Cherry Blossoms and Iwakuni Castle

The day after our driving adventure, we decided to go back to Kintai Bridge to see if the buds had blossomed. Because it was supposed to rain on Sunday, we didn't plan to stay long but decided to go on the cable car that runs up the mountain to Iwakuni Castle. In the cable car there were two younger Japanese women with an older man, who I am assuming was their dad. They were instantly drawn to Finley. One had reached out her arms, and Finley being relatively agreeable, went to her and smiled with her for their pictures and everything. Up at the top of the mountain they found us again and tried getting pictures with all of the kids. We all know Rylan didn't cooperate, he wouldn't even take many pictures for me! He was pretty thrilled to see all of the ancient Samurai swords in the Castle though. The blossoms were beautiful and it was a nice cool day to be out exploring. Enjoy a glimpse into the beauty of cherry blossom season and a peak at Iwakuni Castle!

Japanese Baseball, Costco, and City!

Well we certainly had an adventurous weekend! On Saturday we went to a local minor league baseball game in the afternoon. Parking was in a gravel field run by an older Japanese man and woman trying to pack in as many little boxy Japanese cars as possible. First the man told us we could park in one place and the woman came over frantically telling him we can't park there (I'm assuming because it was all in Japanese). So they had us move over by a hill that led down into another lot below the top lot we were initially in. They basically told Chris to park on the hill and though we were unsure, they walked away and never returned! Chris tried backing up the hill to go back out but the van kept slipping on the wet grass and couldn't gain enough traction. So we ended up eventually going down, very carefully as there was a drop off on the left side toward the bottom. Yikes! Then we went back around and found the man and woman who let us back in (since we had already paid) and they pointed us to a spot...not sure why they didn't point us there in the first place! We walked a ways to the field where we joined a group of Marines from Chris's squadron. Chris and I were mostly chasing and managing the kids. Somehow the rain ditch drains were way more interesting to them than the game. Finley was a nightmare and we actually had to just leave eventually because his tantrums got something fierce. 

From where we were, we could still drive just over an hour to Hiroshima to finally go to Costco. Directions and traffic, especially in a bigger city, are stressful enough without a language barrier and shady directions. We did make it though! They have a parking garage and you take your cart down this moving sidewalk. The cart has magnets that stick to the walking sidewalk as you descend to the entrance. There were a fair amount of standard items, though not as many as I had hoped, and of course a whole bunch of Japanese options. For some reason they didn't have frozen chicken breasts this time. Our friends that were there at the same time told us that's unusual because that's always where they've bought their chicken. I was pretty bummed they didn't have some of the Kirkland items I usually purchase like diapers and my shampoo. The Japanese don't really eat bread like we do and the bread you do get is a big square loaf, sometimes cut the width of Texas toast or not cut at all. Almost every shopping basket we saw there had those dinner rolls though! They had interesting choices like cow tongue and octopus among a large variety of seafood and strange Japanese foods I've never heard of. There's also a ton of pork selection too as that is more common than beef here. The only place we've seen a gallon of milk is the commissary because they don't consume a whole lot of dairy either. When we got to the register we learned they only accept Yen, not our debit card. Let's stand out some more as we hold up the line! Thank God our friend had enough Yen to spot us so we could get through the line and not make an even bigger spectacle of ourselves. 

When you exit Costco, they have an enclosed food court off to the side where we were graced with the familiar pizza, hot dogs, and churros. They also had a new citrus smoothie that was delicious. They had salad in a cup and clam chowder--no ciabatta sandwich or chicken caesar salad. Because they only take Yen, I had to walk a block to the 7-11 to use their ATM. Not all ATMs in town accept American cards and thankfully 7-11 does and there are plenty of them everywhere. The big baseball stadium in Hiroshima, which is right next to Costco, had a game that evening so the city was quite populated and boy did I stick out and get stared down on my way to 7-11. Not only that, but our two American families sitting in the food court together were quite the sight. Finley is certainly a main attraction everywhere we go and such a ham about it! 

