Move In Day!

Last Tuesday, we finally received our household goods...on one of the days it rained, naturally. Here is a glimpse into the chaos of move in day. I spent the first two days after delivery washing dishes and laundry...days people! That should excuse me from laundry and dishes for a month, right? Our sweet friend made us dinner for that night so we didn't have to at least, you sure can't beat the military community!

Mother's Day Weekend

On Mother's Day weekend, we drove up to Hiroshima on Saturday to check out this indoor kids play place with a friend and her kiddos. First we got lunch at Mos Burger, which was another frustrating language barrier moment. The burger is more like a teriyaki type burger than your standard hamburger/cheeseburger and we just could not communicate the toppings we like on our burger...which didn't help that they didn't quite offer them anyways! Aside from that and getting lost trying to find the play place because the mall is so huge and separated into two buildings, parking at in a casino parking garage by mistake, and going through the process just register to get in the play place....take breath here...it was a great time. 

The kids had a blast running around and I was super impressed by the various stations offered to various age groups. You pay by the hour, so we only stayed an hour and the kids were not please to leave, but sweaty and worn out all the same! Mission accomplished. On our way back out to the car we stopped by a Starbucks where I finally tried the brownie and matcha frappachino (so good!) and got some more of my Via instant coffee sticks. Chris found another bakery next door and loaded up on all kinds of pastries to include the cute lion one for the kids pictured below. Theirs was filled with chocolate pudding.  See what I mean about the pastries?! They're around every corner across from an ice cream place!

See how the meat looks sticky? 

 They had a sand pit...the first thing Finley spotted, naturally

 Massage chairs for the adults...smart people here!

 Chris just had to join in and couldn't contain himself!

On Sunday, I got to sleep in and after having breakfast we headed down to walk on the sea wall for a bit. After the kids got bored, we went to the baseball fields, played on the park over there, and wandered around the fields finding lost softballs. We all played catch and tried out some softball pitching for a bit then headed back home. It was overall a very relaxing day and we ended it with some pizza at a restaurant on base and ice cream at home. 

 Walking along the sea wall

Friendship Day

The same week we visited the wisteria gardens, the Japanese had a 3-day holiday. They are several holidays grouped together and they call it Golden Week. Almost everything is in bloom during that time and many people travel during their vacation days. On one of those days, the base hosts Friendship Day which allows the Japanese people to come on base and enjoy an air show and seeing the base. I wasn't planning to go because I had heard it's so crowded you can barely walk, but decided last minute to give it a try with some friends anyways knowing I could always turn back around and go home. There is no driving on that day and the base is all sectioned off to make a walkway for the masses. They had huge bounce houses and food vendors, the air show of course, and static displays.

Minus the intermittent meltdowns from all of the kids, it was a great time! Chris had to work a couple of shifts selling unit T-Shirts but we met up with him in the morning and he got to stay with us and walk us back home before his second shift. He loved taking all of the kiddos and showing them the various static displays. Our kids, at one point, had sat down on the ground to watch part of the airshow and the Japanese people ate them up! They were taking pictures of our kids sitting there rather than the planes flying behind them. One in particular gave us some copies from his camera and another offered popcorn to us in exchange for pictures of them.

Wisteria Gardens

The day after we got those delicious pastries, Chris took the day off and we had the kids play hooky from school so we could make a day trip down to Ikea and then the wisteria flower gardens in Fukuoka. It was about a 3 hour drive to Ikea. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures at Ikea, but it was glorious finding everything on my list and then some helped lift my spirits a bit after still not having our household goods shipment. We were definitely the only Americans there and were once again stared at from every direction. It is getting easier to get used to though, although I would never want to be a celebrity...I mean, heaven forbid you need to pick a wedgie discreetly on the fly!

After Ikea, we drove back North to the wisteria flower gardens. The drive up the tiny windy roads in the mountains was beautiful. This particular garden was nestled in the mountain. It was stunning! The pictures don't even do it justice, not to mention that the pictures don't capture the incredible fragrance that engulfed us as we walked around. They also had these gorgeous hydrangea trees that I will definitely seek out when we have a forever garden one day.