Pioneer Day

Today our Branch held a super fun Pioneer Day activity at the gazebos near the water. Some of the adults and kids were dressed up in pioneer clothes. The kids enjoyed the fun games that they had set up. For every game each of the kids got to earn pennies and nickles. They had fishing, Cowboys and Indians(duck-duck-goose), war tug with a stick, and tug of war. After most of the big kids were done fishing in the blow up pool all of the little kids got in to keep cool. It started with just walking and splashing lightly and then before I knew it Abby was sitting in the pool with all of her clothes on. I couldn't blame her because it was so blasted hot. We were all hot sticky messes before lunch even started.

For lunch we ate Navajo Tacos and lots and lots of watermelon. When lunch was over all the kids lined up at the sweet shop to buy candy with the pennies and nickles they earned from the games. Everything was set up so cute and the kids were beside themselves with all of the candy that they were able to get with their pennies and nickles. While the kids were busy having fun Mike and I were able to meet some really great people. I can tell this is going to be a great branch family!

First Week at Yokosuka

SATURDAY

We left Zama today in a nice big shuttle. We arrived at the Navy Lodge at Yokosuka a little over an hour later. We made our way to the second floor to settle in a bit in our two joining rooms. The lodge at Zama had just been redone so it was all new and nice inside and the air conditioning worked great. The lodge at Yokosuka was much older and not as nice but it would be fine for a short time. The only thing we missed from Zama was good air coniditiong. The AC didn't work that well and that was a big bummer. We took our first trip to the commissary today and we were all grateful for the easy access of the shuttle bus. It was humorous as we carried our many grocery bags on the bus. It stinks to be carless.

Not all was horrible today though. We felt so blessed to be welcomed by such great people when we got here at Yokosuka. Mike's new ENT partner's wife, Courtney, left a really nice basket full of goodies, essentials, and activities for the kids. After getting settled in at the lodge one of the ladies from church called to let us know that they had arranged for us to get a ride to church the next day.

SUNDAY

Since our church building is being fixed to accomodate our growing branch they have been meeting at the building in Kamakura which is 30-40 minutes away. It took three sweet families to get all of us to church. It ended up taking us an entire hour because the traffic was bad but I was just glad to be in an air conditioned car and not taking the train in the humidity. The younger three fell asleep on the way to church and were all a little sleepy when we walked into the church. Emma was not happy and just cried because I was holding Abby and wouldn't hold her. Mike was sweet to take her out while I tried to keep everyone happy during the Sacrament. Afterwards I went to relieve him and we finally got everyone to be happy. Since we were meeting in a different building we only met for 2 hours. Wish it could be like that every week! I have to admit 2 hours was much easier than 3 hours. On the way home one of the ladies driving got split up from the rest of us but she did end up finding her way back to the lodge. Thank goodness! That night we had a fabulous dinner with Mike's new ENT partner, Shawn, and his wonderful family. I was able to finally meet Courtney for the first time. We have been writing for the last two months. I can tell that we are all going to get along which is such a relief!


MONDAY

We didn't waste any time and started our week long AOB (Area Orientation Brief) course today. We were so thankful to Shawn and Courtney who were able to get us signed up for this course right away with all of our kids being taken care of either through camp or daycare. The boys attended a summer camp which they seemed to really love. During AOB we learned about everything from the Japanese culture to things to do on and off base to learning how to drive here. After our class on Monday we realized that we had better divide and conquer so we could start looking for a home.

Even though we celebrated Andrew's birthday before arriving in Japan we decided to celebrate today on his real birthday by going out to dinner followed by cake and ice-cream. We walked across the street to Chili's to have dinner. It was so weird to eat at an American restaurant knowing that we were in a completely different land. There was no Chili restaurant here when I lived her so long ago. After a very American dinner we went back to the lodge for some dessert. Mike had gone to the commissary and bought a cake and had them write "Happy Birthday Andrew" with Andrew's name in Japanese below. It was such a cool cake. Everyone wanted one of the outer pieces with the cool colorful frosting. Happy 9th Birthday Andrew!

TUESDAY

I went to the course today while Mike went to the housing briefing. After that we were finally able to start looking in the books for possible homes. It was a pretty boring morning for me but after lunch Mike and I met up and went outside of the base to meet a real estate agent to see some houses. After looking at two houses we ate at an Indian Restarant called Go Go Indian. I had the Butter Chicken and Naan and Mike had the Curry Rice. Both were so delicious.


WEDNESDAY

Since Abby was having such a hard time at the CDC (daycare) we opted to keep her and Emma with me at the lodge for the morning. Mike went to AOB and I stayed behind and did laundry. Using the communal laundry room is kind of a pain especially when you need quarters to pay. I was able to get all three loads done but not without taking some of them to the third floor to use the dryers because the second floor dryers were full.

Mike met with a lady about a car today. We found a car that we are thinking might be the car for us. It is a silver 2001 Nissan Presage. It seats up to 8 people. It reminds me of a smaller minivan.


THURSDAY

Today was the field trip to Kamakura for the AOB course. Since the whole point of the field trip was to learn how to use the trains we opted to not go because we already felt comfortable with taking the train. After dropping off the boys at camp and Emma at the CDC we kept Abby with us and went to put a deposit on the Nissan Presage and then went to do some more house hunting. It was dreadfully hot today. As long as we pass our drivers test tomorrow we will be able to have a car to drive. We need a car so bad because it is so HOT here.


