I'm moving to Florida so I can be closer to Disney_A PTR

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Hi! Are you there? Well then, Welcome! Nice to meet ya!

As you can see from the title here, I am moving to Florida! I know.....a Dream come True! This is a PTR for our first vacation as "Florida residents" as well as a PTR for the move itself. You see, this move is a pretty big deal for us. We have been stationed at the same base for 15 years.....a pretty long time for one base!
Now, As I begin this I should let you know that we don't have any trip plans set in stone yet. We will however, be in the State of Florida so I am counting that as Step 1 toward the goal of a vacation!
So let me fill you guys in on my cast of crazies! First is me! I am Rebecca....I'm the mom! You can call me Pyrate or even Gingy (thats short for my alter ego.....The Ginger Midget)......So nice you meet you!
My husband is Eric and he is the true reason for this PTR. He is in the Military, Airforce to be exact! He is my rock most days but the bane of my existance on other days. I love him with all of my heart and we have been through some things that would make you guys cringe!
Kat is our daughter. She is 8 years old and will be referred to as Hobo 1 here in this report. She is a fiesty little girl who is almost as tall as me! Kat is nervous about this move. Since she has been alive we have been in the same area so she is freaking out a bit.
AJ is our son........He is 4 right now and aspires to be a dinosaur who flies planes in his spare time...He is in school right now and he is thriving. He is in a special ed class for severe speech issues. More on that later though. AJ is obsessed with Pixar! All of his favorite movies are Pixar in fact his Christmas was made up of everything Toy Story 3! He will be referred to as Hobo 2!
If you are still reading this, please hang out for a bit....It's time for me to eat some dinner and then I will be back for more!

So as I leave you for a bit here is something for you to discuss amongst yourselves........
~Rhode Island.......It's neither a Road nor an Island! There, Discuss!

NEW: Cheat Links!!!!!

It all started a long long long time ago!
A picture of PARADISE!
The story of AJ and why we decided it was time to move

 

[topdog]

Really!? Lucky you!! I am in.

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Really!? Lucky you!! I am in.

Yep Topdog.....We are moving to Florida! Not as close as I would like to be but, 5 hours is a lot closer than 12 hours away!

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Ok so I lied! I never got back on last night......my bad, Please forgive me!

As I said we are moving to Florida....This is a huge deal for us. Here is a little back story!

<insert wavy lines for flashback scene>

Ok so Eric and I met after he was already enlisted. We fell in love and moved in together pretty quickly. I swear to you, it was 2 days.....2 DAYS after we moved in together that he got orders to Korea.....ARGH We decided that I would stay in our place and that we would tough it out for a year. We also decided that we were going to get married! Yep, he fell for me! Who wouldn't though?

He left for Korea in March of 2001. We were planning a boat wedding since we live on the coast. We even booked the boat for a 3 hour tour.....a 3 hour tour....hehehe. I thought that was funny! The plan was to get married in September but as we all know September 2001 wasn't a good year. After September 11th, I got the call saying that he wasn't coming home on leave. They were prepping to go to the desert. Naturally I freaked out. I cancelled all of our plans and sat by the phone. I even quit going home at night. I was spending an aweful lot of time at my moms house. 2 months went by and I got a call telling me that he was coming home in 2 days! That was October 17th. I called the Justice of the peace and arranged everything for 2 days later. He landed and we went straight to our "wedding". October 19th we got married on what is known at "mid-tour leave". We packed up our house and stored everything because we still didn't know what was going on with him going to the desert. I planned on staying with my mom to save money.
When he came home for good we had our first child pretty quickly after. We were content living here in Virginia close to my family. A few years later he was "locked" into the brand new F-22 jet. That meant that we couldn't get orders to leave this base because they needed him on that jet. We thought this was a historic chance for him to be one of the first people to ever work on it. During our "lock" we also had another child.
AJ was born with a condition known as Craniosynostosis. It means he was born without a soft spot. Because of his condition, he had a skull reconstruction when he was 3 months old. The military offers this great program called EFMP. It is used to aid families with special needs. We were on the program because we needed to be near our hospital and our surgical group.
AJ is now 4 1/2 and is facing his last surgery. Eric is now "unlocked" from the jet so we thought we would try to get orders. We have been through surgeries for AJ before and we know that no matter where we go he will be taken care of. Eric has tried and tried and tried to get orders but been denied each time. He finally applied for a specific type of orders that would look at the amount of time he has been here at this base. His entire career with the exception of the time in Korea has been here.
We applied for these orders in October. They are supposed to let us know within 4 weeks. So we waited and waited and waited. 4 weeks came and went and nothing. Finally we were notified that we had been denied We were bummed but decided it was for the best.
December 4th he came home from work early. In his hands was paperwork. He told me to look at it and OMG....WE HAVE ORDERS!!! We are due to report to Eglin AFB (by Pensacola) no later than June 30 2011! WE ARE MOVING TO FLORIDA!!!!!


As of right now we have taken care of almost everything we need to before the packing begins. We have AJs final appointment with his surgical group tomorrow. There is a chance that they will want the next surgery before we leave but who knows! This is the surgery he was supposed to have in 2009. We will see what they say and go with the flow.

We have tons to do before we leave. We are pulling the kids out of school May 31st. Their last day here is June 13th but we decided to take a trip up north since we really don't know when we will make it up again! We are planning to be at WDW on July 6th for AJs 5th birthday but, thats just a plan for now................heck, after May 31st we are homeless!!!

