Our first hard goodbye

What a whirl wind of a week. We got back from the states on Tuesday (another 10 hour flight that I am still trying to black out of my memory) and have been trying to get the kids adjusted to the time zone before we leave for Singapore in just a few days! We have had the weirdest mixed feelings as of late as well. Happy to be back home, sad to have left family... AGAIN, excited to go to Singapore, and now we are having to say good bye to our closest friends here in Misawa.

Our dear friends, the Goodes, are moving to Las Vegas where he will be an instructor for the weapons schooling that is held at Nellis. He is the sharpest, nicest, hardest working pilot we have crossed paths with, and his wife and daughter are the sweetest people we know! Amy and her daughter Natalie (only 4 months younger than Abby) lived across the street from us and became our best friends this summer. When our husbands were gone to Alaska for 2 months we would go to lunch, take our kids to the park, go strawberry picking... You name it! Everyday we would get together and let our littles run around while we tried to sneak in adult conversation :)

Jikdo (Jeff Goodes call sign) had his fini flight and Kyle was lucky enough to be in it. We went to support him on his last flight as a panther, and had fun spraying him down with a hose while duck taping him to the jet (a tradition done for all fini flights). 

Still in denial that they were moving, I threw together one last "playgroup" for all of us to hang out with Natalie and Amy before they left. The kids had fun as always, not knowing that this was their good bye. Sometimes I think about what it must be like to be a military brat. Making friends, then having to leave them or they leaving you. Luckily I think Abby is still too young to fully understand, but she does ask where Nat is and it breaks my heart. The best part about this move is that they are going to Vegas which is right by Kyle's family in Saint George. So we have tentative get togethers planned the next time we are back in the states visiting family.

They really are an amazing family, and about to welcome their second daughter come November. I am so glad our paths crossed, even for a little bit. And thus we start the never ending cycle of saying good bye to all our dear friends here in misawa. Till we meet again!