As we were trying to leave Hiroshima to head back home, I was driving and our map app was giving us some squirrely directions down alleys that were somehow two-way, plus it was dusk and then dark making it harder to get a sense of direction. Talk about overwhelmed! Long story short, we made it home in about 2.5 hours (about an hour and a half longer than it should have taken) and I was on the verge of tears in frustration. Culture shock day #1 down in the books, or blog as it would be!

Kintai Bridge

Our new friends, the Sutphins, took us on our "Right of Passage" or Iwakuni initiation to the local Kintai Bridge. We were hoping the cherry blossoms would be more in bloom but they still have a few days left to be flowered completely, that is if a steady rain doesn't come first and wipe out all of the buds. Even without the flowering trees, it was beautiful and I'm already anxious to go back and explore some more. They have an art museum in the area as well as shrines, several water fountains, and other attractions. Because it's Cherry Blossom Festival time, there were food vendors and souvenirs out. They have a ton of ice cream places everywhere and while we didn't go to the well-known "100 Flavor" stand this time, we still got some great ice cream as part of the experience. Chris and Quinn tried the cherry blossom flavor, Ry got strawberry, and I got a swirl with cherry blossom and green tea. I want to try and go back tomorrow when we have a car to see if the trees are fully in bloom.

This is Iwakuni Castle below. They have a hiking trail and cable car that goes up there so that will be a trip for another day. 

Easter

On Saturday, the base hosted an egg-roll for the various age groups of kids. We walked and just missed Finley's age group but he didn't seem to mind. He was more than thrilled with is balloon. Each age category had one metallic golden egg that earned a prize. You better believe Chris was right there on the sidelines coaching both Rylan and Quinn where it was and to go straight to it. Rylan got confused and didn't stand a chance against the bigger girl that snatched it, but he did get the yellow one right next to it and said proudly, "I got the golden egg, Dad!" Chris lived it up, like a good dad, and made its exciting to get a tootsie roll in the "gold" egg. When it was Quinn's turn, Chris got so worked up that he pushed her forward a little too hard and actually pushed her over instead of forward. She was mad as can be and made a huge scene blaming Chris for knocking her over and making her miss her chance to get the golden egg. It was hard not to laugh at her reaction. I was able to take her aside and talk her down a bit. Whew!

I had to get a little creative this year for Easter morning. We don't have their baskets or our eggs, so I was glad they got some eggs at the hunt the day before so I could reuse them for the easter bunny's visit. I had ordered some lego sets before we moved to be shipped here and so the display wasn't as extravagant but a little creativity and our current location assisted in the explanation. I knew they would be disappointed not to see a baby powder footprint trail like last year. We spent the morning building their lego sets and then tried out the Protestant service at the chapel on base. It definitely wasn't a fit for us. Later in the afternoon we went with some new friends to visit the Kinta Bridge. I'll make a new post for that. 

The Latest Schaub Abode

Yesterday we got to move into our new home. We also received that express shipment that we sent ahead back in February. It's nice to have some of their toys, our linens and towels, and some of our own kitchenware. The house we're in now is really more temporary. Because we're in an unrenovated one, we will be moved within the year to a renovated version of our house or one of the new-builds in a different area of the base. Whichever becomes available first will be our new home. I probably made that more confusing than necessary!

Right now it's a disaster in the house as we're trying to place items and figure out the most efficient organizing method with the little stuff we do have. We currently have loaner furniture since ours won't likely arrive until April sometime. It will be so nice to have our own mattress and those rugs! I did a video walkthrough but naturally they won't load on here like I planned, so here are some pictures to give you an idea of what we're living in.

Front Door (from the inside)

View from Front Door

Dining Room 

(The sliding door leads to an outside gated patio area and on the right is the closet with the washer/dryer)

Kitchen

 Living Room/Play Area

View of Upstairs (from top of stairs) Linen closet is straight ahead and Rylan's room and our room are on the left.

Rylan's Room (they're all about this size)

 Master Bedroom (bathroom is on the right)

 Quinn and Finley's Rooms

 Kids Bathroom

Beyond the Highlight Reel

Can I be raw for a moment?

