Jet-Lagged and Cranky

It has been a difficult transition switching over to this time zone (nine hour difference from ABQ), but I think we are almost there. Elijah was consistently awake from 1am to 4am every night. but we've had two good nights in a row now! Yeah!

We've had challenges in other areas as well. Getting the internet up and working, figuring out whether to use transformers or adapters for our 220 volt outlets, as well as countless trips to the Base Exchange to purchase necessary items we won't have for at least two months (i.e. iron, microwave, broom, etc.) Getting our phone to finally work today made us feel a whole lot better.

One of our most memorable fiascoes was when Elijah managed to lock himself inside break the door lock to his room when we were in temporary lodging! There were lots of tears during those 20 minutes, but they managed to pry the handle off in pieces to get him out.

 

I didn't know that a door handle could come apart in so many pieces!

The day after that incident, we moved into our new home! We were put in older housing, but were still more than pleased with what we got! We are situated in a cute little neighborhood at the end of a cul-de-sac. Here are some pics for the moment, but we'll make sure to put up a video tour so you can feel like you came to visit!

Our New Home

Anu was ecstatic to see that our front lawn had this beautiful banana tree. We already have a gardener who has promised to re-seed our lawn and plant any flowers that we want. Maybe we can go on that "Curb Appeal" show on HGTV!

Those baby bananas are just starting to ripen!

Our living area is spacious enough that we're going to divide it to make a play area for the boys. We've also decided to try painting some of our walls to make the place feel more like ours for the next couple years. (Don't mind our mess as we're still living with loaner furniture and in the process of getting settled.)

Our Living Area 

The kitchen is old, but a decent size with a window! The playground is so close that it looks like it's in our own backyard.

Our Kitchen

The view from our kitchen window

The neat thing about living in an older home is the character of the place. The newly remodeled homes are incredibly nice, but you would never know you were living abroad. Our home has lots of woodwork, large bedrooms and these fantastic door handles with a key to lock them. 

Aren't these beautiful!

And 'Yes', we did get a maid to clean all those tile floors for us! As we have it arranged so far, she will be coming by once a week to do whatever cleaning Anu wants or watch the boys if she need to go out. "I think I'm going to get spoiled!"