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...