Two toddlers explore nature using muffin tin and bowl filled with flowers and leaves outdoors.

Soaking up Sun Between PCS Orders

Written By Sydney Smith

When the sun is out here in Washington State, we find ourselves outside most of the day every day. Since moving here from the South, we have learned how to embrace good weather whenever we get it here. I’m not sure I really appreciated the sun quite like I do now, and my kids have learned to do the same. In our family, when it’s sunny and warm, the television stays off and toys stay put away until the clouds and rain come home.  

While I’m a big believer in letting the outdoors be sufficient as a child’s playground, it also helps to have a few tools or activities in my “back pocket” to keep my kids engaged outside — especially when we find ourselves in smaller and less explorative spaces, such as our backyard. Here are some of our favorite outdoor activities for military children: 

  1. A mud kitchen basket: If you don’t have the space or money (or desire) for a full-on mud kitchen, you can just keep a small basket of mud kitchen tools handy. I went to our local thrift store and found some small muffin tins, a mini cast iron pan, some tiny pots and pans and a few utensils. My daughters have so much fun making “dandelion soup” and “grass muffins.” It is so fun to see how creative they get with their recipes! 
  2. Sand play: Whether you are willing to deal with a big sandbox in your yard or not is a personal decision. Personally, I find sandboxes to be a bit impractical for military families just because of how inconvenient it can be to dispose of sand before each PCS, and transporting a large sandbox is not always ideal. We prefer to have a sand table that contains only a little bit of sand but keeps the kids content with sensory play. The other plus to a sand table versus a sandbox is the kids don’t get as messy or drag as much sand inside.  
  3. Bubbles: Whether it is your traditional bubble wands or fancy bubble blowers, bubbles always add a little joy to the outdoors. Sometimes we go for bubble walks when the sun pops out, and it makes everything just a little bit more magical. 
  4. Bounce houses: Last year, Santa Claus brought the kids an inflatable bounce house, and it has been a big hit. Like sandboxes, trampolines can be quite impractical for military families, since they are not easy to transport. We enjoy the convenience of our bounce house that we can easily deflate and stuff into a large tote when we aren’t using it during a large part of the season. We pull it out when we host families over for dinner or parties. It is a serious kid-pleaser. We even add plastic balls to ours for a little extra something.  
  5. Making tiny houses: My daughter and I love to gather sticks and pinecones and rocks and make little homes for bugs, fairies, lizards or whatever creature we can think of that day. I love seeing her check on it the next day to see if there was any evidence of tiny tenants being left behind. 
  6. Watercolors: One of my very favorite things to do with the kids is to bring out a big quilt and our basket of watercolors and paint outside. Our watercolor basket contains a palette of colors, multiple paintbrushes, a notebook for each of my kids, and a mason jar with a lid and a washcloth. For painting prep, all I have to do is fill up the jar with water, grab the basket, and lay down the blanket under the sun (or shade on a hot day), and we are ready to paint!   
  7. Picnics: I saved the best for last. We are a big picnic family. Whether it’s the playground, the lake, a hike or our own backyard, we love a good picnic. Not only does eating yummy food together make the outdoors more fun, but it prevents my floors from getting covered in crumbs and grime for the day, which is a nice break occasionally.  

These are some of our favorite ways to keep the kids happy and engaged outside when they grow bored of stick swords and catching bugs. Obviously, you don’t need any of these things to have family fun outdoors, but it can be helpful to have creative tools and hands-on activities available for your kids to maximize their fun in the fresh air. 

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of parenting resources and tools tailored to your needs. 

House porch decorated for fall with pumpkins, hay bales, corn stalks, and a wreath on the front door.

Fall Decorating Tips for Military Housing

Written By Dawn Smith

There’s something — well, probably a lot of things — about the fall season that makes everyone giddy for cozy comfort at home, including those of us living in military housing. Although there are many perks to living on base, one of the common drawbacks military families talk about is the restriction on personalizing and decorating the property.

One of the ways to work within the housing guidelines is to install seasonal decorations. It’s the perfect way to customize your temporary home.

Starting in early September — or, if you’re like me, the last week of August — autumn mania takes over. I begin by incorporating bits of fall decor into my everyday style. Here are my suggestions for honoring your love for crispy leaves and dropping temperatures while living in military housing.

  1. Add your fall decorations layer by layer throughout September and October. You can stretch out the best season by installing your favorite decorations slowly for the biggest impact. In early September, focus on displaying fall trimmings such as leafy stairway swags that don’t include Halloween themes — save those for the first week of October. As soon as the last trick-or-treater is gone, it’s time to add in your festive Thanksgiving embellishments. Each month, your home will look just a little different.
  2. Use all your senses to add a fall vibe to your home. Interior design and decorating techniques are most effective when you include multiple senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch), so mix up how you incorporate fall adornments. Fall displays draped on your home’s focal points are a good starting point, but don’t forget to add your favorite autumn scents like apple and cinnamon from candles or outlet fragrance dispensers. Or, add chunky textured blankets to a comfortable reading nook. If you have self-control (I don’t!), a fun candy dish is the perfect way to indulge your sense of taste.
  3. Incorporate natural elements and upcycled finds. Take stock in items that you already own that double as fall-inspired decor. Baskets of any kind, such as harvest or antique tobacco baskets, quickly inject homey vibes. Use these to create centerpieces that include natural elements you can find during your neighborhood walks, like colored leaves, acorns, tall grass and other interesting finds. These projects are easy to recreate after each PCS, so there’s plenty of longevity. Don’t forget to check out your base’s thrift store or one of the many free or traditional yard sales that pop up on base in the summer and fall.
  4. Show off your beloved collections. Do you have a fall-themed collection that’s perfect for showing off? Any portable shelving system that you already own is the perfect place to highlight your prized possessions. Temporarily clear the existing pieces and add themed items like fall landscape photography, ceramic pumpkins, pottery or vintage fall-themed books to showcase the items you love the most.
  5. Decorate your favorite space. When we lived on Fort Meade, my favorite place was the long front porch. It was perfect for connecting with neighbors and watching the kids play. But, during the holidays, especially in the fall months, I loved to go all out. I hung wreaths, installed cornstalks, stacked hay bales and added fresh pumpkins and gourds as the weeks passed. They were perfect accompaniments to my black wooden rocking chairs and a primitive bucket bench that held firewood. The atmosphere was inviting, and the autumn atmosphere was perfect.

