Great to be home!

 It feels so good to be back home! The 6 weeks away from Japan was too long. Shannon and the girls took the Navy shuttle up to the the airport to "surprise" me when I arrived. I was supposed to return a day early but the American Airlines flight that I was on was cancelled..... two times. We left San Diego and took a little commuter jet up to LAX for our 11+ hour flight over the pond. After we loaded up, they came over the horn and said the plane was out of service. So we all deplaned and waited around. After about an hour they said they had another plane for us that would depart in about 2 hours. So we all loaded up in that one and it seemed like we were on our way. The plane was pushed back and then just sat. Apparently one of the engines didn't start. So back to the gate we went and we all were asked to deplane. After another few hours of waiting around to see what the plan was they said the flight was cancelled and they were going to make arrangements..... for the 300 of us. We were lucky and got on a United flight the next morning. The flight was fine -- I stayed awake for the entire flight and watched 7 movies. We landed in Narita and I was hugging my girls after a brief stop through customs. We had to hang out at the airport for a few hours until the bus left. It was a long day for everyone but we eventually made it back home.... home sweet home.
My time in San Diego was fine. It was very busy. I was there for HARP (helicopter advanced readiness program). It's where we get all our big quals like shooting HELLFIRE missiles, shooting guns, and dropping torpedoes with a lot of other random flights. The first week we were in the simulators all day, studying, and mission planning. The next week was all academics -- Lectures, tests and Recce quizzes. The next week was simulators where we were evaluated as a crew. We did fine. The next two weeks were spent out at San Clemente Island. It is a remote island that the navy owns, off the coast (~80 miles) of San Diego. It is right next to all the weapons ranges so it makes it easy to just launch, conduct your mission/training and return. Those were the longest days... Most days were flights that launched at 8am.... which meant we had to brief at 530am.... which means we had to get up at 430am. After the flights we would go get food and then work on the next days events. Busy busy busy. After two weeks of island life (not as cool as it sounds) it was back to SD. We luckily didn't have any bad weather days while at San Clemente so we used the time to do some instrument sims and two of us got our big level 4 tactical evaluations. We finished those up and then left the next day. So the time away was fruitful but just a long time to be away from home. I was able to escape for the long Memorial Day weekend and go see My sister Sonya and her family. It was good to see them and a good break from the training.
A lot has changed since I've been away. It is looking like the ship that my DET belongs to is hard down for a few months. So the big bosses are wanting us to jump on a old frigate that left Washington in early June. It is looking like the ship will come pick us up in late Aug and then we will ride them for 2-3 months. They will drop us off in Nov and then head home where the ship will be decommissioned. Everything is still up in the air and changes daily but that is what they are telling us now. The cool thing about it is that they have some neat port visits in store: Singapore, Burma, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Guam. These are places I have never been before and traditionally the ships that my squadron rides on go to all the Western Pacific ports. So this will be a good opportunity.... even though it is on a old, nasty, and small frigate. So we will see how things work out.
Being home has been good. Work is busy and now with this on the near horizon, things should start picking up more than they already are. It is hot here which was a complete shock. The heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks as soon as we landed. It also has been raining most days which led to a flash flood at my work. The entire parking lot was flooded in knee deep water and my little car was not spared. The floors had about 2-3 inches of water inside before I could move it. I shop- vac'ed as much as I could and then put kitty litter on the floors to try and soak the rest. Leyton thought that was the funniest thing and has been asking me daily about the "kitty glitter" in my car. Im guessing it will take a while to dry out considering the 80% humidity we have daily. It was a mess and will be a pain to dry out.
Other then that, things are good. Until next time....

LC sitting next to her friend Ellie on the Navy shuttle bus to the airport to pick me up. 

E getting comfy on the shuttle

Waiting for Dad's plane to arrive.

I made it!!

LC and Ellie coloring on the return trip. 

At the office... doing work. 

San Clemente Island Fox.

Just a copule HELLFIRE missiles. 

Boom!

Torpedo time!

Dropped it successfully.

The "kitty glitter" in my car post-flood. 

