A Parents' Night Out

The last weekend before Luke went out to sea we decided to get a babysitter one night and go out and do something fun.  We ended up meeting up with a group of friends for a concert in Tokyo.  It just happened to be our friend, James' birthday, and it was super fun to celebrate with him.  We saw Owl City in concert.  Neither of us had really heard of him except for his song, "Fireflies".  But we enjoyed the concert immensely and decided to do some more research on this guy.  It turns out that many of his songs have Christian undertones, and he is a neat guy.  We could not get over how much he sounded like Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie.

 

 Big  fast moving sea creature carousel that we could not resist

 

 

We actually became quite a spectacle on the carousel.  The Japanese who were around crowded around the carousel to watch and wave at the big American adults riding.

 

It was a very fun night.  I had a hard time knowing what to do with myself because I've gotten so used to being attached to a baby.  It was very nice to give Luke my full attention for a full night before he left again.  I'm looking forward to another date night in the future.

Why Wish You Become Jedi?

Oh, my goodness.  So much has happened since my last post.  I'm probably going to have to split this into a couple posts.  I guess I'll start with the newest pictures and information. 

Bronson is 6 months old!  I can't believe how quickly those 6 months went by.  He went from a cute little blob of baby to a little person who can get around on his own and is having a great time exploring the world around him.  I'm trying to keep that world on the rug, but he wants to see everything and put it all in his mouth. 

It was very difficult to get him to sit still for the photo op.

Home Owners

We live in a house off of the base here in Japan.  It's actually less than a 5 minute drive to the front gate depending on the traffic lights.  We only looked at 3 houses in town before snatching this one up.  Originally, the house was listed as not allowing any pets, but we talked to the realtor about how gentle our dog is, and she convinced the owner to allow us to live here.  Now, this is a different situation than most who rent in that it's the owner's actual house.  He lived here and loves this house.  It's kind of a lot a pressure. 

He's come over on occasion to check things out.  He refuses to come inside.  Usually he comes when there is some kind of work being done on the house or lawn.  He had hired someone to trim the bushes and someone to fix our driveway gate,, etc.  Every time he came, he would bring us a gift.  Japan is very much a gift-giving country.  People give gifts for everything!  Well, he would stop by the local patisserie and bring us some custard-type desserts that are very popular among the Japanese.  Very yummy!  And he has also grown very fond of Laika.

Today, I pulled up to the house after my Bible study on base, and he was there.  He, of course handed me a box of more custards as soon as I got out of the car and motioned at the work he was doing (He speaks zero English, by the way.).  The previous time he had visited he saw a chair in the yard that was blocking a hole in the bushes.  Luke and I had put it there, so that we could let Laika out of the house, and not have to worry about her getting out of the yard.  I showed him the hole and tried to explain this to him in the very few Japanese words I knew, and he tried to talk back to me in Japanese.  I had no idea what he said, but got the sense that he understood what I was saying.

Well, today he put up a mesh plastic chicken-wire sort of thing against the bushes to block that hole.  I thought it was super nice of him to do that because originally he didn't want pets in his house.  He must really be impressed with Laika....or maybe he's bribing us to take care of his house.  Anyway...he seems very nice, and I wish that I could communicate with him.  The only thing I could do was bring him some banana bread.  Hopefully that was enough of a thank you.

 

Big Little Boy

holding hands with Kimber

Don't ever leave again, Dad!

First spoon-fed meal of cereal

Touring Japan

There is a program on the base here at Atsugi that provides tours to different sites in Japan.  I really wanted to go on one of these tours before Luke left on deployment, so I booked us on one.  It was super nice to not have to worry about transportation and to go to places that we may have not heard of or done on our own.

Our first stop was the Odawara Castle.  This castle was resided by different samurai throughout the ages.  It was destroyed multiple times and has been renovated since it was first built in the mid 15th century.  It is now a museum full of old stuff.

Our first vending machine ice cream, green tea flavored

Our next stop was the Saijoji temple.  It was beautiful!  It was up in the mountains among huge cedar trees.  We had to climb around 700 steps to get to the top to the main temple on the grounds.  It was quite a workout.  The tour guide kept telling us to fill our water bottles with the mountain water.  The water gives longevity.

People get together every week to carve their own Buddhas out of wood.

only some of the stairs

the top

It was much easier on the way down.

Our last stop was one of the Asahi beer factories.  We took a tour and then got to sample the beer.  I, of course, had the orange drink that they make.  We couldn't take pictures of the factory, so I don't have any to share.

I was so glad we were able to do this tour because a couple days later we found out Luke was leaving the next day.  It was a fun day out, and Bronson did great.

Recommended blog reading

I have been a follower of a blog called, "A Bowl Full of Lemons".  It's a blog full of great tips for home management, decorating, organization, and more.  I got the idea from her to make a "home management binder" to keep track of everything from calendars to finances to meal planning.  With Luke gone, it has been a life saver.  I've got all of the important phone numbers that I need all in one place, and I can keep track of all the "paperwork" sort of things that I need to get done and bills that need paid.  I've also got a section on cleaning.  I have a check list for everyday, every month, and every year.  Anyway, I thought I would share a great resource for those who are interested.

4 Months Old

The day after my 4 month birthday, Dad has to go out to the ship.

I wore my helicopter shirt for the occasion of seeing him off.

I LOVE playing in my baby gym.

This is my cool Chinese outfit Mom and Dad bought for me in Chinatown.

Watching the dog calmed me after a long cry.

Holding my first bottle

Sweet sleeping baby