Happy New Year!

2013 Year of the Snake

So, Last night was New Year's Eve.  We had some friends over to play Things!!  Turned out to be the best idea!  Everyone had a great time and we got to learn a little more about each other.  The kids pretty much entertained themselves, playing trains and watching movies. 

Today, the first of a new year.  Aiden and I got up and got coffee, milk for him, and some dounuts! He was so excited.  It was so cute.  We were sitting in this coffee shop and Bruno Mars was playing...Aiden says," Sing Mommy".  So I do...very quietly.  He just sits there bobbing his head with a huge smile!!  Love these moments!  We came home and made Duplo airplanes and watched his new favorite movie Toy Story 2! 

To be continued after nap!

Treasure Hunting

It's kinda funny, I just realized that I have multiple posts referencing Pirates.  It must be all the water around me.

I know it's been a little while since my last post, so I'll backtrack a little before I tell you about our adventure today! 

Our first Christmas in Japan...
          Even though I put up my Christmas tree and hung our stockings there's just something not so Christmas"y" about loaner furniture and no extended family around.  It was very quiet.  We woke and Aiden opened his gifts as we Skyped with Gigi and Pap pap!  Then we joined our new friends J, G, and little J to the American Village.  Side-note... the American Village is an American style shopping "Extravaganza"  with restaurants, and American style movie theater, etc.  We then returned home so that I could bake our mini Honey Ham I found at the commissary, make mashed potatoes without a mixer, and green bean casserole and baked pineapple from memory.  It was successful!  I invited a guy from Little Rock whose family hasn't made it to Japan yet for dinner.  We miss everyone back home (Texas, Pennsylvania, & Arkansas) and CANNOT wait for visitors!!

The next few days I attempted to take Aiden to the beach only resulting in afternoon (after nap) rain showers making for an unhappy 2 year old. 

Update:  Christmas boxes, cards and letters are slowing starting to come in.  The Post Office has been extremely backed up.  Sending anything other then a letter GET insurance on it!  We sent ourselves 3 boxes before we left Texas and 2 showed up the first week we were here and the third just showed up 2 days ago! 

This post is getting long and I haven't even told you about Torii Beach!  I'll have to tell you about our cars in a separate post...I got a Japanese "minivan" and Daniel got a '92 Mazda RX-7...he'll be bringing his back to the states.

Anyways...Torii Beach!!!
         So, I'm in this group on Facebook where you can ask anything about Okinawa.  Question:  Where is the best beach to find seashells?

Torii Beach is an Army MWR (Moral, wellness, Relaxation) which means that it is a private beach for military personnel.  It's a warm 76 degrees today with lots of sun.  We got in the car with our map and started driving. 

The map says its about 16 traffic lights and turn left for another 6 traffic lights and you reach the main gate of Torii Station.  Haha that's funny because we lost could of the traffic lights and just drove until we saw 6 (the Highway?).  about 30 minutes later we see 6 so we follow this for which seems like forever.  Well it is forever...I look at the map again and it looks like we went around our elbow to get to our thumb.  Finally...There it is!  We get on base and find the beach and parking, lose our shoes and put our toes in the sand.

Well, we should have kept our shoes on... not a sandy beach.  It's full of coral!  The water feels glorious and the sun is hot, good thing we brought sunscreen!  Here are a few pictures, hope you enjoy!

Sushi Go Round

Sushi!!!!  OMG is it good here!!  I was cracking up because this place "Sushi Go Round" is exactly like every sushi place you see in the movies!  You either sit at the "bar" or a table and the sushi literally goes around on a convaer belt.  It's priced by the color plate.  Most of them were about 130 yen which is about $2 -$3 depending on the exchange rate.  The waiters didn't speak much English so they show you pictures and we point a lot.  Every restaurant that we have been to so far has an English menu with pictures.  You ring a bell when you're ready to order or get your check.  The dinning experience here is really cool. 