Military spouses are tough, simply put. We are as iron; forged and strengthened in fire. We endure more than we ever realized we signed up for when we said our marriage vows to the loves of our life. On top of the typical vows, there should be an additional addendum just for military spouses to vow upon...beyond the normal sickness and health or good times and bad. We are so often blinded by love and pride for our husband's role in uniform that we forget that the uniform our husband wears, is also a uniform, of sorts, that we must also put on ourselves. So many times our husbands are called away and occupied getting their jobs established during a transition, leaving us wives to put on our "big-girl panties" and take care of business for our kids and for ourselves. We are pushed to the limits and shoved outside all comfort boundaries. We are constantly seeking silver lining through loneliness and uncertainty, surviving at times as single parents during separations from our husbands. In hindsight, there is a lot of water under a lot of bridges.

I highlight the experiences we have on this blog and keep it as basic as possible but in this move, I've been stretched and grown beyond any other time in Chris's past 10 years of service. I smile, through gritted teeth and held back tears, through frustration and unknowns. Sometimes, the tears are so welled up over time that they rage over all of the barriers that I had spent a lot of time and grit building up. My heart aches as I see our kids endure the goodbyes and nerves associated with new beginnings. I am still processing myself while trying to help our kids through the drastic changes and emotions they're facing on their own. For Finley, it's easy, and for Quinn and Rylan, it's been more challenging this time around. I don't have answers for their questions and am irritated by the steady flow of them.

I force optimism for me and the kids while inside, I'm full of pessimism and anger. I'm not always pleasant with Chris and the kids during these transitions. The kids are wild and seeking boundaries in this new place while I'm still trying to establish them while getting my own footing. I understand their behavior and am still annoyed and angered by it, instead of coming to their level and trying to make it work for them from their perspective. I'm lacking balance. True character is revealed when under pressure and I don't like what I'm seeing of myself during this immense amount of stress.

I don't say all of this for pity for myself or any other military spouse. I really am excited to be here in Japan and am chomping at the bit to explore and experience all that it has to offer in this incredibly unique opportunity we have. I know that every new place brings a grip of great friends and memories through all of the growing pains. I also know that there is a sobering reality behind each excitement involved with a move. Enjoy the incredible highlights of our experiences on this blog, there will be plenty of them, but also know that I'm real, human, flawed, and not always living the dream as it may appear at times through pictures and fun stories. There are a great many attractive perks to this lifestyle, but they come at a cost. At the end of the day, we are blessed and grateful for our unique opportunities to build irreplaceable friendships, see new things and places, and challenge and fortify our marriages with the men in uniform we love; the ones we said "I do" to and secretly, in the fine print, "Oo Rah", "Semper Fidelis", and "Semper Gumby" (always flexible).

Falling Into Place

We signed a housing agreement this week to live on base. There were two very attractive new-build houses available off-base with 4 bedrooms, but after a lot of thought, consideration, and advice, we decided that on base would be the most practical option for a family of our size. We'll have an oven, storage, and a dishwasher, all of which are not typically available in off-base housing. The base is under a lot of construction constantly and there are many new-build homes in the works as well as renovations happening to the older homes in our pay category. We will moving in this week to an un-renovated 4-bedroom townhouse. The perk there is that the military will pay to move us into either a renovated townhouse or a new-build townhouse depending on which one becomes available first. So, we will be living temporarily in the older style townhouse for up to 6 months before we get moved. Chris is thrilled we won't be hanging any decor in the meantime. I will post pictures this weekend of our house after we've moved in.

Last night we started the process of buying a car. We bought a nice van (no SUVs in Japan) and are thrilled. The downside is that it's quite the process to actually get the car to drive it. In the states, you can drive a car off the lot that day, but here is takes about 4-5 business days to process paperwork and get through inspections for us. We are hoping to take possession of the vehicle by next Tuesday at the earliest. Oh how liberating it will be to have a car! First trip on my agenda is the trek to Costco in Hiroshima, haha.

Quinn started school today at the base school. She was very nervous and it was harder than I expected. She was death-gripping my arm and after a while, I had to pry her off and run out the door as she resolved to tears; such a heart-breaking moment for this mom. I know she'll be okay and make friends and transition well, which helped me feel okay walking away. I was hoping to get a picture of her, but it turned out to not be such a picturesque moment and maybe I can try again when she's less uncertain.