As Promised....

We picked up our car last night from the used car lot just outside one of the gates. Around here, space is very valuable and it is hardly ever wasted. These lots pack the cars in like sardines. Literally. You can't drive the care before you buy it. Because you can't get it out of the lot.

If you pick one that's in the middle, they have to move them all. One by one. Crime on the island is pretty much non-existent. Almost all of these cars have the keys in them.

It is recommended that you practice driving ON base before you drive OFF base. Well, Tom decided that we would head straight from the car lot to the cell phone place. Off base. Everything is opposite here. The steering wheel is on the right. And your turn signals? They're on the right, too. That means the windshield wipers are where we expect to find the turn signal. Our car has the cleanest windshield on this island. Once we got our cell phones, we tried to get back on base. That didn't go so well. We ended up on the island's only expressway. Tom kept a cool head, and we eventually made it back to base. Thank goodness.

As promised, we hit the town today. Our first stop was Chatan, the town where our new house is. We have signed the papers, gotten the money, and we pick up the key Monday.

Someone is currently using our driveway. But not for long.

And this is a view of our street.

Just on the other side of that several story high building is the sea wall. The East China Sea is a stone's throw away from our front door. Unbelievable.

Incredible.

Where was Brendan while Tom and I were checking out the sea wall?

Asleep. In our  new car. With one shoe on and one shoe off. He hates his new shoes.

And this, by the way, is our new car.

Ain't she a beaut?

Also within walking distance is Baba Park. Brendan was still asleep so we didn't get out to play. But right across the street there was a baseball game going on.

From our new neighborhood we headed a short way down the road to the American Village, which is basically a huge shopping complex, complete with a bowling alley and a theater. How's this for backwards - the movie theater shows movies in English with Japanese subtitles. Oh, and you can drink beer in there. But you better have a DD because the limit here is .03. No kidding.

You can't find these back in the States.

The blue label means you are purchasing a cold drink, and the red label means it's a hot drink. How cool is that? You can buy food out of vending machines, too. Real food. The bowling alley had a machine that sold French fries, and the BX has a hot dog vending machine. I will be trying that one out before long.

We found the biggest arcade we'd ever seen.

And guess what game they had.

Look familiar?

And did I mention that we now live on an island? That means there was more water to check out.

Brendan has his feet in the East China Sea. I wonder how many of his school friends will be able to say that.

It would be nice if the water were a little bluer.

And maybe just a wee bit clearer.

I still can't believe that we live here. We. LIVE. Here.

Sorry if this post is a bit waterlogged (pun intended), but we are enthralled with it.

American Village is huge. There are tons of shops and restaurants. We had lunch there. At an Indian restaurant. It was my first experience with Indian food. I was pleasantly surprised. But I kept thinking about Dad telling me that Adam took him and Mom to eat Indian food and the best thing he had was the water.

After lunch we walked around some more and stopped for some frozen yogurt.

And just in case one day we need some American food, we can come right back down here.

Tom found everybody's souvenir in one of the shops.

I hope you'll all be looking forward to receiving it.

After showing his rear end while we tried to eat, Brendan passed out.

We headed back to the car lot this afternoon so Tom could drop off the money for our second car. Brendan was not happy about it. He and I waited in the car, pretending to drive.

I took the wheel on the way back from the car lot. I drove all around town to practice. With the baby screaming in the backseat. The. Entire. Time. I am now comfortable driving on the wrong side of the road. If I can drive with that going on, I should be good to go.

And because he was such a good boy (not), he got a new toy today.

Actually, we bought this to try and entertain him while we're still stuck in this room. It was mostly purchased to try and save our sanity.

It was a big day, and fun for the most part. I hope Brendan wakes up in a good mood tomorrow. The last few days have been rough.

I have no idea what we'll get into tomorrow. But for now, sayonara!

Dear Aliens....

Please return my sweet, good-natured baby and take back this creature you have left in my care. I've had enough.

Sincerely,

The REAL Brendan's Mommy



Arrival

Sorry to disappoint, but there are no pictures in this post. At this particular moment, I have no idea where the camera even is. This is simply an update of what has been going on with us the past week. It's gonna be a long one....

Last Tuesday I had an appointment to get the health certificate done for Kody and Sophie. I'm sure you already know that importing an animal into a foreign country is a big deal. I started all the work back in May, before we even knew for sure that we would be coming to Japan. I was told by the vet clinic on base to make the health certificate appointment 24 hours before our flight because it only lasts a few days. I also tried to schedule this appointment on base a couple months ago. I was told they only schedule two weeks ahead of time but not to worry. Health certificates for PCS take priority and they would work me in even if they were booked. To make a long story short, the vet ended up being on leave and I had to use a civilian vet. No problem - I called and they said their vet was also USDA certified and that they have done lots of health certificates. Nobody told me, and I didn't know to ask, that they had to OVERNIGHT the certificate to Atlanta to get the USDA seal and then wait for it to be returned. Obviously, since our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:35 a.m. the next morning I had no time for that. I had a complete meltdown in the vet's office. Tom, genuis that he is, found a naval station in Jacksonville and called them and begged them to do our certificate. He hopped into the car and headed down there. Thanks to them (and him), Kody and Sophie made the trip.

It took us 38 hours to get here. The flights weren't too bad. Tom and I played free trivia on the flight from Atlanta to Seattle. Delta is a great airline for military members. In the Atlanta airport they had a military lounge set up. It happened to be directly next to our gate. We stopped in and they had all kinds of food and any drink you could imagine. Those people even had a canister of marshmallows if you happened to want hot chocolate. I'm not kidding - they covered it all. It was so nice to be able to sit and relax for a little bit and not have to buy insanely expensive airport food.

