The Sun is Shining..

(This is a post FULL of pictures)

Wake up! Wake up! The sun is back out! It DOES exist here!!



This was our sunrise on Friday.. Well, kind of.. it was in the early hours, so there weren't too many colors in the sky yet.. No rain though - wonderful right?

Tim got off early (like really early - he pretty much mustered and came back). We were supposed to be taking care of things (IE finding a house), but we already have an appointment to see a house tomorrow, so we did some other things instead. First things first, we had to head over to the school so Kadie could meet the nurse, her counselor, and we actually got to meet her teacher as well. So far, so good. She's very excited, and Mr. Allen seems like a really nice guy!

After that, it was such a gorgeous day outside, that we decided to head out into town. Not just Blue Street, but also a mall nearby. (I can say the name, but I can't remember how to spell it). First of all though, we realized the night before we really needed a stroller here. Ours won't be here for months, so we decided to head into the NEX to grab a cheap umbrella one. Yay for having a stroller, makes trips MUCH easier!!!



Kadie waited patiently while we got the thing put together. lol



I don't know how happy Molly is to have one.. (she was falling asleep here though).

So we decided to walk out through Womble Gate, and headed over to Main Gate so that I could get my picture done at DBIDS. There was a long line that I didn't want to wait in, so we didn't get it done. (note to self: go to DBIDS this week). It amazes me how beautiful this base is - San Diego barely had any trees at all, and it certainly didn't look like this:



One thing I love about this place - a lot of people ride bikes instead of driving. I'm sure that's more to do with traffic and only getting one parking spot at most houses, but still, I love it. I love it even more when stairs have ramps running all the way up them that separate the two sides. It makes for the perfect stroller ramp. Let me tell you, that is a workout too - just walking up those stairs is nothing, but pushing that stroller, I'm telling you that ramp is steeper. lol



After realizing we weren't going to wait at DBIDS, we headed out.. These are a few shots of the streets just off the base outside of Main Gate..



If you look carefully, you can see our agency - Rehouse (the red sign to the right).





We headed to the mall and did a bit of shopping at a 100Y store. For those that I haven't told yet, the 100Y store is basically a dollar shop, only, instead of it being filled with junk, the stuff there is actually pretty useful. Not only that, but the quality is pretty darn good as well. We love them - they are especially good for umbrellas here. I can see where yours would get ruined very quickly.. We also happened to pass a "Kadie" store as Tim would say.. We found a Sanrio.. So we OF COURSE had to stop in there. Kadie got a couple of pencils and new pencil sharpener for starting school on Monday. She's pretty darn happy about it.



We walked around the mall for a little while longer, but we were all starting to get hungry, so we headed back toward Blue Street. Of course, not before we saw a Coke bench.. Kadie LOVED it and requested she get a picture with it.. lol (because she drinks SO much soda.. haha)



We also stopped by our agent's office to see if she'd come up with anything else for us to see before Monday. She hadn't yet, but we'll see what the house looks like on Monday. If it doesn't work for us, she said she'll call other agencies next. We love her - if any of you are moving to Yoko, LMK, she came highly recommended to me, and I can see why!!!

When we finally got back to Blue Street, we headed straight to Coco's - not the Coco's of home.. This is a curry house.. mmm.. I love curry. lol Anyhoot, it was our girls' first time trying it as well! Kadie wasn't such a fan, but Molly started eating the sauce without anything else. She ended up being covered in ketchup and curry. haha Each of the girls meals came with apple juice, and it was the first time Molly ever had a juice box.. Let's just say that much sugar in a baby who's not used to it is pretty entertaining..

I told the girls their food was happy to see them..





Molly wanted to give some juice to Daddy too..

Kadie's reaction:



After the meal, Kadie got to pick a prize - we just got some biscuit type cookies for Molly.





With a kid as hyper as Molly was, we had a fun time walking back.. She was happy though, and skipped merrily along..





And then the Many Faces of Molly...

By time we got back to the base, the girls were starting to crash. We headed back to the hotel room where Kadie finally got to eat her cake.. It was good too.. lol (picture to be added later tonight). Tim and I enjoyed some Java Chip ice cream, and we all called it a night! Which I'm doing to this entry too since I have a monkey hanging off of my arm..

Randoms

A few randoms of Molly over the past several days.. More during the cold and wet days where we spent a lot of time inside this SMALL room. We went out yesterday, there are pictures coming from that!





Playing around with Daddy.. Yes, she decided she was going to make herself a piggy!!












This is a kid who was VERY happy to see a crib again.. Or the bear..















