Space-A Recap

photo credit

I did it!  I flew across the ocean alone with two babies.  And I traveled our "east coast family
Triangle".  Now I'm home, safe and sound.  How's that for "there and back again"? 

We flew on a commercial plane this time (out of Baltimore, like when we PCSed over).  I payed $50 for the three of us.  Can't beat that!

I'm still "in transition"... both with the time zone change and with getting adjusted to being home.  Adjusting to the time difference feels easier this way than it was going to east coast time.  The girls are still sleeping in until almost 10am every day!  (I'm reluctant to force them up earlier cause it's SO NICE!)  I have most of our bags unpacked, which contributes to a sense of normal.  And I'm doing dishes and laundry again, for which Jesse is very thankful, I'm sure ;o)  I even cooked a simple meat and potato meal last night!

photo credit

So I missed my first flight I tried for... it was a good experience for me to feel what it's like to not make it.  There were only 19 seats available and so Mike, the kids, and I waited around for about three hours only to find out that I wasn't going to make the roll call.

It's like not getting picked for the dodgeball team in elementary school.  You get butterflies in the tummy as you mutter "pickmepickeme" over and over under your breath.

And when you don't get picked, you sigh and pack everyone back into the car.  And then the next day you try, try again!

photo credit

While we were waiting at McGuire, two airmen came into the USO playroom (full of toys and a tv to keep the littles entertained).  Clearly they'd been told to put the toys away.  They just stood there and stared at the mess... they were obviously distressed :o)  I overheard one say to the other "I don't even know where to start" to which I chimed "welcome to my world!"

And I chuckled cause they totally started picking up toys with the kids still in the room.  Poor guys.  You can imagine what the eight or so children under the age of five promptly recreated... the mess.

photo credit

Making friends in an airport terminal full of military folk is easy.  Maybe it's cause we're kindred spirits cause we're all in the military (in some way).  Or maybe it's because we're heading in the same direction, for whatever reason.

Anyways, I walked away with the phone number of a lady named Leslie (who adopted me and the girls and helped me out a bunch on the flight) who lives just over the hill from me in case I want her daughters (16 and 17) to babysit sometime.  How's that for small world?  And run-on sentences?

I actually might take her up on her offer, too.  We have been invited to a nice retirement party on the first of December!  It would be really nice to have someone come watch the girls here so we don't have to drag them somewhere else and pick them up after.   Teenagers are great for that kind of thing :o) 

photo credit

I decided to join Jesse in the German time zone this am.  He had to get up for work around 6am... all day shifts for the next two months.   So you have that to thank for this blog post, otherwise I probably wouldn't have time today ;o)

I'm close to working it back  into life again, though... just gotta get back into a routine that somewhat resembles my old one!  In the meantime, I'm busy working on potty training, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my own two kids... things I've had lots of help with the last month or so!

Oh, and I'm bound to pick my camera up again soon... stay tuned for pictures of what the girls are up to now that they're home!

So my final thoughts on our first solo Space-A adventure:  it's cheap, it's stressful, and I'll definitely be doing it again.  I'm so thankful that the Air Force allows me the opportunity to travel for so little.  It's not easy with two little kids, but it's still worth the trouble! 

Thanks to all my family for our amazing USA vacation!  I miss you already!

Off We Go... We Hope

Well I'm enjoying the quiet of an apartment full of happily napping cousins.  I might take a quick nap and then visit with Cassie before the kiddos are up...

Cause then it's off to finish packing up the car and head off for our next Space-A adventure!

I'm praying for the flight that leaves earlier this evening, but there's also one later tonight and then a few options for tomorrow.  So rest assured, Jessica, you will get home this weekend.  At some point.

But the hardest part about Space-A for me (a die-hard control-freak) is that I can't control much.  I just show up, sign in, and see what happens!  It kills me to not know for sure if I'm actually going to be headed home tonight!

So I guess I should also thank God for the opportunity to grow in being patient and flexible, eh? ;o) 

Space-A in a Nutshell

photo credit

We flew on this. 

A C-5... one of the biggest Air Force planes.  It has a decent sized "troop deck" on the top with a bunch of passenger seats... at least 70 or so.  It's three per side of the aisle and pretty much what you get on a commercial plane.  Except the flight crew are not your flight attendents and you shouldn't expect them to treat you as such ;o)  You get a boxed lunch that you pay for (that it not surprisingly gross) and you get porta-potty-type bathrooms (also not surprisingly gross... but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!)

We felt like this after.

I may or may not have cried when I finally got out of the Dover AFB terminal and actually saw Cassie and Zave waiting for us. 

