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.