One More DAY!

One more day until our family embarks on our very first vacation. We decided to go big- none of this Grand Canyon or trip to Grandma's stuff, we are heading to TOKYO!!!!

So here is a little about us- we are a US Military family stationed on Vancouver Island, Canada right now. Josh, is the big Navy Chief although one would have a fair argument in saying Shannon is the "Commander in Charge" of the household. Brandon, Aidan and Mia are secretly the true dictators though, they just let us, their parents believe that we are the ones in charge. I am glad that they are old enough to remember this trip and we are hoping to hit Tokyo Disney just for them!

Josh's job keeps us on our toes moving every 2-3 years so all of our "vacations" have consisted of trips across the country moving to a new house, seeing the family we have spread all over the States or the kids and I driving to see Josh in different homeports while on ships. Sure, it is fun but we are never able to just relax and have fun because usually these trips are way too short and ususally stressful due tot he fact that there is an underlying reason for the "vacation" and it isn't pure enjoyment.

We decided to take the plunge of trying out flying SpaceA out of Seattle to Japan. SpaceA traveling is not for the faint of heart and is very trying for my "type a need to be in control and plan everything" personality but through the years I have learned to just roll with the punches and this will be a big test to see if I can handle it. So first off you don't quite know when the flights leave until 72 hrs out... not fun when you live on a farm and are trying to schedule someone to come out and stay at your home to be sure the pony doesn't come inside an sleep on the couch and eat all of the sweets from the pantry. Thankfully, I have an amazing friend who is able to be flexible with our schedule and not once has outwardly cringed when I call and say "Guess what- another change!" Josh took leave, signed us up for the flight we wanted and TOMORROW we ferry down to Seattle and hopefully get on our flight! The SpaceA process is done by assigning different categories to Military travelers- in a nutshell the order goes emergency leave, PCS, environmental morale leave (for those stationed in secluded areas), regular leave, TDY orders and retirees. There are a few different categories but these are the big ones. As of right now we are on the list for our flight but if it comes down to it we may get bumped by a category higher than us (unlikely but can still happen).

I hope you enjoy our travels and Tokyo adventure- it definitely won't be boring :)