Level 1

William is exceptionally proud of himself.  He has finally passed on to Level 1 in swimming.  For the last 3 sessions, he hasn't been comfortable with dunking.  This time, he did awesome, and therefore has passed to Level 1.  We will sign him up next week for the Level 1 series of swimming lessons.  People say it is so hot here, that you live in the pool in the summer, or in the AC.  So, he will get plenty of opportunities to practice.

He is showing off his certificate.  And, if you notice, he got a boo-boo last night.  He got a rug burn scrape and bloody nose from taking a corner too fast while pushing his 'school bus' toy around a corner.  He fills up the bus with coins, and plays.  There's a bit of a scuff around the eye, as well.

I am busy with working out every week day, and learning Japanese... actually, I am busy trying to remember Japanese, I don't know how much I've actually learned.  The different sounds for the words can really throw me for a loop.  

I've also been lucky in getting a couple of students to teach English.  This is so awesome.  They are students of the people whose house we'll be renting once they've gone.  So, same house, same bat channel...   I'm excited as one is a dentist (we have to go off-base for dental issues here, that's why we're having appointments at home this summer, but just in case...), and he has kids ages 5, 3, and 1, and they live 2 doors down.  That will be awesome to have an introduction to kids William's age in the neighborhood.

Our house was highlighted as a place for the realtor we use.  Well, it was one of the pictures...  it is neat to see the house on a magazine cover!  Now, we want all our friends to come and see it in person!

Disney Screams and Themes

We had a blast.  Tim has put together a video of highlights of the boys.

  First is Gadget's Go Coaster, then Thunder Mountain Coaster.  Pirates of the Caribbean is a bit different, as it says something in Japanese vs. 'Dead Men Tell No Tales.'  You'll also notice that Buzz Lightyear speaks Japanese, as well.  Tim put in driving cars, the parade, and then finishes with Splash Mountain's log ride.  It is a wonderful presentation of what our day was like, except the long lines.  The boys happy faces tell it all! 

Disneyland

Since Monday was an American holiday, we went to Disneyland.  It was still pretty crowded.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  Sunny and low humidity.  Lots of Japanese used this day to skip work and enjoy the park.  By the time we got hot, the wind picked up and we had a pleasant afternoon.

We took Thomas with us.  He is a year older than William, and was a fun playmate while we waited in lines.  Our longest wait was for the Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster.  Over 2 hours.  

They did really well, considering we were all bunched up for the longest time.  They would play, fight, mess around.  I appreciated not having to entertain William.

Tokyo Disney has FastPass options which makes the lines shorter, but the lines to get the FastPass tickets were HUGE!!!  We only managed to get one FastPass for the day, and then the park was out of them (you have to wait for a period of time before you can request another).  We got Splash Mountain tickets so our wait was 15 minutes versus 2 hours predicted from the end of the standby wait line.

What did amaze me was how long the lines were for the carts for beverages and snacks.  To be fair, night time Disneyland gets long lines around the stands where everyone is waiting for the shows or parades.  But this began from morning and lasted all day.  

Tokyo Disney has another way to slow the patrons down from getting in line for the rides.  They have re-fillable popcorn buckets.  You can get different Disney characters on them, and you can bring them back to the park.  The refills are only $5.

  The equivalent amount of popcorn in two cardboard boxes is $6.  The lines to re-fill them are atrocious!  The boys needed a snack, and they went to wait in the Thunder Mountain Railroad line, and I waited 20

 minutes for popcorn.  That was the shortest line for popcorn that I saw that day.  Thomas wanted to get the Buzz Lightyear bucket, but for $13.50, we gave it a skip.  Plus, I didn't want to carry it around all day.  I did see buckets from Christmas-time, and ones that the park no longer sells.  The good news is that the popcorn snack helped distract the boys for a bit of the 2 hour wait. 

Tim and I got to practice our 'summimasen' and 'gomen nasai' as we had to apologize for the boys several times.  They would be horsing around and bump the people in front or behind us. 