Military housing doesn’t have to be drab. It’s your home after all, so don’t let the big beige walls intimidate you; use easy resources like Pinterest to inspire you. Plenty of military spouses showcase their fall-inspired decor, so find ideas you like and turn your home into a festive retreat perfect for September, October and November.

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of moving resources and tools tailored to your needs.

Smiling family of six stands in front of a colorful mosaic tile wall; parents hold baby in carrier.

Embracing Autumn at Every Duty Station

Written By Lizann Lightfoot

Growing up in the Northeast, autumn was a spectacle of colorful leaves, crisp air, apple pie and pumpkin patches. It was a season I loved but took for granted. Military life changed that. After a decade of PCS moves to warm climates and overseas bases where fall was just another sunny day, I learned to cherish the small, fleeting joys of every season.

During our time in Spain, I missed pumpkin pie and jack-o-lanterns. In Southern California, I longed for crisp evenings, fire pits and the crunch of leaves underfoot. Military life, with its constant relocations and unpredictable separations, taught me to seek out and savor life’s simple moments, from seasonal traditions to everyday victories. You never know when a favorite food or tradition might be out of reach, so finding gratitude for the little things keeps you grounded, no matter where the next orders take you. As a military spouse, I’ve discovered that embracing these moments builds joy and memories that last across time zones and climates. Here are five strategies for military families to treasure life’s small moments, inspired by my journey through countless moves and seasons.

  • Create seasonal family traditions. Military families rarely stay in one place for long, so build traditions that can travel with you. Instead of relying on weather or location, focus on traditions like a special recipe (our chocolate chip cookies work anywhere), a craft like making colorful paper leaf wreaths, or watching a favorite movie together every fall. These repeatable moments create continuity for your kids or spouse, grounding everyone no matter the duty station.
  • Get creative to make your own vibe. Stationed somewhere without fall foliage or seasonal treats? Get resourceful. If you live overseas, you may have to stock up on pumpkin spice mix, canned pumpkin and cranberry sauce at the base commissary months in advance. You could also ask family to ship your favorite seasonal snacks. Where there’s a will, there’s a way to craft the seasonal vibe you crave, whether it’s stringing up fairy lights, playing a seasonal-themed playlist, or ordering candles with nostalgic scents.
  • Celebrate with others. If you’re missing an autumn tradition, chances are other military families are too. Connect with spouses or families through your service member’s unit or base community. Host a pumpkin decorating night or gather to watch a football game with snacks. At one warm duty station, I joined other spouses to bake pumpkin bread for Halloween, turning a lonely fall during deployment into a shared celebration that built friendships.
  • Don’t be afraid to start new traditions. Each duty station offers unique opportunities. When we lived in Southern Spain, autumn meant festival season, not falling leaves. We embraced local traditions: attending religious parades, dances with brightly colored dresses and horse shows. It wasn’t the Northeast autumn I knew, but diving into these new experiences created memories as rich as any apple orchard visit. Be open to what your new home offers. It might become a cherished memory, and who knows when you’ll get to repeat it?
  • Create ways to capture memories. Speaking of cherished memories, military families need creative ways to capture their unique experiences! Tangible mementos help you carry joy from one duty station to the next. Collect small souvenirs like a festival ticket or a pressed leaf from a local park. Create a photo album for each season or build a memory wall with postcards and snapshots. We have a collage wall of small, framed images we collected in Europe. We have set it up in four different houses now, using different configurations each time depending on the home layout. The result is always a treasured wall of places we enjoyed visiting together.
  • Finding joy in the journey. These strategies are about cultivating gratitude for each season and for life’s small moments. It’s a skill the military helped me develop through every move and deployment. Whether you’re savoring a familiar recipe in a new kitchen or discovering a local festival with new friends, these acts of celebration keep you ready for the challenges of military life. They also build community, connecting you with others who share this journey.

Next time you’re stationed far from the autumns or traditions you love, lean into these ideas. Find one small thing to celebrate — a meal, a gathering, a new event — and make it a joyful memory. Here’s to treasuring every moment, wherever military life takes you!

Blog Brigade unites military spouses by creating a community built on shared experiences and mutual support. Navigating the complexities of military life can be challenging, but you don’t have to do it alone. Military OneSource offers valuable resources focused on well-being, readiness, and connection. Explore a range of moving resources and tools tailored to your needs.

Featured Topics

Man sitting with dog on dock

PCS Prep

woman meditating

Self-Care