Shibuya!!!

So our very enthusiastic sponsors were kind enough to take us to get cell phones on Saturday. Then, Saturday night, we all got on the train and headed to Tokyo. It was a really long ride, but really interesting. Kids in Japan go to school on Saturdays too, so we saw a ton of kids wearing their school uniforms around the stations at around 6pm. We got off at a station called Shibuya in the downtown area. It is also called Shibuya Crossing because it is an intersection where five streets intersect. It is amazing. It was really reminiscent of Times Square. There are so many people, but it is strange because it doesn’t feel crowded. Even when there was standing room only on the trains, you had plenty of personal space. We walked around and did a lot of people watching…there are some crazy styles out there, even more so than NY if you can believe that! So we decided to find a place to eat. We just walked around until we found a restaurant building. What they do, is have a giant display case that has really intricate plastic replicas of their dishes. Each section of the case designates a different restaurant and the floor of the building that it is on. We went to the 7th floor of this one and basically decided by looking at the plastic food what we would order. I got some egg battered chicken served with a salad with ginger dressing which came as a combination with crab fried rice with crab croquets on top. Everything was really delicious and I am realizing that I love all kinds of Japanese food! I already bought my Slimfast so I can have my food and stay on top of things too! Jessica (sponsor) took some great pictures that I will post as soon as I get them.

We have arrived!

Ok, so our trip started in Little Rock going to Dallas. We were lucky enough to get on an earlier flight because the weather was bad and we had no leeway if we missed our flight to Seattle. The kids were really good because they got to dig into their backpacks full of dollar store goodies. We got to Seattle and into our hotel about 7:30 their time which was 4:30 Little Rock time and ordered room service. After that, we pretty much just went to bed since we had to be up early. In his typical fashion, Tyler was up at 5:30...half hour before we needed to be. We got to the airport and all checked in and then did breakfast. The plane left a full hour early so we didn't have to wait very long at all. We left about 9:00 am Seattle time. Kurt had arranged seating, the guy told him that even though we wouldn't be sitting in the same row, we would like the seats he was giving us. Not sure who he was, but he deserves the greatest blessings God has to offer...he upgraded us to "business class" which, on this plane was first class! We had the first two rows so Tyler had the bulkead to play in when the weather was clear. Each of us had our own pull-out video monitor where we could access on-demand movies and play video games. I played a lot of "Bejeweled." So all-in-all the flight was good. The food was good (we ate twice) and besides just being needy constantly, the kids were as good as can be expected...with one major exception. Except for a twenty minute nap for Tyler and a short nap for Hannah, none of the kids slept on the plane. That meant only a short nap for me since I was sitting next to Ty. When I did sleep however, it was awesome because the seats reclined fully into bed position! When we got to Yokota, it didn't take us very long to pass customs and we were deposited into the terminal with all of our luggage (six bags, three carseats, five backpacks and a stroller). We immediately noticed all of the crazy drinks in the vending machines...all in Japanese. The other really weird thing was the hand dryers in the bathrooms, they were like industrial blowers and really effective and kind of fun! Our sponsors (Phillip and Jessica Newman) were there to pick us up with their two cars thank goodness and they showed us right to our hotel room, having picked up our keys for us too (and left a goodie bag of snacks and drinks which were so helpful since we had no food!). As we were getting out of he car, in the breezeway parking area at the front doors, Tyler had a coughing fit that started him gagging on phlegm and made him throw up. Hannah saw the throwup and threw up too - what a joy. We got them upstairs and cleaned up and headed out with the Newmans. I am really sorry to say that it didn't dawn on me to take my camera (by that time I had already been awake 17 long hours) but it was still light enough to see Mt. Fuji. We also got here in perfect time for Fall, the leaves are gorgeous and we have a great view from the TLF 4th floor. Anyway, we headed out to this really great traditional Japanese restaurant. As we pulled up, poor Hannah had just had it and threw up in Kurt's cupped hands (I am so proud of him for keeping it together!). The great thing about Japanese restaurants is that they have a hand-washing station between two sets of entry doors in the front lobby of the restaruant! So they put us in a little room and closed us in with sliding privacy doors...so Japanese, just like you would imagine. They seat you at a little square table (yes, you had to take your shoes off first) and it recessed into the floor so the seats were at floor level. There was a little metal grill in the center of the table with hot coals under it. They served you really thin slices of the raw meat of your choice and vegetables that you cooked right there. It was very similar to a Korean Barbecue. Some of the meat was really fatty, almost like bacon, but was really tasty! I guess it was a wake up call even though we had been told, but it was $100.00 for two plates of meat and some veggies for four people! So all three kids fell asleep in the booth and had to be carried up to bed. Oddly, it was Sarah that was up at 4:30 and Kurt too. Tyler was up about five and Hannah (mini me) and I were up at 6:30. We took the base bus over to the BX complex had lunch and came back. We looked at (and bought) a Mitsubishi mini-van and all I have to say is that we are really spoiled with options in the states like sliding side doors and cargo space. This car is really nice and is about like the sienna with features (no dvd) and milage, but only cost us $3,800.00 US. That is crazy to us! So Kurt is out right now looking at cell phones off base with Phillip Newman, the kids are napping (I will join them momentarily as I feel about hung over right now) and then we are going to Tokyo. Train tickets for our family one-way are $34 US! Wow, it is really a good thing for "cost of living allowance!" Great news is that this is the first overseas base to set up a US calling plan. You can pick the area code you want and anyone from home can call you as often as you want and vice versa. Supposedly the rates are in a package deal with your internet and cable for about $100.00 per month, but we will see. Since my parents don't have cell phones, we will likely get a NY area code and number...that will be funny. Also our cell phones will only be Japan-Japan phones and won't be used to call long-distance. We may look into video phone-by-computer, but we need to pick out a house first. There are three distinct areas of this base (which is huge!) and they have houses available in two of the three...now we have to pick which area. We have talked to a lot of people and usually they like the area they live in the best! So that is our last twenty-four hours. I will try to keep updating and will get pictures uploaded as soon as I have the patience to figure out why my Iphone won't sync with my laptop! Sayonara for now! (Oh, the cleaning lady already had to hug Tyler, she just loved him and the fact that he knew some Japanese words).

