What a weekend?!?!

This past weekend was probably the best one we've had in Japan so far!!! Kenny & I took our 1st trip while living in Japan, and we went snow skiing. We drove the 3 1/2 to 4 hours to the Nagano prefecture. It was absolutely gorgeous there!!!!!!! Once we saw it we knew exactly why they hosted the 1998 winter Olympics there, amazing! We got to see the ski jumps that were used in the Olympics. I never realized how steep those things are; I'm thinking the ski jumpers are nuts! We stayed in Hakuba at a little hotel called Monkey Rider, more of a hostel than a hotel, but it was a great little place. There was a pub down the street called the Cherry Pub that was super relaxing & had great food. Most of the people in the area spoke English. It was nice to actually understand what was going on around us. =)

1998 Nagano Olympic Games Ski Jumps

Our Motel - Monkey Rider

On Saturday we took to the slopes. It was then that I realized it had been about 9 years since the last time I snow skied....not as easy as I had remember. Give me a water ski & I'm good to go, snow skis are a different ball game! But we still had a blast! This Arkansas girl had never seen that much snow in my life! The weather was perfect in Hakuba. There was at least 3 -4 feet of snow everywhere, it was great. After skiing on Saturday, we met up with some of our Yokota friends who were up there too for a relaxing dinner.

Kenny & I after a long day of skiing

We opted not to ski on Sunday since we had both survived Saturday in relatively good condition. (My 1st time to ski in 9 years & Kenny's 1st time to ski since his back surgery). We drove back to Yokota & enjoyed a lazy day. The guys were all off work on Monday for President's day, so several of us loaded up to go sledding on Mount Fuji. Unfortunately it rained on us most of the time that we were there, but we still had fun.

Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture - Japan

Overall we had a great weekend getting out & exploring this beautiful country that we live in now. While we miss home, we are enjoying the opportunity to see parts of the world we otherwise wouldn't have seen. That's not to say that I am not super excited to be heading to Arkansas for a visit in 2 weeks!!!!! =)

Ready or not here we go....

This past weekend Kenny & I went on our first adventure by ourselves. We figured, go big or go home....so we went to Tokyo! We haven't been since we moved here (other than driving through on our way from the airport). So we pulled up this awesome website called Hyperdia to find out what trains to take & took off. The Japan train system is relatively easy to navigate, the website tells you what lines to take as well as what time the trains leave & how long it will take you to get from point A to point B. We printed off our train times & took off to the Fussa station (the train station outside the Yokota gate).
Our ultimate goal was the New Sanno Hotel, which is a beautiful military owned hotel in downtown Tokyo, for dinner at the Japanese restaurant there. Tokyo is divided into "districts". We first got off the train to explore a little bit of the Shibuya district. Shibuya is known for it's shopping! Unfortunately, all of the shopping is in Japanese sizing....that translates to not fitting a 6'2" American male & 5'8" American female. =) But, I was able to find a Starbucks! The most overwhelming experience in Shibuya was being in a crosswalk with literally THOUSANDS of other people going 6 directions at once...it was crazy!!!


Tons of buses outside the Shibuya train station


Starbucks! Luckily part of it was in English!

We left Shibuya to head to the part of town where the New Sanno is. It was nice to go to the hotel to have a little piece of America. They hotel is nothing to write home about on the exterior, but was beautiful inside. We are looking forward to staying there when my parents come to visit in May! We had reservations for dinner at the Japanese steakhouse in the hotel. It was possibly one of the best meals we've had since we have been in Japan.
Overall our first trip to Tokyo was a success! We didn't get lost once!!!! I'm sure there will be much more to come....


Kenny at dinner, they put these lovely aprons on us while we ate


Sushi appetizer that came with out dinner, the yellow thing is egg...interesting to say the least

Beautiful artwork behind our table at dinner

Here lately...

There hasn't been a whole lot new going on here in Japan lately. Tomorrow I'm heading to Yokosuka to go shopping with some girls. Yokosuka is one of our naval bases here in Japan. It's just nice to leave Yokota every once in a while.

