in the car. It was time to get back on the horse, and now that I know the area well, I am comfortable navigating him around. He is being much more cautious, which I appreciate. If our post assignment is one that keeps us here through the school year, then once we have the VW back from the shop (no, we don't have it back yet), we will buy him a parking pass for school and have him start driving to seminary. If it is closer in, I'll just keep doing it, since we'll be selling a vehicle and wouldn't want to pay for the parking pass. I'm exhausted, but I hope to adjust to the schedule soon. Maybe once daylight savings time ends...

Oh, did I forget to complete that sentence? I think I fell asleep.

Okay, maybe I should tell you a little about our bid list before I take a mid-morning nap. I'd love to tell you where we would like to go, but apparently we aren't allowed to mention which countries are on the bid list online. There are over 30 posts in our top picks list at the moment. Basically, if it doesn't have accredited schools for our kids, it went to the bottom of the list. If it has good schools and the housing situation is good, it went to the top of the list. There are some posts in the mid section that just didn't excite us, like one country where the commute is long and the housing is rumored to be "depressing." We really took the commute into account for both DH and the kids. There is so much on this list that looks wonderful. It was hard to decide what factors would determine between high and medium, after the posts with no decent schools were trimmed out. DH really doesn't know whether he'd rather get his Consular assignment out of the way first, learn all about the workings of the embassy as an HRO (Human Resources Officer) or get a position in his Econ cone. I think he would optimally take a combination assignment, where he gets to share or rotate Consular and Econ or Consular and Political duties. But, it matters so little, because he has to do the Consular assignment at some point, so it may as well be now. We can't wait until October 11th!

Bid List

I'm sorry I've been so quiet this past week. DH got his bid list on Thursday, and we have been researching posts nearly every free second; that is, when I'm not chauffeuring children to church activities (which in our ward are not all on the same night, but fall on three different nights for my kids), going to spouse training, trying to figure out where to put all of the stuff I had sent to us via UAB, or helping DH fill out his voucher forms (that's how we get our per diem and lodging paid).

The bid list is wonderful! I guess DH's sponsoring class, the 172nd, is jealous. We are finding many, many posts that fit our criteria. Plus, the majority are in hot climates. Yay! (If you haven't heard, I am hoping for a hiatus from Minnesota-like weather this first tour). There is a lot of Africa, South America, and even some safe (ish) places in the middle east. We would like to get a hardship post our first tour, which will allow us to have more of a choice for our second tour post. Our top criteria is school availability, though. I would really like to not home school seven children, thank you very much. That would be insane to begin the one year that they are all in school. Of course, it is only six children if we don't leave until later...but that is still a lot to bite off. Plus, I don't really want to home school at all if there isn't internet, and it seems like the posts either have good schools and internet or no schools and no internet, with few exceptions. I'd also like to go somewhere where I can get an embassy/consulate job. Although I hear the pay isn't great, I think it would make a good entrance to the workforce for me.

I need to get back to researching posts, and then I need to get ready to go. I have spouse training again this afternoon. DH & I get to go to class together today and find out more about the bidding process from the CDOs (Career Development Officers).

We Made it to Fairfax

We spent a week in two hotel rooms at the Springhill Suites. It had free breakfast, enough beds, and was clean, so I can't really complain...but I'll say it was a stressful week. We had to get seven children to three different schools that had three very different start times each day, plus get DS1 & DS2 to seminary before that. So, our day started at 5:15 a.m. DH drove the seminary run (it started at 5:55 a.m.), and luckily someone there was willing to get them to school for us. I drove the middle school run. It started at 7:40 a.m. Then, we went together to get the elementary kids to school by 9:15 a.m. On the first day, we picked up the high-schoolers at 2:50 and the middle-schoolers at 3:20. We had the elementary kids get used to the bus right off the bat, and picked them up by the apartment at 3:55 (although it was really 4:20 by the time it got there). We got bus schedules and tried to get the five younger kids to their bus stops the latter half of the week, but it never worked out for all of them until Friday. The elementary bus was always late going both directions, but that middle school bus was on time each morning...so they were the ones we always had to drive. DS1 & DS2 started Cross Country practice on Wednesday, so we had to pick them up at 5:45 p.m. each day, extending our pick-up times from 3:00-5:45 p.m. daily. Since the hotel was about 15-20 minutes away from the general area of the apartment and high school, we didn't like going back and forth between the trips, so it was a lot of sitting and waiting. 

DH and I ran errands during the days. We picked up school supplies that the kids found out about after school started. We got familiar with the neighborhood and walked the path the high-schoolers will be walking home from school. We got an oil change on the van, and a serpentine belt, as well, as we found out ours was cracking. (We would have changed the blinker fluid if they had recommended it, just to make sure our only car kept running properly.) The evening before the oil change, our battery died. DH had thought the van had a separate auxiliary battery, and had kept his components plugged into the charger several times while we waited for children at bus stops that day, Unfortunately, when we tried starting it after we stopped at a store, it didn't have enough charge to turn over all the way. That vehicle doesn't have a separate auxiliary battery. Oops. We got a jump start and drove it until we felt like it was charged enough, and we were fine the next day. 

