Friendship Festival 2010

This afternoon we went to the annual Friendship Festival on base. It is when the base opens up their gates to allow the Japanese community in. They expect between 150000 and 170000 people. There are air stunts, music stages, static plane exhibits, motorcycle shows, food, games...etc. We have heard horror stories about the heat and crowds - but I think we lucked out. We took a break from our unpacking around 3pm and caught the shuttle to the main part of base. Gavin LOVED the planes and has changed his future plans so now he wants to be a pilot. Evie liked the helicopters the best. I liked the funnel cake :-) The kids also got to play on jumpy things (no wait for the line) and got some sno-cones that were so gross, we threw them away after 2 bites.

Sorry I have no clue as to what most of these planes are. Patrick knows them all and tried to tell me...but I don't listen that well to him. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics!

PS - The first pic is what our back deck still looks like.

My favorite uses for a rotisseri chicken

I love that I can buy rotisseri chicken here on base. It is the easiest way for me to get 4 meals for the week (ok - 2 meals and 2 left overs :-)

Here's what I do:
1. Chicken Pot Pie

1/2 the chicken...cubed
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery seed
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk

2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
In a saucepan put frozen and add water to cover and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.
In the saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and celery seed. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
Place the chicken and veggie mixture in bottom pie crust. Pour hot liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

2. Chicken Tettrazini

Other 1/2 chicken - cubed
1/2 lb spaghetti
2 1/2 C chicken broth
3 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg (very important ingredient - do not skip this)
1 C heavy cream
2/3 C parmesan cheese (I often use a mozz/provolone mixture instead)

Cook spaghetti according to package. In medium skillet, heat butter and stir in flour and seasonings. Add the chicken broth (slowly) and stir until thick. Add cream.
In baking dish, add chicken, spaghetti and pour sauce over top. Add cheese to the top. Bake at 350 for 20 mins. (You can make the night before add the cheese just before cooking). Wait 5 mins to serve :-)

ENJOY!

Also - side note. I bought one of the PF Chang frozen dinners...and it was delicious!! The only bad part was it was a small serving size. Patrick and I devoured one bag and he was still starving. But it was really really good!!!

slowly but surely...

Well, we still have TONS of boxes to unpack and put away - but we are slowly but surely getting there. I had volunteered to babysit for a friend (who was hiking Mt Fuji) all day saturday - which actually turned out to work out great. It gave us a place to go with the kids so Patrick could start getting organized. We tried to tackle the kitchen first so that is almost done. We have tons of storage in the kitchen so it was easy to put things away. We are still rearranging the cabinets and pantry to try to make it as user friendly as possible. It is nice to have options!!! We also realized we have a lot of crap we just don't need. So we have a few boxes to donate to the 'airman's attic'. And a lot of it is good stuff. Our everyday dishes from Martha Stewart - they are in great shape - but you can't microwave them, so I had gotten some plain white Pottery barn plates that work great. No need for 2 sets of plates, so we will donate them. I feel good about donating here because there are a lot of people who really need things. We are also donating our rocker/ottoman (which I LOVE) but we have no room for. But I see these pregnant women whose husbands are being deployed and they have little to no extra money, so I feel good about giving it away. Needless to say, we are on a major purging spree and it feels good to get rid of things.

Before we left Ohio, I found an awesome outdoor storage shed from Rubbermaid. It was discontinued - so it ended up being on clearance for more than 50% off. I found the ONE Home Depot in the area that still had one and bought it. I am so glad we did, because it has given us a ton of outdoor storage space that we wouldn't have otherwise. But because of the humidity, we have to be careful of what we put in there. But it is great for our bikes, lawn mower, christmas decorations, tools, etc.

I am going to have to go through the kids toys again to decide what we really want to keep. Fortunately, their rooms are much larger than in Ohio, so we can keep most of their toys in their own rooms. And we had storage systems before - so it works out well.

