Hotel Living

We woke up Wednesday morning, ready to explore our new home.  But our new home had other ideas.  Drew had to take the car in to work (he has to be at work at 6 here, which is hard for a non-morning person), and it was pouring rain outside, which ruled out any long walks.  We contented ourselves with a quick run to the mini mart next door, then settled in to the hotel room to wait until Drew got home.  

The soggy view from our hotel room, where we waited at the window like forlorn puppies for Daddy.  

 There are fun things to do in a hotel room.  There are ice cubes from the ice machine, jumping from bed to bed, coloring, playing with the phone that Mom has unplugged, flipping through channels on the radio, etc.  And there is always the TV.  But after two straight days of being rained in, I was starting to really hate Bremerton.  

I actually think the highlight of the first two days was turning off all the lights, putting Annie down for a nap, plugging the kids into the Kindle with headphones, and FaceTiming myself from the iPad so I could escape down to the laundry room for 2 hours with Founding Brothers while still "watching" them.  The laundry room at the Navy Lodge is decorated with shirtless sailors doing laundry.  I think I might need to do this in my house--it makes doing the laundry a lot less boring.  

 I spent most of my time when not playing referee for the caged toddler beasts house hunting on Zillow.  We were really lucky--there were lots of good choices when we got here, and one house in particular that seemed like exactly what we wanted.  

This bedroom makes me laugh every time I see it.  This was our second choice house.  Vivien was pretty darn excited about that Hello Kitty trim.  

I called Wednesday morning to set up an appointment to see it next time Drew was available (Thursday afternoon), and spent the interim dreaming and scheming from the pictures on the listing.  We arrived Thursday and the property manager informed us someone had just submitted an application on the house a few hours previous, but to still go ahead with our application, just in case.  I was pretty devastated.  But we did what we were told and filled out the application, which took probably three frustrating hours of tracking down telephone numbers and email addresses and income information.   I worked on it on my phone while we drove around the area looking for a car for Drew.  He wanted something he'll be able to take up into the mountains to go snowboarding, and we were able to find a nice Dodge Durango without too much trouble.  This time we pulled money out of an ATM, so Drew was even MORE nervous walking around with the weight of the worth of a car in 20 dollar bills in his pocket.  So, the day was not all we had hoped for, but the prospects for the next day were much brighter having obtained a means of escaping my hotel prison.

Morning brought our first sunny day in Bremerton.  I had forgotten how much the PNW makes you appreciate sunny days.  It is SO BEAUTIFUL here, made all the more beautiful by the fact that you can't see any of it through the mist and clouds most of the time.  To make the day even more glorious, the housing manager called us to say she was going to start processing our application.  I guess the application they had received before we looked at the property was only partially complete--the wife had filled out her section but the husband hadn't completed his.  I felt bad for them, but not bad enough to keep me from being elated that we might get the house after all.  Just to be safe, I loaded up the kids in the car and we went out to take a look at a couple more houses.  This one had caught my eye a couple times during my search--it promised an amazing view of the Olympics.   

 But this was the driveway.  It was at least 200 yards of muddy, one-way gravel road.  

 And the yard was not fenced, which is kind of a big deal for me and my wandering ones.  Especially since the yard was mostly forest leading to a steep hill leading to a beach.  Annie likes to lick the toxic clam shells.  She cannot have access to a beach unsupervised.  

I let the kids play around for awhile, collecting big piles of oyster and clam shells, putting their toes in the water, and chasing ducks.  When it was time to go I told them to get their shoes, but we looked down the beach and only saw one pair of boots . . . The tide had come in and taken Vivien's boots silently out to sea.  Luckily they were not too far, so I made her wade in up to her waist and get them.  I certainly wasn't going in in my maternity jeans.  We had to come home and watch YouTube videos on what tides are and how they work.

 My mind is still not quite comfortable with the high tide on the side of the earth opposite the moon.  Physics is surprising sometimes.  

Annie decided to fall asleep before we could get back to the hotel, so we did some more exploring to give her a longer car nap.  We took a quick drive through Illahee State Park that is pretty close to all the houses we were looking into.  Lots of picturesque camping spots and hiking trails.   

 And a boat launch into Port Orchard Bay.  

 It was so beautiful I had to go home and look at boats.  This is the one I want.  It's called the Northeaster Dory, and it comes as a kit to build.  I shall have to save my money . . .

 That night we decided to celebrate the sun in full at The Olive Garden.  When we pulled up we were treated with a view of Mount Rainier, and the day was made!

We were happy to have a full day with Drew on Saturday.  We started the morning with a visit to the Bug Museum.  

 It is owned by two entomologists and is basically a showcase of their private collection.  There were some live specimens and lots of labeled displays of pinned insects, but there were also pieces of art from all over the world made completely of butterfly wings.  It was interesting and horrifying at the same time.  

  These were my favorite bugs there.  

 The back room was full of reptiles.  They have a lizard that they harness and take for walks occasionally.  