Looking sweet.. Just wanted to point out that she has a turtle neck under her long sleeved shirt.. When have we ever had to do that?






-Sarah

Really.. Not much..

This is pretty much what's been going on for the past two days.

We haven't been doing a lot, mostly because of the weather and Tim's work schedule. Meaning, he went back to work. lol We were going to go to storytime yesterday at the library, but this is what was going on at 10:10 when the bus came by that would get us to the library on time. Later, we went to the mini NEX over here, but that's about it. The weather has really forced us to stay inside.



See? It's so cold that the windows are frosting inside - I don't know if I've ever seen that.. LOL

Thus, I've been forced to take pictures of random things it the wake of boredom...

This is the bathtub faucet.. It's a lot less confusing than it looks.. Ok, tell me that again the next time that I turn on the shower and shoot myself while fully dressed with the nozzle that's aimed at me. The poor toilet paper never saw it coming..



Oh.. If you've talked to me about the differences between here and the States, you know I've mentioned that the water drains in the opposite direction!! So you can kind of see it here, but this is the best I can do!



Kadie has started to learn Japanese..



She could tell you how to say "boy" "girl" "hello" or "excuse me". Some of it we've taught her.. I think she might know more than she's letting on, but it's all good. :) At least she's learning.

Today, we talked to an agent about finding a house. She found a place for us, but we can't see it until Monday - I don't know if we can wait that long. lol Otherwise, we headed out to register Kadie for school and get a PO Box. We accomplished both tasks. Getting to the school wasn't so bad, the post office on the other hand, was HORRIBLE. The walk to the school from the bus stop is about a block or so. It was wonderful at that point - little wind and light rain. By time we got in front of the school, the story was a little different, but still doable.

Kadie is officially registered, and happy about it. We are too - the school seems amazing, maybe even better than our beloved Silver Gate. They have a wonderful technology program - EIGHT computers in every classroom! I'm shocked about that one. They even teach the children Japanese and Spanish - that amazes me.. two languages? Best of all - the schedule is the same as what we are already used to! School starts early and gets out early! LOVE it! Except maybe next week where I need to figure out where she's going to go after school before we get out of AOB. Oh well, we're going to go to MWR tomorrow to see if we can get her in any after school programs/care and to see if I can find a job here. Oh yeah, you read right - I'm looking for a job. YAY!!!

After we fell in love with this school, we headed out to the post office. Not a long walk right? Well, when you are trying to squish 4 people under one umbrella, it is. Especially when one refuses to walk with you. Joy. So if she gets sick, not my fault - I tried! We finally got to the post office only to find out that the ONE person who can open new boxes isn't there - he's at the hospital. During working hours, really? Great. So we're about to leave and someone else apparently can do it, we get one opened - find out the guy at the hospital is attending to his baby! Ok, now I feel bad for being angry about it. hehe Oh well. E-mail Tim or myself if you want our address here. We finally have one! So braving the cold and rain was worth it.. Even if Molly's hands turned bright red due to the exposure. Ok, so Molly's weren't the only ones (guilty as well). I guess we just need to toughen up huh?

So I'm leaving you with one last picture - I still can't figure out where Spring is and what happened to it, but I can see signs of it.. Sakura is starting to bloom amongst the cold and the rain. You can kind of see it in this picture - I just hope it's more Spring-like than Winter on Sunday for the festival!



Can you see the pink and white amongst the gray of the rain?


-Sarah

Going Out

Ok. I have to tell you a secret. I lied. Yup, that's right - I did. Another slide show coming your way! Sorry, it's just easier than having to resize every picture I take and upload into photobucket. One of these days I'll get used to it, but while I'm still playing catch up, this is what you get.

So a few days ago, when the weather was still beautiful and not so cold that Molly's hands turned bright red, we decided that it would be a good day to venture off base and onto Blue Street. We had to stop for some food first, so since we were going somewhere so foreign, we decided to have something very familiar - Chili's! Ok, so we really didn't put that much thought into it - Chili's is right behind the Lodge, and well, we were REALLY hungry for lunch, and didn't want to walk too terribly far. It's a gorgeous view from there, so we enjoyed a nice lunch before heading out!

