Made it to Seattle, and will be on a flight to Japan in a couple of hours! AHHHHHHH! :)

Where do I begin? We've come such a long way in such a short amount of time that I can't believe I'm going to be boarding our flight to Japan in a few short hours! I'm currently sitting at the Seattle-Tacoma airport (aka, SEA-TAC). George is by my side on his netbook and Cheyenne is laying on the floor next to him. Yes, all three of us made it safe and sound to Seattle. It has been one heck of a trip but I am so thankful I'm doing it with both of them by my side.

In case some of you didn't know, I've been very apprehensive about this whole 'moving to Japan' thing. It's been a roller coaster of emotions. It's funny because I already live far from my family, and haven't lived in Smyrna in 5 years but it's always tough to say goodbye. It's not like anything major will change. I'll still live far enough away to not come home for a short weekend visit and trips to see me will be carefully planned, as always. Nothing major at all. It's the little things like not being able to pick up my phone and call my mommy on the way to work, just to say hello and catch up on any gossip. Now I feel like the phone calls will have to be planned. And that's okay. We'll cross paths virtually, of course and with Skype, Facebook and E-mail, I really shouldn't worry. But I do. I hate to thing that (God Forbid) should anything happen to a family member or friend that I can't just catch the next flight home and be there in a few hours, or hop in my car and drive there in a days time. But again, it's okay. Right?

Ok... let's stop being sappy and sad for a bit and let me entertain you with the story of how we got to Seattle. Rewind to last night... well... 2 nights ago? Ehhh... who knows, I'm already jet-lagged and confused...

Tuesday night (Eastern time zone) Alison and Brent threw George and I a wonderful cook-out for our last night home in Georgia. It was great! Tons of friends and family came to wish us well, give us hugs and kisses and even a gift or two. It was a great time, but as each person left, I had to give them a hug and tell them to keep in touch, come visit etc. etc. etc. And I expect each and everyone of those people to do that, and I'm sure that they will... because my people in Smyrna are fabulous and I care about each and everyone of them SO much! (Love you all!) (Oh yeah, no more sappy...)


Me and 3 of my bff's and bridesmaids! Kayla A, Ashley, me and Christina.

We decided my little brother Travis would take us to airport in the suburban. Trust me. We needed that suburban. We each have 2 giant bags, and a carry-on each, a lap-top bag and my purse... not to mention Cheyenne's giant crate, and her. All I can say is... I am SO glad we don't have children for this move. (It's definitely do-able, so all of you mommy's PCSing to Japan shortly... don't worry!!! You can do it!!!) Anyhow, we discussed for.. oh... maybe 15-20 minutes who would take us to the airport and why and which car they would take. We finally decided on Travis as the winner (er.. loser) that had to get up at 3:45am(Technically Wednesday morning) and come pick us up from my sister's house. My mom insisted on him leaving early because there might be a train! (they live near rail-road tracks and would have to cross them to get to my sisters). We all mocked my mom and we insisted back that there was not going to be a train. Well... surprise, surpise... Mom was right... again. :) I texted Travis when we woke up. It went like this:

Me: Hey don't forget about us!
Him: I'm puttin on my shoes. Be there in 10 minutes.
Me: Great! Love you!
Him: Lol... There's a train. Mom was right.
Me: Hahahaha! I won't tell her if you won't!
Him: I'm telling, it's gonna be funny lol.

Let me also mention that we didn't get to bed until 12:45. I laid there for at least half an hour before drifting off, which puts me at a grand total of 2.5 hours of sleep at this point. George said he laid there awake too. Too much adrenaline, I guess.

Anyway, we get to the airport and get our bags checked, with the help of heroic Travis to help us get it all inside and to the counter! (Thanks TJ!) and then they ask to see all of Cheyenne's paperwork. (Which has been a nightmare itself to get all in order). We give it all to her and the lady asks where her certificate of acclimation is. Well... long story short... we never got one because when I checked the weather 2 days ago the highs and lows of Georgia, Denver and Seattle were in the safe-temperature range of 45-85 degrees. Well... guess what? There was a freak snow-storm in Denver and there was snow and the temperature was 30 degrees. I have more tears in my eyes (I was already in a good position for this for saying goodbye to my brother...) and George is like... “we're desperate”, because hey- we were. And they said okay! So they sent her! I told her to be a good girl and that I loved her and would see her soon. When we took off and when we landed I tried to send her mental messages... I'd repeat 'everything's fine, you're okay'. Thinking on it now, I'm not sure if I was talking to her or to myself. :)

So we make it to Denver and my heart is racing because I can see the snow outside and feel the temperature as we walk up the ramp and I know, I just know that they will not move her to the plane to Seattle. But luckily, I was wrong. My guess is because we had such a short layover (hardly 30 minutes) they just did it, or no one was there to make sure she had the right paperwork on her crate. Either way, I am very thankful that she made it with us to Seattle!

I slept on the plane to Denver probably about 30 minutes and then on the plane to Seattle for about 30 minutes, so... total hours of sleep for me 3.5 hours. George: 2.5.

