Josh got paid a few days ago and I turned it around and sent it all back out again. Airline tickets for our travel between Orange County and Santa Cruz, rental cars, and the fee to board the pets for the summer. The PCS (permanent change of station in military-speak) money drain has begun. Thankfully we have money set aside to cover all the extra expenses associated with this transition period, but I keep thinking of more things we will have to cover before we are settled (like the 5% fee to the realtor who will help us find a place to live — approximately $2500) and hope it all works out.
The pets went to the kennel today. Right now they are scheduled to stay through the end of August: 72 days. That is a long and expensive stay, but easier and cheaper than the alternative of exporting/importing. And less stressful than worrying about burdening someone else with caring for them.
Home sweet home for the next 72 days, cat! He’ll be mad he can’t go outside, but at least he has a sunny window to lie in front of and plenty of perches. The dog is going to weight loss camp, hopefully. He has been on long term steroid treatment for a skin issue and has ballooned to 30 kg (I think he used to be 22). They are going to watch his food intake and see if they can slim him down a bit. Sorry dog, but it has to be done!
Not much else is happening here. A lot of World Cup soccer, Fortnight, and card games. We fly tomorrow night so all that’s left is finalizing what comes to CA and what stays here in the car, some last minute cleaning of the house, and the endless challenge of feeding hungry kids with no food in the house. I’m tired of eating. And having to go places to eat. And deciding what to eat.
But Josh found this fun place where they do 3D foam art on their drinks. 
It’s right by our house, but we hadn’t discovered it until now. A missed opportunity. We also finally found a Thai place with great Tom Yum soup — we could have been having it this entire time.
With 24 hours left it’s hard to imagine what coming back will be like because we’ve never gone back to a duty station before. We were in Quantico and Fort Sill twice, but those were both school related and for short periods of time. We’re leaving this life and starting a new one, but in the same city. Camille said, “I’m happy to move, but I’m also sad to move because I like my house and my friends here and it’s going to be different.” Yes it is, girlie. A new daily normal — we won’t see the same people at the grocery store or at Starbucks and will we still go to lunch at the same place on Friday or will we find somewhere new? Same, same, but different.