Halloween

Well folks, you can see that I am relatively new to this blog thing and either can't or don't know how to put a blog in where it belongs chronologically after the fact. If you know how to do this, I would be grateful for info on how! This year Halloween was interesting. Even though I had been planning it for months (I remembered to bring Halloween decorations and trick-or-treat pumpkins from Del Rio) it somehow snuck up on me. It was the first time that we didn't do some theme as a family, and for that matter, the first time I didn't dress up. Last year we were Scooby Doo and friends, and the years before that, we stuck to the Wizard of Oz theme. It was also weird because for months Hannah had talked about being a Mermaid and I turned the town upside down to find the perfect costume. About twenty minutes before we were leaving the room, she decided that she wanted to be Dora because she had "Dora hair." This turned into a major deal and so I scraped up a quick Dora outfit. This year we only went trick-or-treating at about ten houses because it started raining a very cold rain. We had gotten tons of candy before hand at the Church's trunk-or-treat the weekend before and at the Fall Festival Halloween night. We didn't really have anywhere to display our pumpkins in the hotel here, so they just kind of sat on the counter. I had Japan on the brain as you can see from the design of my pumpkin.

Uni Maki - Won't be making that mistake again!

OK, so at this point we are of the mindset that "American" food is over-rated. We had our "Outback" and then had our favorite, Indian food. In the meantime, Kurt and I have been touring the sushi places here in North Little Rock. So one night, we went to one of our favorite places and sat at the sushi bar. Keep in mind that the kids eat sushi rolls too, Sarah eats a whole roll of "Spicy tuna" by herself and Ty and Hannah always have "California roll" or "Crunchy Shrimp" (tempura battered). So we ordered a ton of different rolls and some regular sushi (which is just the fish layed on top of a rice ball) like white tuna and yellowfin (both awesome). We have had eel and octopus before, but were considering something new in our adventurous state of mind. We asked the chef about Sea Urchin or "Uni." He said it tasted "like the sea," not a plus for me! Then he said "It also tastes like French pate' - yet another strike for sea urchin so we obviously didn't order it. Towards the end of dinner, the chef (who was Korean and thought it was funny that I could say some things in Korean), presented us with two rolls of sea urchin on the house. Uh, ok, what do you say when you are presented with a gift that is also considered a delicacy. So Kurt, with absolutely no shame said, "you first." I fixed his wagon...I promtly stuffed the whole thing in my mouth. He looked at me expectantly and my eyes went wide and I nodded profusely, so he stuffed the whole thing in his mouth. HA to him! As he was attempting to choke it down without throwing up, I got mine finished. Well, all I have to say is that those of you who won't eat sushi because of the experience you think it will be...if you eat sea urchin, it will be that experience! For those of you who trust that I only like "good" food, try a piece of white tuna sushi some day, you will be pleasantly surprised! Lets also say that I will not be making friends with Japanese sushi chefs who want to feed me delicacies!

Sad Farewell..the Adventure Begins

Ok, so I feel like a big dork that I left my phone in the car and didn't get any pictures of any of you guys at our farewell. I am glad that most of you blog and I can see your smiling, happy faces with just a click of a button. It has been great re-visiting our Cabot Ward family...seeing some of you again and meeting some of you for the first time. This Ward is so inviting and way fun (that's why we "forgot" to go back to the Jacksonville Ward where we were supposed to be)! Thank you to the Hazeslips for hosting yet another shindig at their gorgeous house of art! Thank you to all of the people who came out to say goodbye, it meant a lot to us. As you have all heard at least once from me, "All C-130 roads lead to Little Rock Air Force Base" so there is a really good chance you will see us again. In the meantime, you will all take a trip around the world with us, as I make every attempt to continue this blog in real-blog fashion (and not as an after-thought every three or four months) keeping you up-to-date on our adventures. Stay tuned for the horrifying next issue "Traveling from Little Rock to Seattle with three small children" and the terrifying sequal "Flying from Seattle to Tokyo with those same three small children who are already tired of sitting in an airplane seat from the day before."