The worst was in the line to ride the rockets.  William and Thomas were kind of shoving back and forth (no fighting, just being silly games).  Thomas reached out a hand to steady himself.  Instead of the butt ahead of him being mine, it was the lady in line in front of us.  I had moved to the side.  We were hugely embarrassed.  We apologized.  The people kind of thought it was funny.  Their boy must have been around 6, so she probably understood.  

Both William and Thomas loved getting to drive the cars.  They were both terrible at it, hitting the guide rail all the time.  At one point, Thomas and I came along-side a Japanese lady driving.  At full-throttle, we were going the same speed along a straight part of the track.  She looked over and I did a pantomime by pointing at Thomas, tipping a bottle back and zig-zaggy driving, like he had been hitting the sauce and driving drunk.  She laughed.

Tim was kind enough to sit and wait and stake out a spot for great parade viewing.  It was the electric parade, and it was just fun.  They use the same music as the classic electric parade in America Disneyland.  While Tim and William waited, I took Thomas shopping.  His mom had said to get him a souvenir, and something for the 2-year-old daughter at home.  Thomas can shop.  But, he couldn't make a decision.  So, we ended up not getting anything.

Thankfully, the parade wrapped up, and we had a few minutes to go get what Thomas had decided upon as we waited for the parade to start.  Tim also got a tie with very small Mickey shaped dots.  Kinda neat since he is wearing ties to work all the time now.  He needs more of a selection.  

We took the kids out of the park gates to watch the fireworks.  We didn't want to get into a bottle-neck of people trying to get out.  It was perfect.  We got back to the bus, and there was a quick sprinkle of rain.

William fell asleep within minutes.  Thomas went to sleep after talking to his mom on the phone.  I wanted her to know we were on the bus and safely headed home, and what time I might show up.

If you want to experience Disneyland here, I'd say, "Do it!"  It was like being back home for a day.  Some of the food choices were different.  Because of the language barrier, I ended up getting shrimp burgers instead of chicken nuggets for the boys.  I fed my sandwich (chicken) to William.  It was a grilled chicken thigh with the skin still on it in a bun.  We took it out of the bun, scraped off the sauce, took off the skin, and William cheerfully ate it.  Thomas had stated he'd only wanted fries in the first place, so he was happy.  A shrimp burger has whole pieces of recognizable shrimp in it.  It is shaped like a patty, breaded and deep fried.  They're pretty good, and every McDonalds has them here.  Well, except the McDonalds on base.  Only American food there!

Another Accomplishment

William has been working on being able to do the monkey bars for awhile.  He has been practicing and practicing.  He usually wanted us to be his 'spotters.'  Then, only one day after I showed him that he could fall down from these wonderful green, low monkey bars, he perfected the task.  Of course, I didn't have a camera with me that day.  So, we video taped it the following day (okay, digitally captured).  William is accomplishing many physical firsts here.  Since he's running with older kids, he is trying to do more.  BTW, I don't know if the 'Super Will' shirt helped or not.

The Big Jump

I know it's been awhile since I've written in the blog.  Biggest Putaansuu news event that's fit to print on the internet, is William is getting into jumping into the pool. 

Fair and Festivals

It seems that there is something for kids to do here every other weekend.  Bouncy houses seem to be the biggest deal here.  William just loves them, and except for how dirty his socks get running from one bouncy house to the other, it doesn't cost us anything.  Gotta love THAT!

There was free food (hotdog, chips, cookies and water or juice) and you could play games for free.  Some of the prizes were good, but I saw a lot of little kids with goldfish.  You know, the feeder fish you get for 2 cents a piece.  I figured we could do without those.  :)  If I were a local fish tank dealer, I would always provide gifts for these types of festivals.  What a racket!

The day before this festival, there 

 was an Asian Pacific 

month celebration, and William and I enjoyed Hawaiian music and a Maori (from New Zealand) dance with story telling.

There were also bouncy houses and a shave ice place.  I think it was also a special prices day in the store this was in front of, but I didn't go see what was for sale.  WHAT?  Yes, folks.  Have you ever tried to get a kid away from the play area?

