Skype video chat with Ashli and Abbie
Food that was stocked by Ortho office for us
Our backyard
The school behind us (Gavin's new school)
Saying goodbye
Some of our luggage!
Friday, July 23, 2010
pics from the move and our first day
Skype video chat with Ashli and Abbie
Food that was stocked by Ortho office for us
Our backyard
The school behind us (Gavin's new school)
Saying goodbye
Some of our luggage!
In Patrick's words...
Patrick typed this up for his parents - so I thought I would steal it for an update here :-)
----------------------------------------
Hello all!
We are in JAPAN!!!
The trip was actually very easy!! Can you believe it?! Cosmic-blondes I guess. The Chicago trip was no problem and we got to our connecting flight with ease. The Seattle flight was easy too. Our only issue is that Evelyn is afraid to pee in the plane bathroom. She held it just fine though. No accidents! When we got to Seattle, we found the USO (an area specifically for military members) but we ended up booking a hotel room and just took all of our bags with us there. I was able to get all of our bags (except the golf bag) onto two of those airport carts. I could quite easily navigate one of the carts with one hand while I held the golf bag with my other hand. Kelly pushed the other cart and the kids walked in between us. We had to hit alot of elevators, but all-in-all, it went very well. At the USO, they told us we would be better off taking our bags to the Hotel. He gave us a very detailed explanation of our flight check-in procedure. Thus was a huge relief because I was very uncertain as to how that was going to work. He said that because we arrived to Seattle so early, our bags would wind up getting buried in the baggage storage room by all of the travellers arriving later. It was good advice because the hotel shuttle was big and the drivers were great about helping with all of the bags. I tipped them generously. We got to our room and settled in. The kids jumped on the beds to let out some energy and Kelly went out and got burgers (from a super shady joint - but the food was great). We ate, gave the kids a bath and went to bed.
We only slept about 5 hours before getting up. We got all of our gear back down to the lobby and caught the shuttle back to the airport by 11:45pm. Surprisingly, the kids were all fired up and wide awake?! We got right to the military counter with ease since I was able to get my hands on two of those carts again. Luckily, the desk was empty when we arrived so all of the staff took great care of us. I filled out some papers and we were about 300 pounds lighter! As we walked to the gate, we found a kids play-area, so Gavin and Evelyn blew off steam for about 30 minutes. That was so clutch! We got to the gate just in time to get some seats and we had about 2 hours to go until the flight. The kids were great. We occasionally went out into the terminal, which was otherwise completely empty, and ran around. Gavin loved running down the huge empty walkways. We met so many other military personnel who had done the process before. They were all very helpful and encouraging. G and E made friends with some kids that were on their way to Okinawa and colored coloring books for 45 minuted quietly on the floor. We sure do have it rough, huh?
The plane was packed full! It had pairs of seats on the sides with 3 seats in the middle row. Kelly and Evelyn took the window/aisle row and Gavin and I sat in the center row. Gavin didn't mind the center seat and the guy on his other side was a young/small active duty member who slept the who flight. We got the kids buckled in and they were asleep even before the plane took off the ground. The kids slept for 4 hours to start the flight. The new Nintendo DS and the laptop movies helped alot. They played movies constantly on the airplane TV's too. The 10 hours went by pretty painlessly... except Evelyn still wouldn't pee! Half way through she said she had to - but refused. Again, she was a trooper and just held it.
Once we got off the plane, the humidity hit us in the face like a round-house kick. It was a beautiful morning. You can see the mountains off in the distance! We sat in customs for a little bit then we were on our way. The office staff as well as Dr Pike (the guy I am replacing) were all there to greet us! Michele, my partners wife, was also there. She was amazing! She had everything planned out for our morning. We got so much accomplished that we are now waaaayyyyy ahead of the game.
