Ross's Arrival and House Hunting: Part II

Get ready for a lot of photos in this post! 

After a relaxing weekend, Monday brought much excitement with the arrival of USS Ross to its new permanent home port in Spain!  It had only been a week and a half since I said goodbye to my husband, but what a week and a half it was, and his accompaniment would have been greatly appreciated, not just for his company.  I was lucky enough to get connected with another wife who offered me a ride to the pier for the homecoming ceremony, but since no one was that clear or forthcoming about the time, we were the first family members there.  With butterflies in my stomach, I not-so-patiently waited, and then finally after an hour to an hour and a half, we saw the ship as it rounded the end of the pier.

Thank you to Amanda Hand for capturing me photographing the entrance of the ship!

Of course the ship took its sweet time coming in so they could appropriately time their arrival to their spot on the pier with the commencement of the ceremony... but after a wait that seemed like forever, the ship was finally close enough for me to locate my dear husband.

ET2 Palmer, top and center :)

 After an eternity of watching them all stand there, taking tons of photos, and patiently waiting, the sailors were finally being released off of the ship.

And we were reunited!!

(U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist William Clark /RELEASED)

So that was Monday.  The rest of the week was mostly about house hunting and doing a bit of exploring in Spain!  I went on a tour on Tuesday around Rota, where I learned of a couple good restaurants and got to see the beach in town.  It was my first time out and I'm glad I went.  Between meeting some people at the ceremony and meeting people on the tour, I'm starting to make friends and it's feeling more and more like home every day.  It's strange that I feel more welcomed here in a foreign land than I ever did in our other 2 stations (Great Lakes, Illinois and Norfolk, Virginia).  

Wednesday was a day full of house hunting. I had two different appointments with the housing department on base, and one appointment off base with a couple of girls who help people find homes.  Long story short, we found a home that would be perfect for us.  My husband couldn't stop thinking about it after we saw it, so Thursday morning we made a decision to start the paperwork on that house before it was swept out from under us.  

There are 2 guest rooms, one master bedroom, a loft, living room, dining room, a fully furnished basement with a bar, 3 bathrooms (one has a jet shower, and one has a jacuzzi tub), a laundry room, and a gorgeous big kitchen.  There is also (this is my husband's favorite part) a HUGE garage.  There is a nice yard which is maintained by the landlord, balconies, nice front porch.. and it's in a country style neighborhood.  We have an empty field/lot next to us on one side, and a field/garden behind us.  Just a short walk down the road one way leads us to the beach, and a short walk the other way leads us to the little local stores for bread, produce, and other stuff that we'll figure out as we explore :)

There will be a full post about the house when we move in, and hopefully all the inspection and paperwork will go through without any glitches.  We're very excited about this and slowly we're feeling more and more comfortable in Spain.

Stay tuned for more updates in the next week!!