Family Picture

Nana got us a portrait session for Christmas to remember "before Japan"! We took the pictures in Gruene Texas about a week before we headed out for our big overseas adventure. It will be fun to see how much the girls grow while we are living in Japan. I love this picture but its hard for me not to think about how sick Nate and I were this day. We found out a few days later we both had the flu and we felt like total crap. I don't think I have ever been that sick! Even though we were sick I will cherish this picture and the memories we made with family right before we left for Japan! 

Lately

Some of the things we have been up to the past few weeks.....

SNOW! We have had several snow days over the past 2 weeks. I heard on the radio its the most snow this area has had in 45 years! 

The girls love this indoor play area called Kid O Kid in Yokohama. Its in a really nice mall and is a fun place on those bad weather days.

Playgroup friends at Kid O Kid

Date night!! This was after a delicious meal at Bills. I will probably say it a million times but this country takes food to a whole new level.

Chinatown in Yokohama

My Chinatown Cappuccino Panda!

  

Cosmo Park in Yokohama, rode the giant Ferris Wheel later on. 

Going up the Ferris Wheel. Have to admit I got a bit scared on the way up! Its the second largest Ferris Wheel in the world.

Aubrey is an aspiring photographer, she took this one!

Night in Tokyo

Great news -- we have our household goods!! We spent last weekend unpacking and setting up house. We still have a few things left to do but the townhouse has officially transformed into a home for us. It was like Christmas morning again for the girls unpacking their toys and seeing all of our "stuff" after so long.

For my birthday a few weeks ago Nate surprised me with a trip to Tokyo. It is only a 40 minute drive from us and is fairly easy to get to when traffic is light. In downtown Tokyo the military has a hotel called the New Sanno. It is very fancy and very affordable. Hotel rooms in Tokyo are outrageous so its quite unbelievable that you can get a room at the New Sanno for what I would say is "cheap" in the states! The New Sanno is very popular and books up months in advance, but sometimes has cancellations last minute so I think we got lucky to get a room on a Friday night.

Nate found a babysitting service so we could have an evening out. A nanny came to our room and watched the girls. We ate a fancy dinner at a restaurant inside the hotel which was the most intimate, delicious, and romantic dinner I have ever had. The wait staff was unbelievable, we had 6 people waiting on us and they all came from a different country. Nate and I really enjoyed chatting with them. The dinner was 8 courses of total deliciousness! We found it funny that they serve the salad after the entree. Afterwards we wanted to see a bit of Tokyo. We took a short subway to Shibuya which is a famous intersection in Tokyo (the concierge said it was the busiest in the world). The lights and sights and sounds of the place were amazing but the overwhelming sea of people at this intersection was unforgettable! Pictures don't do it justice.

Birthday dinner at The Wellington

Shibuya -- thousands of people getting ready to cross.

  

Came home to this. Mia the Nanny took such good care of our girls.

We planned to go to the Toyko Tower and then to Ueno Zoo the next day. Well the tower took awhile so we aborted on the zoo and just walked around Ueno park and got lunch at a delicious Ramen place.

Outside the New Sanno ready for our day!

Tokyo Tower

Aubrey wanted her picture taken with the Tokyo Tower "mascot". It was funny because as I was taking her picture 4 Japanese people started taking pictures of her too. Then they asked to get a picture of Aubrey & Reagan with their family. This was our first experience with this and surprisingly both girls who don't like to smile for the camera, smiled on command. I was stunned. 

This monkey was putting on a show when we left the tower.  It was doing amazing tricks like walking with these stilts and crazy flips and high jumps!

From the lookout atop Tokyo tower.

 The girls always find rides no matter where we are in Japan.