One of the most useful things she did was drive around and find houses in the area we want that were vacant. She calculated the distances to places (school, hospital, their house) and luckily - the top choice was 2 houses down from them. We went to the housing office with our wish list in hand - and we ended up getting the house we want!!! It is a process that takes hours normally - and we did it in about 30 mins. We will be moving in on Monday!! It is in the elementary school's back yard (lots of playgrounds and fun equiptment) and I can easily walk to work (2 short blocks). Our new house was just renovated so everything is brand new and extremely clean. Our yard is already fenced in so I dont have to shell out the cash for that (saves us over $1000!!!). I got over to the hospital and got a quick whirlwind tour with Dr Pike. I met absolutely everyone! - the office staff (who by the way lugged all of our bags up to our hotel room while we were off running errands!!! AWESOME!) the physical therapy staff, the OR and PACU staff, the administrators, and even my commander Col Taylor. Everyone is on happy juice out here! I have yet to meet anyone who isn't so nice and loving this place. I checked out my future office and examined the clinic. I finally got home around 2 pm Japan time and had to crash. Kelly and the kids were already there and asleep. Unfortunately, we didn't wake up around 4pm as planned and we slept until 9pm. Now we are up like its morning. Oh well, we know it is going to be tough to move 13 hours into the future. All I have next week are a couple meetings, so we have loads of time to get acclimated.
We set up skype on our laptop and talked to Kelly's best friend Eileen (on her cell phone that has a skype application), to Ashli (our first video chat) as well as Tishymom (Kelly's mom) and her sister. It felt so nice to actually see their faces while talking - it's like we were right in the room with them. It was even funnier to see Kelly's mom try to figure out how to end the call. Hopefully more and more people will skype us so feel free to Skype us anytime. Just remember to do the time conversion. Our screen name is the4bulls. Kelly has also been facebooking (of course) so we feel connected again.
This morning we will probably go and sign up for a home phone (american phone number) as well as a japanese cell phone. We will also probably get some used cars too. There are so many awesome cars - but we will probably just get some cheapy ones - since driving on base is easy - and we won't be going off base too much (roads are too tight and scary for Kelly)!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for now...we have to try to take a nap (it is 2am - so we want to sleep until 6 am and try to get on a more normal schedule). Pics to come later!!!!
----------------------------------------
Hello all!
We are in JAPAN!!!
The trip was actually very easy!! Can you believe it?! Cosmic-blondes I guess. The Chicago trip was no problem and we got to our connecting flight with ease. The Seattle flight was easy too. Our only issue is that Evelyn is afraid to pee in the plane bathroom. She held it just fine though. No accidents! When we got to Seattle, we found the USO (an area specifically for military members) but we ended up booking a hotel room and just took all of our bags with us there. I was able to get all of our bags (except the golf bag) onto two of those airport carts. I could quite easily navigate one of the carts with one hand while I held the golf bag with my other hand. Kelly pushed the other cart and the kids walked in between us. We had to hit alot of elevators, but all-in-all, it went very well. At the USO, they told us we would be better off taking our bags to the Hotel. He gave us a very detailed explanation of our flight check-in procedure. Thus was a huge relief because I was very uncertain as to how that was going to work. He said that because we arrived to Seattle so early, our bags would wind up getting buried in the baggage storage room by all of the travellers arriving later. It was good advice because the hotel shuttle was big and the drivers were great about helping with all of the bags. I tipped them generously. We got to our room and settled in. The kids jumped on the beds to let out some energy and Kelly went out and got burgers (from a super shady joint - but the food was great). We ate, gave the kids a bath and went to bed.
We only slept about 5 hours before getting up. We got all of our gear back down to the lobby and caught the shuttle back to the airport by 11:45pm. Surprisingly, the kids were all fired up and wide awake?! We got right to the military counter with ease since I was able to get my hands on two of those carts again. Luckily, the desk was empty when we arrived so all of the staff took great care of us. I filled out some papers and we were about 300 pounds lighter! As we walked to the gate, we found a kids play-area, so Gavin and Evelyn blew off steam for about 30 minutes. That was so clutch! We got to the gate just in time to get some seats and we had about 2 hours to go until the flight. The kids were great. We occasionally went out into the terminal, which was otherwise completely empty, and ran around. Gavin loved running down the huge empty walkways. We met so many other military personnel who had done the process before. They were all very helpful and encouraging. G and E made friends with some kids that were on their way to Okinawa and colored coloring books for 45 minuted quietly on the floor. We sure do have it rough, huh?
