What's in a place??

The SH-60 (The Seahawk) is the helicopter Mike will be flying.....

Mike had to go observe a solo flight this morning. It makes it feel like a weekday when he leaves at 6:30 but since Emma is happily playing with her ponies (is there anything else in the world to do, really?) and Andrew is still asleep I thought I'd take a minute to talk about the good and bad of all the places we could go....

Japan- The good- Mike would love to live in a foreign country. I am not quite as adventurous here and wouldn't mind it for oh a year....but three is a bit much for me. You make extra money for living overseas and by the time we came back we could be out of debt. We have some friends in Japan, though I think they may be on a different island. We enjoy sushi...
The bad: Japan is FAR and if I'm spending all my extra money paying off debt I wouldn't be crossing the pond into the U.S. very often....and I'm guessing everyone I know wouldn't be hopping on a plane to Japan either.

Guam- (and Hawaii for the most part)Good: Our friends James and Steph are going to Guam in January. It's still a U.S. territory so there are fabulous things like English and dollars. There are lots of things I'd like to see in Hawaii and take my kids to see. Extra money again...but that only gets us so far in the good category
Bad: Guam is only 2 hours closer than Japan! It's an island that is only 212 square miles. I could be very claustrophobic. What if there's a typhoon? Where would we go? Should the desire for baby #3 hit me I wouldn't be willing in Guam as their medical facilities are not the most state of the art there. I don't want to have a preemie and have them taken off on a plane to Honolulu while I'm laid up in Guam. That would be awful.

Jacksonville/Mayport Florida:
Good: It's actually a great area. MUCH more urban that this area....and I like that. We would be 2 hours from Orlando which would be fun over the next 4 ish years. Of course, Alison and J.T. are there....very good. There are cheaper flights in and out of Jacksonville and it's on the east coast drive line....15 hours north to a bunch of family.
Bad: The base housing is like this: old and I'm so over bathrooms that are 50 years old. We would still be in the South where the ANTS outnumber people by about a million to one. I. HATE. ANTS.

San Diego:
Good: 5-6 hours to my peeps in Arizona (Hey, peeps!) Southern California has mild climate and tons to do to keep us busy when my husbands off on a ship for 6-8 months (ugh!)
Bad: No base housing available and VERY expensive off base housing. Which means I'm in an apartment with my kiddies, and most of the time with no car since Mike will take ours to work. No good!

Norfolk:
Good: GREAT location...everywhere we go we have family. Mike really wants to fly with the community in Norfolk, so this is his first choice. We love living on the east coast. Southwest flies in and out of Norfolk to Phoenix for $99 each way all the time.
Bad: There are like 5 military bases around there which means the hospitals are always busy and crowded....which makes me think about switching to civillian doctors. There's nothing I hate more than sitting in a waiting room of sick children for an hour for a well child check up and then my kid get sick 3 days later from sitting in the waiting room! Also, we would have to buy our kids winter clothes....they haven't really needed proper winter attire here.


We'll let you know on Tuesday.....I'm bursting out of my skin........