Airshow

We went to the Airshow on base. It was a zoo trying to get on! Traffic was backed up from the base gate all of the to the DyDo vending machine...that is pretty far!

The Japanese-American ratio was like 200-1. It made this patriotic heart of mine proud to see "our boys," up in the air. I've been at lots of airshows. Sometimes I did important things like keep people from getting into an active prop, and sometimes less important things like getting heat stroke. But this was one of the better ones!

It was strange being able to see the flight line and have a great view, even from way in the back!

The plane went up, and did the artillery

Dude....

The Japanese were grilling this on one side of the road, while the Americans grilled hot dogs on the other!

Hakkoda Mt

I went with the youth group on a hiking trip to Hakkoda Mountain, a volcano. At first it looks a lot like Alaska....





....But then after we were crammed into a ski-lift thingy I remembered we are in Japan! When the doors were open I had people running all over and pushing and shoving, I was sort of surprised really. The Japanese are so polite, next thing I knew I was having my head banged against those little black things hanging from the roof. At several points, during the mad rush to get off, I got separated. But seeing as it would be impossible to lose me in the crowd I wasn't to worried!

The view was absolutely amazing!

Sea of Japan

Aomori(sp?)

It was actually a volcano. Our guide, Mr. Simon took us to two craters. One of half of a crater, the other one was a perfectly round crater. Mr. Simon started to sing, "How great thou Art," when we reached the top, so we all joined in.

The Crater

There was a hot spring that we stopped to look at


The weather was really cold for someone leaving the warmer climates of TX, but it was a lot of fun. We split up at the first crater, only a few went on to the second crater, I went along to the second one. When we had all reached the bottom the second group told the first about the snow monkeys that attacked....oh yeah, no joke! lol

Adam-sahn

Did I mention the typhoon? I'm sure it has some other name, but I called it "Adam-sahn." I heard it was the very one that hit the Philippines. Nobody was hurt, we only got the edges. But man that was a lot of rain and wind!

Snapshot!

We've been working really hard getting moved into the house....it is starting to settle down. For a while I thought I was suffering from PTSD, but we're all good! It is so good to be in a house after so many months of being on the run.

I've got a schedule down and am keeping to it faithfully, Jamin would be so proud. My schedule is pretty tight, but I've been getting it done at an hour unheard of while in TX. I can still remember staying till 10-midnight working on stuff....good times.

I sat on the back porch this morning eating a hot bowl of oatmeal and enjoyed watching Japan come alive. I've been trying to find a running route that won't get me killed...a little bit hard. I don't know what it is, but I hate running during the day. I prefer to go at night. But there is no shoulder on these farm roads and so you have to actually run in the road.....which is very tense during the day. I went for a run last night through a neighboring sub division...I'm not sure what scares me more: a dark empty subdivision or a farmers road where you need to be able to jump into the irrigation ditch at the drop of a hat.

Swan Park

We went and found the Swan Park. There was a really tall tower that we climbed. From the top we could see the ocean and much of the sou rounding area. It is moments like this that I realize just how big and awesome God really is.

I saw pictures of this tower when we first heard we were moving here, it was neat to actually see it myself.

Chaw's theme-song please...note the stir in the watter to the swan's right....that is a HUGE fish...carp?

Trying to harness the blur

Alright, we're just about moved into our house; won't have internet for a while though. Here is some pics of the packers coming. Their truck was automatic and the whole side just opened up. Pretty cool.






We've had tons of adventures since we've been in our house. We've had a typhoon, an earthquake, I climbed to the top of a volcano and rode a ski lift way up in the mountains....I've done somersaults at the Japanese shopping stores....Mom and I parked in the middle of a road on accident, we just had a huge airshow, we've gone to Swan park...farming markets...so much and little time!

We have been really busy moving in. I have learned to put bookshelves and whatnot together without instructions as most of them are in Japanese....I still have no idea how to set my alarm clock...hmmm.

While at Sanwado (the Japanese Wal-mart) I was having a lot of fun running up and down the isles with a very fast and sporty shopping cart. It was all good until the cart got a little bit to much on one end and flipped forward, taking me out at the knees. I was right in the main entrance when I did my fancy little trick so everyone in that part of the store saw the American go head-over-heels. Not cool. A kindly Japanese gentleman rushed to pull me out of the desks and bookshelves, he told me something in Japanese. I thanked him and loaded the cart up and headed out again. In retrospect I think he was saying, "don't put that stuff back on the cart, it will flip again." But I don't speak Japanese and so I did it again in the parking lot. I think my ego was hurt way worse than my legs, but I did tear up from the pain the second time!

Can you hear me now?

Hey y'all! I'm sitting in the car, with a coat over my head so I can see the computer screen and trying to look natural as I use someones unsecured network.

We are moved into our house...we still do not have internet, and it is looking like it could be a few more weeks before we do have internet at the house. grrr. We've had a lot of exciting things happening...a typhoon, earthquake, getting settled, I hiked to the top of a volcano, and so much more! I'll fully update in a few hours, if I can make it to the base, if not then just know we're not dead or anything unnatural!

Quick Update

Alright, we are in the house. No pics yet. I'm writing this really fast, so excuse poor grammar!

We don't have Internet out there, so I'll update as I'm able. I probably won't have much time to read anybodies blog for however long we don't have Internet. We could have Internet at the end of a week, or 4, it's up in the air.

We love the house; our hold baggage arrived this morning. The point of the hold baggage was so it would be here while we didn't have the rest of our stuff. But seeing as the rest of our stuff doesn't arrive till tomorrow...it didn't really matter! Oh well! It's really great to be out of the TLF!