October...The Month Of Shaking Celebrations

Well...another October down. 
We got to experience our 2nd good earthquake here early this month.  I had just fallen asleep and dozed into a dream of Tim trying to wake me up by vigorously shaking the bed.  When I opened my eyes I realized...uh oh another earthquake.  According to Uncle Howard it was all in my head and it was actually Tim passing gas, but I told him Tim is the silent yet deadly type, so there is no way it wasn't an earthquake...lol.  This one wasn't quite as strong as the one we experienced in August...but it definitely had some kick to it and lasted long enough for me to consider waking up the kids and pulling them into my room with me.  Tim slept through the entire thing of course!

Tim and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on October 12th along with Madalynn's 5th birthday.  I had a humerous revelation when I realized that this is only about the 4th anniversary we have been able to celebrate since Tim was deployed for our first anniversary...I had our daughter on our 2nd anniversary...and I was 9 months pregnant ready to pop on our 3rd anniversary...we sure know how to plan things huh...lol.  Tim and I chose our anniversary present to each other was a piano...which is something we both have wanted for a very long time.

We were able to go out to an awesome Japanese resteraunt where you had the choice of cooking your own food at your table or they would cook it for you.  It was a little interesting and scary at first when I seen uterus and stomach on the menu, but we were both able to find something we were willing to try and it was delicious!  Still don't know exactly what it was but the menu said it was chicken so I think we are safe.  My friend Aubrey watched our kids and they made us an awesome anniversary cake...

So obviously...my friend likes to make cakes...so I took full advantage!
                          A few weeks from the party...
                                       Me:  "So will you help (you notice how I say help) me make Maddie and Joe
                                                cakes for their birthday?"
                                       Aubrey:  "Sure, I would love to, what did you have in mind?"
                                       Me:  (not having any knowledge of what goes in to cake making)  "Well nothing
                                               too big, but I (you notice how I say "I") want to make Maddie a castle cake
                                               and Joe and ninja turtle cake."
                                       Aubrey:  "OK, lets do it!"
                           So about a week before the party I show up to her house and say lets do this.  (you notice
                           how I say "lets" because what I was really meaning was "I hope you know your on your
                           own on this one...because I really dont have a clue!"  I've worked in management before
                           and I know how much better "lets" sounds than "please make this for me")  So are you
                           noticing the pattern yet...when I say "lets" or "I" I really mean her and when she says "lets"

                           she means "you and I"...well she soon figured this out and as I sat back in awe as she

                           created these masterpieces...

                               I am very proud to say that I did contribute a little.  You see that little tree in the back

                               ground and the flowers in the grass on Maddie's...that was all me!  She is truly an

                               amazing person, and I am so fortunate to have her as my friend here!

The party was a hit and the kids had a wonderful time.  We kicked it off with some snacks...

Then some cake and icecream...

Then a little pin the tail on the donkey (which Maddie so cheated at!)...

And ended it with the never fail pinata

I have to say that the people here are amazing.  We had many friends come and got to meet new friends also.  Everyone was so wonderful and we had a great time.  It is definitely shaping up to a wonderful time here and I think we will really enjoy the next 3 1/2 years here.

So until next time (hoping I can report on the massive amounts of snow they get), we will report back in November...

Arrival in June through Mid October

I figured now that a little over 3 months has passed, it is about time to update everyone on our adventures of Japan.  This first post will be pretty long because I am covering the first 3 months we are here so bare with me and I promise not all the posts will be this long.  Obviously, we all arrived safe and sound, (at least the kids and I were still sane) with the two cats in tow.  We only had to spend about a week in base lodging before we were offered our house.  It is very nice and we are very happy with it.  We have a park that was finished about 2 months ago directly across the street from our house which the kids love.

Maddie and Joe riding their bikes at the park.



Our first meal experience in Japan was quite the adventure.  Our sponsors let us borrow their car until we found a vehicle so we didn't feel comfortable driving their car off base, expecially with the whole driving on the other side of the road and car thing.  So, we parked the car on base and walked off.  It was a little later so not many places were open and we really had absolutely no idea where we were going.  So, we finally settled for a place called Tubes.  After sitting there for like 20 min waiting to order we discovered that almost all Japanese restaurants have a little buzzer button at your table you have to push in order for them to come take your order.  Maddie ordered taco salad, rice w/spam and deep fried spam...lol She at least loved the rice. 

Joe had rice bowl w/ burger and sunnyside up egg drizzled with mayo dressing...he loved it and was willing to try everyone elses meal also :)



 Tim had sweet and sour chicken.

And my meal is barely worth mentioning let alone a picture, I had chicken tacos.  I am not one for trying new food unless I know I will like it.  All in all it was a fun experience and we all enjoyed our meals.

After getting settled in to our house about a week later we found 2 vehicles.  I have to tell the story of Tim finding his car.  So, we drive by the furniture store and Tim sees this car.  He instantly falls in love with it.  He goes into the store to see if he can find the owner and the owner of the car actually works there.  She comes out and shows Tim the car and he says he is very interested and wants to test drive it.  She is only about 18 and getting ready to leave for college but wants her mom there to help with the negotiations (so she says).  So, Tim says he will meet her at 5 when she gets off, we show up and the car is gone.  Hmmm...did this girl forget or what??  Well, Tim is adimant so he goes back to the store the next day and gives our phone number to a lady who says she will make sure the girl's mom gets it.  We get no call???  Hmmm...so Tim sees the car again (thinking maybe this girl doesn't want to give up her car until she actually leaves) so Tim writes down the contact phone number and calls again.  Well by this point which took a little over a week, they have dropped the price by $200, which Tim was willing to pay what they were asking in the first place.  Finally, he gets to test drive it and it is confirmed "HE WILL HAVE THIS CAR!"  Now you must be thinking this car must be amazing for him to go through all this.  Well...$750 later...

The Hulk!

and Tim's reasoning for wanting it so bad...because he says "he can fit this car up his own a$$".

We had to wait about a month before all of our stuff came and amazingly enough hardly anything was broken.  I don't know what it is about kids and boxes but the kids thouroughly enjoyed the boxes from the unpacking.

                                      After all the unpacking was done...we had a dance party!

The base is located in an excellent spot.  On the east side of the base we have the ocean, which is about a 5 minute drive, and on the other side we have a beautiful lake which also has a beach for those of us who have children that take over 2 months to not be afraid of the waves of the ocean and to only get to experience the waves once this summer (but I'm not bitter about it...really...lol). Being so close to the water was awesome because this summer was unbearably HUMID!  Which typically would not be that bad, but base housing has no air conditioning, so, we spent many days in the pool in the back yard, at the beach, or like Maddie...in the refridgerator... 


Maddie's idea on how to stay cool...lol!





Maddie and Joe at the lake beach

We finally convinced the kids that the ocean waves were not going to kill them and had an awesome September day at the beach.

 

One of the first exciting festivals we attended was the Beef and Garlic festival.  After a very long scenic drive we arrived at the festival.  They had meat skewers you could buy and then cook it right there at the festival.  I have to say I was very impressed with how good it tasted. 

After the festival we took a different route home which took us around Lake Towada.  I have to say that this lake along with the Oirase gorge we visited the following weekend has been, by far, the highligt of our time here so far!  It is simply amazing, I have never seen anything like this in the states.  I will let the pictures speak for themselves in the following video.

Well, I think that is all for now so until next time...