GREAT LAKES--PASS IN REVIEW

In October, 2007, we had the privilege of attending my youngest son, T's Pass In Review (Graduation ceremony) from Navy Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. It was such an amazing ceremony! I cannot put into words the depth of feelings of pride and awe that came over me that day.



Here is a pic from my phone of T and I right after the ceremony. It was a brisk day in Chicago.

Finally back at the hotel for some rest and relaxation. T was able to take a shower, get on the computer to check his email and myspace (after being out of those loops for 9 weeks!) and take a nap! I was content to just watch him sleep. We went to the Mall and had dinner and basked in the short time we had together. He would be coming back to San Diego in a few weeks for school.

We met some of the other parents for dinner the night before PIR at the Full Moon restaurant in Gurney. It is a tradition for members of a Navy parent forum I belong to. Pictured are some of the parents that were in T's division and with whom I still keep in contact. The food is good, service even better and we all had a lot of fun that evening meeting everyone and sharing stories.

UPDATE AND COUNTING DOWN

It's been a whirlwind but joyfully busy summer and I am way behind on catching up with my blog. Long story short. The real estate market continues to be bad here in San Diego, but we are out of our condo and into a rental home in Clairemont until we pull up stakes and move to TN. We really love being close to everything now...ten minutes from work and just about anywhere else, except North County. We live in an older quiet neighborhood and are blessed to have the best neighbors we could ever imagine having!

We are headed back to TN next week for another visit (scoping out neighborhoods, meeting up with our beloved Tennessee friends and exploring some more of the area.) We are taking this trip in conjunction with our trip to Great Lakes, Illinois for my youngest son, T's graduation from Navy Boot Camp! I have not seen him in almost 9 weeks and I know it will be so amazing to see him in a Naval uniform! I am so proud of him and I know I will be a weepy mess on that day. I am taking a a lot of Kleenex with me! I will write and post pictures when we return.

We have less than a year now before we move to Tennessee...our ticker is tickin' down...

IS IT SPRING YET?

I am ready for spring to arrive. Not because I am ready for warm weather...hardly. Not because I am tired of winter....nope. Why then?

Because that is the time that the serious home buyers come out of hibernation and begin to place offers. I must confess that I am getting quite annoyed with the "looky-loos" parading through my home and the same realtors "previewing" it.

I'll be so glad to have this part of the process behind us...

THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE

Remember that children's story? Lately, it feels like we are the tortoise....plodding along our course, while our dreams are the hare, bounding ahead and yelling back at us to hurry up already!

Our home is still on the market and we continue our daily routine of making sure everything is in it's place, free of clutter, counters wiped clean, mirrors spot-free and ready for the arrival of interested buyers. And they are trickling in. Not fast enough, but at least there is some interest.

Meanwhile, we continue to check out homes online in Nashville and discuss details for our move. (We are so ready to make this move! Can you tell?)

Call it a brilliant idea or not, but we are thinking about purchasing a motor-home before we leave, stocking it with the comforts of home and packing it up with items we will need once we arrive plus our pets (two cats and one dog) and driving back--towing the Liberty. Everything else will go by way of a moving van.

We can stay at KOA campgrounds across the country and take our time, seeing different points of interest along the way. Our animals will be less traumatized (the kitties will not have to be flown and Kona will not have to endure the trip in back-seat of the Liberty) and we will not have to find pet-friendly hotels to accommodate Kona. We will save money on hotels, meals and expensive snacks purchased at gas stations along the way. We can stop in major towns, hit the grocery store and replenish what we need.

So, this weekend, we are going attend the RV show in town and take a good look at all the different size and models of class A motorhomes, so that we when are ready to make a purchase, we will know what we like, do not like, etc. and can be more informed consumers when we are ready to buy.

So of course, the moral of this famous little story is that we continue on, stay the course, and just like the tortoise, we will win this race and hit the finish line with our dreams.