Next week Kenny & I are taking our first trip since we've been here. We are heading to the mountains to go skiing! I'm so excited. We are going to Nagano!!! I love the Olympics & am super excited to see where the were here in Japan.

We had our first snow a couple of days ago. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures, but before I do I have some good news....I'll be home for a visit 1 month from today!!!!!

View from our balcony (the netting is put up by the base to keep the birds out)

And I obviously didn't take this last one, but I think it's a pretty cool picture! It's a C-130 flying in front of Mt. Fuji...

What day is it?

I just noticed something...I think it's a little funny that my last post says it was on Monday, January 25 when I actually posted it (as well as this one) on Tuesday, January 26 here in Japan. Just a random thought.

Field Trip Thursday

My friend Amanda & I have started a new tradition that we like to call "Field Trip Thursday". We load up and venture out of the gates. We are trying to go somewhere new each week. Our first trip landed us at Costco. A little slice of America for us here in Japan! We laughed a lot!! First things first, we had to get a membership. It was 4200 yen for a year (about $45 USD). As we were trying to overcome the language barrier to fill out the membership form, somehow they came to the conclusion that we only needed 1 membership. I tried to get my own form, but they weren't having it. So we turn in our form, take our pictures and I now have a "Costco Wife"! Haha! Once we were members, we were ready to go shop. As we were roaming the aisles we came across a scale that quickly reminded us we were in Japan. It was the smallest human scale I have ever seen! It wasn't even big enough for my whole foot to fit on it!

This picture doesn't quite capture all of it....my foot was hanging off the back as well as the top of the scale. After this we continued shopping. We made a great discovery...the Japanese know how to grow some strawberries!!! They may be the best strawberries I've ever had. We've even made a return trip to buy more already.

Our first trip was definitely a success! We left base, found our destination & returned all without getting lost! I'm sure there will be many more funny stories to come of our field trips! Sayonara!

Everyday life

Nothing much new to report here in Japan....I feel like we are really starting to settle in here. Kenny is busy & in more than full swing with work. He just started a new job that will be a lot of hard work, but ultimately should be very rewarding for him. He has also just started 2 of his last 3 masters classes. He's hoping to be finished by May! I'm so proud of him!
I am in the process of applying to be a substitute teacher at the DOD schools here on base. It will be a good way for me to work some, but still have the flexibility to enjoy Japan life. I have been able to get involved with the women's ministry at the base chapel. The new Bible studies just kicked off last week. I am getting to do Beth Moore's Esther study. Super excited about that!
I can't say enough how much God has blessed us with some good friends since we've been here. I don't think I would be making it if it weren't for a few of the girls here.
Oh, and get ready Arkansas....I'll be there most of March!

Ringing in the New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2010! Where does the time go? We had a blast ringing in the new year with some of our new friends! We are so thankful for them. It was Kenny & I along with 3 other families. There was tons of junk food, games, music & more junk food!

We've been trying to get out & experience Japan more. This weekend our friends the Miners took us to Showa park. It is a huge park with tons of Japanese gardens, playgrounds & all sorts of other things to do. It used to be a military base, if that helps you understand how big this place is. Since it is so big, we rented bikes to ride around the park. Well, the Japanese people did not design their bicycles for my 6'2" husband...It was hilarious to see him on that thing!!! He was either hitting his knees on the handlebars, the bell or trying to peddle with his knees outside of the handlebars. At one point, we had stopped to the the Miners' girl (and us) play at one of the playgrounds. We were getting back on our bikes & there was a Japanese family pointing & laughing at Kenny trying to ride his bike. Unfortunately, I was too busy laughing & trying not to fall off of my own bike to capture this on camera. Hopefully there will be another opportunity for this!

Here is my 1st attempt at adding pictures to a post....let's see if this works

Lora, Amanda, Me & Hillary

Kenny & I with the Japanese drummers

Me, Amanda & her girls on the "rolly slide"

Kenny & I at Showa Park