We also get 20 free hours of babysitting (I have used 7) so I am taking the kids for 3 hours each day for the next few days so I can get some uninterrupted unpacking/organizing time. Hopefully I can make some more progress! Wish me luck :-)

more moving day pics

Moving In Day

Even though we have been in our house for 2.5 weeks, we are finally getting all of our household goods! Of course, there have been a few broken items (our bed frame and patio table have me the most upset) but Patrick keeps reminding me they are just things. It is great to get our stuff again. Our couches. Our wine glasses. Our toys. But it is still a stressful situaion for me to be in. Patrick has to work all day and I am here alone to do this. Luckily, I have a friend who is watching the kids (thanks Amy) so they are not in the way yet.

I love when something serendipitous happens. As I look at the boxes upon boxes of things we need to unload and unpack, I choose one to start with and got the best surprise when I opened it. It actually made me cry (and will make the special person who knows about this also cry). One of those jokes between friends that only can be understood by them. And will ALWAYS bring a smile to my face!!! Right on top of everything, was "the blue plate". I knew this was a sign from God that things were good, and that no matter how far away I am, I will always have friends watching out for me :-)

But then after that box, I looked around and was not so happy anymore...this is going to take AGES!!! I wish my friends were here now to help me!!!!

what i imagine a drug deal is like...

So I have never bought drugs, nor have I ever sold drugs (or done drugs for that matter). My only experience with this transaction comes from watching the movies. And I just had an experience that reminded me of such transgressions.

First came the text message...

ヘイ。それは私です。場所で私をご紹介します。私はあなたのものがあります。

(Seriously - this is what came across on my Iphone).

I took the saying to me trusty Google Translator. It basically means...

Hey. It's me. Meet me at the place. I have your stuff.

I am not making this up. This is how the Japanese companies have to deal with the Americans on base. They are not allowed to enter through the main gates, so their "Black Cat" (aka UPS) driver gets to the gate, they text and call the person(s) they are waiting for and have goods for. It felt so shady!!!

Luckily, I have been waiting for the Apple store to send me my replacement IPhone4. So I knew this was them! Otherwise, I think I would have been too afraid to go!!!

another trip to tokyo

Today we took another trip into Tokyo to meet with some modeling agencies for the kids. Now, please don't think I am some crazy mom trying to get her kids into modeling! But, a lot of other moms/kids do it here on base and they LOVE it! They get paid to go to awesome places around Japan and also get to have a unique experience that they probably wouldn't get in the US. Plus, if our kids make money themselves, we can invest it into a Roth IRA for them. I know that sounds lame - but it is actually a pretty awesome thing for us to be able to do for them. We would of course let them use some of their own money to buy things for themselves and to donate to special causes (i.e. Gavin's policeman funds) but they will get anywhere from $300 to $3000 PER gig... so it's hard to say no to that opportunity!

The place we needed to go to was right down the road from where we went last week...but this time we decided to drive. My friend Michele was heading there also (she was staying at the New Sanno hotel- which was a 5 minute walk from the modeling agency) since her son had just done an ad for Birkenstocks...so she got to keep a catalog. It was so awesome to see him in it and to see how cool it really is for the kids! He was in the catalog 4 or 5 times!!! Anyway, since she was driving down anyway, I just followed her. We hit a bit of traffic going there but it only took 1 hr and 40 mins. In bad traffic they say it could take 3 hours. So it wasn't too bad. We parked at the hotel and walked to the agency.

The kids were great and posed for some shots for their 'look book'. Gavin was a pro - and did everything they asked. "Stand staight. Look cool. Hands in pocket. No smile. BIG smile...." afterwards they said he did so good with instructions that they wanted permisison to send in his info for tvs and movies, as well as catalogs! He was excited - but I don't want to get too crazy. He still has school and other commitments - so hopefully we get just enough jobs to make it fun - but not too many to make it a hassle.

We parted ways with Michele and her crew since they were staying for a few days and we headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a potty break. The bathrooms were those crazy kinds I have heard about (with bidets built in as well as seat warmers, music, etc). Then we headed home (ON OUR OWN!!!) The directions were a little crazy through the city - but we did great! And there was NO traffic so we got home is a little less than an hour! It was a fun day :-)

a scene from our daily commute

ummmmm.... OK!!!