So far we have had traditional Japanese food, (I don't know what the restaurant was called).  This was our first dinner out.  You have to remove your shoes and you sit on the floor!  On the table were 2 round grills and you pay first...All you can eat.  The kicker...they don't have doggie bags so if you don't finish all the food you pay extra!  On the menu you have pictures of raw meat, you cook it yourself and you have 3 sauces (bbq, soy, and garlic).  Delicious, but I wish we would have known a little more about it because we would have ordered some vegetables instead of just pork.  O, and you have to tell them no intestines!  "What!"

The second place we ate at was a pizza place.  I know what your thinking..."You're in Japan and you're eating pizza!"  Ok, we drove around for an hour trying to find a Kadena favorite and we just kept driving in circles.  And this was done with 2 two year olds, 1 pregnant lady (NOT ME), and 3 other hungry people.  We decided to stop at the first place we found.  The food was actually pretty good.

Next, was the Sushi.  Did I tell that it was Amazing!  Oh, yeah I did!  It was Amazing!  Our new favorite restaurant and our bill was under $50 for 3 people.  Yes, Aiden like sushi!!

Sticky rice on my fingers!!!



California Rolls



Our new favorite ~ We think its crab, onions and mayo

Aiden got fried chicken too...just incase

Hey "Teven" I like the milkshake thing.

And, last night we finally found the Kadena favorite!  Coco Curry House.  So,  I would suggest that when you come visit you only order "mild".  Daniel likes spicy food and he can only handle a number 1 spice level!  It's very good.  Aiden and I shared fried shrimp mild curry and garlic cheese nann.

Loaner Furniture

Hi!!  Well, I've been feeling a little homesick the last 2 days.  Daniel started working full shifts.  I'm still a little nervous about driving off base by myself.  So, Our express ship came Tuesday and in it was Aiden's crib, toys/ books, TV, and Christmas decorations.  Aiden and I "decked the halls" while watching "Choo Choo" Express (Polar Express)! 

Wednesday they delivered our loaner furniture.  The Japanese are the most impressive movers I have ever seen.  We have a full size bed for the master bedroom, nightstands, and 2 dressers. A couch, coffee table and end table, desk.   Here's the best part...ONE man carried a dinning table on his back up a flight of stairs and into my kitchen.  His next trip he carried THREE dinning chairs!  Aiden was napping during all of this.  They were sooo quiet and efficient!!  They had everything in the house and assembled within 15 minutes and not a peep out of Aiden.  He continued to sleep another 30 minutes after they left!!!!

I don't want to show you all my whole house yet.  I want to hold you in suspense until I get MY furniture!

Merry Christmas!!



5449 B bottom floor 2 bedrooms 1 bathroom



My view of the flight line and the OCEAN!!!

A Pirate's beach

Our first adventure off base!!! Joined by our new friends Giovanna, Josh, and Jackson we drove to Araha beach.  This is the perfect place for kids. 

Let me backtrack a little.  So we've been on the island for a week now.  We got to pick up our car on Friday.  Perfect for our wekend adventure!  We loaded up 2 carseats and 4 adults and left base.  I found directions to this beach online...took a picture with our new iPhone 5.  We were supposed to find a pink and white building with a bunny on it and turn left.  Well that didn't happen.  I think we drove in 3 circles before we got back to where we started and finally saw a sign. 

Araha beach has to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.

Thanks to Aunt Edie and Uncle Bob we had the perfect sand toys aka trucks to play with.  The water was pretty chilly at first.  Aiden kept running away because it was so cold.  His buddy Jackson thought it was great and decided to sit in the water.  What a great day!  I know we'll be spending many days here.



So when you first get to this beach there is a giant pirate ship play structure for kids.  The boys loved this!  They even had a zip line in the sand.



Aiden's shorts were wet from the ocean.



After our Pirate adventure we attempted to find this Curry place that is famous on the island Cocos.  We ended up driving until we got lost and ended up eating at the first place we could find.  A pizza place!  The food was decent.  They have this green soda we think is melon flavored, it's actually really good.  We were able to find our way back to base so that was good.

So until our next adventure.

First adventures

I think we have finally adjusted to the time difference (15 hours ahead of Houston time).  We're currently staying in a tiny hotel room with a kitchen, living room, and bedroom all in one room...then a bathroom.  I think my college dorm room was bigger than this! 