 

[topdog]

Good luck to your move. Looks like you have a lot of prep work ahead of you for the next few months.

What does your DH do with F-22? Maintenance, weapon support or pilot?? F-22 Raptor is my favorite fighter jet AF ever made, next to F-14 Tomcat. The last time I saw a F-22 flew was at Virgina Beach Oceana Naval Air Station. The way how it maneuver in the air was so graceful.

I took this shot back in 2007 at Virginia Beach.

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Good luck to your move. Looks like you have a lot of prep work ahead of you for the next few months.

What does your DH do with F-22? Maintenance, weapon support or pilot?? F-22 Raptor is my favorite fighter jet AF ever made, next to F-14 Tomcat. The last time I saw a F-22 flew was at Virgina Beach Oceana Naval Air Station. The way how it maneuver in the air was so graceful.

I took this shot back in 2007 at Virginia Beach.

Great shot of the jet! I have tons!!! That is one of the perks of being a Flightline wife!!! Eric works Mainenance on the jets. Seeing the jet in person is amazing. We are allowed into the hangars to see it but can't take any pics when it is in there He worked on the F-15 before the 22 came out. We were even able to get a picture of Katarina in the Cockpit of a 15 when she was about 2 years old....Ill see if I can find the pic and upload it! Have you ever been to the Airforces air show? It is amazing and the jets do more than they do for the Naval airshow!!!

 

[*Seanaci*]

Wow. So excited for you guys!

And God Bless your husband for being in the Air Force.

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Wow. So excited for you guys!

And God Bless your husband for being in the Air Force.

Thank you so much! I will pass that along to him, he loves the support he gets from you guys here!!!!!

 

[topdog]

Great shot of the jet! I have tons!!! That is one of the perks of being a Flightline wife!!! Eric works Mainenance on the jets. Seeing the jet in person is amazing. We are allowed into the hangars to see it but can't take any pics when it is in there He worked on the F-15 before the 22 came out. We were even able to get a picture of Katarina in the Cockpit of a 15 when she was about 2 years old....Ill see if I can find the pic and upload it! Have you ever been to the Airforces air show? It is amazing and the jets do more than they do for the Naval airshow!!!

That's awesome you get to be so close to the jets. It's cool that your then 2 years old get to sat inside the F-15 cockpit. I would love to see that. I did saw the F-14 cockpit in mid 90s at a local airshow but not allow to take picture of it. Forget about sitting inside.

I've been to a few AFB for airshow like Seymour Johnson AFB at NC.

and Andrew AFB.

I was lucky enough to see all 3 jets, F-117 Stealth fighter, F-22 and F-35 up close and personal at Andrew AFB.

Although I saw the F-22 flew the first time at NC back in 2006. They won't even allow it to land. It flew down from Langley for the demo and flew back when its done.

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Great pics!!!!! Eric will be working on the F-35 in Florida!!!!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

I'm here!

 

[carissanboys]

Hi Rebecca!

I live in Virginia Beach so I get to see (and hear!) the jets often!

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

I'm here!

YUKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've missed you ......I am so glad you came and can be part of our most excellent journey!

Hi Rebecca!

I live in Virginia Beach so I get to see (and hear!) the jets often!

Hi and

I lived in Va Bch when we were younger. The Navy base had off-base housing called Carper housing! It was in the Green Run area! I love the jets. They have never bothered me at all. The only time I seem to notice them is when I am on the phone and they I only notice them because whoever I am talking to points out the noise!

 

[carissanboys]

I lived in Va Bch when we were younger. The Navy base had off-base housing called Carper housing! It was in the Green Run area! I love the jets. They have never bothered me at all. The only time I seem to notice them is when I am on the phone and they I only notice them because whoever I am talking to points out the noise!

It's amazing how quickly you get used to them. I don't notice them much either unless I'm on the phone or when I'm trying to watch TV at night. But, most of the time it isn't a big deal. We live pretty close to Oceana so we're right in the flight path. It is pretty cool when the air show is going on to have the Blue Angels fly right over your house!

 

[Pyrate_Pryncess]

Hi guys! I just thought I would pop in and show you a picture of what I am most looking forrward to! This picture was taken yesterday at Navarre Beach in Florida!

Beautiful right? This is the area in Florida where we are looking to buy our house. It is a bit farther from the base than we would like to be but, the housing market is CRAZY! We knew when we got these orders that living coastal was a must. I know, I know.....What about hurricanes? Well, I've been a coast baby my whole life and hurricanes are easy to deal with if you are prepared! The hope is that we will live within a 10 minute drive to this beach!!!

 

[YukiPhnx]

Wow, just yesterday! It's gorgeous and SOOO different from the weather up here. I hope you get that house close to the beach!

 

[mrsksomeday]

I am so happy for you to get to move to FL. Now get that FL annual pass baby . I hope the move goes smoothly and you get to go to WDW when you want to.

 

[All7OfUs]

YOu can run, but you can't hide.... I found ya!!

 

[burly]

Hey Girl, I'm here and following along....
From one ginger midget to another....
My kids are 19, 17, 13, and 10
My boys 17 and 13 have both been taller than me since they were 10. and my 10 year old daughter almost looks me in the eye.

but they also still call me mommy, even in front of their friends.

Will be exciting to spend time with you during the move.
Good luck!! and please thank your husband for all that he does, and thank you for being a military wife and all that you do!!

 

[burly]

lost my post??
nope there it is. weird!