We finished lunch and grabbed the next bus to the main gate. Realized that we'd be closer to Blue Street if we got out at Womble, so we did that instead. The minute we stepped off base, I knew we'd love it. There was the hum of a big city along with the calm of the coast. It was just wonderful! We were sad because the 100Y shop we found didn't have anything for children in it (we didn't realize until later that we went to the wrong one). In the meantime though, we hit a few fruit and veggie shops and got some bananas and Japanese strawberries. On a side note, for those of you who ever get the chance to try a Japanese strawberry - do it. They are truly WONDERUL - I think the best fruit that I've ever had. Each and every one that I've had has been perfectly sweet with just a hint of tart to it. Better than any strawberry I've ever had! My girls can't get enough of them, and honestly, neither can I. We have to go back and get more tomorrow (would have gone today, but it was HORRIBLE out there). Anyways, besides fruit, we found a cute little sweets shop and got some things for us. Tim and I got eclairs and Kadie got a slice of strawberry cake. Molly even got a kitty cookie that she has yet to enjoy. We would have talked to AU that day, but the store was very crowded, and we were losing the girls. Instead, we ended up going to Softbank and getting iphones.. I lloooovveeee my phone btw. By this point, the girls were getting tired, so we headed back to the base and the first bus stop we found. Tim has been battling allergies or a cold since we got here, and he'd stopped at the NEX before we headed out to get something for it. He grabbed an orange drink which the girls shared at the bus stop.

And that's about it! Oh wait.. I almost forgot the pictures and that little white lie I told you about no more slide shows huh? My bad!

-Sarah

Spring? Where Art Thou?

Everyone told us when we moved here we'd get seasons.. Ok, so where's this gorgeous Spring everyone tells me about?!?! We got here and it rained the first morning, but it stopped about the same time as we were ready to head out and about. It remained beautiful for the next couple of days, and then started raining yesterday. It's so cold outside that our windows inside are frosting up. Ok, so this might be a normal phenomena to some of you, but we're originally from Los Angeles, CA and then moved to San Diego. Cold is NOT something we recognize. haha. This, while it may be Spring to some, is the dead of Winter to us. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the forecast is wrong and it's not raining on Sunday. It should let up tomorrow and Saturday again - I'm hoping Sunday is just as gorgeous for the Spring festival!!! (of which Tim has to work - bummer).

So I guess I should go back to why I started writing in here in the first place today.. I'm nearly caught up on all the pictures!! YAY!!! So for right now, I've got up (hopefully) one of my last slide shows for a while.. This goes through the plane ride and our first couple of days here. :)

-Sarah

Bunnies and Mickey and Bears.. OH MY!!

So our last few days in the States were spent at Disneyland (thank you to my FIL who actually paid for us to stay at the Grand Californian.. I never want to stay anywhere else down there - it was wonderful).. Long story short, we made a mistake and had to go back to San Diego (thank you to our wonderful family members who brought us back to San Diego).

Anyhoot, we had an amazing time while we were there. We got in later than I'd hoped on the first day, so we spent the afternoon playing in the pools there, took some showers to clean up, and headed to Disneyland to see the fireworks show. Kadie LOVED it, and we went on the carousel before calling it a night. We had "magical morning" passes the next morning, so we knew we'd be up early - plus, we had a special surprise in store for the girls the next day.

We got up bright and early and headed into the park for magical mornings. Meaning, we got to go into the park before it opened to the public. So it was only resort hotel guests and people with a 3 or longer day pass. Even so, the line for Peter Pan was fairly long, and right after that ride, we had to eat breakfast (yummy cinnamon rolls from the bakery - hey, we were on vacation), and head out to Downtown Disney for the girls' surprise! We had the amazing opportunity to go into BAB about an hour or so before it opened. It was just us and one other family!!! So not only did we get to go into a BAB that normally has a line out the door with next to no one else, but we also basically had a personal shopper. My girls were very indecisive that morning, and well, it took us an hour and a half in there. Kadie went from upstairs and back down probably 4 of 5 times trying to find just the right outfit. Molly could care less about what she got - all she wanted was more Zhu Zhu pets. (They had EVERY color there - of course, the only ones they don't have are like two colors.. lol). So we ended up picking a bear that was exclusive to Downtown Disney. :) Tim recorded a message to each girl in their bears (Molly got a prayer like Kadie had on his first deployment, and he and Kadie told each other "I LOVE YOU!!!" on hers). The whole reason to go in the first place was for this message in preparation for the looming deployment. After an antagonizing hour of looking at literally EVERY outfit in the place, Kadie finally came up with her perfect one - a pink dress, pink bows, pink shoes, and complete with pink skates. lol :) She was very happy with her selection. Molly, on the other hand, has a bear with Pirate Mickey ears, a pirate shirt, and a denim skirt that is almost identical to one she already has. (hehehe). Here are a few pics from that experience!

