Looking Back..

So, as of yesterday, we officially have fiber optic connection! That means I can finally get some pictures uploaded! I've been totally slacking off all month on the photo taking because, let's face it, there hasn't been that much to photograph. Mostly, I've been pretty busy trying to get the house unpacked and organized. :)

Anyways, here a few pictures from the move itself. I didn't take many pictures, so enjoy those that I do have!

Light..

So call me a dork or whatever you want, but PRAISE THE LORD - there's a light at the the end of the tunnel! I am ALMOST finished with the front rooms. (playroom and living room). I still need to decorate, yes, however, I've got floor space and nearly everything put away!! After this today, I'll move back on into the kitchen and then onto our room. I need to tidy up, but I finished the girls' room yesterday.

Tomorrow, the internet company will be here to install our internet which means pictures for you guys and normal speeds for me! YAY!!! :)

That's all for now. I'm having issues with stomach pains today, so I've had to cancel a thing with a friend, but at least I'm still able to clean.. I can't believe it, I actually feel like we're starting to have a home here and not a disaster!

An Update of Sorts..

So I know I haven't posted on here in a while. Sorry about that guys. (Thank you for reminding me Brandi.. :) ). We've basically been in the process of moving for a little over a week now. While moving in, however, we don't have access to regular internet. I've been using my cell to check facebook and my email, but not much beyond that. We have a data card that the internet company gave us to use until our FO can be installed, but it's still fairly slow as it runs on 3G.

So to update all of you.. For those who aren't on my facebook (ok, really, who is that?!).. The Blue Ridge pulled back into Yokosuka last Friday, bringing Tim along with it. :) After an excruciating 2 or so hours of standing outside with Molly (she didn't want to be put down), one of Tim's first classes came out and got me. So we got a semi private reunion in his work center. Probably better than in front of everyone - if you know us, we're a fairly private couple. Homecomings are a bit different here (MUCH less crowded and not everyone comes off together.. Not to mention, no uniforms either), and it's not like everyone else is distracted by their spouse coming off the ship. So not having to hug and kiss him in front of everyone was actually pretty nice. When we finally got to leave (there was a problem with hooking something up on the ship, so it was a looonnnggg time before we actually got to leave), I got to bring him home. It's been wonderful having him home - no matter how short or long it's going to be. We've already gotten into a regular routine, but we all know that won't last. Especially with a forwardly deployed ship.

Living out here has been amazing. Although, honestly, I think the trash is the hardest part. (worse than our only 5 closets.. Yes, that's the ONLY storage we have - 5 closets). Your trash is separated basically into 5 different pick ups.. And before you throw anything away, you have to clean and dry it. fuuunnn times. haha It's been tough to get used to, but it's not as bad as I was thinking it would be. :) I just wish I could figure out the group resource day (more like bulk items pick up). We have trash pick up 4-5 days a week, and every day is a different pick up (although burnables are twice a week). I'm getting used to it, but I'm always sooo unsure if I'm throwing things in the right place.. hehe We have a wonderful view of Mt. Fuji on clear days, although part of our gorgeous view is now being blocked by a house being built next door.. It's a bummer, but it won't take away from the water or Fuji.. lol :)

Kadie had a field trip to the Kanazawa Zoo yesterday, and we had a lot of fun going to that. Pictures from it will be coming along shortly. :)

That's about it here. We're settling in, and I'm trying really hard to get everything done. I want the front of the house organized and clean by this weekend. We'll see if it happens, but it's what I want. Then I can tackle the bedrooms...

Life in the Lodge

It's taken us long enough, but we've finally settled into a routine in here.. I'm sure any of you in Yokosuka are feeling bad for me right about now. (lol) We've been in here so long that we've got a routine. Life has become fairly normal to us living in here - although we still hate it in here. Anyways, apparently, I do have allergies here and they've hit me hard over the past week or so. Hay fever sucks. Plain and simple. I didn't have the energy to really clean up for the past couple of days, so I finally got around to that. Of course, afterwards, I was bored, so I snapped a few pictures too..


