It would seem... that we've come to a decision

Thanks to everyone to sent some input to help us make a decision.

So, with still a little hesitancy on my part, it seems that we will be making the BIG move to Europe.

To answer a few questions: we don't get to negotiate any perks because this is the military and not a private company. For Aaron, the perk is getting to go to Europe. He's wanted this for a long time and it was me holding out on the idea. Looking back I wish we would have taken the opportunity when it was first an option (when we didn't have a family and the transition would have been easier).

After some inquiries, we have been told that the area we are going to has a mandatory "on post housing policy." This means that we don't have the initial option to look for housing off base... unless there isn't housing available to us within 30 days of our arrival. We have been authorized a five bedroom unit, but that isn't saying much as that is only approximately 1600 sq feet. This is way smaller than we are used to. Also, on post housing is "stairwell living" which means it's more like an enclosed apartment complex without having a balcony. (See picture below)And as far as we can tell (still have to inquire about this) it must be a communal laundry facility. Ugh. I am constantly doing laundry and enjoy the convenience of being able to start a load in the middle of the night if I want to. Dragging laundry up and down multiple flights of stairs on a more timed schedule will be a tough change.

** Thanks Leslie for all the cool blog posts. It's one of the things that makes me excited to make this move. You're giving us lots of travel/site-seeing options! Guess we'll be seeing you next year.