It seems like a no-brainer that you would have to yield to low flying aircraft, but it always makes me laugh when I see this sign. When we get stopped, it is always cool (even though a pain to be stopped in traffic) to see and FEEL the planes landing. You feel the rumble in your car, the sounds of the big planes landing or taking off, and the sights of seeing this awesomeness!!!

our first 'bad' day

Maybe I am just in a bad mood - but today was pretty crummy. It started off when I had to spend 3 hours in the phone store. Anyone who has ever experienced this knows what angst and grief this causes. Then include a language barrier and it makes it 10x worse. Patrick said I should have just walked out of the store and waited until he was home (so I could go without the kids) but the semi-English speaking person only works 10:30-4:30 and Patrick is in work then. So I had to take them with me. For 3 HOURS!!! Thank goodness there was a Starbucks next door so I could get them some food (at the 2 hour mark). You know it is frustrating when the Japanese cell phone worker at the base is SCREAMING into the phone. Japanese people do not raise their voice, let alone scream. Every time we got close to a solution, something would happen to deter us from our goal. We got so close one time - and then they started getting a fax which cut off our phone line (after waiting an hour to speak to someone who could help us). Grrrrrr. I literally cried. Twice. The kids did ok - but not great (like the perfect angels I expected them to be). So that was frustrating as well.

After that was resolved (sort of) I took Gavin to his Japanese lessons. He was excited to go so I dropped him off for the hour and ran errands with Evie. The hour flew by so I went back to pick him up. The kids in the class were running around like crazy (like they do at the end of class) but the teacher had to pull me aside and tell me that Gavin was really bad in class. Really bad. She said he was acting crazy and running around when he was told to stop, interrupting her, and also making fun of a new littler boy in class who was scared and crying.

In all of Gavin's years in preschool and other organized activities - he has never once even gotten a complaint from the teacher. As a matter of fact, they praised him for being such a good example. He has always strived to be good in school and not get in trouble. So this worries me a little. OK - a lot. I hope this transition has not turned his attitude about school. So, this made me cry again. I tried to talk to him about it - and he didn't even seem to care that I knew he had gotten in trouble.

After that, we needed to go to the grocery store (the commisary) to get food for dinner. While we were there, we saw his teacher. I told him he needed to go apologize to his teacher and tell her he would not do it again. But her refused. So I told him he had a choice....apologize or go directly to bed for the rest of the night. He chose bed. Again, very unlike him.

Now I know we had a rough day - but this behavior is very sad for me to see come from him. He also got in trouble in the grocery store for touching some meat packages (I didn't see him do it) but I saw a Japanese guy working there come up to him, with his arms in an "X" position - which is their way of saying "NO!". He was shooing Gavin away and Gavin ran behind me with his head down - like he knew he did something wrong.

I hope this day was just a fluke...but please keep Gavin is your thoughts and prayers. I hope he is adjusting ok - and if not - please keep me in your prayers that I can help him.

the biggest negative

The worst part so far about Japan (besides being away from friends and family) is the humidity. It is crazy humid here. Not always that hot, but always super humid. Sometimes it is so bad you can't go outside because it is so hard to even breathe.

Since it is so humid, we have our air conditioning on full-blast cold to try to compensate inside and keep things dry (well, drier). I am freezing in the house - but it does help. It can get so bad that papers start to warp, food goes stale pretty quickly, and mold can grow if you are not carefully cleaning the surfaces. So I guess I will put up with the cold air for now. It supposedly is just this bad in the summer (June - Sept) but I am ready for a break. I take 2 showers a day because it is so gross outside. We have to wash our towels everyday (instead of reusing them for a few days like we normally do). And we have to keep the lights and fan on in the bathrooms at night (after showers and baths) to help stunt mold growth. We use Damp-Rid in our closets (to help dry up the moisture in the air) which should last 60 days....and have lasted 6 and are full of water already. Our de-humidifier is coming on Friday in our big shipment but we are going to buy another one so we can have one on each floor.