The plane was packed full! It had pairs of seats on the sides with 3 seats in the middle row. Kelly and Evelyn took the window/aisle row and Gavin and I sat in the center row. Gavin didn't mind the center seat and the guy on his other side was a young/small active duty member who slept the who flight. We got the kids buckled in and they were asleep even before the plane took off the ground. The kids slept for 4 hours to start the flight. The new Nintendo DS and the laptop movies helped alot. They played movies constantly on the airplane TV's too. The 10 hours went by pretty painlessly... except Evelyn still wouldn't pee! Half way through she said she had to - but refused. Again, she was a trooper and just held it.
Once we got off the plane, the humidity hit us in the face like a round-house kick. It was a beautiful morning. You can see the mountains off in the distance! We sat in customs for a little bit then we were on our way. The office staff as well as Dr Pike (the guy I am replacing) were all there to greet us! Michele, my partners wife, was also there. She was amazing! She had everything planned out for our morning. We got so much accomplished that we are now waaaayyyyy ahead of the game.
One of the most useful things she did was drive around and find houses in the area we want that were vacant. She calculated the distances to places (school, hospital, their house) and luckily - the top choice was 2 houses down from them. We went to the housing office with our wish list in hand - and we ended up getting the house we want!!! It is a process that takes hours normally - and we did it in about 30 mins. We will be moving in on Monday!! It is in the elementary school's back yard (lots of playgrounds and fun equiptment) and I can easily walk to work (2 short blocks). Our new house was just renovated so everything is brand new and extremely clean. Our yard is already fenced in so I dont have to shell out the cash for that (saves us over $1000!!!). I got over to the hospital and got a quick whirlwind tour with Dr Pike. I met absolutely everyone! - the office staff (who by the way lugged all of our bags up to our hotel room while we were off running errands!!! AWESOME!) the physical therapy staff, the OR and PACU staff, the administrators, and even my commander Col Taylor. Everyone is on happy juice out here! I have yet to meet anyone who isn't so nice and loving this place. I checked out my future office and examined the clinic. I finally got home around 2 pm Japan time and had to crash. Kelly and the kids were already there and asleep. Unfortunately, we didn't wake up around 4pm as planned and we slept until 9pm. Now we are up like its morning. Oh well, we know it is going to be tough to move 13 hours into the future. All I have next week are a couple meetings, so we have loads of time to get acclimated.
We set up skype on our laptop and talked to Kelly's best friend Eileen (on her cell phone that has a skype application), to Ashli (our first video chat) as well as Tishymom (Kelly's mom) and her sister. It felt so nice to actually see their faces while talking - it's like we were right in the room with them. It was even funnier to see Kelly's mom try to figure out how to end the call. Hopefully more and more people will skype us so feel free to Skype us anytime. Just remember to do the time conversion. Our screen name is the4bulls. Kelly has also been facebooking (of course) so we feel connected again.
This morning we will probably go and sign up for a home phone (american phone number) as well as a japanese cell phone. We will also probably get some used cars too. There are so many awesome cars - but we will probably just get some cheapy ones - since driving on base is easy - and we won't be going off base too much (roads are too tight and scary for Kelly)!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for now...we have to try to take a nap (it is 2am - so we want to sleep until 6 am and try to get on a more normal schedule). Pics to come later!!!!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The next chapter...
