Doing mom’s hair

I haven’t posted much lately because we are in a lull....the fun in between part of moving. We are in our house with limited stuff, have no car, and are still gettting settled and used to the new base. Thankfully our stuff gets here Friday! And Daddy gets here next Thursday!!!!! After that we will be much more on the way to feeling settled and at home here. 

This weekend we mostly tried not to drive each other crazy...which can be hard. But thankfully Mrs. Kimble took us to the commissary so we didn’t have to take the shuttle on Saturday. We did take it Sunday morning to go to chapel on main base, and also we needed to buy pencils for Emma’s homework. We went to both the traditional and contemporary services yesterday,  we both liked both of them. 

On a side note: I’m glad we came to Japan when we did, this kindergarten is obviously different than her other one...it’s not a huge difference (except for the Spanish class that she apparently has), but I’m glad she will have some time to catch up and make friends.

In between services, we watched Iron Chef Gauntlet, and talked to Daddy while Emma did my hair. Mrs. Kimble took us to the Library, and Emma picked out a princess hairstyle book. So she did my hair. Next time maybe I can do hers, but she was very focused and worked a long time. Also I’m terrible at taking selfies, my phone was in the way of my hair! 

Mom’s princess hair, by Emma. Emma also took these two pictures.

Not bad for a her first try! Although she thought she braided it.

First day of kindergarten, take 2.

Today Emma had her first day of school. She was excited until she got there, and then she was pretty nervous. But I think she had fun. She said her favorite part was having lunch early. (An hour and a half earlier.) She said they did not do the pledge of allegiance, but they went to “Spanish class” where they “learned Japanese.”  Everyone I met raved about her teacher, so it sounds like she got a good one. 

I went to PWOC this morning. I forgot how exhausting it is to be the new person. I don’t know if it is like this for everyone else, but I was drained afterwards. This PWOC is a little different from what I’m used to...not bad, just different. Everyone does the same study and they just break off into smaller groups to discuss, one of which I was assigned to. My group also had a lunch afterwards (lots of eating), since two of the ladies are having babies soon. I was so tired I forgot that I needed to get school supplies for Emma. I remembered after school, of course. So we ate dinner at 3, and hopped on the shuttle. Our last couple days we have been super exhausted (like 3 hour naps plus full night of sleep)  and our last shuttle experience was not good. Emma and I were both beyond tired, and she was crazy and I was frustrated. I didn’t want to take her on the shuttle for a very long time again. However, we needed to go, so we went. It was a much shorter trip and we played “I spy”’while waiting for the bus. (And we brought our jackets!) I never play games on my phone, let alone let Emma, but I had one from when I put one on the iPad. So when we got stuck at the flight line we played a game for a few minutes and then we were home. Much better trip. 

This is Emma after her first day of school in Japan, because I didn’t think to take one before school when she had cute pigtails and bows. 😏 

Rest day

Today we woke up at 5, so better than 4, but still pretty early. It’s hard to sleep in when sun comes up before 5.  We were planning on going to chapel and then riding the shuttle to main base, but when we got to chapel we discovered that the traditional service on main base is at 11, the one by our house, the contemporary service, is at 5. So we walked back home, about a block away. We thought we would just ride the shuttle in the morning, but when we got back up to our house, it became obvious that running errands was not going to be a good idea. We are still adjusting, tired, just needing to stay home and rest. So that’s what we did. I got the tv working, and we watched some Food Network that was on AFN. Then we ate and headed to chapel. I definitely think we are making progress adjusting....sleeping during the night, getting out, having groceries. But there are other things that will take longer...waking up and eating at normal hours, meeting people, and other thing that just go with being in a new place or traveling so much and living in such a different place.  

The doll in the kimono that Mrs. Kimble bought her at the 100 yen store.

She also bought her this apron, which is being used as a doll carrier in this picture. She is a creative girl! I know she misses her toys, but she finds ways to play and pretend! 

Getting out of the house

Well today we got out of the house! We played at the playground, went to the cherry blossom festival, played in the hallway with neighbors, and went off base with a new friend. The cherry blossom festival was right on our street, and it was fun to walk around. There were lots of food booths/street food, a few games, and music. We walked up and down the street once and then she was ready to go home. When we got home Emma heard some kids playing out in the hallway, so she wanted to go see them. She was shy at first, but then she warmed up and played. I’m always nervous about other kids...some of them weren’t listening or being nice, and they were kind of noisy from inside the house. I do like that they play out there, but we will see how it goes...technically they are not supposed to have all that stuff out in the hallway. After lunch MSgt Kimble’s wife, Catina, picked us up and took us off base to do a little shopping. We went to a Japanese market/grocery store, a 100 yen ($1) store, and their version of Walmart...all before going to the commissary to restock our kitchen. We also got Taco Bell for dinner! Yum. When we got back we talked to Daddy. While we were talking Emma went to hide, and fell asleep. 😊 

I think we had a cherry rose ice cream in a crepe. It was in Japanese, I ordered “the pink crepe.” It was delicious!!!

Playing with friends in the hallway 

She found little shopping carts, little baskets, and this cart with a short seat on it.