Seattle! We made it! I could see water outside the plane's window and I was just so happy to have arrived! I walked to the luggage carousel to claim our bags and George went to go rent our car for the day. They made an announcement that oversized baggage had arrived from our flight at carousel number 5. I was far more excited to get Cheyenne than to get our 4 giant bags of luggage, so I traipsed to her. The guy is unloading car seats and strollers, but no doggies. He says 'no dogs' . I, of course, panicked and insisted my dog was back there. She was. I guess it was his way of flirting or something to tell me they didn't have a dog. Not Funny. Cheyenne was panting hard and had all 4 legs spread out, in a really funny stance that you'd have to see to understand, I thought she was maybe hurt originally. I managed to get Cheyenne all petted and calmed down (I think she hates flying) and get all 4 of our giant-monster bags off carousel 7 by the time George had the key to the car. He helped me get Cheyenne on a smart-cart ($4 to rent by the way at both Atlanta and Seattle) then got all of our bags (all 6 of them) to the curb. We got a Mazda-CX9 which was a really, and I mean really, tight squeeze. Cheyenne had to sit in the floor board of the passenger seat with me. That's how close we were to not getting everything in the car.

Oh. And poor Cheyenne had to go potty so bad that she went #2 right there on the sidewalk while we waited for George to bring the car around. Poor thing. It embarrasses us more than her though, easily.

Let's see... what else about that arrival? Oh. The only bag of food I brought for Cheyenne was taped to the outside of her crate, was gone. So no dog-food for Cheyenne. Crap.

We got to our hotel that we rented for the day, got her watered and calmed and off George and I went to explore Seattle! We went to Pike's Market first, which is where they throw the fish. They had tons of flowers, produce, seafood, jewelry, homemade candy, art, etc. It was like an all year long craft show. SO cool. Let me mention that we got beautiful weather for a May afternoon in Seattle. No rain, just a few clouds, temperatures in the 50's-60's, a little chilly but nothing to complain about.

We had lunch at a little cafe that had a 'soups and sandwiches' kinda menu. I had chicken quesadillas and George had a burger. Very good. From there we went to the space needle. It was pretty interesting. It doesn't really have much of a purpose than a landmark, which is fine and has a beautiful observation deck. We waited about 5 minutes to get on the elevators to go up and when we went back down, but nothing drastic. We took some cool pictures. I'll post a whole blog with just pictures when I get a chance to!

After the space needle we went back to the hotel because our afternoon was pleased with the small amount of touristy things we had done, and we were dog-tired. We planned to nap from 3pm-8pm. We set alarms. We both passed right out and Cheyenne did too. Around 5:30pm (please remember we are on pacific time now) the stupid Census guy called George to confirm some details about the stupid Census. This puzzled me so much that my whole mind got wrapped around it and I never fell back asleep. ::sigh:: George fell right back asleep and slept until a little after 7 when a friend of his called.


The space needle.


Us at the top of the space needle in Seattle!


Sleep count
George: 7.5 hours
Chelsea: 5.5 hours
Cheyenne: Lots. Lucky girl.

We went and had dinner at a little rotisserie place, called... ________ I have no idea. We had chicken tenders for an appetizer, and then I had a piece of rotisserie chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes and broccoli. George got a sampler of turkey, pork and chicken as well as the works. Needless to say we had a ton of leftovers. We ordered too much food on purpose so Cheyenne would have something to eat! When George asked for a to-go box, I corrected him and said that in this instance, it was a doggie-bag! (Which made me giggle, a lot.)

Anyhow, we went back to our hotel, took showers and got all packed up. George took Cheyenne and I and our 6 bags, and Cheyenne's crate and dropped us off at the AMC (Air Mobility Command for all of you non-acronym acclimated people) curb. We saw one smarte-cart off it's rack just sitting there, so I grabbed it! I tried to start putting Cheyenne's crate on there but the cart would roll or Cheyenne would tug me one way (I pulled her out of her crate for this). Finally the AMC people came to help me. They got me 2 more carts and helped me get all of the bags on there and situated. I was SO thankful for them. They could tell I was pathetic trying to put 6 bags of luggage and a dog crate on there and they helped, got me the paperwork I needed and explained to me how to fill it all out. I love that they are so helpful to military families. I really do. George got there after everything was in order (except they wouldn't let me get in line to check in without him) and we got through the check in process pretty easily.

We left Cheyenne with the other doggies that will be aboard the plane and went to the USO. It was packed. And I mean packed. There were people everywhere, sitting on the couches, chairs, tables, floor, leaning up against walls. They did have free snacks and drinks. We both got a water and George got a doughnut as well. My stomach is way too queasy with fear and excitement about getting on this plane and not looking back to eat doughnuts. And if I turn down a doughnut, then you know I am nervous. :)

Alright friends and family. I have bored you enough with the tedious details of our trip thus far. Thanks for reading! If you would like to, save this as a favorites page and check in every once in awhile. I get kind of lazy sometimes about updating, but it's usually when I feel like I don't have anything fun to write about. And now that you are all not quite a quick phone call away, I may update more to tell you all about how wonderful and exciting our lives are in Japan. (hehehe :)

Love to you all, and can't wait for our first visitors! (Whoever you may be!!!)

Chelsea


And here is a picture of my family and I! :)