OK...I am done my rant. Otherwise, we really do like it here a lot. But my hair definitely does NOT like it here :-)

I love finding cool new places

Today (Sunday) we didn't have much planned, but I knew there was a Costoco (Costco for you American folk) down the road, so we took a nice little family drive to get there. It was only about 15-20 mins from base (on the main road just off base) so we decided to go ahead and go there for some shopping and lunch. Well, to my very happy surprise, it turns out the Costoco is located right next to an AWESOME outlet mall. Not only did they have cool Japanese stores, but also internationally known stores (Banana Republic, Theory, etc.). And to the kids pleasure, they had a Lego store too!!! We had to park next to the Outlets and walk to the Costco - so we HAD to walk through the stores :-) It is an open, outside type place - but with lots of covering to keep it shaded (and out of any possible rain). They had some water fountain spray play areas for kids too. We let the kids buy something from Lego and I got some cute things at a home store (kids bath math and loofah sponges).

Then we signed up for a Costco membership and found the perfect dual screen DVD player for our car. It was everything we were looking for and only about $120. It was really crowded (the Japanese only have Sundays off from normal work) so Patrick was getting a bit antsy and irritated, and it was time for lunch...so we just headed to the checkout with our car DVD player. Unfortunately, they only accepted American Express or yen...so we couldn't buy it because we didn't have that much yen on us. We could have gone back to the outlets and found an ATM - but I decided I would just come back tomorrow when it will be less crowded and I can do some grocery shopping as well!!!

Patrick is a little worried that there is such a nice shopping area so close to me...but I swear I will avoid it (for now).

patrick's iphone pics

Last minute fun

This was our 1st 'real' weekend in a very long time. Literally, for over 2 months we have had no real feel for the weekend. We were on permanent vacation! Patrick wasn't going to work, the kids weren't in school, and I had no social calendar to abide by. But this week Patrick had a full work week (gasp!) and I was busy with the kids again. So Saturday really felt like something to celebrate!

We actually had NO plans! The kids were starting to get wound up so we decided to run some errands - just to get out of the house. Literally 2 minutes before we were about to leave, my new friend Amy (shout out to the Mormons) called to see if I wanted to go to a function at their church. It was not a religious activity - rather just a get together that was held at their church (I had gone to plenty with my Mormon friends in Ohio and always had a great time). Apparently, their ward (church location) has 2 services. One in the morning in English and another in the afternoon in Japanese. This upcoming week is the Tanabata Festival around here (kind of like Halloween where they celebrate the dead coming back to bring joy and happiness to the living), so the Japanese sisters wanted to put on an activity to help the American sisters dress in kimonos (called yukatas, summer cotton kimonos) so we could go to the festival in style!

A few of the members could not attend (but replied they would go) so they had some extra yukatas. And that's when Amy called me. So Evelyn and I went to her house (she lives right behind us) and we drove over to the church together. Evie loved watching everyone get dressed and there were about 8 Japanese women helping everyone get dressed. One of the younger ladies did mine - but the oldest 'sensei' made me take it off because she said I was too skinny for it. I wanted to kiss her right there on the spot, but I didn't know if that was appropriate :-) They made me choose a smaller one and then the sensei wrapped me in it TIGHT! It was fun to see how there was no problem with a language barrier when women are helping each other with fashion!!! One lady even let me borrow some clothed for Evelyn...they were boy ones - but she didn't care. Pokemon is cool for boys and girls!!!

After we learned about the yukatas and about the reason behind the festival, we walked about 10 minutes to go there. It was what I expected - with bright colorful balloons and streamers, dancers, dragon puppets, vendors, etc. We weren't too daring with the food - we only got sno cones and popcon for the kids - but it was still such an unexpected, last minute fun activity for our family!

the good and the bad...

The good - our crazy backdrop of Mt Fuji

Also the good - hearing people who have been all over with the military tell us how lucky we are that this is our first assignment. Every single person that finds out this is our first "accession" (assignment) wonders how we got here. Apparently this is a base that you have to work hard to get to because of how nice the base is and how well run the area is. As an added bonus - we get to experience one of the coolest cities in the world.