We only got a small taste of Toyko and can't wait to go back and experience more! I have started planning the next trip already:)

Welcome to Japan

They say "Home is where the Navy sends you" so here we are.  Wow, a lot has happened over the past few months, I really don't know where to begin. I feel like I just need to post some pics and try to keep this blog updated.
We moved to Yokosuka (pronounced Yo-kooska), Japan on January 3rd 2014. It has been a whirlwind experience, exhausting and quite the adventure. We are currently still living out of suitcases. For the first week we lived in the Navy Lodge (hotel) on base. After 10 days, we got into our townhouse which is actually "off base" about 30 minutes away in a satellite Navy housing community.  For awhile we had nothing but our suitcases and some bare bones loaner furniture issued from the Navy.  On 24 Jan we got a few of our "essential" things in our "express shipment" things like pots and pans, tv, computer, clothes, bedding. As I type this we still don't have our main shipment. I am so anxious to set up our home, hopefully we will get it this week!
Nothing about moving a family of four overseas is easy (and I'll spare you most of those crazy details), but we are loving Japan and cherishing the memories we are creating and experiences we are having.  Japan is an amazing place!  There are so many sights to see and things to do that its overwhelming. I know our two year orders will fly by quick and I want to see as much of Japan as I can, not to mention the countries Nate will port at while he is at sea (hopefully the girls and I can go visit him at a few).

Here are some pictures of a few things we have experienced so far.....

 After 15 hours we landed at Narita airport right outside of Tokyo. Girls did great on the plane but we were all exhausted when we got to Japan.  Hardest part was transporting all of our luggage from the airport to the bus (different terminal) to the base (2.5 hours away).

Hugs at the Navy Lodge

Girls in their Hello Kitty dresses, they were meant to live in Japan.

The first week Nate and I took a Welcome/Culture & Customs/Driving class on base. It was mandatory. We actually learned a lot, met friends, and had fun. It was like a week long date because the Navy put the girls in a preschool while we attended the class, score!

 We both passed our driving tests! I was seriously nervous about it (there was a driving and written portion). The roads are narrow, the pedestrians are everywhere, the steering wheel is on the opposite side and they drive on the left of the road. The first day I drove with girls alone I seriously got a flat tire because I hit a curb and after that (tire fixed) got lost and ended up on a toll road. Many tears and tolls later I made it home, thanks to google maps.  Japanese drivers license, yay!

Some of our friends we met in our class! We had a field trip to Kamakura one day and they took us to an amazing Korean BBQ place for lunch.  You grill the food at your table!

Some sights from our field trip in Kamakura. This city is a short train ride from our townhouse has lots of cute shops, amazing food, and beautiful sights!

The class we took mentioned Obama visited and loved the famous sweet potato ice cream in Kamakura.  It was yummy.  The sweet potatoes are purple, very different from US sweet potatoes. 

They had desserts galore in this giant market place. We were all drooling.

We visited a famous shrine in Kamakura, (shrines are everywhere in Japan.) You are suppose to wash your hands before entering. The detailed architecture is amazing to me. 

This is also in Kamakura. It is a traditional Japanese gate called a Torii which you pass thru to enter into a Shrine. It symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. 

First train ride with girls! They had so much fun and didn't realize mommy and daddy got lost! The train system in Japan is incredible, we probably will use it more than our cars. I think we figured the trains out but I have yet to take one by myself.

Reagan exhausted after a fun morning.

One day we took the girls to visit Kurihama Flower Park- which has a giant Godzilla. Japan knows how to do parks and they are everywhere! You have to take this cute train to get up the hill to Godzilla- the girls loved it! 

Godzilla found us!

Behind Godzilla was a huge playground. 

Sliding down Godzilla's tail.

Another weekend we went to see Great Buddha.We learned in class the primary religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism.   

We stumbled upon this very small Thai restaurant along the beach front after visiting Great Buddha. You take off your shoes at the door and sit on floor cushions. The food was amazing, we plan to be regulars here. The wait staff loved the girls -- it is apparent that Japanese people have a heart for children. 

This was at Great Kannon, another really cool place with amazing gardens! We are definitely going back there in the spring.  

There was a cave to run around in. Very tight quarters for adults but girls wanted to play in there for hours.

Still working on chop sticks;) Actually Aubrey is pretty good and both girls have a love for sushi!

This is outside of an Italian restaurant our sponsor took us to in Zushi. 

We love the Sushi merry-go-round! You pay by the plate, its a fun and interactive dinner that is super inexpensive.

We just returned from celebrating my birthday in Tokyo, will try to post that soon!