a few more pics...

My pretty flowers to make me feel happy


Our little coffee pot to get us through until ours arrives!


G&E before swimming


The biggest pain in the house was the stairs. They HURT your feet...


problem solved! Japanese stair rugs :-)

First playgroup (and some other details)

Last night, we hitched a ride (again) from our amazing sponsors, Michele and Andy. I hate saying the word sponsor because it makes me feel like we are part of AA. But...anyway, that is what they are referred to here. Sponsors. So they took us to the commisary (grocery shopping), the BX (like a mini Walmart) and the cell phone store. We have been researching a ton about what phone provider to go with and ended up choosing the one on base that offers the IPhone4. We both got one - which ended up being free when you sign onto a 2-year contract. And the total monthly bill for 2 phones (calls, texts, data, web - unlimited in Japan) will be $100. For BOTH phones total! That is cheaper than our Verizon bill was + free IPhone4s + unlimited usage. We are pretty excited! We still have our US numbers - but they are on a military suspend. We will activate them anytime we come home to visit - so we will still have the same numbers. But for now, we will have some kick a** IPhone4s. And we can take the SIM card out when we go back to the US and use it there like an Itouch (for all those tech savvy people that know what I am talking about).

Anyway, I also got a ton of groceries so we can actually eat like normal, not junk food all day. I got the basics to fill the pantry (sugar, flour, oil, etc) as well as 4 dinner ingredients. And all lunch and breakfast items too. And my whole bill was $150. It was 2 cart-fuls. I love it!!! I also picked up some things at the BX - an ironing board, coffee maker, light bulbs...all things that will get here in a few weeks when our big shipment arrives - but things we needed now also. I hated spending the extra money - but we can always donate them when we get our shipment. And of course, I got some flowers to make it feel prettier in our home.

This morning, Michele took us to a playgroup at a Japanese swimming pool. This place was so awesome. It had so many areas for young kids to play. There was a 3 foot pool (the entire pool was 3 ft), a water slide into shallow water, a lazy river that was 1 ft high with a huge padded mountain in the middle (the kids used ropes to help climb up and then roll down), etc. There were many rules (no jewelry at all, no cameras (boo), no sun glasses) but the entire day only cost 400yen (about $5). Gavin said it was his most fun day in Japan yet. There were also lots of other kids in the group and I got to meet some new moms.

One of the nicest encounters was with a woman who turned out to be Mormon. For those who know, I was very close to many Mormons in Ohio and have a great admiration and love for them. They joked that I would end up being friends with lots of Mormons "because they are everywhere :-)". And it's true, I loved meeting this woman (who reminded me exactly of my friends in OH) and am going to playgroup with them tomorrow. And the weirdest 'coincident' was that her best friend just moved to Columbus because her hubby is a DO in anesthesia. So I will help her network in OH.

Now it is time to keep cleaning and putting away boxes. This was ur small shipment and is taking forever to put away. I can't imagine what the big shipment will be like!!?!?!!

What a HOTTIE!!!!

Oh happy day!

Our 'unaccompanied baggage' arrived this morning! The kids bave been so addicted to the DS, Wii and Leapsters (since that is all the entertainment we had here for a while) and they were so exited to get their toys!!! They threw down their gaming systems and jumped into their own playthings. Evelyn stripped down immediately (in front of the Japanese movers - which I think is considered a no-no here) to put on her princess gowns and Gavin has got his batman fort all set up! Thank goodness :-)

borrowed items

Our living room - lovely green couches

Our bedroom

Our first dinner in our house...Pizza Hut

Gavin's room
Since our main shipment will not get here for a few weeks, we had to borrow furniture from the base. They had such an organized process...even the little japanese guys bringing it were orderly. And they ran between bringing in items. Can you believe that?!?!? Instead of the guys in America who smoked every 15 minutes and told me stories of how bad their life is, we got super hard working guys who would not accept a tip since this was part of their job description. But I digress.

It is fun to document this part - because we are so out of control of everything. We need to rely on so many people to help make our lives 'normal'. We had to borrow sheets from Michele and Andy, borrow furniture from the base, and get rides to the store to buy essentials (t.p., milk, etc). It is so humbling and we are so appreciative.

