The Sundry Seven

Somehow I wrote this and didn't get it posted on the blog, so this is from Tuesday July 29th.

Well, the best news is that our express shipment finally arrived so we are feeling a little bit more moved in. I can finally do some cooking, we can sleep in our own bed (it’s still an air mattress but at least a more comfortable one!) We’ve met more of the neighbors and continue to have a ton of fun. Here are some of the things we’ve done so far:

On Saturday we went to a Japanese festival at nearby beach and shopping area called American Village. I’m not sure what American Village is all about, maybe like a China Town in the states. It’s a big shopping area with American type stores and a "mall" but it’s still all in Japanese. We walked down there and of course Danica had to go potty on the way. So I had to take her into one of the stores to find a bathroom. I was sooo wishing I knew the Japanese words to ask for a bathroom. I was really nervous but it worked out fine because I was able to find it without asking, phew! The festival was cool, lots of food and game booths like an American carnival. There was a huge stage with some sort of hip hop group singing, and they were singing in English. We looked at the Japanese food and settled on buying some sno-cones and settled in on the beach for the most amazing firework show I have ever seen. They shot them off right over the water and had a huge variety of designs. Our favorite were these fireworks that shot off in a half circle shape right on the water so it looked like they were sun setting or something, it was awesome. We had a good time and it didn’t even rain on us! Speaking of the rain it’s so random here. It will be sunny and then suddenly down pour so hard you get soaked in less than 5 seconds. I got trapped at the ATM machine yesterday, it was sunny when I started the withdrawal and I got soaked running back to my car...

Another adventure was yesterday at the aquarium. It’s the second largest in the world and it’s simply amazing! It’s about 2 hours away which is too bad because I bet we would go there all the time if it were closer. I bought an annual pass for 3600 yen (about 36 dollars) and all kids 5 and under are free! It was awesome. Check out the pictures of that and the fun parks we have been going to on the photo page I just added.

Our other adventures include just swimming on base, the pools are pretty nice. I took the kids to play group at the beach where they have a netted off section for swimming that was really nice. We didn’t have to worry about jellyfish or anything. Last night we went to a hardware store out in town. It’s always an adventure to go into the Japanese stores. I can’t wait until I learn some Japanese. Everyone is so nice and they try to be so helpful so that is great. There is a 100 yen store inside the hardware store, that’s the equivalent of a dollar store and the kids enjoyed picking out a “japanese” toy.

Well in other news, Alyssa is finally crawling. The chaos of the move really set her back but she has picked up and is all over the house now. We’re getting rid of Danica’s binky again which will be nice. I took Hayden in for one last shot thing he needed for school registration so that is almost done. I’ve got a few more boxes to unpack in my room and then we are done until the big shipment arrives in the middle of August. It will be so nice to have our couches and TV, our garbage cans, etc. But at least this way we have time to get things ready!

Okay, try to keep cool! Here are some pictures from the aquarium!


Danica just touched a starfish!

Alyssa loved watching the huge glass wall filled with sharks and fish

Naturally Hayden's favorite

A nice mist fountain to help keep cool outside