I am very sorry for the delayed update but things have been quite hectic around here! We did make it to Washington State after a very LONG and stressful full day of flying but we are safe, all of our bags made it and our dogs did great.
United Airlines PetSafe program did a wonderful job with our dogs, they were given water before and after flights, were transported between planes in a climate controlled van (I actually saw them being loaded and unloaded) and on every flight the stewardess personally came over to us to let us know our dogs were confirmed to be on the plane, not that it mattered since I could hear Riley barking from cargo! A few hiccups at the BWI airport made us almost miss our flight but thanks to my smooth talking husband, and the fact that he is a soldier and we were flying on orders on veterans day, we were able to bypass the security line and run to make our plane. We had another slight hiccup at the Seattle airport when Justin's company FORGOT to pick us up but they sent over someone and we finally checked into the hotel at midnight. I was so tired I passed out with both dogs in the bed with me and slept for about 11 hours.
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Layla was very tired after flying |
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Riley loving the hotel bed |
The next couple of days Justin and I spent looking every where for housing. The cost of living is much higher in Washington than Texas so we settled on a 10 month lease at a nice apartment complex. We have a two bedroom apartment on the second floor overlooking a small forested area. The dogs are loving hanging out on the balcony staring at the squirrels and barking at everyone who dares walk behind our building. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no furniture except a bed until sometime before Christmas, when the rest of our belongings will arrive from Germany.
After the housing was all situated and we had moved out of the hotel the next disaster came when we tried to buy a car. Apparently you are penalized for being a fiscally responsible person! My lack of credit (I live within my means, only use my debit card so I don't have any debt, etc... ) meant that I was denied financing. Seriously?? Apparently a person with 20 credit cards and 8 car loans can get approved but I can't?! Ridiculous. Well after a lengthy talk with the branch manager at the local credit union we got all squared away and actually walked away with an AWESOME deal plus I got a cute little sporty car!
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The new to me but still used Mazda |
Once we got the housing/car/cell phone/utilities/bed buying all figured out we actually had a couple of days to sit back and explore this beautiful state! We are living south of the base in Lacey, which is a great area. Lots of parks within walking distance and the off leash dog park is just a short drive away. About 10 miles away we also have a state park that backs up to Puget Sound, we took the dogs there one evening and they had a blast running on the beach and playing in the water. On really clear days when it isn't raining we can see Mt. Ranier! We also found the large farmer's market in Olympia, with amazing local produce, meat, honey and jams. It takes place every weekend right by the bay.
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Mt. Ranier |
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The goofballs playing on the beach |
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Mt Ranier from the park next to our apartment |
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The port in downtown Olympia right across from the Farmer's Market |
Thanksgiving was another experience. Since we are brand new and don't know anybody yet we just planned on going to a restaurant for dinner but when we started calling around we quickly found out that nobody was open (duh) so a quick google search pulled up the only restaurant around that was serving a traditional thanksgiving meal… The local casino. The area we are in is super close to a Native American reservation, so we drove about 7 minutes down the road to the Casino and ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal. I did however lose $10 on the slot machines. It was a very unique Thanksgiving!
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Thanksgiving at the casino |
I'm still on the hunt for a full time job, I've sent out at least 15 applications so far. I do have a pretty awesome part time job starting up this month that I am super excited about but more on that later… In the mean time we got ourselves a real live christmas tree and I'm off to finish decorating it!
XOXO