UNO

William loves playing UNO.  He got a set of Thomas the Tank Engine UNO cards for Christmas, and he loves playing the game.  He's getting better at it, as well.

He's learning to lose with a little more grace than before.  That is a good thing.

Right now we are working on getting him to read all the books that were given to him from his Montessori preschool.  That list you see behind Tim is about done.  Then, we'll get a few more books from the library to read before we figure out what the reward will be.

Japanese Living

We got to help Bryan move into his digs.  It is a massive apartment complex.  It was neat.  I told him he had an Ikea kitchen.  It has a view of Mt. Fuji, when the weather is clear.  This was all we saw the day we were there.

On the way home, we passed a McDonalds.  William asked when we were going to go there.  I said, "When you're 18."  "But 4 plus 3 makes only 7!" was his reply.  I guess I'd better stop giving random answers to the boy.  He's gotten into the stage of the never-ending 'Why?' question.

Deep End Diver

William finally did it!  He is jumping in off of the diving board.  Okay, so you see he is well monitored, and the picture isn't the greatest, but he is now dunking, and loving swimming.  WOO HOO!  I'm sure he'll get to move on into the Level 1 class now.  

Crazy Hat Day

Monday was crazy hat day at William's school.  The next 2 weeks are their spirit week, so they have things like 'crazy socks day,' 'crazy clothes day,' 'pajama day.'  William piped up with, "When are they going to have 'naked day?'  I didn't tell him that for some people, pajama day IS naked day...

The military flights are back up and running, and the people are flooding in, as it is the beginning of permanent change of station season!  When ATA airlines went out of business, the military had to negotiate another contract with another airline to get everyone flown overseas.  There was a short lull in how many people were in the Navy Lodge.  Now, it's gotten crazy-busy.  There are a lot more teenagers who are running around.  Many are out of school for the year, as they only have to complete a certain number of days.  Most families try not to move until the kids have completed the school year.  So, you can imagine the noise level.  I don't think they were responsible for the fire alarms.  After the middle of the night (3rd one of the day), the fire guys were walking out with a smoke detector in hand.  Maybe it was the one that was malfunctioning and creating the chaos.

Sirens, Swimming, Sickness and Sanity

Yesterday morning at 6:50, the fire alarm went off.  William and I went out.  Last night, the fire alarm sounded at 9:30.  We were all asleep (I was the first to crash at 7:30).  We all went out to see the sleepwear fashion parade (you can see my guy's fashion in this photo of us having breakfast).  When it went off again at 2:30 in the morning, I went to see if there was any smell of smoke, and just ignored it.  I'm hoping they're going to fix whatever keeps setting off the alarm.  Basically, the fire guys come in with sirens blaring, walk in, look at the board, and re-set the board.  This can take 20 minutes from the time it starts until we're back in our beds.  Groan.

William had his first swim class here, and he jumped off the deep end!  Woo Hoo!  This is a big step for William.  He is finally deciding that dunking is okay.  His friends are in Level 1 or 2, and he's still in the preschool one because he won't voluntarily dunk.  I'm thinking that he will pass this time, and go on to level one.  WOO HOO!!!

He woke up this morning at 5 throwing up.  It was at 15 minute intervals until 8:45.  Then, it stopped, and he has been dancing around ever since (I'm thinking bad food...or pool water).  The cleaning lady took awhile to show up today.  She had to change his entire bed.  I kept a bowl and towel around, but misses happened.  His 'Thomas' blanket had to go through the wash along with his and my night clothes.  I gotta keep them clean in case there's another fashion show tonight. :)

While doing cut-throat laundry (get your stuff in the machine before the other person does), we met another kid 2 days William's junior.  His name is Aidan, and they've been tearing around here, having a blast.  We have enough 'toys' that it makes it nice.  4 year old boy toys.  I know this sounds bad, but I've never been happier that my load of laundry spun out quicker than the other lady's!  Gotta get this stuff done, ya know?  I felt bad the first month of staying here, and now I just want to get this stuff done!