begins tomorrow morning. I need to sleep now, but promise to keep a much more up-to-date blog!!!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
More to come...I promise
But for now...go to
http://melissajonesphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/fresh-face-voting-2010.html
Make sure to look for Evie and Gavin (6&7)
http://melissajonesphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/fresh-face-voting-2010.html
Make sure to look for Evie and Gavin (6&7)
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Easter Sunday
We had another low key Easter this year. G&E had a fun egg hunt at their gymnastics school on Friday night and then LOVED finding the chocolate trail that the Easter Bunny left them, leading to their baskets on Sunday morning. They each got a new movie, a kite and a puzzle. They also got to search for the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid inside our house. We love these fun games :-)
Per our usual last minute tradition, Angie and I decided to have Easter dinner together and invite the group, in case there were some people that didn't have plans and wanted to join us. This year we had 4 other families join us for some delicious food and great fellowship. Gavin (and baby Cameron) were the only boys, but held their own amongst the girls. I bought a huge ham to feed everyone (since I didn't want to dirty my kitchen with cooking :-), and everyone else brought delicious homemade goodies/sides/accompaniments. Angie set up 2 kids tables in her kitchen and then 2 grown up tables in the dining room (which ended up men vs women).
After dinner and too many desserts, we told the kids that there were eggs hidden outside that they could find. I hid 32 eggs (and there were 8 kids) so each kid got to find 4 eggs and then help the littler ones find 4. It was so cute to see them stand at the door looking to find them before they were allowed out. Unfortunately, my kids barely ate dinner (and ate bunches of candy) so had a meltdown around 6pm. Luckily, we are right across the street so Patrick took them home so I could hang with my friends a bit longer. I am sure going to miss these Easter times we had in residency!
Per our usual last minute tradition, Angie and I decided to have Easter dinner together and invite the group, in case there were some people that didn't have plans and wanted to join us. This year we had 4 other families join us for some delicious food and great fellowship. Gavin (and baby Cameron) were the only boys, but held their own amongst the girls. I bought a huge ham to feed everyone (since I didn't want to dirty my kitchen with cooking :-), and everyone else brought delicious homemade goodies/sides/accompaniments. Angie set up 2 kids tables in her kitchen and then 2 grown up tables in the dining room (which ended up men vs women).
After dinner and too many desserts, we told the kids that there were eggs hidden outside that they could find. I hid 32 eggs (and there were 8 kids) so each kid got to find 4 eggs and then help the littler ones find 4. It was so cute to see them stand at the door looking to find them before they were allowed out. Unfortunately, my kids barely ate dinner (and ate bunches of candy) so had a meltdown around 6pm. Luckily, we are right across the street so Patrick took them home so I could hang with my friends a bit longer. I am sure going to miss these Easter times we had in residency!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Check out Ashli's blog to see our Easter Egg fun!!!
We have been so busy with the house, moving, etc that it is hard for me to catch a second to post everything. I want to remember this transition and time, but at the same time, I want to enjoy it!!! I don't want to sit in front of a computer - I want to spend every second I can with friends and family. But, I digress.
We had an offer on our house! The 1st person to come through on the 1st day. They came back again and again and put a bid in. We had to turn them down though, because she wanted to move in on april 30. Even if she would have offered asking price, I am not mentally or emotionally prepared for that yet. All my plans through June include us at this house. AND, there is no way I want to move my kids TWICE!!!
Keep your fingers crossed though as we have 3 more showings today...which I have to leave for now. More to come later!
We have been so busy with the house, moving, etc that it is hard for me to catch a second to post everything. I want to remember this transition and time, but at the same time, I want to enjoy it!!! I don't want to sit in front of a computer - I want to spend every second I can with friends and family. But, I digress.
We had an offer on our house! The 1st person to come through on the 1st day. They came back again and again and put a bid in. We had to turn them down though, because she wanted to move in on april 30. Even if she would have offered asking price, I am not mentally or emotionally prepared for that yet. All my plans through June include us at this house. AND, there is no way I want to move my kids TWICE!!!