Remember how many times I've told you how small our kitchen in here is? Yeah. That's it. Nothing else to it. There are two "burners," except that one of ours doesn't work, so really, there's one. Don't you love all my prep space??? Everything we have for the kitchen pretty much fits in the cabinets, but there isn't much. That black blob off to the left is our fridge AND freezer. It's a mini fridge. Isn't it wonderful? ha..


Anyone who knows me well enough, knows that I hang dry a LOT of our clothes. Lucky for me, that's normal practice in Japan.. However, there really aren't a lot of spaces to hang in this room. I could get the kind of hangers the Japanese use (kind of like a square of clothes pins to increase the amount of space you can use on one hanger), but then I'd have to hang in the bathroom, and it's not like there's a lot of circulating air in there. So I have to be creative. This is the top of Molly's crib in here.. It's covered with a bunch of the girls' clothes.. Just waiting to dry..



The fan.. Oh one of life's better inventions.. LOL In case you don't know, it's gotten warm here. FINALLY. However, living in a room with two windows side by side (one of which will only open up about two inches) doesn't provide a whole lot of circulation. Today, I was forced to open up our door and leave it ajar just to get some air flow in here. Then, the wonderful woman stopped by with a fan for our room. (after I requested one of course). Oh how great it's been. Even on the lowest setting - it dropped the temperature in here by like 10 degrees within minutes! YAY! I think I want one of these for each of our rooms - in the humidity that is ultimately coming, I think being able to circulate the air will make it much more livable.

So while I was snapping a pic of the fan, it occurred to me that I never showed Tim a picture of Molly's bear. I told him what I did to it, but never showed it. So hun, here ya go. Molly's bear wearing your shirt as a dress. (Everything is just folded, you can still wear it when you get back). For the rest of you, Tim left behind a couple of shirts including the uniform shirt he had put on the morning before he left. We are all big on smell here, and the shirt still smells like him. To help Molly cope with his departure, I took a bear that we all made at BAB while we were at Disneyland and fashioned the shirt to fit like a dress on the bear. I think it's cute, and it's helped Molly, she sleeps with it every night. Even better is that she can hear Tim talk.. Of course, as SOON as I pulled this off the crib, she can toddling over screaming "DADDY! DADDY!!!" And squished its paw so she could hear him talk. She was happy, and started to take off with it.. Please ignore that the picture isn't in focus in the slightest bit. I was working with too slow a shutter speed because I wasn't trying to get a picture of her originally!

Last, but not least (or maybe least.. Why would I leave it until last if it wasn't least)?? Remember that Sakura tree that I'd been following since we got here? It's outside of our window, and I've watched it from the blossoms getting ready to bloom, to blooming, the blossoms falling off, and now it looks like this..

Gorgeous and green. I love it just as much like this. :)

So one thing I didn't think of that I probably should mention.. On Monday (yesterday for me), I had my appointment with housing to start our paperwork. Thanks to Golden Week, it'll be over a week before we can move, but hey, at least we have a date and a light at the end of the tunnel. That's ALL that's important to me as far as that goes. :) Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo, and at first I was a little sad because it's not like good Mexican is all that easy to come by. (Although there is a fairly good place off base, it's a little pricey, and I'm sure it'll be crowded tomorrow). Anyhoot, the FRG is having a last hoorah party (woo hoo, almost the end of the deployment here) in honor of Cinco De Mayo.. Looks like the girls and I will be getting Mexican food either way! (not quite sure how great it's going to be, but hey, we won't be sitting in the lodge eating Mac & Cheese! :P

-Sarah

Parks.. We always seem to be at a park..

And this wasn't any different than any other day. I've been loving the wonderful weather we've been having. (And yes, I consider today a good day too even though it's been pouring.. It wasn't windy. YAY). A few days ago, we even got to wear short sleeves and spent the afternoon at the park! It was just wonderful. This one was designed for children Molly's age. She loved it. Kadie? She got bored. That's OK though, she made new friends (so did I). I hope we continue to have wonderful days like this.. I want to put away the Winter clothes and move on to Spring before Summer hits us like the ton of bricks I'm sure it will.