We had a great time the rest of the day. Hung out at the pool for a bit, my parents came and got some quality time with the girls. In the meantime, Tim and I packed.. LOL We rounded out the night with fireworks at Disneyland - Kadie and Dad got a wonderful spot in front of the castle, the rest of us sat in Frontierland and waited.

The next day was bright and early, as we had to head back to San Diego for our flights...

-Sarah

Last Days in San Diego..

A few pictures from our last days.. :)

We had a MUCH busier day yesterday than I expected. What I think is crazy is that we didn't even do half of what we set out to do. We did, however, get cells finally, so we can keep in contact with each other. I can also text you guys back at home now.. I think. lol I have to figure that one out, but we do have internet, so feel free to send me an email or something if you want to get a hold of me!

Today, Tim's back to real work. He's at TPU orientation right now, and I'm very jealous because he gets cell reception out there, so until he started work, he was chatting with me on facebook. :) It's another cold and rainy day here - lucky us, it only rained that first day, last night, and today. We haven't really had much interaction with it. Another plus, the winds died down after Sunday, and we shouldn't have TOO big of an issue today when the girls and I go out for story time at the library later. (Well, as long as Tim's still at work that is). We're just hanging around here, picking up the room and playing until later! I'm playing with pictures as I go, so there should be more up on here today!

OOHH and best of all - we're going to the PO today to set up our box, so we'll have an address by the end of the day! YAY!!!!!

-Sarah

Overload..

I'm going to be overloading this with pictures between today and tomorrow.. LOL All will be in slide shows because there is probably something like 30-60 pictures in each one. I'm trying to go in order, so first up - last week when the movers were at our house!!

So we're headed to PSD now to get our passports stamped for re-entry.. We have a milliad of things to do on top of that today (including cell phones - sorry Jenni, we're going with softbank for iphones). I think it'll be a busy afternoon. We took this morning fairly easy.. Went down to the housing center and looked at home listings off base. Found one that I really like the look of, but I need to see in person. I'll also be calling a friend's agent to see some homes- hopefully today or tomorrow.

I'll be back with more pictures later on today.. hehe

-Sarah

Yokosuka, the Windy City

Seriously.. Chicago has got NOTHING on Yokosuka. I have a LOT of pictures to go through and upload.. Some are already uploaded, but photobucket won't let me make a slide show (annoying).

I wanted to update you guys though. :) We made it here safe and sound last night.. The flight was good - not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. (yay for that). The chief complaints are from the time restraints we had. We barely caught our breath between stops (including once we got to Narita), we pretty much made it through whatever we had to, and stopped for a minute or two before they were calling us to board or get on the bus. Molly had a few rough hours, but it wasn't anything we couldn't handle. (Thank GOODNESS Tim was there with me though, it would have been really rough if I'd been alone). The great thing is that we did get bumped up from economy to economy plus.. We had a LOT more space than I expected. Certainly not first or business class space, but our knees weren't touching the seat in front of us, and we had plenty of storage space! (we had the last row in economy plus, so we had storage under OUR seats as well as in front). Kadie was fairly bored for most of it, but she was amazing! :) I couldn't have been prouder of her - especially during take off and landing. She was a bit nervous the first flight before we took off. I talked to her during it and told her what was going on, the plane had probably left the ground by a foot, and she was already relaxing. The landing in Narita was rough though (we were in a holding pattern for 20 minutes or so because of winds), and Molly's seat was next to her, so neither of us were sitting next to her.. She looked like she might cry. :( She didn't though, and I was a very proud Mama!

The Japanese Nationals are AMAZING. I can't get over it - I wish we would follow some of their customs a bit more. They are polite, accommodating, and friendly. I mean when was the last time you just started chatting with a complete stranger in line at customs? Or helped out a family with too much baggage? They've certainly done that!

The base is beautiful, and while most of the cherry blossoms haven't blossomed yet, there are a few trees around the base that are. They are GORGEOUS!!! :) I want one in my backyard now. hehehe (BTW Mom, those weren't cherry blossoms at Disneyland like we thought - or at least they don't look like that here..). We've walked all around the base today (trying to find McDonald's and the NEX). The townhouses are making us CONSIDER taking base housing, but we don't know yet. I haven't decided, and neither has Tim, but we're definitely leaving the option open. (I think we'd both prefer to live off base still though). Otherwise, we took a walk down to McDonald's today. They have the neatest toys compared to what we get in the States.. The last time we went to McDonald's, Kadie got a "magic meatball" (supposed to be like a magic 8 ball) from Icarly in her happy meal.. Today she got a toy that utilizes similar technology to the Wii. It's a tennis game that you shake the game to get it to "hit" the ball. Pretty awesome. The food even tastes better! Oh and the fountain has "additives" that you can put in your drink. (lemon, apple, and melon flavor.. So you could have lemon coke zero.. awesome).