 And the back wall has a chalk board the perfect height for kids to play with while their parents are still wandering around reading labels.  There was a group of boy scouts there at the same time as us.  

 The bug museum is really close to the shipyard, so I asked Drew to drive us by his new workplace.  Here she is!  The USS John C. Stennis.  

 He has to wear this cunning belt buckle to work with his new navy coveralls.  Safetyyyyy!

 When we got back from our explorations Drew took the kids to a free movie at the base theater and then bowling.  It's kind of amazing how much you get out of the house when your house is a hotel.    

 I might have been sleeping.  Or just being alone for a minute.  Either would have been refreshing.  Obviously, I wasn't there . . .

 For dinner we took a Chipotle picnic to a park on base and let the kids play on the playground for awhile.  

 There were two families on their way to the base Trunk or Treat taking pictures of each other in their costumes at the park.  One had a Peter Pan theme, the other, Snow White.  The kids enjoyed seeing their costumes.  Annie didn't notice though.  She was too busy walking up the stairs and across the net to go down the slide over and over and over.  She LOVES to slide.  

On Sunday we woke up and went for a nature walk in the Illahee Preserve.  

The way Rafe is walking in this picture reminds me of Dagwood from the Blondie comic.

 There is a vast network of trails crisscrossing all through the preserve with numbered signposts to help you navigate.  We walked 1-12 with our Ewok guide.

That afternoon we went to the ward that our first choice house was in, hoping our application would be approved within the next few days.  It is your standard Mormon chapel, but it feels like it's in the middle of a forest.  We walked in to the meeting to the sweet sound of a ward choir practice which I was not involved in running (be still my heart!), and we had people coming up to us the entire three hours to welcome us and add their hopes that we would be able to get the house and be in their ward.  They were even nice to us when someone made a comment in Sunday school and Annie chose the exact moment they were done speaking to let go of the home button of Drew's phone, prompting Siri to respond, "I DIDN'T QUITE UNDERSTAND THAT."  We left church praying mightily for a speedy and favorable result to our housing application.   

 On Monday morning they made us check out of the Navy Lodge because it was completely booked for the next few days.  I made a reservation at a hotel closer to the shipyards for Drew's convenience, then started trying to gather all of our stuff together and get it down to the car.  We had all our luggage from the last month, plus a couple boxes of things that we'd sent by mail from Japan to the states, Drew was at work, there is no elevator in the Navy Lodge and we were on the second floor, the maintenance man who can usually help move luggage was on lunch break, and Annie would not stop crying.  I just buckled everyone in to the car and left them to make several sweaty trips back and forth to our room, trying very hard not to be angry with the Lodge staff for my bad luck.  It is frustrating when there is no one to blame for your troubles.  We had to check out at 11, but the new hotel couldn't guarantee us a check-in earlier than 3, so I started down the freeway not really knowing how we were going to spend the next 4 hours.  And then I passed a sign that said, "Scenic Beach State Park, Next Right."  Why thank you, I rather think I shall.  

 Scenic Beach State Park is on the opposite side of the last finger of water before Olympic National Park.  Right here:

So we should've had a nice view of the Olympics, but they were being shy and hiding in their cloud covers.  

There were other things to do, however.  Like climb on twisty driftwood trunks.

 And find ladybugs while wearing your ladybug raincoat.  

 Or decorate the park boundary with shells.  After we'd been there several hours, Vivien said, "Why is it so coldy?  My hands are weak.  I need to get in a hotel!"  

There were several rooms available when we arrived at the Hampton, so we asked for the best view.  They were happy to oblige.  The ship we could see out the window is a museum.  The kids called it the R2-D2 ship because it kind of looks like there are two giant R2-D2's on the deck near the masts.  

 That night was Halloween.  I had thought of a couple different last minute costume ideas on the way home from dinner, but the kids were happy to just tie their silkies around their necks and be super heroes.  They are Superhero Alaska and Superhero Bibble, from left to right.  

 We made the kids go out in the hall and trick-or-treat to our door.  We got these props in a kids meal at Wendy's, so every time we'd open the door, we would be different people and remark on their costumes and give them a handful of candy.  

 It was kind of a lame Halloween, but they got candy, so they didn't care.  

 When you move to a new place, the military gives you 10 days in a hotel to find someplace to live and move in.  By the Tuesday after Halloween, we only had 2 more days left.

I think Vivien would enjoy a window seat.  She likes to wake up in the morning and sit somewhere with a view.

 But all we could do was wait for our application to process, so we hung out at the hotel and hoped.  They had an awesome breakfast every morning, a pool to while away the hours in, and a lobby for when things just felt a little too crowded in our little room.  I know most of the world probably lives in this amount of space and with more people, but we are definitely used to having more privacy.  

We let Annie have her own room for nap times while we hid in the bathroom.  

 Wednesday we got the good news that our housing application had been approved and we went to sign paperwork that afternoon.  Thursday we were out of there!