A Quick Getaway!

We love Yokota Air Base!  We have such an awesome network of friends here.  But even with all of that, it is nice to get away from here every once in a while.  The problem is that when you live in Japan, there aren't very many places that are close & cheap enough for an overnight trip.  EXCEPT...the awesome military hotel in downtown Tokyo!  We love the New Sanno!!!!  It is a very nice hotel that we get at a great price!  Well, last week, I was able to convince Kenny to take a day off during the week so that we could go to Tokyo without the weekend crowds.  It was just what we needed!  On our walk to the hotel from the train, we noticed a new winery that has opened a tasting bar right next door to the hotel.  After we dropped our bags off, we went back for a wine tasting.  It was great!  It is Kenzo Estate Winery.  Their vineyard is in Napa Valley, but it is a Japanese company.  We got to meet Kenzo himself & his wife while we were there.  They were so nice!  After the wine tasting we went back to relax at the hotel.  We then treated ourselves to a 4-star 5 course dinner at Wellingtons.  One of the restaurants in the New Sanno.  It was delicious!!!  They have a regular menu as well the course menu that changes monthly.  We went there when Mom & Dad came to visit & just had to go again.  We are so lucky to have the New Sanno to go to for a quick escape from the base. 

Worst.Blogger.Ever.

So, I was just noticing that I haven't blogged since August....That definitely earns me the title of the Worst Blogger Ever!  So, since there is no way I can possibly post all of the pictures and every detail of all the things we've done since August, I'll give a quick recap & try to add a few pictures.  I promise to do better!

September:  I spent all of September at home in Arkansas.  It was awesome!  I loved spending time with my family & friends.  Kenny even took some time off work & met me there.  It was the perfect timing for a trip home.  I got to go to a Razorback game, the lake, and and OU game with Kenny.  We love college football at our house!  We also had a retirement party for Kenny's dad. 



Caroline & I at the lake



Kenny & his dad at the retirement party

October:  We started the month off by leaving Arkansas & going to Seattle for a week.  One word...GORGEOUS!!!  Neither one of us had ever been there before, and we loved it!  Kenny had to go there for some training, so I got to tag along.  We celebrated our anniversary a little early with dinner at the top of the Seattle Space Needle.  Such a fun night!  It was nice to have a relaxing night there with him because he was going to have to be gone on our anniversary.  Probably our favorite thing that was did was drive through Mount Rainier National Park.  It was breathtakingly beautiful!  We also got to take in a Mariner's game.  We like baseball at our house too.  Probably the best thing about going to Seattle was that Kenny & I got to fly home to Japan together.  It's such a long flight to be on by yourself.  I loved having him there to lean on to fall asleep.  =)

Kenny & I at Mount Rainier

November:  We've decided that while we can't be with our families for Thanksgiving, it is a great time to take vacation.  We went to Saipan for Thanksgiving.  It is a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.  It is one of the Northern Mariana Islands.  Saipan is a very important historical sight from WWII.  My Pa (my dad's dad) was actually on the island during the war before being on the 1st ship into Tokyo Bay after the bombing of Hiroshima.  Kenny & I had a great time taking in the historical sites & relaxing by the pool and beach.  It was probably the  most relaxing vacation we've ever had!

The view from our Thanksgiving dinner in Saipan

December:  Well in case you don't know... I LOVE Christmas!!!!  Spending time with family and friends, decorating, the smells, the lights & most importantly, celebrating the birth of Christ!  Unfortunately, I had a nasty cold that lasted about 3 weeks which put a little bit of a damper on the fun.  But, we still had plenty of fun!  We spent Christmas Eve & Christmas day with our Yokota family.  We are so blessed to be in a place where we are surrounded by such great friends!  God has definitely taken care of us!!!



Kenny & I at the base Christmas tree lighting ceremony



Amanda, Me, Michelle, Melissa & Lynn at the 36th Christmas party

And now here we are in January.  I thought things were supposed to settle down after the holidays?!?!  They definitely haven't!  We have been so busy, but I love it!  We just went snow skiing with a group from base.  We had such an awesome time!  Our dear friends the Miner's were on the trip with us.  We had so much fun laughing and skiing our way down the slopes.  We definitely made some lasting memories on that trip!!!  Kenny & I are hoping to hit the slopes one more time this month before he has to go on a trip for all of February.  It is so beautiful here in the mountains of Japan!  We love getting out of the city and into the mountains here.  It makes us feel a little more at home without so many buildings around.  But don't worry, there are still millions of Japanese people around to remind me that we aren't in Arkansas anymore.  =)   

Whew! I think that about sums up the last several months. I know I missed a lot, and I'm sorry. I will try to do better!



