Golden Book

So a couple of weeks ago, Kadie was selected for Golden Book. For those of you who aren't here and have NO idea what the heck Golden Book is, it's basically a citizenship award. You not only get to appear on SSN (Sullivans School Network), but you also get to sign the Golden Book with the golden pen, and the book is on display in the office for all to see. It means you did something right and your teacher picked you out of your entire class. Kadie was very excited to get it, even more excited to be on SSN - even if she has MAJOR camera fright and freezes up as soon as they put the camera on her. So that part didn't go over so well. Oh well, she was very happy that Tim got to be there for it, and that's all that matters right? :)



Such good Americans.. :) Yes, I had to take pictures of the TV in the library because that's how we saw it. So sorry for the poopy quality, not much light = rreeaallyyyy high ISO..












See? Not so good on the camera being on her. She was supposed to say her name and who's class she was in, but instead, she did this.. LOL










Being told what her award is for.. That's the book in front of her. Very serious stuff here people.









Actually signing the book. I didn't get any pictures of her after, she just stepped down and wanted to get to class. To be honest, we wanted to get out of there too - Tim still had to get to work!

Working Backwards

Well, since I finally have something on here to work with, I have pictures to go through. Unfortunately, there are hundreds upon hundreds, so I'm going to work backwards.. Here are a few pictures I snapped when we went down in front of our house at low tide over the weekend. There wasn't a lot to see, but that's mostly because none of us were brave enough to step foot into the water.. (although you can tell it's starting to warm up.. it felt wonderful when you put a toe in)! One of these days, I'll be brave..

This is at the top of the hill before you walk down to the beach. Right across the street from us. :)


One of the first times we saw a negative tide here was on a Sunday shortly after we moved in. For those that don't know, the Japanese generally don't have a full weekend like we do, they normally have Sunday off (a lot of places will be closed another day during the week, Wednesday is common). We could see the Japanese with mesh bags and hitting the rocks. It took me a few minutes to figure it out, but I realized they were fishing for some sort of shell fish. I figured it was clams, maybe muscles. Turns out, it's oysters.. And you can see why. This was at the water break, water wasn't coming up all the way around them, but imagine if this rock is covered in them, what's going on farther out!

One thing to take mental note of.. We live across the street from a man made beach. Now, I wondered how does one make a beach, and I asked around a lot. Everyone told me lots and lots of sand. Everyone who said that? You were wrong.. ;) They actually use lots and lots of small rocks. Most are smooth, but they still hurt to walk around barefoot on. So that kind of stinks. However, in the older parts of the beach, you can see where the rocks have been so eroded by the waves, that they are almost sand. It's pretty neat.

Anyhoot, Japan is a humid country.. And what comes with humidity? Bugs. Lots and lots of bugs. (Including gnats that BITE.. blech). As you walk along the rocks though, you don't really notice anything until something moves. This (I think) is a super sized sand crab. At least, that's what it looked like from another angle. Pay attention after that, and you'll see them all over the place! This little guy was turned around the first few shots I took, then he turned and "smiled" for the camera. :)


Ok, so my first duty night in here, I was going to get something out of my pantry. I couldn't even tell you what anymore, just that I was getting something for the girls' dinner. I move the pantry ever so slightly, and this SPIDER comes jumping down from the top shelf. It took everything in my power not to scream as I could hear it JUMPING inside a granola bar box. When it finally figured it's way out of the box, I continued to hold my breath and jump up and down (rather like a girl.. haha). I really was trying not to scream so the girls wouldn't hear. Anyhoot, I FINALLY killed the thing.. This is what it looks like. Apparently, they aren't afraid of water. Great. Joy. They're EVERYWHERE! LOL They don't scare me anymore, but man, that first night it was awful!


When we first started out looking through stuff, we saw what looked like a glassy little pool on the far end of the beach, so we walked down there. We did find a glassy little pool of murky water. A PERFECT nursery for these fish. You couldn't see the big ones at first, but out of no where, they started swimming towards us, seemingly protective of the nursery. If you look carefully, you can see 3 larger ones. There were tadpool sized ones alllll over the place. :) Pretty neat thing to see!

Sorry

Sorry for the lack of everything lately. We got a new computer, and this one doesn't have lightroom or photoshop yet. Tim's promised to put it on this weekend, so I'll spend some time in the next week or so on the back up of pictures!

For those that want an update, we've been enjoying having the whole family together for longer than a week. :) My birthday was last weekend, and Tim made sure it was a special day for me. :) Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes!

This past week has just flown by. We've been working on the house, Molly got really sick, and Kadie's in her last days of school. (She gets out on Thursday). So we've been very busy. Well, kind of, with Molly sick, she basically had me laying with her on me on the couch for two days straight. Talk about boring!

That's about it here. I think pictures should be coming in the next week or so!

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