Japan

The Air Force paid for Tim to go to Japan to have his annual pilot's physical by a flight surgeon and so Tally and I tagged along. We left Adayla with Josie (we decided to use her for 8 days while she is here) and off we went.

We arrived Monday afternoon and waited for an Air Force shuttle from the airport to the base (Yokota) in Tokyo. Tally was doing pretty good and we thought this won't be too bad. We weren't sure how long it would take on the bus, but that was the easiest way to get there. So we hopped on and found out it was going to be at least 3 hours, depending on traffic. Crazy! I am not sure how many miles we had to go, but we were in traffic for the next 3 hours and finally at 7 pm we arrived at the hotel on base. This worked so that we could check in and walk (or run) to the Taco Bell on base that closed at 8 pm. (This was my real reason for the trip!) We met up with a good friend from Altus, she delivered her pack n play, and we visited for a couple hours. How fun it was to catch up, she makes me laugh!

Other than Tally waking up from 3-5 am and crying in the hotel room, we slept great. Tim headed off to his appointments and Tally and I went to the grocery store! My mouth still waters thinking about being in an American grocery store. Everything was familiar and looked so good!
We spent Halloween essentially in America. We headed over to our friends' house and waited for the trick-or-treaters. We didn't have to wait long as there was a steady stream for a solid 1 1/2 hours. Our friends had to turn off the lights finally once their trash bag (literally) of candy was gone. We hit up about 20 houses with Tally and my friend's boys and spent the rest of the night laughing! Thanks for hosting us.

Japan is COMPLETELY different than China, other than it has millions of Asians. The streets are very clean, the people are very polite, things are very expensive, and the food is excellent.



Thank you Theresa for you detail description on how to do a slideshow, I hope it works! If it is too small, you can click on it and a new window will open with a bigger version.

We then spent one day in Tokyo...Big City! We wandered around and saw the sights. Back to food again (I am pregnant, what do you expect?), we saw a Krispy Kreme. It definitely sounded tasty, until we saw the line. We opted not to wait, but no worries as good food was plentiful! We spent the night in a hotel in downtown Tokyo and flew to Osaka the next morning.

Our friends picked us up at the airport and we headed back to their house in Kobe (the two cities have grown together). What a treat it was for us. They are also Air Force folks doing the same program we are, but in Japan. Tim actually knew both of them at the Academy, was with them at pilot training, and then we met up a few times in DC last year. We packed the girls (they have 2 small ones also) and we headed for Himeji Castle. The day was perfect!

The next morning we took a tram up the mountain to an herb garden, the views of the area were so refreshing. The air was clean and weather was just right. We had to get the girls down for a good nap so they could trick-or-treat that night for a bit, but more importantly so they were happy for the babysitters. We had reservations for Kobe beef! (I will let Tim explain)

Genuine Kobe Beef is the ultimate of all beef. If I had to be a cow here on the earth, I would want to be on a Kobe Beef farm here in Japan. These cows are suspended in harnesses so that they don't strain their muscles, are fed only the best grains, and get this, they're massaged everyday by Japanese ladies (I can at least imagine they're ladies). The massaging is to more evenly distribute the fat for the ultimate "marbling" of the beef. The result is a great tasting steak that needs no knives to cut and falls apart perfectly in your mouth (and quite a hole in your wallet!).

While we were eating we decided we needed pictures of our dinner and decided that the single "Japanese" guy at the counter who we had seen taking his own pictures earlier would be a good photographer. Tim, not knowing any Japanese, shows him the camera and points to us where we were waiting. The guy seemed happy to help. Tim quickly sat down and we all say cheese. Our friends then speak their Japanese and bow a bit. The guy responds in perfect English, "I am a foreigner too, I am from Singapore." So Tim, assuming he knows Mandarin, says the thank you in Chinese, he looked at us and said, "I don't speak Chinese either!" We all had a good laugh.

Sunday we went to church with our friends and then Erika cooked us an EXCELLENT Mexican meal, homemade taco shells and all! We spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and talking about future plans. It was so nice to just relax and chat and have each other understand the whole military lifestyle! We are looking forward to their visit to Shanghai!

Monday it was time to pack, pick up a few Japanese treats and take the train back to Tokyo to catch our flight home.

After an extremely bumpy flight we made it back home. Adayla heard us at the elevator and opened the door. She ran and jumped in Tim's arms and just giggled and giggled. What a welcome home!