Here are some pics of our house as is right now. Tomorrow, our first shipment will get here with our linens and towels, toys and books, tv, utensils, etc. It will be nice to have OUR things around.

day 3

The outside of the mall

playing thomas basketball

playing whack-an-alligator
Today was pretty relaxing for the most part. The kids and I woke up around 3:30am (we went to bed at 6:30pm) and just chilled out around the hotel room. This jet lag thing is really awful. If it were just Patrick and I, we could probably fight it. But the kids have to listen to their little bodies and sleep when needed. I forced them today to take a long nap again so we can stay up a bit later tonight. Hopefully this will be the worst of it.

Regardless, it was a mellow day. We took a little walk in the morning around our blocks, found the shopette (like a little convenience store), the indoor pool and even saw Mt Fuji in the distance. We got a chance to skype with MomMom and PopPop Bull which was nice, and then our long naps.

Patrick had to go to the uniform store and get some new fatigues, boots and blues. When he got back, Michele and Andy took us to the local mall. Man, what a culture shock that was for us! First of all, it was HUGE!!! They had an arcade area with games for every age. They had stores I recognized (Gap, H&M, Eddie Bauer) and many unique stores that I am sure I will grow to love. There were tons and tons of people since the Japanese wrk 6 days a week...so on sunday they go out. It is easy to see why they are fascinated with blonde haired, blue eyed people. There are NONE over there. It was easy to see the kids if they went away from us because of their 'toe heads'. People would even stop and ask to take pictures with the kids or pet their heads. Unfortunately, it was 5:30 - which felt like 4:30am to us. So the kids were less than thrilled at this attention.

We are back now for some dinner and hopefully bedtime around 7 or 7:30. Tomorrow we get our new house - so that will help get things more settled.

side note...

Please note that I am writing these blogs mostly for our memories. I know many of you have asked for updates, pictures, and feelings through our journey...but for those that think I am bragging or showing off...PLEASE DO NOT READ THESE! I don't care if you think our journey is exciting or not. I do not care if you think I sound snobbish in my posts. I am humbled and honored to be able to visit the other side of the world and experience a culture that is as amazing as I have seen so far in only 2 days. Not only the military culture (which I thank God for every night) but also the Japanese people. The respect, hard work and friendliness is something I will be forever grateful for that my kids get to experience at such a young age. I hope it will instill great values and traditions in them.

I am very grateful for the people who do support us through our journey and DO want to hear about our life. We appreciate your support and prayers while we make this incredibly challenging transition. We have been so blessed with amazing people over here to help us but we still rely on the positive thoughts from the people who love us back in the states. Please keep us in your thoughts as we keep trying to adjust to the time change, language barriers, culture changes and Patrick's start of his career.

day 2

The hardest thing so far about this move has been the time change. We absolutely CRASHED yesterday afternoon around 1pm (it felt like midnight to us after an entire 2 days of traveling) and then we slept until 8 or 9pm. This felt like the morning for us and we even had coffee, cereal and watched morning tv shows (don't ask me how they were on at that time at night). We skyped with loved ones which was so nice. And then we took 'naps' from 3am-8am. This got us a bit back on track for the time change because at least we felt recharged while the sun was up.

We ended going up to the commisary, signing up for cable/internet/phone and looking at cell phone providers. My concern is that the company on base that we want to use (with the Iphone) gets really bad reception in the houses and hospital. The other company (which is just off base) get great reception - but has crappy phones that I can't use with skype. I may just end up getting the crappy phones with good service - and hope that Santa buys me an Itouch for christmas....

We also went out for our first Japanese lunch experience...at Chilis!!! It was a goodbye gathering for the guy that Patrick is replacing, so it was fun. I exchanged some US dollars for yen while we were there and it made me feel rich. Their money is like monopoly money - and it looked like a $5000 bill (really only worth about $50).

Michele (our sponsor and neighbor and future partner's wife) took me by the "Lemon Lot" to look for cars. They have a place where people park their car they are trying to sell and you can check them out. Most cars/minivans are older with a lot of mileage - but super cheap. I found a few I liked...but we can't get a license until Thursday so I still have a few days left to check them out.

We ended the day with a BBQ at Michele and Andy's house. It was going great until Evelyn hit her limit and melted down. It was a doozy. But the poor girl was running on empty - and it felt like 5am. So I had to leave early to get her home. Now it is 6:30pm and we are all going to bed!!!

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)!
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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!!!!

The next chapter...

begins tomorrow morning. I need to sleep now, but promise to keep a much more up-to-date blog!!!

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)

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

Can you guess where we may be moving???

More info to come!

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