On Friday, there was an after-school party for the elementary kids from our bus stop. They played at the neighborhood playground and we all brought treats. The kids did really well adjusting to school. There are still a little quirks, like the older kids not being able to get into Blackboard online. But all in all, it has gone well. They got into good classes, and met other kids from church in their classes. Church, by the way, was amazing. We called on Monday to find out about seminary, and by Tuesday, we had been emailed by every auxiliary leader to get information about the kids and let us know the schedules for the youth activities. By Thursday, our records had been transferred in and we could see everyone's contact information in our LDS Tools apps. We were even brought dinner one night. We have felt very welcomed to the area. 

Sunday was the big day! We went to church at 9 a.m., then checked out of the apartment at 1 p.m. We picked up our keys to our apartment and brought our luggage in. There were only a couple of minor issues. Mostly, I am really happy with it. I'll make a little list of the good and the not-so-good. 

The good: 

Comfortable beds & bedding 

Convenient location: The bus stop is directly outside my kitchen deck, and being on the lower level on the corner next to the stairwell, we only share one short wall with neighbors, and haven't heard a peep from those above us. 

The metro rail line is a 5-10 minute walk from here, so DH can easily jump on a train in the mornings.

Granite countertops, new fixtures New stainless steel appliances 

Attractive, functional furniture 

Lots of cupboards and closets 

Close, secure parking (the garage is underground, and we can park right by our apartment and walk a short flight of stairs from it) 

Washer and dryer have surprisingly large capacities 

Friendly neighbors 

The not-so-good: 

While having this location is convenient to the bus stop, there is a sidewalk right in front of it. People walk it all night long, and DS3 & DS4 had a little bit of trouble sleeping with the windows open last night. It wasn't a problem the first night, with the A/C on, so we may have to go back to that. 

The sunroom that is listed on our lease and was in the floorplan doesn't exist. In its place is a second deck, which isn't even the size the sunroom was supposed to be. Not like the size matters, because if it isn't enclosed, we can't exactly have someone sleep in it, can we? As the sunroom wasn't there, neither was the extra bed. However, there is a love seat, which is where DS6 has been sleeping. 

The dining table has four chairs, but could fit six. I may ask for two more as a concession for not having the sunroom and bed we were promised. 

The sofa is in the spot where I was planning to put bar stools. I am going to see if I can do some re-arranging today. 

The floating wood laminate floor is a bit loose in places. When walking over those places, one can feel the floor move. Not a huge problem, but it would have been nice if that wasn't the case. 

The keyed entry to the lobby is by a FOB, not a normal key. We only have two FOBs, so we will probably have to give DH's to DS3. If lost, it will cost $200 to replace it. Ouch! 

All in all, I think the good outweighs the not-so-good. We are in close quarters, but not too close for comfort. And, it is temporary. October 11th is Flag Day, and then we'll know how long we will be here. (BTW, I may have said October 4th at one time, but that turned out to be bad information, which was corrected a week or two ago.) 

I suppose some of you may want to know how DH's first day went. He said it was boring. They met at Main State in D.C., got their security badges, found out how to read a security badge, had a benefits meeting, and listened to a lot of dos and don'ts. The A-100 class was combined with the specialists class and security personnel who were starting at the same time, so they didn't even meet all of their classmates. The only time they met people was when they were standing in lines together. Today they get to go to A-100 for the first time. I'll update you again after I hear how it went. One last thing - DS1's Eagle Application was approved at the end of last week, so we are in the process of setting up a board of review. They are going to do it via Skype. Yay!

Adversity

Everything had even going so smoothly before we set off. The house was sold, our stuff miraculously fit in our vehicles, and we had pretty good weather as we set off. Something was likely to go wrong, right?

First, we had major issues getting around Chicago. The bypass was stop and go all the way. There were thunderstorms, and we even got hit by some hail. It took 3 hours to travel what should have taken 45 minutes. Finally, we reached Indiana and were crossing into Ohio when DS1 ran into us at a toll booth. He looked down at something in the cup holder and misjudged how far ahead of us we were. The damage looked minimal - the grate of the Jetta had a hole in it and the license plate was messed up, and the Econoline's bumper was a bit dented, but nothing looked too bad, so we went on our way. 

After a couple of miles, DS1 called. The radiator warning light on the Jetta was flashing, so we thought we would find the nearest exit. The Jetta didn't make it that far. It started smoking and DS1 had to pull off the road. We hadn't removed the trailer hitch from the van after transporting the trailer last week for his Eagle project, and it had punched through the grate of the Jetta, pushing the radiator into the engine. Thus, the damage looked slim, but it was pretty bad.

AAA came to the rescue. We got a tow to a service station in Holiday City, OH, where we left the car overnight, and checked into a Holiday in just down the road. Marriott kindly let us out of our reservation for Cleveland. We found a U-Haul nearby with a tow dolly, and secured it for today. We are now trying to get a dead car loaded onto the dolly properly. DS and the tow truck driver pushed it up the dolly, but it was a little too far to the left, so the tow truck driver is going to jack it up a bit in a few minutes and push it into place for us. Then, we will be on our way. It will be a long drive today, as we head all the way to Fairfax.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?

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While we were moving luggage around, I managed to fall into a hole made by a pipe going to some drain tile and scrape all of the skin off of my left ankle. Luckily, we weren't checked out yet, so we were able to go soak it and get all the dirt out. I am grateful it wasn't my right ankle, or Aaron wouldn't get a break driving today.

If anyone out there is superstitious, you can quit worrying about us now, as everything comes in threes. ;-)