The bad - Patrick's partner is getting deployed. This means his family (and us) will miss him for 6 months and Patrick will be the solo surgeon (aka on-call all the time) for that time. He will still be able to take holidays and leave - but not as easily. It also means that if they bring another ortho in next year (to replace his current partner) then there is a chance Patrick could also have to go. To Afghanistan. No. Thank. You.

But....what will be will be. It is what it is. And all the other cliches out there. Seriously (prepare for another cliche) if it is meant to happen, then it will happen and it will happen for a good reason. We will make the most out of whatever experience is thrown our way :-)

First trip to Tokyo

On wednesday, we went to that pool (from last week) with another group of friends. It was a gorgeous day for the pool and we enjoyed it just as much, if not more, this time around. At the end of the playdate, some of the moms were talking about other playgroups they belonged to. One mom said their group was going off base to get some ice-cream...which sounded super fun. Then another mom said her group was going to "The Children's Castle" in downtown Tokyo...which sounded even more fun! Plus, it would give me a chance to learn how to ride the trains/subways with a group of other friends/kids instead of learning by myself!

So we agreed to join them the next morning. I packed some small snacks and juice boxes, as well as the kids games (DS and Leapster), my handy-dandy Tokyo guide, and some money in yen and USD. We left our house at 8:45am, met everyone at 9 (at the parking lot right before you leave base), and then walked to the train station. This was about a 10-15 minute walk and we were HOT!!! There were sidewalks for most of the walk (only large enough for one person...so we had to walk in a line) and all the other moms had littler kids, so they were all in their strollers. My kids were champs and didn't complain though!!! Thank goodness :-)

Patrick and I inherited some train passes (already loaded with money) so it made it a little easier for me to navigate. You literally just swipe your card when you go into the station and when you arrive at your final destination you swipe it again and it tallies your fare. Like EZPass. It deducts it from your account and you just refill it with cash when you get low. There is a designated area on each train for older people, pregnant people and people with kids...so we were pretty fortunate to get there. Unfortunately, we had a large group and wanted to stay together - but we made it work. I stood but the kids shared a seat. Immediately, I knew I was going to have to take a 1/2 dramamine for my motion sickness...but it never got too bad once I took it. All-in-all, it took about 2 hours from leaving our car until we got to the place we needed. Truthfully, I would've just preferred to drive myself. I don't care about traffic or tolls....I would rather drive anywhere than take public transportation (train, bus, plane, taxi). I am not being snobby...I just don't like it. Plus it was so hot outside - and not much cooler inside the train. It made for a LONG, HOT trip...but an experience I am glad to have had.

The Children's Castle is a large tower in the city designed to let 'inner-city' kids have a place to play. Each floor has different activities; from a pool, to an art center, music hall, playground, etc. It was a pretty neat place - but I found myself comparing it to COSI (the best Science Museum in the US). The kids had tons of fun though...which is the whole point!!!

After all the activites were done, we started to head back to the train station. One of the girls mentioned there was a Razzleberry Ice Cream store (like Pinkberry in the states) so we decided to walk past the train station to get some. We ended up going through the Times Square of Tokyo (very cool) to get there - but the kids HATED the ice cream and started to melt down! Evie was the worst -and I ended up dragging her - SCREAMING - back through the streets to the train station. I promised them that when we got back to the train that they could sit down and nap or play games. WRONG. It was 4pm - when people start to get off work, so it was your typical train in Japan. Literally shoving people in to fit. Eventually one seat opened - which the kids shared while I stood next to them.

We got back to our train station and they were spent (me too) so I paid a taxi to take us back to the main gate of the base. Best 750 yen I ever spent. We got back to our car and drove into our driveway at 5:30. I was soooooo tired (from the walking, the heat and the dramamine) and I was alseep by 8pm. I slept right through the night (except for the 4:30am phone ringing) and got up around 6:30. I am glad we went - but don't think I will be doing it again any time soon!!!