Once we got to Seattle we had to pick up all of our baggage, including Kody and Sophie, and wait to check in for the AMC (Air Mobility Command) flight. The worst part of our journey was waiting in Seattle. We got there around 6 p.m. Seattle time and our flight was not scheduled to leave until 3 a.m. That was 6 a.m. for us. Tom set up Brendan's pack & play for a little while in the middle of the airport. He and I tried to get a little sleep. On the floor. It didn't work. We pretty much stayed up the entire night, a first for me. The flight from Seattle to Yokota AB was supposed to take about ten hours. Brendan slept for a lot of it. We got off the plane there for about an hour. All the pets were taken off of the plane so they could be walked. We checked on ours and gave them a little food and some fresh water. From Yokota we flew to Iwakuni Marine Base and then to Okinawa. Here's where it gets good. Before anyone was permitted to leave the plane they made an announcement. They called about three names and said for those members and their families to exit the aircraft. Tom's name was one of them. When we got off, there were several people there to meet us. Another first sergeant took me to clear the cats through the veterinarian and take them to the kennel. She then took me back to the airport to pick up the baby and take us to our room. Someone else was with Tom to get our luggage. They had already checked us into our room and put some groceries in there. It was VIP treatment, and we totally appreciated it. Our first impression was two thumbs up.

We've been busy this past week. We have purchased our first car (pictures to follow) and will pick it up tomorrow. Almost all the cars here look funny. I'm pretty sure we've found our house. We found two that we like. We are going to take an American style house right near the Sunabe sea wall, home to one of the top diving and snorkeling spots in the world. Yes, the world. And it will be just seconds from our front door. I'm a little disappointed that there is no view from the house, but we really don't spend much time sitting outside anyway. The other house we found was a Japanese style home near a different sea wall. It is gorgeous and I fell in love with it as soon as we walked in. It is full of Japanese features, and I was excited at the prospect of living in a home like that. But there are a few drawbacks. For instance, many Japanese homes have no oven, this one included. That would take some getting used to. And Japanese dryers are tiny. I wash a lot of clothes so that was another drawback. And the third drawback was the upstairs bathroom. There is no shower stall. Just a room with a toilet, a shower head, and a drain in the floor. Plus, it was up a few more stairs and down the hall from the master bedroom. Very inconvenient for middle of the night use. So, we've made our decision and are going with the American style house. It is near some of the people we have already met, including another baby Brendan's age. He actually spent the day with her at the CDC yesterday while Tom and I attended a newcomers briefing, which is when we got our driver's licenses. We are now considered "professional" drivers in the eyes of the Japanese authorities. Driving is serious business here.

We have only eaten at one real Japanese restaurant since we've been here. The food is good, but different. Obviously. Portion sizes are much smaller. Americans should take lessons. Okinawans live the longest lives of anyone in the world. The people here are friendly and hospitable. I left a spit rag on the table at the restaurant and the waiter ran (literally ran) to catch me and give it back. Brendan gets a lot of attention. We are told they love babies with blonde hair and blue eyes. We have eaten at Chili's Too three times. Because it's within walking distance and is open 24/7 on weekends, which came in handy last weekend when we were all up and hungry at 3 a.m. They also serve breakfast. I have also eaten Popeye's, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut. This place has all the comforts of home. There is even a Toys R Us on this island somewhere.

This kid of ours has been a superstar. He has been pushed in the stroller all over the place. He loves to be out and about. He has been car shopping and house hunting and hardly complains. I did use the CDC yesterday but that's the first time he's been away from us. The military provides you with 20 hours of free childcare when you PCS in or out of a base. It's childcare at one of the provider's homes. I plan on taking full advantage of it. The base offers free classes and I am going to take every one that I'm interested in before I start work. I'm already signed up for a class to help me find a job. There is an island excursion, a Japanese grocery store trip, and language lessons.

Jet lag hasn't been as bad as I expected. For a few days Brendan would wake up around 4 a.m. and want to get up. I'd stay up with him for an hour or so and then put him back to bed. I committed the cardinal sin of putting him to bed with a bottle. I think I only did it three times. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's ever done it. He only had one really, really bad night where he was up four or five times. The night before last he woke up around 2, drank a bottle, and went right back to sleep until 6. Last night he went to bed at 7 and slept all night until a little after 6 this morning. He is downright amazing.

We found out yesterday that our first shipment of stuff, almost all of which is Brendan's, is on the island already. We can shedule delivery as soon as we get into the house. I'm so excited for him to get his things back and to be able to sleep in his bed again.

Our plan for the weekend is to get out and see some sights. There is so much to see and do here. We have been told that the parts of the island we've seen so far are the ugly parts so I'm excited to see what else there is. We should never be bored...certainly a far cry from Valdosta. I can't wait to get out of our lodging here. It's been a bad experience. So bad that we had to move out of the pet friendly room so Kody and Sophie are still kenneled. I have checked on them and they are fine in their kitty condo but I'm anxious to get them back. It's also difficult ot entertain an active, and mobile, baby in a hotel room. We try not to spend much time in the room. The weather when we got here was nice and warm. Yesterday it turned quite chilly. Today is rainy and nasty. Tom is at work for a while and Brendan and I are here. I actually turned the heat on. I'm sitting next to the window and I can hear the wind. I'm not looking forward to having to go out to sign the paperwork for the house. But I am definitely anxious to get out of here and into our own place. I have to put up a Christmas tree!

I didn't intend for this to be so long. And boring. I probably lost most everybody after a paragraph or two. Hopefully, after this weekend I'll have more interesting things to share!

Bathtub Fun

I totally forgot to post these bath pictures.

I'm not sure which one of them enjoyed the company more. They both love to take a bath.