Friendship Festival

The past few weeks have been pretty busy here at Yokota!  This past weekend we had Friendship Festival 2010.  It is a yearly festival where we open up part of the base to the Japanese nationals.  We had a static display of about 30 planes.  The C-130's did their thing with some airdrops & the helos flew around some.  We sold tons of food & had bands playing the whole time.  Oh did I mention that it happened to be one of the hottest weekends of the year!!!!  There were about 140,000 Japanese people on base for the festival.  Kenny was the Air Boss for the show which means he worked a lot to get ready for this thing!  We really had a good time, but I was glad for it to be over so that Kenny could have a break. 

In super exciting news....I'll be in Arkansas one week from today!!!!!  I can't wait to hug & kiss on my family!  It's even more exciting because Kenny gets to join me for a week there & then we are off to Seattle for some training. 

I'm going to try to attach video for the 1st time, so we'll see how this goes.  It is some video of personnel drops that the C-130s made during the festival.

The Air Force Family

Yesterday when Kenny came home from work I hugged him a little tighter, sat at the dinner table talking a little longer, sat a little closer to him on the couch & cuddled up to him a little closer as we went to sleep.  Four C-17 crew members from Elmendorf Air Force Base were killed into an routine training flight.  They were training for an air show that was to take place this weekend at their base.  I am so saddened for the families, friends & Elmemdorf community.  I can not even imagine what they are going through.  We truly are a family in the flying community.  In some way everyone knows everyone.  We have friends and family that fly on C-17s as well as other aircraft all over the Air Force.  I know Kenny's job has some inherent risks, but the reality of those risks hit me yesterday.  Our time here on this earth is not guaranteed.  Remember to tell the ones you love how much you love them.  Please join me in praying for the families of these 4 crew members as they mourn the loss of their loved ones.

Blah...

In my effort to do better about blogging, I figure I should do it even when I don't have anything fun to report.  So here goes...this past week definitely was not the best week we've had here in Japan.  I was sick with a summer cold for about 9 days & Kenny was on a trip that kept getting extended.  It just kinda sucked!  Kenny's trip was supposed to be a 7 day trip that turned into an 11 day trip.  Oh well, at least he's not deployed!  As you know, I tend to be quite social, so being sick in the house for that long with Kenny gone was brutal for me.  I was so bored & lonely, but didn't feel like doing anything.  Thankfully I'm feeling better now & my hubby is home!!!  Glad that week is behind us and we can move on!

They are shutting down the power on our side of the base on Saturday to replace a transformer that was destroyed in the flood we had about a month ago.  So what did a few of us girls over here decide we should do with a day of no power????  We're heading to IKEA!!!!  Kenny decided he'd rather stay here to catch up on work (his office is on the other side of base).  I can't imagine why he wouldn't want to go spend a day at Ikea with us....  =) 

That's all I know for now, nothing much right?  It's almost time for me to start the countdown for getting to go to Arkansas!!!  32 days, but I'm not paying much attention to that yet, ok maybe I am!  =)

PCS Season

Well, it's that time of year here at Yokota....PCS season. It is a very bitter/sweet time around here. For those of you that don't know PCS means Permanent Change of Station. It means while we are sad to say "bye" to friends, we are happy to welcome new friends to our Yokota Family. A lot of people move during the summer in the military, so that kiddos can get the new school year started at their new base.
I've had the pleasure this week to get to show 2 of our new families around Japan a little. Eight months ago I never could have imagined that I would be comfortable enough in Japan to show new people around! I've had so much fun getting to take them around. I got to take one family on the train to Tokyo yesterday to teach them how to navigate the JR (Japan Railway) system. The 1st time Kenny & I took the train by ourselves, I thought that I was going to have a nervous breakdown!!! Now, I get around on them pretty darn good, & can even teach new people a thing or two. Today I got to take the other family to Joyful Honda for their 1st adventure eating off base in Japan. (Yes Mom, we had some gyoza!) The 1st time Kenny & I went to Joyful Honda on our own, we got lost on our way back to base! I thought for sure we were never going to make it back, but thank goodness we did.
After having the crazy experiences of Japan on our own, it's funny now that I am the one showing people around. It's fun for me to see how far I've come in such a short amount of time. Don't get me wrong, I still get a little confused at some of the bigger train stations every once in a while & driving off base is always interesting, but I know enough to get by. I'm so thankful for the people that took us under their wing when we got here, & I love that I now get the chance to give some of that back to the newcomers.

Sorry!!!!!

Yes, I'm still here! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I got behind when my parents visited & then just felt too far behind to catch up. This is my attempt to get going again....

We had a great time with my folks here! I'll post some pictures later. After their trip, Kenny was gone for 3 weeks, and then it was time for the 4th of July. We had a great time with our Yokota Family for the 4th. Although, I did seriously miss the lake & my family!!! I think it was the hardest holiday for me to be away from my family since we've been here. I love summer & the lake so much, it was hard to not be there with them. But, we made the best of it & had a fun cookout with our friends.

Other than that, there hasn't been much going on around here. I'll try to do a post with some pictures later, but I promise I'll do a better job of blogging. Have a great week!