That's about it for today. We were going to head to Blue Street this afternoon, but we don't want to miss the last bus back, and it won't give us much time there, so I think we're going to go tomorrow after AOB/ICR. (hopefully we get into that class.. I don't know how long I can take living in one room for the four of us). That's about it for right now. We already have the PS3 set up, and the girls have been watching movies non stop.. LOL

-Sarah

Just a Quick Note..

Before we finish up packing and go to bed.. Some food for thought I guess.. We're homeless. I never really thought I'd say it, but yup, we're homeless. Probably will be so for a good while. Secondly.. My daughter is a first grade drop out, and she's been enjoying every minute of it. ;)

Off to finish up, we have a LONG day ahead of us, starting with an unexpected trip BACK to San Diego.

Live From McDonalds..

So the past few days haven't gone exactly to plan. The movers took WAY longer than anticipated, and they didn't take as much as anticipated. Our internet also shut off yesterday morning, and we had a LONG, boring day without it. Now, we're in Anaheim trying to find a room for the next two nights which is apparently impossible to do on a budget. Joy. lol :) Thank goodness for great FIL's - I hope. Tim's on the phone with his Dad right now. In the meantime, I'm coming to you live from McDonald's near Angel Stadium. Woo hoo.

Back to the movers.. They were supposed to take two days, we were supposed to be available from 8AM to 5PM both days. Yup.. They didn't get there until nearly 11AM on both days, the first day, they didn't even finish packing.. The second day? They didn't leave our house until 11PM. Ugh. 12 hours of movers in our home, handling all of my family's belongings in one day. AHHH. Talk about wanting to rip your hair out.

Didn't quite have ourselves ready for the inspection this morning, but it worked out. Things have taken much longer than we ever planned or anticipated, but it's still looking good.

Off to find a shuttle to see how much it'll cost us to get to the airport on Friday.. Yay.. I wonder if they'll take all of our luggage? The pathfinder is FILLED to the gills with our carp.. haha

One Week Left..

And this week has been a busy one.. We started out with our unaccompanied baggage pack out on Monday. They took basics with them. Hopefully, this pack out will get there about the time we get a house. (fingers crossed). Slideshow of the pack out... (I know, I know, I hate slideshows, but I have a lot of pictures to post).

The week has continued on uneventful. We are trying to get through the week as best we can. Molly HATES being in anything besides her crib at night, so none of us are sleeping too well. We're also trying to go through all of our stuff and basically dump as much as we can. On top of that, we're also trying to sell what we can. It's lots of fun. LOL

Kadie had her friend over yesterday, and the girls had fun playing some games after school. Then, today, Silver Gate had a fundraiser with Juice It Up, and we all got smoothies! :) Enjoy the random pictures of life..

Too Much, Too Fast

My Dad is coming down here for a convention this week. He thought it would be a good opportunity to bring my Mom down as well. It was.. Until about lunchtime today when Tim's cell rang and we got a call from the moving company. They need to do a walk through before we can have our pack outs started, and we haven't been able to do it when they wanted to. Now, we have two days to go through everything so we know exactly what we are taking and what we are selling. Oh goodness - it's a lot. Who knew we had so much stuff? Ugh. There's a lot to get rid of.. A lot to go through. I know we can do it, I'm just very overwhelmed right now. So now we'll spend until Thursday trying to get our house ready. (Sorry Dad for the mess I'm sure you're coming too).

In the meantime, I had every intention of posting a few pictures from our latest trip to Cabrillo from last week, but apparently, photobucket is down for maintenance. Joy. Oh well. So no new pictures today.. I guess that's my cue to get back to work..

-Sarah

Ready for it?

Nope. Not in the slightest bit. My aunt asked me tonight if we were already packed out or if we were ready for it. Gosh, we are so far off from where I wanted to be at this point. Heck, we should already BE there at this point. Instead, we're starting a blog. LOL

This is here for us to keep in contact with our families and friends. It's our way of keeping everyone updated without having to email or message everyone individually. Expect pictures - lots and lots of pictures.

Just a quick few to kick it all off.. The end of our time in San Diego - at least for now...

Tim's re-enlistment. So proud of his accomplishments thus far.



Ok.. So maybe just one. I have a lot more to edit, but my eyes already hurt as it is. :)

A little under 3 weeks to go! One week until our first pack out!! I think I'd better get back to organizing, or at least teasing and laughing at my husband.. Which do you think I should do?

-Sarah