As far as my sanity goes, I learned last night the date that we'll most likely be in the house.  The current occupants fly out the 20th.  Their pack-out is the 16th and 17th (of June) and then there's a clean-up day, etc.  It's my hope that we sign on the 19th, and get the keys on the 20th, and then get the big move-in on the 21st.  This way I'll have one month in the house before I come home on vacation!  Currently, Tim and I are working on getting a 2-week extension of our stay in the hotel, so that we can make it all work out.

The Japanese work Monday through Saturday.  I never knew that before.  It's nice because you can get things done on your Saturday.  However, don't try to get any serious shopping done on Sunday if you don't like lines.  It is crazy.  

Mother's Tea

William's Co-op Preschool class had a mother's tea.

Tim and I showed up, had cookies, and got the potted seedling, a card, and a placemat.  They also sang to us.  I had noticed that William had been careful NOT to sing this song around us.  It must've been because it was supposed to be a surprise.  Oh no... he can keep a secret from us!  Oh well.  We can keep secrets from him.

It was fun because Tim got to meet some of the other moms and dads that are out there.

There are only 10 more class days left before summer break.  William misses the cut-off age for summer camps, because he isn't 5, yet.  So, I am glad William and I are headed home for a few weeks this summer.  Tim will have to hold down camp here.

We did get news that we're going to have to wait a bit more for the house that we want.  We'll certainly be setting a few records for staying at the Navy Lodge!  Hey, someone has to hold that record!!!   I think I need to have a T-shirt made that says how long we've stayed here.  I did hear one of the volunteers that sit in the lobby and greet new folks say the other day, "Is she STILL here?!?"  Yep!

So, I was a bit depressed, as I truly am ready to be in my own home with my own items!  Tim and I were talking, and if we do the whole time here in the lodge that we can, and we only spend 3 years here, that we will have spent 10% of our time in a hotel!  Yes, we are almost 10% through our obligation here!  Time has flown, hasn't it?  I told Tim that we need to write down the places we want to go and see here in Japan, because the time will fly by, and if we want to go see these things, we'll have to start now!

BTW, we are going to Disneyland on Memorial Day.  It's nice having an American holiday that doesn't coincide with Japanese ones.  We got on the bus.  Someone told me about it.  I thought she already had tickets.  Turns out, she was on the waiting list.  I showed up the afternoon that the waiting list people who had been called weren't showing up to pay.  So, the lady said, "They have until 6 to come in and pay.  If they don't, we release the tickets.  So, if you're here on Thursday morning, you might get lucky."  I did!  So, I know if I'm on a waiting list, and don't get called, that I can sneak in at the last second and see if the one who did get called came and paid!  

We went to see 'Horton Hears a Who.'  There might not be the most recent first runs here, but the tickets for all of us were $8, and 3 sodas (and we could get small and medium that were appropriately sized), popcorn and 2 candies were $8.75.  Now, THAT'S a deal!!!  

So, that is our lives.  Lots of play time for William.  Not a lot of excitement... just a lot of waiting!

Balance

Well, it has been awhile since I've posted.

For awhile, our internet was so flaky that I was losing what I'd typed on things, and it was annoying.  Then I became just lazy.

We have a wonderful family across from us at the lodge.  Their son is 7, and is like a perfect older brother to William.  The age difference happens to be large enough that sometimes they don't always play together, but they do seem to enjoy each other, and especially each other's toys.  They both like to run and have fun, and keep each other occupied.  Life is good.

On the playground by the lodge, there is a teeter-totter, and they love to get it balanced just right between them. 

It has turned rainy here.  My car needed new windshield wipers.  That turned out to be an ordeal, as the places here kept telling us we had to go to the Mercedes dealership.  I was about to make the trek, but Tim kept saying something about standardization, and was able to find wipers that would fit, but were too long, so he had to cut them off.  He said cutting the steal was an ordeal, but they work!

