Top Five Friday: Missing Biloxi & Learning to Love SA

Whew, this move has been a doozy! This was our 3rd military move, but our first move with kids. And I will say that, in our experience, moving with kids is about 1.5 million times harder than moving without kids. Children (really everyone, but especially little ones!) thrive on routine, so it is incredibly hard when all of that routine is thrown out the window. The move was also really hard on me as a parent b/c I have so many routines for how I get things done with the girls on a day-to-day basis at home that just don't translate well into the new house and it's just been hard to adjust/find a new way of accomplishing those simple tasks. And the obvious reason why moving with kids is hard--how do you find time to unpack boxes, decorate your house, and shop for new furniture, window treatments, etc when you have 2 small kids under your feet all day long? This move has been filled with lots of ups & downs, but for now here's a top five list of things we're missing about Keesler & a top five list of what we're loving about SA so far....

Top Five: Missing Biloxi

5. Base housing.
We loved everything about living on base at Keesler, but we were excited about living off base here in San Antonio for a variety of reasons but one of the main ones was being able to have a bigger home! While we are loving all the space in our house, we're missing all the perks that we had on base....being surrounded by the military community, being able to leave our doors unlocked, living within walking distance of our friends, and the list goes on.

4. Friends
This one really goes without saying, but we're missing all of our Keesler friends! We're beyond thankful to have the Goins & Gallimores here with us, and the Barrons (also from Keesler) moved here last summer. We've also met three new families since we've arrived, but it's just not the same. We know it will feel like home here before we know it, but we're just not there quite yet.

3. Keesler
We're missing the base itself! When we lived in Northern VA, I only really went on base for my OB appointments during my pregnancy with Shelby. So Keesler is the only base I've ever really known. I never fully appreciated how beautiful & inviting Keesler was until we arrived at Lackland for our house-hunting trip in May. Lackland is HUGE and not nearly as warm as Keesler. The base is just so much more initimating & hard to navigate than Keesler! And we're totally missing the "small town feel" of Biloxi. Everywhere we we went in Biloxi, we would always run into someone we knew, and we loved that. I loved that at the two library storytimes we regularly attended, the librarians knew Shelby by name. San Antonio has so much to offer for families, but the small town feel is NOT one of them.

2. Standard size windows 
OMG, the curtains! I remember a veteran military spouse telling me once that one of the hardest aspects of all the PCS's was having to start all over with window treatments with every move. I never really appreciated that sentiment until now. Almost none of our curtains fit the windows in our new house, and none of the windows are the "standard" size...and I would seriously be okay if I never had to think about curtains again! We have bought & returned so many different panels trying to make it work. It's been super frustrating. I am happy to say we at least finally have one room with window treatments in our house--Hadley's! Hadley's curtains are the only ones from our old house that will work here in the new house. But wouldn't you know that every single room in our house already had curtain rods hung with the exception of Hadley's, which was the only room we had curtains for?? How does that even happen?!

1. Commute
We were totally spoiled by Derek's five minute commute or 15 minute bike ride to work at Keesler. Of course, Derek had a crazy commute in DC, but it never really affected me b/c he was always home before & we didn't have any kids yet. Now that I'm waiting 45 minutes with two antsy kids for him to come home in the evenings, that commute feels like an eternity. The worst part of his commute most days is just getting off base! It takes him upwards of 20minutes to get off base sometimes! There is a lot of traffic on Lackland right now due to the construction/renovations, so we're hopeful that traffic will improve when that is complete!

Top Five: San Antonio

5. Restaurants with playscapes
Why don't all restuaurants do this?! It's genius! Lots of local restaurants here in San Antonio have open fields for kids to run around and play or they have playgrounds. We sure do love Chick-fil-a, but it's nice to have a plethora of other family-friendly dining options!!

4. Sea World
We're loving Sea World!!! It's been so fun to have such a cool place so close to our house that we can frequent on a regular basis.

3. Shopping
It is so fun having so much shopping so closeby! After living in Biloxi for 4 years where Target was really the only real option, this is such a delight!! We had one Target in D'Iberville, and the next closest one wasn't until Mobile. Here in SA, there's practically a Target on every corner! It's crazy the difference between two cities! There's a fabulous outdoor mall about 15-20 minutes from our house with lots of fun restaurants, I can't wait to take my mom there one night for dinner & window shopping when my parents visit in September!!


2. Storytime
Storytime is so different than it was in MS. I still definitely prefer the small town feel of storytime in Biloxi, but SA storytime is fun in its own way! In MS, there were usually like 6 families at every storytime whereas here it is PACKED for storytime. Instead of a simple craft after storytime like we had in MS, here there are several hands-on activities planned for the kids. Here's a few pics from storytime today...

We got a new Elephant & Piggie book & Shelby had to immediately sit down to read it before
she could do anything else.

The theme of storytime today was weather, so they had lots of clothes available for the kids
to dress up for different types of weather. :)

Science experiement, and little sister trying to make a break for it in the background ;)

1.  Derek's new job
Derek is loving his fellowship so far!!


And just because, here's a few other random pictures from our week! Enjoy! :)

Derek was out one night & Hadley was already in bed, so it was a PJs & Cinderella night for my big girl & me :)

Shelby's new Frozen dress came in the mail this week, and Shelby had to put it on immediately despite the fact that she was a hot, sweaty mess from a bike ride ;)

Mommy washed her dress that night so she could wear it the next day :)  She's asked to wear it every single day since we got it ;)

We went to an indoor playplace with the Goins & Gallimores one day and then went out to lunch at Panera afterwards. On the surface, I'm sure it looked like a chaotic meal with 3 moms trying to wrangle in 6 kids ages 4 and under while simultaneously trying to eat their own lunch & get in a little conversation here & there too. But there was a moment when both of my girls were content and I was able to pause and look around the table, and I was just so thankful for the company around me--which is why I quickly grabbed my phone to capture what life looks like these days! We're so blessed to do life with these sweet families!

Love this picture of Angela & the boys!

The girls are in a stage where playing together with toys isn't easy. If Shelby is playing with toys, Hadley will come over and won't "play right" or if Hadley is playing contently and Shelby wants to join, Hadley willl get upset. They both want to simultaneously be together & be left alone at the exact same time, and it's super fun for me to referee all day long. ;)  But I've found that coloring, playdoh, sidewalk chalk, & bubbles are where it's at for us right now. These are activities that they can for whatever reason enjoy together sitting side by side, and it's like a breath of fresh air!!! Here is Hadley with playdoh this week--I love how she sticks her little tongue out when she's concentrating!

Ladybug!

Sisters playing princesses :)

And here's a snapshot of our crazy Friday night--Derek is assembling shelbes for our living room while I blog on the couch ;)

Happy Friday, Everyone!! We've got a fun Saturday lined up for tomorrow--French toast a la Daddy for breakfast, trying out a new children's museum with friends, lunch, and then while the girls nap I'm getting my first hair cut in SA--fingers crossed it goes well! Even if it doesn't go well, at least I'll get an hour of peace & quiet at the salon. ;)