What a Crappy Week

Whew.  Where to begin.  Let's see.  Monday, Leyton began complaining that her stomach hurt.  She even told her teacher that it did.  Her teacher said she pooped at school, just a little, on Monday.  Tuesday she woke up with a runny nose and still said her stomach hurt, so I kept her home.  Wednesday and Thursday she went to school, but she didn't poop.  I went and bought her a stool softener at the commissary (I looked into a Japanese drug store and quickly gave up.  I couldn't read anything and didn't want to give her something to make her worse).  She tried to swallow the gel caps and gagged and threw them up -three times.  Thursday night she stopped eating.  Friday morning she just sat on the potty and cried.  She wouldn't get off because she said she was afraid she would poop herself.  I called and got her an appointment for Friday afternoon (first available).  But she was in such pain I loaded her and Ellis into the car and drove her to the base Emergency room.  By then she had to wear a diaper -though she couldn't poop, she was leaking.  They checked her out and ruled out an obstruction, and gave her a stool softener.  It was a long and horrible day for her and even a worse night.  After she woke up for the second time at midnight, I 'helped' her get some of the poop out.  Though this was not fun for either of us, she felt immediately better and gave me the first smile I'd seen in days.  She woke up again at 2:30am and I had to help her again.  Then she woke up at 5:30am and pooped on her own.  She was feeling better, though not 100% so I decided to go ahead and go to a birthday party on base.  They had fun but Leyton still wasn't herself.  Put them down for nap and she woke up to a very gross poopy diaper.  I let her sleep on the couch while I cleaned the upstairs bathroom and her sheets.  After nap she had another pant load that she couldn't control, but afterwards, she was 100%.  She slept great last night and is still pooping runny stool, but she can control it today.  I think tomorrow she will be back in her big girl panties again.

I am not sure what caused this little episode.  There has been no dramatic change in her diet.  She could have just gotten dehydrated.  Maybe she is stressed, but the only stressor I can think of is Ryan leaving, and that was weeks ago.  I do know I will pay more attention from now on and make sure she doesn't go more then two days without a bowel movement.

And then there's Ellis.  She really capitalized on her neglect this week.  I found her loading the washer -with toys, playing in the trashcan, climbing the stairs, and then she got to watch a lot of movies while her sister just laid on the couch.  And she has some kind of rash.  Started on her tummy, then the back of her neck, and now her throat and chest.  Doctor said it looks like some viral thing going around base.  It's itchy.  And she started with a  runny nose and cough yesterday.  

I need a vacation.  Fortunately, Daddy will be home next weekend.  That is the only thing holding me together this week -is knowing that soon I will have help.  Also on a brighter note, the rainy season seems to be over.  It's sunny and warm and the bugs are EVERYWHERE.

I didn't take any pictures the first part of the week, but here are some starting Saturday.

The birthday party.  It was a Bubble Guppy theme, which both kids loved.  Leyton felt so bad, she didn't even finish her cupcake (don't worry though, I didn't let it go to waste).

Poor kid.  I feel so bad that I let her get so stopped up.  She has never had a problem with that before, so I just kept assuming she would eventually go.

For some reason these pictures are really funny to me

Bubble Guppy 'Molly' times two

E and her kooties.  Though contagious, LC and I don't have it.... yet....

Feeling much better, but looking puny from not eating for several days

A rough week, but everything is now back to normal

We are postponing Father's Day until Ryan is home.  But Happy Father's Day to all our sweet uncles, Poppy, Grampa, and Papa!

Rainy Season

June is the official kick-off of the Japanese rainy season.  When they say 'rainy season,' they mean it.  It started raining Wednesday morning, and it rained nearly constantly until Sunday morning.  There was a brief 24-hour break, and then more clouds and more rain.  This usually goes on for about three weeks.  So if you are planning a trip to Japan, don't come in June.  Unless you don't mind the rain.

About a week ago, Leyton asked to make a little rain doll when she got home from school.  She told me how to make it, and so we did.  You take two tissues or squares of cloth or paper.  Crumple one up into a ball.  Take another and wrap it over the ball and tie a string around the ball.  Then draw a face on it.  It looks exactly like a ghost we would make for Halloween.  I also noticed at her school they had made these 'ghosts' for the windows.  Today on the radio I heard the explanation for the 'rain dolls'.  They are called 'teru teru bozu' and children make them to ward off the rain.  You are supposed to hang it in your window, and if the sun shines, you are supposed to give it candy.  If it continues to rain... well, let's just say things don't end very well for teru bozu.  There is also a song that goes along with it, which Leyton has been singing.  You can hear the rather creepy song and find out what happens to an unsuccessful rain doll on this teru-teru-bozu link.

One bright spot from our week was a care package from Daddy.  It was very thoughtful and sweet of him to send us some goodies and lift our spirits.  He sent me a coffee grinder and french press, which I love.  And he sent the girls some clothes, treats, books, and Doc McStuffins toys.  He sure does know how to make his girls happy!

Leyton checking out her goods

Daddy went shopping at Target and I am very jealous.  I miss Target.

An awesome Rainbow Dash shirt!

Leyton rocking her new Ariel shirt and a few accessories she added for style

On Sunday we made good use of the rain hiatus (though we still wore our rain jackets because it looked like it would rain any minute).  We took a walk to visit our friendly neighborhood seal statues.

When did these girls get so big??