It really wasn't that rough... I mean, it was as rough as you would expect an almost nine hour flight with two kids.  (After waking those kids up at 3am and then waiting for six hours to actually take off...)  Except add to the fact that you didn't pack enough snacks in your diaper bag.  Or wipes.  Or diapers.  Yeah, Mommy-fail. 

OH and then there was the whole flight being quarantined in a room for twenty minutes while they examined the sick guy who had been throwing up because they had thought he was throwing up blood and carried some crazy sickness that we were all infected with.  (AHHH!)  He wasn't throwing up blood.  And he wasn't sick... just motion sickness.  (PHEW!) 

It's all okay.  Cassie brought me flowers.  And Mike brought me pumpkin beer.  My bro-and-sis-in-law are good to me. 

They also gave me their bedroom, made me coffee, let me invade my house with my children, took me to Target for more diapers, made me delicious dinners, and put up with my sleep-deprived grumpiness in the mornings. 

I'm finding that adjusting to a six hour time change is a lot like adjusting to just having a baby.  You sleep when you can and you put up with their early morning crying jags by saying a prayer and doing your best.  I'm hoping jet-lag night number three goes better than nights number one and two :o)  (Also, I should hurry up and finish my posting so I can go to bed!)

Bottom line:  Space-A travel is awesome, but tiring.  Then again, all international travel across the pond is probably tiring, huh?  It wasn't a fun day... but I just kept reminding myself how blessed I was that it was free... and that I would be seeing all my extended family soon! 

So thank you USAF!  Thanks a bunch!

Postponing Space-Aing

It's true.  I couldn't go through with it.  I'm publicly announcing what I already told my family: there's no way I'm going to try to Space-A this summer. 

Well, that's not really it... it's that I don't think I will be *able* to Space-A this summer, so I'm going to save myself the stress of two weeks waiting around in an airport for nothing. 

Ramstein Passenger Terminal has a facebook page where they post every day how many Space-A travelers got out and what the lowest Category was.  (Remember, I'd be a Cat 5 cause I wouldn't be flying with J.  Cat 3's are the ones who are accompanied by their military member)  In the three or four weeks that I've been keeping track, the lowest number I've seen fly out was Cat 4.  And that was only one flight, to Illinois... because some of the Cat 3's didn't want to go there. 

The terminal also posted some helpful info about their actual statistics in the past few years.  Their Space-A summer traffic usually tops out at around 3,500 passengers a month.  But as soon as the DOD schools are back in session, the numbers drop a ton.  September usually sees between 1,500-2,000 Space-Aers.  Pretty much any time school is in session is a good time to fly.  And any time it's a summer/winter break, you can pretty much bet that you'll be waiting upwards of a month for Cat 5 and up to two weeks for Cat 3. 

Two friends of mine got out the day they tried... one in November and one in March.  So it looks like fall and spring is the way to go!

So I'm going to postpone my trip until things settle down over there.  I told my family sometime in September.  We'll see what the numbers do... I'm itching to get over there ASAP, but we'll see what happens! 

It was a little disappointing to realize I wouldn't make it to family vacation.  And all the fam is more free during the summer.  But I kind of knew what to expect, so it wasn't a shock.  It was just hard to make the final decision. 

All in all, I'm SO thankful for Space-A and SO thankful that I'll be able to go home for free.  (Or almost free!) 

Boys Will Be Boys (and Girls Will Be Girls)

So in order to sign up to travel Space-A back to the States without your sponsor (that's Jesse) you have to have a signed "command sponsorship" letter... which basically says that the sponsor and the squadron are aware that you are traveling, taking the kids, where you're going, how long, etc. 

Well, it's taken awhile to get mine signed.  Mostly cause I didn't realize how important it was to get it (the sooner you get it the sooner you are on the sign up list... the higher up you are to compete for available seats) so I didn't mention it to Jesse till I found that out.  And then it took him awhile to actually track down the necessary signer for it. 

So for the past five days or so, every time he comes home from work, that paper is my first question.  (After how are you and I love you and how was your day and all...) 

When he got home today, I asked and he said, "The Colonel is on vacation... for seven days."

I stopped dead.  A million sad thoughts started racing through my head, mainly that my shot to get home for family vacation is toast. 

Then I see Jesse turn toward me with a sly grin on his face...

... he was kidding...

...aaaaaand I burst into tears.  Poof!  (Insert major meltdown)

Um, so I have my letter :o)  And I'm going to go stop by the airport terminal tomorrow to sign up and ask some questions. 

We're laughing about the meltdown now cause it really was pretty funny.  But not to me at the time.  As soon as he saw my face (about 2.5 seconds before the tears exploded everywhere) he came rushing over "Babe I'm just kidding it's okay I'm so sorry I shouldn't have said that I thought that was probably a bad idea don't worry it'll all be fine SHHHHHH".

Boys. 

:o)