[five] on friday

This week has been a long one. Between Sadie falling from the couch onto our hardwood floor and the constant rain, I am so ready for this week to be over. And it is! It finally is! I'm waiting not so patiently for our Friday night ritual. Our awesome (duplex)neighbors have a little one around Sadie's age, so every Friday night, we put the kids to bed then sit on our porch and drink the wine away. It's wonderful and therapeutic.

Anyway, I'll skip to it and get going with my five on Friday!

[one]

If you've read recently, we are waiting to find our where our next assignment will take us. I revealed our #1 Pick here, our #2 Pick here(which is now unavailable), and I'm happy to reveal our Pick #3: 

Portland, Maine. 

There is no actual Army base here, but there is a MEPs Station, which is basically an in processing unit for the Military. We know very little about the job, let alone about Maine. So please, by all means, if you are familiar with Maine, send some great advice our way! 

We are pretty excited about this location though. All the research we've done proves it to be a beautiful spot. Maybe a little cold, okay a lot cold, but I think we could have a great two years here. 

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[two] 

Did I mention I'm drinking wine tonight? Here's what I have on hand this week. I love Kenwood wine and the Cabernet Sauvignon never fails me. You should try it too, but only if you're over 21. Drink Responsibly. 

[three] 

I'm not kidding when I tell you I ordered these for Sadie from Target. They should be here this weekend and I can't wait to see them on her! She may just be sporting these as a flower girl in a wedding coming up:-)  

[four] 

It is officially May, which means Mother's Day, Bachelorette Weekend, Memorial Day by the Lake, and one more month until my birthday! This month is going to fly by so fast. This is one of my favorite photos from Memorial Day at the Lake last year. Look at that little munchkin!

[five]

I'll end with a laugh. No matter how many times I read this, it makes me giggle. I need to try it out. Maybe for Steve's next poker night? 

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Pick #2: Fort Eustis

Today's a big day. We are meeting with Steve's Human Resources Branch Manager to find out more about our next duty station. It's pretty much an interview of sorts for them to decide where to place us. If you've been following along, I've talked about our process here and revealed our #1 pick here.

Today, I'm revealing Pick #2. Fort Eustis, Virginia. Another Virginia. Only about one hour from where we currently live actually.

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This area is wonderful. It is surrounded by water. It's about an hour from Virginia Beach, 20 Minutes from Williamsburg, and is so close to so many other areas to explore. We know there would be plenty of family friendly things to do in the area. We've actually visited Williamsburg three times already since we've lived here.

Hopefully, we come back from the interview today with some good information!


Edit: At our meeting today, we found out this spot is no longer available. While we would have loved it, it was just not in the cards for us!

Pick # 1: Virginia Beach

I mentioned in a previous post that we finally received the list of possible duty stations for Steve's next assignment. There are 33 Quartermaster officers in his class and 33 spots on the list. Let me start out by saying that we have to rank the entire list, Steve goes in for an interview and tells them where he wants to go... and then they just send us wherever the hell they want to send us anyway. Typical right? But we rank the spots anyway and hope for the best.

There were 10 overseas spots on the list. You heard me right. 10. One third of the list. And by overseas, I'm talking Korea, Japan, and Afghanistan. Most of these are one year tours that Sadie and I wouldn't even be able to attend. It makes me want to hyperventilate just thinking about it. But we won't think about that now. Happy thoughts:-)

Back to my original point. I've decided to share our top picks with you. Over the next few weeks I will share posts of each of our top picks until we receive orders with the winner. So let's get to it!

#1 Pick: Fort Story, Virginia Beach, VA.

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Yes, our first pick is only about 2 hours away from where we are currently staying. We actually visited this past weekend to get a feel for it. We had a great time at the beach and walking the boardwalk. The best part is that Fort Story really is in the heart of VA beach. It's right on the ocean. We would hope to live on base, because really who wouldn't want this in their back yard?

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Okay this is actually the higher officer housing, but we would still have a pathway to the beach from our town home.

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There's plenty to do around the area including the beach, aquarium, Chesapeake Bay, Busch Gardens, Water Parks, Mini Golf, James Town, Williamsburg, and so much more.

So there you have it folks. This is where we hope to settle for the next 2-3 years. Cross your fingers and say your prayers. If not, stay tuned for our next pick!

As an added bonus, here are some pictures from our fun day visiting the beach!