FRIDAY

Today was our driving education day. We spent the first couple of hours reviewing for the written test. After lunch we took the written portion. I was sure that I had gotten 100% but I missed two questions. Mike also missed 2 questions. Those that got 100% were awarded by being able to take their driving portion the same day. We knew that in order to drive our car and possibly get ourselves to church on our own this weekend we needed to take the driving portion. After everyone left I put on my sweet face and asked the sweet Japanese driving instructor if he could make an exception by letting Mike and I take our driving portion. After hearing our excuses for doing so he agreed. The driving portion was such a joke. We drove for 2 minutes, made two turns, and stopped at a stop sign. It was that easy. I think they just wanted to make sure that we knew how to turn the correct way, stay on the left side of the road, and use the blinker. Since the steering wheel is on the right side of the car the blinkers are on the right and the windshield wipers are on the left. I think all of us put on our wipers by accident thinking that we were putting on our blinkers. So funny! We passed and got our official Japanese drivers license cards. Lucky for us the VRO (Vehicle Registration Office) was right across from the lodge. We paid the lady for the car, went to City Hall to get temporary license plates, bought personal insurance, and registered the car all before the office closed at 4:00pm. We felt blessed to have gotten everything done today so that we could drive our new car. I could see how much we were watched over this week as we strived to get so many things done. We were so blessed this week!

Our First Tokyo Adventure

SHOPPING IN HARAJUKU

On Friday we took the kids on the train into Tokyo. We figured out how to buy our tickets at the train station and got on the right train. We got off a couple of stops later so that we could get on the express train. It was only 9 stops to Shinjuku instead of 29 stops on the local train. The train system in Japan is unbeatable. The trains are clean and air conditioned and they are always on time. Once you know what to look for to figure out whether your train is a local train (stops at every stop) or an express (skips lots of stops) then you are golden. We made it to Shinjuku without any problems. The plan was to change trains to go to the subway station by my old house. I had a brain fart at Shinjuku and couldn't remember what line to take. I finally had to ask someone and before long we got on the Yamanote line to go to Harajuku first before going to my old house. We got off and took the kids down this very popular shopping street where we found a cool Nike store where you could actually design your own shoes. We stopped in the Softbank store to admire the new iPhones before finally making it to Kiddyland. We all stopped in the family bathroom first. It was funny to see a regular toilet along side a urinal along side a toddler seat. We stuck Abby in it just for fun. After spending much too long admiring all of the cool things in the bathroom and the cool buttons on the toilet that did all kinds of wierd things like spray water and warm the toilet, we went on to explore all 6 levels of this toy store. The kids had a blast and each of them got to pick out one small toy to buy.

VISITING MY OLD APARTMENTS

Our next destination was to get on the subway at Meiji-jingumae right up the street from Kiddyland so that we could ride one stop to my old stop at Yoyogi-koen. It was sureal to be riding the subway I used to ride all the time as a kid. We got off at Yoyogi-koen and made the 12 minute walk to my old apartment. We stopped at the 7-eleven at the bottom of the hill and then made the hike up the hill to see both of my old apartments. My first apartment had been completely removed and a new bigger one was in its place. I lived there from ages 9-16. My next apartment which was only down the road and around the corner was still there and looked exactly the same. Even though I only spent 3 years there I have more memories of living there. Maybe it was because I was older. We all stopped to sit on the corner of the street and rest in the shade so I could take some pictures and tell the kids about where I grew up. I think a part of them was excited but realistically they were just hot and tired.

WALKING THROUGH SHIBUYA

From my old apartment we made the 10 minute walk down to Shibuya. Shibuya is one of the busiest and most popular sections to visit in the Tokyo area. There is a ton of shopping and lots of different restaurants to eat at. The intersection by Shibuya station is the craziest intersection I have ever encountered with over 8 different cross walks all converging together. When the pedestrian light turns green it is just a mad rush to cross the road in any direction and along any of the many crosswalks. It is chaos but that is what makes Shibuya so unique.

After 10 minutes of walking we made it to the first big store called Tokyu Department Store. We walked inside to cool off and everything seemed to be just like it was when I lived there. What I didn't expect to see outside this department store was a Starbucks, Subway, and an H&M store. Those stores did not exist in Tokyo when I was living there. Of course McDonalds has been around for quite some time and after finding ourselves rather exhausted and hungry we opted to get the kids dinner in the multi level McDonalds down one of the small streets. We ordered and paid on the first floor and then took the elevator up to the second floor to eat. I remember eating at this same McDonalds so long ago but this time posed to be so different than as a teenager as I quickly realized how hard it was to find a place to sit with four kids and a stroller. The eating area was small upstairs but the decor was modern and fun. We did manage to eventually find a place to seat our family of six.

After making sure the kids were fed we headed towards Shibuya train station. Even though there was so much more to see in Shibuya we knew the kids were running out of steam so we decided to call it a day and head back to Zama on the train. We crossed Shibuya crossing with thousands of other people. I even made the kids hold hands across the entire intersection. On the other side near the train station still stood Hachiko (the dog statue). This was and still is a popular place for people to meet. I could see the crowds start to congregate there as it was now evening on a Friday night.

Now that we were pros on the train (wink wink) we seemed to make it back to Shinjuku just in time to catch an express back to Sobudai-mae. The girls both fell asleep on the train ride home. When we finally got back to Sobudai-mae station right outside of the base at Zama we stopped at a little restaurant in the train station so Mike and I could eat dinner. We had ramen, curry rice, and gyoza. We bought a ticket for what we wanted to eat and then gave it to the cook. There are many little restaurants here that have ticket machines for purchasing your food. It's kind of a neat little process. The food tasted so delicious and it made our walk back to the hotel all the better. It was a long day for the kids but they did well. It meant so much to me to be able to visit where I grew up. Growing up near Shibuya was a riot and I'm glad the kids got to see it.