A Japanese Field Trip

Another first in the books. We had Elin's first field trip today. The kids got to ride the bus to the local aquarium. The mom's were instructed to meet the kids there for a family outing.

They arrived in classic Kyubun style, lined up for a formal greeting with the headmistress. It really is quite hilarious watching 80 preschoolers attempting to stand in line for 10 minutes. Chaos indeed.

In true Japanese fashion we started with a mommy & kid class picture with a professional photographer.  Given I had to be IN the picture, I don't have any evidence of the event. But it was pretty memorable. Hopefully Elin at least looked at the camera. 

The aquarium has a typical assortment of sea life including dolphins, manta rays, turtles, and sting rays.  The last time we visited Elin was a tiny tot!

Declan came along for the fun. Superman clearly thinks he's ready to hang in the big leagues. 

At the end of the morning everyone lined up for a formal goodbye to their senseis (teachers) & the headmistress. As expected, a colorful chaotic blur of preschool mayhem followed as children attempted to meet up with their mothers. Tears, laughter, oopsies and meltdowns for everyone! 

Matane,

Caitlyn

Worth every Yenny.

Just a quick post! I went on the OSC monthly outing this morning. It's just like starting school in the fall, all kinds of new faces who have PCS'd (moved) to Sasebo over the summer. Always refreshing to meet new friends in the military!

So today we went pear picking. I've been apple picking. Cherry picking. Orange picking. Lemon picking. And when Declan is around, nose picking. Haha. But never pear picking. A beautiful grove of asian pears (they look like apples!) with a stock of goats to keep the grass down, it was a lovely little place. 

These gems weren't very cheap. 500 Yen per kilo. So about $13 for six pears. Fortunately they're big, juicy and absolutely perfect so what the hay!

Speaking of hay. We visited with the lawn mowers. I think they really just wanted to snack on our pears but they at least gave us a friendly sniff.

Our host must have been impressed with our purchasing skills so he led us to the grapevines across the road and invited us to indulge in his grapes. Grapes are an incredibly generous gift here and well, so is their price tag. 

These babies run anywhere from 2,000 Yen ($18) to 5,000 Yen ($45)! Our host mentioned he sells them to vendors up in Fukuoka (the big city) for 5,000-6,000 Yen a bunch. Now I can see why they're bagged and shaded. And treated like royalty. 

Once you take a bite you'll know why. Imagine a sip of wine in every bite. These pups are huge too. Each seedless grape is the size of a small plum. 

Amanda bit the bullet and bought a bunch.

So did Heather.

Holly bought two!!

A few bunches were left unbagged for snackers like me. I might have had one. Or two. Or six...

I felt bad so I a bought a 2,400 Yen bunch.

It was totally worth every yenny.

So after we filled our bellies with pears and grapes we moved onto lunch. We enjoyed a traditional Japanese bento box meal sitting Indian style on tatami mats. 

What I love about bento boxes is you're never disappointed. Even if you don't like everything in it, it's so beautifully and wonderfully displayed you spend half your meal wondering how long it took the sous chef to carve 36 kobocha squash leaves....

Or how the heck you can fathom eating someone who is looking at you.

Holly couldn't let these guys fall victim to our culinary fears and happily ate them for us. 

After lunch we did some browsing around the local market and wow'd our hosts once again. We found these awesome brooms for Halloween. Halloween isn't widely celebrated here so you can probably imagine what is going on in the local's minds as four gaijiin (white) women proudly purchase 400 Yen ($3) brooms. I thought one guy was going to lose his cool. 

Maybe there was wine in those grapes....

Matane,

Caitlyn

Home sweet Japan.

And just like that he's home! We're (sort of) getting used to these frequent three month deployments. Basically three months away, a few weeks home followed by three months away. Rinse and repeat. It's no cake walk living in a foreign country while living this Navy life but we're doing it!! And when I have my doubts I just look at our homecoming pictures to remind myself, gosh it's worth it.

Heading out to greet daddy. Elin wanted to make sure he'd find her.

There they are!

We got to head up to the flight tower to greet Colin. Elin's reaction was adorable.

Declan is still unsure about this male stranger who shows up every few months....

Perhaps my favorite photos. We went up to the flight deck to watch a promotion ceremony for some of our friends. Before hand, Elin and Colin had some fun. 

Oh and this reminded me of his first deployment here in Japan. Elin was beside herself to see her daddy for the first time in three months. This is still one of my favorite photos!

Matane,

Caitlyn

Japanese Beach Combing

Our building was under maintenance today and therefore our air conditioning and hot water would be shut off all day. Given the heat index was about 105 yesterday I decided it was a MUST to flee the apartment ASAP. But what to do? The pool doesn't open until noon. Shopping centers don't open until 10. The park is a million degrees. So I decided to bite the bullet and attempt the beach with two small children for the first time.

We headed out to Oseto Beach, about an hour's drive south of here. It's a popular surfing spot and with the aftermath of the typhoon that is crashing into China right now, it was a spectacular day for surfers and beach goers. It more or less drizzled the whole time but when you're wet, sandy and covered in spit up, who cares?

Below are a couple of pictures from our first trip to Oseto in February when my mom was out here. I remember it being about 40 degrees and super windy. Today it was about 80 degrees and just as windy!

Look at that little dude!

 My little 3 month old polar bear

 My big 8 month old surfer dude!

Elin set out to build Elsa's ice castle. She "melted" it by pouring buckets of water over it...

again...

and again...

and again...

and again. 

 

At least she has a work ethic.

We also had snack time. Squeezies and apples just don't compare to fresh sand. Something about that crunch.....

One thing that is fun about this beach is the amount of sea glass and sea porcelain that washes up on its shores. I've seen sea glass before but this was definitely my first experience with sea porcelain. Isn't it cool? 

Overall a good outing. The kids were exhausted, I was exhausted and yet no one managed to practice the fine art of a nap the rest of the day. Oye.

Matane,

Caitlyn