A lot of "New" places

Shannon and the girls flew up to RI to hang out with me while I'm going to school. We have been enjoying the cooler New England temps, been hitting up the beach and since we are so close, we took a trip to New York city.
Here are some pictures:

The Officers Club at the Navy base in Newport is one of the best I have seen. It is right on the water, has spectacular views and the lobster quesadilla wasn't too shabby. 

We enjoyed collecting snails on the rocks and watching the sail boats go by.

We made the 3 hour trek down to New York city to see some of the sights. We immediately parked the car and hit the southbound subway towards the Statue of Liberty. The girls loved being back on the train!

Probably one of the best sandwiches I have ever ate! A hot pastrami on rye at some hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the city. I asked the lady if it was a large sandwich and she said that all their sandwiches aren't that big. 

NYC Subway was great! 

Of course one of the first things we did was get hot pretzels from one of the streets vendors at Battery park!

Statue of Liberty pose! 

Ellis was SUPER excited because "her boats" and "her island" was all right there. All the boats had "Ellis" island on them and she found that to be really cool. This was her showing Mom her boat in the water as it went by. 

E showing us her Island (Ellis Island) in the background. LC kept asking why we named E after an island. 

E and her Island. So proud! 

The ferry ride was a lot of fun. We were able to see the city from afar and the cool breezes cooled us down. 

The Big Apple! 

This is the closet we got to the the statue. The guy said there is a 30-day waiting list to that has to be cleared by the Dept. of Homeland Security. So we just took the ferry around it. 

Statue ot Liberty. LC was fascinated on why it was green. We told her it was made of copper, just like pennies.  So now she has pennies in a cup of water and everyday she checks to see if they turned green. 

We got lucky with a bluebird day. 

After the statue, we visited the Manhattan Children's Museum. It was a great time but wasn't really a museum. It just had a bunch of things for kids to learn, touch and play on.  Needless to say, the girls loved it. 

After the museum we headed back to the hotel and when we popped up from underground, we noticed we were near time square! 

This was the view from our hotel -- Empire State building. 

The next day was spent at Central park. We didn't really know what to expect but as soon as we stepped foot inside the park, were blown away. So many things to do! 

We met up with my cousin, Danielle, and got to meet Jed for the first time and meet their son Matthais. The kids had a ball playing in the water and playgrounds. I haven't seen Danielle for over 6 years so it was great to see her and meet her family whom we have never met. 

We hit up the Central Park Zoo before we left and caught the Sea Lion show before we left.

Good times! We have been having a good time and look forward to the long weekend that started today! 

More from Our Two Month American Layover

Little Mermaid bathing suits on clearance at Target

We've been enjoying driving on the right side of the road, shopping, and being American tourist. 

E Selfie

The girls and I sent a couple of days in Blacksburg, visiting family and Virginia Tech

The girls loved feeding and chasing the ducks at the Duck Pond

And I loved showing them all the 'castles' where Mommy and Daddy met and went to school

We spent a week in Virginia, and then hopped a short flight up to Rhode Island.  Daddy has class all day, so we've been entertaining ourselves with the park, beach, and giant American backyard and house we are renting in Newport.

Back in the USA

We are back in the USA for some leave and such. The girls did really good on the plane. They maybe slept 2 hours which meant they were only up for 20 hours that day. We took off from Japan around 4pm on the 4th and arrived in WA at 8am on the 4th. Weird. We got some American food and went swimming at the hotel but decided to call it a day at 5pm that night. The girls slept for 16 hours that night -- Super tired!  We met up with my sister and her fam in OR that afternoon and we had the greatest of times. The girls loved playing with their cousins and couldn't get enough of them. We enjoyed some good slip-n-slide time, some pool time and got to relax and catch-up while soaking in the amazing and cool OR weather. After a few days in OR we headed to KY to hang out with my folks. Again, we had a great time and the girls soaked up all the attention. We hung out with family and Shannon and I got to go into the big city of Louisville on a date night to celebrate 12 years of marriage. After a few days in KY, Shannon and the kids headed to VA and I headed to my Navy school up in Newport, RI. I have been here for 1 week and so far it has been alright. It has been a little warm, but the scenery and vibe is pretty neat. Shannon and the girls have been catching up with the family in VA and enjoying their time there. It feels odd to be back in the states but we are for sure enjoying our time. The girls have been troopers on the planes. It all started with the +9 hour flight from Japan to WA which means those 2-3 hour flights throughout the US have been a breeze.

Here are some pix from the past weeks. I'll apologize upfront, but they are going to be a little bit out of order because I pulled them from multiple cameras.

We stayed at the Navy Lodge hotel on base for 10 days prior to us leaving. We made sure we hit up our favorite Japanese restaurants. The kids wanted to go to the sushi go-around every night so they could get these salmon egg sushi. Weirdos. 

The girls stayed busy on the plane rides with coloring, stickers, and various "surprises".  

This was the last sighting of Japan that we saw from the plane as we crossed the beach line eastbound for the USA. We had the most wonderful time in Japan and Japan will forever have a special place in our hearts. 

E wanted to sit by me during all the flights and LC sat with mom. We had a good time for the most part. I am happy to repot that there were no meltdowns either. 

Here is the chartered flight we got to Seattle. 

Again, out of order I know, but this was when Shannon and I had our anniversary date night in Louisville, KY. That's the Ohio river looking towards Indiana. Oh by the way, it was freaking hot! 

 We also took a tour of a bourbon distillery, Woodford Reserve. Shannon and I both went there not really caring for bourbon and we left there with the same thoughts. 

We also visited the Louisville Slugger factory and museum in downtown Louisville. That is the largest bat in the world.

We went on a long walk in the morning to beat the heat and see some more sights. 

Okay, the pictures are really out of order. This is Newport, Rhode Island where I am currently at. A beautiful state that is full of scenery and water. This was the view from the Officers Club on base. Not too shabby. 

I've been getting my run on these past few days and have been running down to the cliff walk where all the giant mansions are. 

Gigantic houses on the bay.

And everyone seems to sail here. I am going to go watch a polo match tomorrow which will be a first for me. 

This was back at the Navy Lodge Hotel in Japan. They look nothing alike but they sure are cute.  

Shannon bought both of the girls Yukatas before we left.  

We hit up a little splash park in KY to cool off. The girls finished up their swimming lessons in Japan before we left so they are really into getting in the water. 

Lunch time at the splash park. 

We were able to spend some priceless time with the great grandparents too. This was great grandpa performing his magic tricks. 

More more! 

Pulling a coin out of E's nose. They loved it.

They couldn't get enough of his tricks. 

Here are a few cousin shots from our time in OR. 

Gramma sent these matching outfits too. 

Picking apples and berries. 

E and Tessa = Silly kids. 

Family picture.... a lot of girls here. 

The girls had an absolute ball handing out with their cousins. They spent hours upon hours in the back yard playing in the water and snacking on freshly picked apples.  

One final shot before we headed to the airport.

More to follow was we travel around the USA and spend time with family and friends!