She fell asleep hiding beside the couch

Getting settled

Today we got the keys to our new house! We brought all of our stuff over and started unpacking our household things...towels, pans, untensil, etc. We put in some shelf liners and went to the park that is by our tower. This afternoon they delivered our loaner furniture, and we also have internet! Sleep...well, let’s just say we are still adjusting. Tired, cranky, trying to stay awake...that’s kinda how we are, but I think we are gettting better. No naps today, but we will probably go to bed early. I have a feeling after this weekend we will be good. 

Crying because she didn’t get the room with the bathroom and front porch

She was running in the spare room and got a rug burn. 

Apparently she couldn’t walk because of it 

Playing at the new park

This tree has flowers that remind me of roses.

New park

Checking our other buildings

Living room area

Living/dining room


Master bedroom

Master 

Emma’s room

She calls it the queen room because of the dresser and mirror

New house

We have been busy! Someone somewhere worked some magic and allowed us to get into a house before Steven gets here, although I can’t drive until he gets here. It has been a crazy mess...which I wasn’t expecting, but it's only a few weeks until he gets here. His sponsor has been very generous and taken us all around to get everything done. Tomorrow we will be in our house, with rental furniture, WiFi, and all the stuff we brought in suitcases. We will be able to walk to school and to the cherry blossom festival this weekend. The Lord has surely provided! 

Sleep, however, is another story.

Emma went to sleep at 3pm yesterday and woke up at 1am this morning. So she was pretty crazy at all our meetings...although the older Japanese women seemed to enjoy her...they just kept looking at her, and she said good morning in Japanese to them and they asked me if she went to a Japanese schoo off base. They were surprised when I told them we just got here. They asked where she learned how to speak Japanese, not really believing that Daddy had been teaching her. But I told them we had a friend who was from Okinawa, and so they figured that she must have taught her. It was funny. 

Here is the link to the video of our new house. I will upload some pictures tomorrow.

https://youtu.be/XkonA7YveBc

Sleepless in Seattle

 Our adventure has begun! Emma has been a great traveler! Monday night we got to Seattle about 9, and found the USO. We needed 2 luggage carts for our stuff, and Emma was pretty excited to get to push one by herself. She did a pretty good job. We got lots of looks....sometimes it looked like the luggage cart was moving by itself. The USO was full, so they were putting families in a conference room across the hall. She did such a great job with it all, and went right to sleep, she got about 4 hours before I had to wake her up. I didn’t get much, if any, sleep. I ended up with a sinus/exhaustion headache and they were doing some construction work either down the hall or the next floor down. Lots of hammering/jackhammering. Somehow all the kids in the room seemed to sleep great, though! At 2am I woke her up and we headed down to stand in line. She was too tired to push the cart so another mom helped us out...as much trouble as it is to travel like this, everyone around us was military and gets what we are doing and was very helpful. Thankfully the family line is way shorter than the normal line...we only stood in line for maybe a half hour, instead of the 3 hours we were expecting. So....we had lots of time to kill...as our flight did not board until 7:30. We stayed up the whole time, which seemed like a good idea...to get us used to the time change early, and I figured we could sleep on the plane. We talked to Daddy, played “I spy,” ate breakfast, got some snacks and water for our flight, and she may have found her new surprise toys that I got for the trip. She really did a fabulous job considering she only got 4 hours of sleep. 

I was pretty optimistic about the flight since we had done so well so far. I figured we would sleep most of it since we were so tired...unfortunately that was not the case. Between snacks, meals, potty trips, movies, and crying babies, and lack of room,  there was not much sleep happening on this flight for us. I did manage to get her to take a nap for a couple hours in the middle, but that’s it. She watched lots of shows and played games on the iPad, and I am learned a lot for next time. This plane was older than what we are used to, and there was hardly any leg room...and I’m short so that is saying something. It made getting into our bags for things like coloring books, snacks, etc. very difficult. And our flight crew is policing everyone about staying seated and being buckled...they said if you are sleeping they will wake you up to make you show them you are buckled if they can’t see it. A little over the top, if you ask me.  

We got right through customs and everything, and MSgt Kimble, from the FD, was there to pick us up at the airport and take us around. 

For next time: We both need our own tablets if only for these trips. I had assumed we would have WiFi so I didn’t even think to put anything on my phone, and I am trying to ignore most of the movies they have played...not super great for kids. I’m also too tired to read anything I brought, so movies would have been the way to go. Emma got to watch a lot though.

 I love my new backpack that I got from eBags, the Weekender Junior, but I should have gotten the one with wheels! It’s pretty heavy with everything in it. I packed it full. It definitely has a compartment for everything. Also, packing cubes are amazing! I got a lot and I’m glad I did, everything is super organized, easy to find and not messy. 

I bought a power bank to charge our devices, but since I charged them in the airport we didn’t end up needing it. I was pretty surprised, but I also didn’t use my phone much.  

I’m glad I brought the blanket and pillow since we slept on the floor, I almost didn’t bring them because of space. 

Ready for the flight to Seattle!

Goodbye California!

Where’s Emma?

There she is!

Excited to be camping out!

She went right to sleep!

Waiting in line. Our line was short. The ones Daddy has to stand in are probably at least a hundred people long. Yikes!!!

Breakfast of champions...at 2am.

Playing with her new toys.

On the plane for Japan!

Airplane food wasn’t bad, pretty much like a TV dinner. 

No fancy picture saying we are here...but we made it. And we are exhausted. Although I’m wondering when everything will catch up to me. Emma made it as long as she could.