This particular trip was on a great day. We had finally gotten the last chit we needed for housing earlier that day. I got in at the last minute and got an appointment for us in a week! I ran into a friend that I've been excited to meet since we got here. :) More important than that - I was seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. I've been struggling in here since Tim left, I have a really rough time feeling unsettled, and I don't think I really can until we move in and/or Tim gets back. Which ever comes first. And I honestly say it like that - at the rate we've been going, it feels like Tim will be home long before we move. JOY. I hate it in here, and it's more like I just can't wait until we can get out. Plus, I MISS my really comfy bed and sleeping without being a punching bag for a 1 year old. Actually, I think we're all feeling it. Poor Timmy, every time he calls I end up crying on the phone because I'm so miserable in here and something or another has really angered me that day. The girls are either loving or smacking each other. That's normal sister behavior, but when you're stuck in one room all together, every little thing gets on everyone's nerves. So someone's always in trouble or someone is always being told to stop. I've had a constant headache (it comes back every night) since Tim left. I hate it here. Plain and simple.
Ok. So this is how I feel most days in here.. LOL Molly was angry because Kadie took off to go to the bathroom. lol And I realize I've gotten way off the whole topic of these pictures.. :) The girls like playgrounds. It was nice and warm. Yup. That's about it. lol









-Sarah

Nap Time

(Tim can you see this picture)?

I swear.. I'm going to have a HECK of a time getting her to sleep in a crib again after being able to sleep in my bed while we've been here.. Oh well, at least she's napping before 3PM today. Maybe she'll even go to sleep before 11 tonight!!!!!

Also.. Did you notice the SHORT SLEEVES?!?! Oh yeah.. FINALLY!! hehe Even better than short sleeves, it's the second day in a row that we've been wearing them. :) Yesterday, she and I wore sleeveless and Kadie wore short sleeves to Mass. That is just wonderful. Fingers crossed that we warm up now and don't go back to freezing.. (although I'm sure we will).

Re-adjusting

Well guys, there's not much to update. Tim made it safely to his new ship last week. They flew him into Bangkok, you know where the command was banned from, and where all Americans are currently told not to be. Yay for that. LOL I'm glad they've left Thailand while it's on the brink of civil war, and even happier that I can't watch the news with the girls in the room, so I was unaware of this until today. Long after they'd already left. (phew). I'm happy to report that he in his short time so far, he does like it there. I like it too - I talked to his LPO for a while the night that he left here, and he seems like a great guy. A family man - shocker, I know.. Tim won't have to beg for time when it comes to something important for his children like he's had to in the past because no one had children. :) I'm happy about that one.

The girls and I are coping fine. We know how long this is going to be, and it's not effecting us horribly. I do have to say, even with the amount of time this deployment is, it stung worse than I thought it would. It was worse than the other two were, but I think more than anything else it's because where Tim and I are in our marriage. We're happy, genuinely happy, and after having him home and/or hardly working for two months, saying goodbye was hard. Out of the three of us Molly is having the hardest time, but that's to be expected, she doesn't understand what happened to him. She tends to walk into rooms or places that we've been with Tim and run around in circles (or up and down aisles in the NEX) saying "DADDY????" It's cute in a heartbreaking way. She doesn't sound upset, she just can't for the life of her figure out where he went. She expects him to be just around the corner like they are playing a game. :) Kadie told me tonight it was a good thing Daddy wasn't here so that she could rent a girly movie. LOL So I think she's alright with it. I miss him terribly, but he's finally started calling (I know, how long could it have been, but it still stunk). When he calls daily, it helps - a lot. I feel like I get my usual time to talk to him, and I feel like I get to keep him updated on our lives.. I get to stay updated on his. It gives us a connection - even if it's only for a few minutes. That really helps, makes it hurt less. And it does, we've started to get into our own routine, and you know, as soon as we get settled into our house, things will be 100x better.

Ok, so this seems like we're down.. I promise you though, we aren't in the slightest bit. I love it here, and Kadie seems to be coming around to Japan too. :) Like I said, it isn't much right now. Just adjusting (again.. Do we ever stop as a Navy family?!)

-Sarah