We're right across from the BX (shopping mall) and Commissary (grocery store).  So, we've made daily walks there since we don't have a car yet. The BX is huge, 2 stories, tons of American things and some really cool Japanese and Okinawan vendors.  Souvenirs will soon be on their way!!  Check your mail boxes! 

The weather is really nice too.  Mid 60s during the day, although very windy because we're so close to the ocean.  The evenings are pretty chilly because of the wind, the temperature is in the mid to high 50s. 

Today (Monday for us, Sunday for you), Daniel got picked up for work at 6:45am for in processing.  Hopefully, one of our sponsors will take us to look at cars this afternoon.  Tomorrow we go for our housing briefing to find out which to homes we have to choose from.  Hopefully, this process is quick as we are sooo ready to unpack our suitcases and have more space.  Wednesday Daniel and I go to get our Japanese drivers licences.  This should be fun...they drive on the "wrong side" of the road and "wrong side" of the car.  Stop signs look like yield signs and everything is in Kongi (sp?) (Japanese characters).

Hopefully, I'll have another post in the next few days with pictures!!  Those of you that have tried to call us, the hotel has Magicjack blocked so, we should be up and running there as soon as we move into our home.  In the meantime we've been staying logged in to Skype so just call we'll pick up if we're in our room.

19 hour fight...2 hours of sleep

So we finally made it to Okinawa!  We started our journey on Wednesday leaving Houston for Seattle.  This flight was easy...Aiden slept most of the flight.  We arrived in Seattle and went straight to the hotel to attempt to sleep since we had to get up super early to go to Japan.  This unfortunately didn't work out so well.  We were so wired, I think I got maybe 1 1/2 hours of sleep. 

Our flight to Japan started very well.  We had 3 seats in the front center of the plane...so 2 aisle seats.  Not much turbulence.  Aiden's busy bags were a total success!! We didn't even open them all! Only 1 problem...Aiden didn't sleep which means Mom didn't sleep.  Thank goodness he didn't cry, that would have made for an even longer trip.  All he wanted to do was play. 

Our first stop was mainland Japan at an Air Force Base after 12 hours.  This was new experience for me.  They unloaded final stop passengers first which was super hard for Aiden to understand that he couldn't get off the plane yet.  During our 2 hour lay over Aiden ran around in hopes that he would tire himself out.  Haha funny thought.  We met a nice couple from FL...he's a Marine.  Dumb of us...we forgot to ask their names...hopefully we run into them again!

Aiden falls asleep right before we board the plane...finally sleep!  Haha this is funny again...Daniel and I are so far beyond sleepy.  I maybe got 1 hour of shut eye before we get to the 2nd stop Marine base on the mainland.  And 1 more hour of sleep, get bags, meet sponsors get to hotel 8pm Friday (Okinawa time) and crash!!!

Exactly 1 month until our move

So, December 5th we leave the amazing USofA and begin our journey to Okinawa, Japan.  Lots of mixed feelings about this.  We first learn about our PCS (permanent change of station) back in April, now 7 months later we finally find out what needs to happen to get us to Japan.  Daniel and I have 2 weeks to decide and put together everything we want to keep in storage in the US and 3 weeks to get the rest of the house ready for the movers to come. OMG!!  When the military says hurry up and wait they sure do mean it.

I've been checking out YouTube for videos of the housing options.  They're kinda funny no one has their own furniture when they make their videos.  I'll hopefully make one and post it here for all you to see...I'll try to wait until our personal stuff arrives.

So far the worst part is trying to get the dogs to Okinawa.  First the Vet on base here screwed up their shots.  We started this in May so that Vandal and Lexi could be quarantined here and not in a kennel in Japan.  They are required to do the shots in certain order and well the Dr. that started the process PCS'd before we did.  Therefore, we had lost all the quarantine time the dogs already had.  So, it started over.  Quarantine is over in March for Vandal and Lexi.  There are no pet spots on the hopper (military charter flight) so hopefully Vandal and Lexi will join us in Okinawa in March!  I'll keep you posted as Daniel and I heart broken over this.  Aiden's just too young to understand.