Three Months In

So we have been in Japan for more than 3 months now.  I would say we are finally settling in.  Or I should say that I am finally settling -I can't really speak for everyone else.  When we attended the orientation class when we first got here, they gave us a handout explaining the 'stages' of moving to a foreign country.  I laughed at it, but looking back, it was 100% accurate.  The first stage is excitement -everything is fun and new.  But that wears off.  And then comes frustration -everything seems at least twice as difficult as it should be.  You can't read anything, talk to anyone, you have no idea where you are going, even putting out the trash is hard (seriously... we have a 4 page handout detailing how to do the trash).  And finally there is contentment.  Where you no longer get lost just stepping out of your front door, you can shop for things, have very small conversions, and you have a few people you can ask for help if you need something.  I believe that last week was the climax of the frustration phase.  But we are slowly getting used to things here.

I am by no means fluent in Japanese, but I can get by now.  The words that I do know come very quickly when I need them.  I bow without even thinking about it.  Yesterday I bowed to an American on base.  I felt like an idiot, but he just laughed.  I am also beginning to learn a little of the written language.  The trouble with the Japanese language for foreigners is first -they have 4 different ways of writing things.  They use about 2,000 symbols from China, which one character can stand for an entire word or phrase.  Then they have one 'alphabet' of characters for their traditional language in which one character stands for one syllable, like 'ka' and or 'ra'.  Another set of characters for foreign words, also broken into syllables.  And then they also know and use the Roman alphabet that Americans use.  You will often see all 4 used on a single sign.  The other problem is translation.  You can't just google stuff.  We have an app where you can draw the symbol and it will translate.  Some of the symbols are very detailed, so this can be time consuming.  And then even when you do get it all typed in correctly, the translation may not make sense.  This is because each symbol often has two meanings, and you know which to use by the context of the others symbols around it.  Our app isn't that smart.  It just picks probably the most common translation.  

Happily, numbers are the same.  So when I go to the grocery store, I have no clue what the clerk says to me, but I can look at the screen and see my total.  Now, counting out my money in yen can be interesting, but I am getting better at this too.  Japan is a cash based society.  We even pay our rent in cash.  In America I rarely ever carried cash, so this has been a big adjustment.

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Leyton's school.  It was fun and interesting to see what they do.  First, they arrive at 9:00 and have to change shoes, put away their backpack, hang up their towel, hat, and cup bag, get their attendance sticker, and then they are allowed to read books or draw until time for assembly.  They all put their hat back on, go outside, change shoes, line up and go to the large play area for singing and dancing.  They play about 10 songs, each with a dance.  Each class stays in line and follows along with their teacher.  Everyone seems to really enjoy this.  Afterwards, they come back inside, wash their hands, and use their cup to rinse their mouth.  They take a seat and the teacher reads a books or they do a craft and sing more songs (there is a piano in every classroom and every teacher can play).  If they finish up early, they can read another book by themselves or take out their art supplies and play.  They clean up, wash up and have lunch.  When finished, they neatly put everything away.  There is a song for nearly everything they do and the kids sing along loudly.  Sometimes they play outside, or have a special guest (I think one day someone brought a bunny), or walk around the block.  It is amazing to see how well the children follow directions.  I am very impressed with Leyton's teacher.  She alone handles 17 three-year-olds.  I was not allowed to take pictures at school, but here are some that I snapped during the week.

One of our morning walks.  It got hot on us overnight here.  It went from mid-70s to mid-80s.  Fortunately we have AC and it works beautifully!

Dress up time.  I moved our evening routine up 30 minutes last week, and this was a great decision.  Japan is known as "The Land of the Rising Sun."  This may be due to the fact that the sun rises at 4:30 in the morning (no kidding).  And it is light outside even before then.  Leyton was waking up at 6:00 some mornings.  I taped some aluminum foil to her East facing windows, which has helped.

Princess Mermaid and Firefighter Mermaid.  Ellis used to be an innocent bystander of dress-up time, forced to wear what her sister deemed necessary.  But now she picks out her own ensembles.  

E and I did a lot of park hopping again last week.  She loves the swings.

I am very proud of my brown rice penguin.  I got a new Japanese rice cooker and it is awesome.  There is a brown rice setting, which cooks to sticky perfection.  It certainly takes it's time though -two cups of brown rice takes 2 hours to cook.  I bought the penguin nori cutout from Toys R Us.

Both girls LOVE their penguins

School has really broadened Leyton's food palate.  Today she ate Japanese curry, and asked for more!

I make myself a veggie roll (avocado, cucumber and carrot) nearly every evening

This is far and away Ellis' favorite thing to do.  She loves 'Elsa' (Frozen) and 'Bubbles' (Bubble Guppies).

Leyton needed ANOTHER bag for school this week.  A swim bag.  Found this one at our local 4-story 7-eleven (true story).

We also hit the pool up twice this weekend.  They were sooo tired afterward.

One of their new favorite games is to climb into Ellis' bed and have me cover them with a blanket.

They giggle and giggle.