Keep your fingers crossed though as we have 3 more showings today...which I have to leave for now. More to come later!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Gifts from Japan
Patrick's soon-to-be partner in Japan and his wife and kids sent G&E a care package to get them excited about Japan. How sweet is that?!?!!? The kids loved getting a package from there and are excited about seeing more toys like these when we get there.
In other news, we put our house on the market today. We already had a realtor tour and a showing - with a second showing scheduled for tomorrow! I hope this happens smoothly and easily!
Friday, March 26, 2010
busy bees
Well, obviously we are very busy getting ready for our move to japan - so please forgive the lack of posts. Our first challenge was getting our house in good shape to sell it (well the best shape). We decided just to sell (instead of rent) because we will be an entire DAY away, so we had our realtor and a staging professional come in to help give us ideas of what to do to help the house sell quicker. They were pretty simple (new light fixtures ($10 at Lowes), flowers in the plant boxes, more lighting, etc) ...except for painting. We sort of refuse to paint the kitchen (we love the red color and it pulls together our entire couch, rug, placemats, etc) and also refused to paint Evie's room and ours (they were just done). BUT - we did agree the rest of the paint could use a little sprucing up.
My friend Dana had a huge 5 gallon bucket of tan contractors paint and a bunch of supplies, so I begged a few friends (Dana, Ashli, Tara, Melissa, and Kristen) to come over and help paint on Sunday (Autumm watched the kids). I must say we did an amazing job! Thank goodness there were 3 ladies who had painted before and were great with instructions and doing some of the hard parts (trim, etc). We had 6 of us, and we got the whole thing done in 5 hours! I even ended up groveling some more and did the basement as well on Tuesday. Then, I only had one other person (in shifts - Ashli, Tara and Mary) and it took MUCH longer! But it was worth it! The house looks great and we have our realtor coming tomorrow to take pictures and then it will go up on the MLS this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Yokota Japan
Yep - we have verbal orders (still waiting for official written orders) to go to Yokota Japan. We are still awaiting many answers (when will we start, how long will we be there, etc) but we are so excited to get out of our comfort zone and experience a different part of the world. What an experience of a lifetime!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Seriously?!?!!?
We just keep getting snow, more snow and MORE SNOW! We've had more days off from school than we had going to school. So needless to say, the kids have been getting a bit of cabin fever! We did have the chance to go to Nathan and Carter's birthday party ( a swim party - thank goodness!), play at a friends house for some sledding fun (thanks Charlotte) and had a Valentine's playgroup party to keep them entertained. We also did get one day of school in last week, which was the Valentine's party. I made these delicious Cupid Clusters (3 cups yogurt burst cherrios, 1 cup melted white choc chips, 1 cup crushed dried strawberries) and put them in cute heart shaped tins. Of course, I also sent in my yummy pretzels with red, pink and white m&ms. De-lish!
Cupid Clusters
Since we were snowed in mostly, we got to play a lot with the neighbors. We went to Angie's and used our present from MomMom and PopPop Bull (heart shaped popcorn balls) and created fun toppings and then ate them! We also played more in the snow and had our first official sleep over (with Silas staying over here on Monday night once we learned there was no school on Tuesday). It has been fun - but I am soooooooooo ready for spring!!!!
Making heart shaped popcorn treats
I have been chomping at the bit also to get out (without the kids) for some fun...which came in the form of Fergie Ferg and the Black Eyed Peas Concert. Even though the roads were horrible (and I had a snow virgin driver), Dana and Autumm joined me in going to this awesome concert! Thanks, Babe, for letting me buy the tickets as my V-day gift and staying home with the kids - YOU ROCK!
Dana and Autumm at the concert
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Snowbulls
No - that is not a typo (although we did make lots of snowballs for another massive snowball fight). I would like to announce that Mr. Snowman met a wonderful snow-woman and made 2 beautiful snow-babies. Introducing, the SnowBulls....(and yes, Patrick is trying to make out with his)
The neighborhood kids came over and played for almost 3 hours today! What a fun time :-) The snow was perfect again for snowman making and snowball fights! This time, the kids did all the snowman making. They added pig tails to Evelyn's and my snowwomen (as hair) and gave Patrick and Gavin tails (hey...I was just happy they put the sticks on the BACK side of the guys :-)
We plan on adding some faces later, but it started getting dark and the kids were getting cold (okay, I was the one getting cold). But we also had a great snowball fight, shoveled the driveway, played in the igloo and fort, and thoroughly enjoyed this amazing snowfall we have been getting. We are supposed to get more tomorrow too - so it should be another fun day at the Bull's!
The neighborhood kids came over and played for almost 3 hours today! What a fun time :-) The snow was perfect again for snowman making and snowball fights! This time, the kids did all the snowman making. They added pig tails to Evelyn's and my snowwomen (as hair) and gave Patrick and Gavin tails (hey...I was just happy they put the sticks on the BACK side of the guys :-)
We plan on adding some faces later, but it started getting dark and the kids were getting cold (okay, I was the one getting cold). But we also had a great snowball fight, shoveled the driveway, played in the igloo and fort, and thoroughly enjoyed this amazing snowfall we have been getting. We are supposed to get more tomorrow too - so it should be another fun day at the Bull's!
Monday, February 8, 2010
And boys will be boys...
While we were over at Ashli's house yesterday, we noticed a similar pattern with the boys playing...
I guess it doesn't matter what the weather is, boys will be boys!
Thanks Ash, for capturing this :-)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Top 10
These are the top 10 things I loved about this weekend:
10. Watching Patrick take over 30 minutes to try to fix the tv screen (the channel number was staying lit in the corner), which took Evelyn 3 seconds to mess up.
9. Being surprised by the amount of snow we had, and getting a chance to go outside and play for hours on end with the kids.
8. Having kids that LOVE being out in the cold and not whining that they are cold or want to go back in...I had to drag them inside to eat.
7. Building a 6+ feet tall snowman with the kids and Angie's family.
6. Having our friends, The Simpsons (Autumm, Alex, Alexa, Packy and Olivia), come over when their power went out for a fun day in the snow.
5. Making breakfast from scratch for all of us and making soup in the crock pot so the house smelled yummy all day.
4. Having a massive snowball fight between the daddys vs. all the rest of us.
3. Patrick making a fort/igloo with a tunnel/slide inside so the kids could play.
2. Sleeping in until after 8 each morning.
1. Having the kids be so tired from the snow that they crashed before their bedtimes and Patrick and I were able to watch scary movies that required lots of snuggling :-)
10. Watching Patrick take over 30 minutes to try to fix the tv screen (the channel number was staying lit in the corner), which took Evelyn 3 seconds to mess up.
9. Being surprised by the amount of snow we had, and getting a chance to go outside and play for hours on end with the kids.
8. Having kids that LOVE being out in the cold and not whining that they are cold or want to go back in...I had to drag them inside to eat.
7. Building a 6+ feet tall snowman with the kids and Angie's family.
6. Having our friends, The Simpsons (Autumm, Alex, Alexa, Packy and Olivia), come over when their power went out for a fun day in the snow.
5. Making breakfast from scratch for all of us and making soup in the crock pot so the house smelled yummy all day.
4. Having a massive snowball fight between the daddys vs. all the rest of us.
3. Patrick making a fort/igloo with a tunnel/slide inside so the kids could play.
2. Sleeping in until after 8 each morning.
1. Having the kids be so tired from the snow that they crashed before their bedtimes and Patrick and I were able to watch scary movies that required lots of snuggling :-)
Friday, February 5, 2010
Meet Mr. Snowman
He took 4 people to roll the bottom layer, 3 people to lift the middle and all of us to decorate and make his hair perfect. Thank goodness this snowfall has good igloo/snowman/snowball making snow because the last big storm had lame snow you couldn't do anything with.
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