He also got me a navigation system for Mother's Day.  It is a GPS that speaks to you in English, and you get directions for where to drive in Japan.  Sometimes, when the signs are in kanji, this is good.  And, well, there's just the whole, "Where the heck am I?" thing going on, and the language barrier to asking directions.  I'm delighted to have it.  We can also use it in other cars, so when we rent a car (for larger visiting groups, hint, hint) or use Tim's car, we can use it to it's full potential.  

I had the most relaxing mother's day.  I didn't do a thing.  I read a mystery book by one of my favorite authors (J.A. Jance).  I even got a gift from William.  He kept quiet while I took a nap.  Ahh... that is LIFE!!!  He gave me a card and a pot with a small seed sprouting in it.  Once we watered it, the seedling is no longer visible.  It will grow!

Tim went to Tokyo with 2 guys from work.  He needed to buy the navigation system, and it was the electronics district.  Might as well take 2 engineers along with him.  I had more fun just relaxing!

minor earth quake

Just in case they report it on the news, we had a big enough earthquake to wake me up from my sleep.  A little rock and rolling, and then I woke up Tim.  It lasted quite awhile.  I'm sorry to say it was only a 2 where we were.  Tim and I were guessing 3.  Tokyo was closer to the epicenter, and felt 3.

We are fine.  William never woke up.  Both Tim and I got back to sleep!

Shopping Trip

 Yesterday I had a successful trip off base, to a store, got groceries, and got back in plenty of time to pick up William from pre-school.

What I love about the stores here is that most of them have their parking on the roof.  Space is at a premium, and therefore it's best to utilize it to its maximum potential.  Although it makes me realize that in an event of an earthquake, it would be the best to get the heck out of the building!

Not being able to read the labels reminds me of the Korean immigrant story.  They'd come to the US, and went to the store to find something to eat.  They'd purchased a can of chicken and brought it back to their hotel.  When they opened it, they found white lard inside.  For those of you too young to remember life before trans fats, Crisco is a solidified fat that you used for pie crusts and frying chicken in.  The can had a picture of perfectly fried chicken on the outside.

I guess what things are by what section they are in.  Japanese don't have as many cheese or milk products as we do.  But, if something is in the milk section, I'm pretty sure it's milk or soy based.  The packaging can be so different, that you're unsure if it's a yogurt, or a sour cream, or something that has gone bad.  And I can't read the kanji!

Occasionally, there is something in Katakana or hirigana on the packaging at the store, and I am able to decipher it.  Well, I can say the

 word, I might not know what it means.  The top sign is in Katakana, bah-bay-kee-ya---kanji, and the bottom says koe-ah-rah-bah-su.. you can understand the bus part of that.  Katakana is a way of writing the Japanese alphabet that is different than their native hiriganas (see the slide sign in the middle? sue-bay-ree-dah-ee).  Usually, it is used when writing foreign words.  Kanji characters are the Chinese form of writing.

I've decided that when there are two fruits that are the same, the higher priced one with a lot of kanji by it, is the organic version.  Maybe it just says, 'Grown in Japan.'  

I hear a lot of cross-talk about the genetically engineered produce here.  I don't have any strong feelings against it.  I figure that we have to do something special to catch our production up to feed the billions of people infesting the earth.

On base, the price of rice is 1/3 of what it is on the economy.  I just received an email that they would limit rice sales here at the commissary.  I've seen no empty shelves.

I saw something on Japanese television you wouldn't see in the states.  It had an ad for a small rice planting tractor!  Or at least, that is what I think it was.  I don't know, it could have been an ad for chicken meat.

The Penny Situation

William loves money.  He loves to play with it (see pic).  He loves to count it and do math with it.  Most of all, he loves to buy things in vending machines with it.  There are vending machines everywhere in Japan.  It's nice, because you can buy a cool drink anywhere when you need it.  

His favorite drink is Qoo.  I think it's a green apple, or melon flavor.  

Tim usually has change in his pockets, and William loves to claim some of them as his own.  He has quite a few yen.  Yen are worth about a penny, and are really light.  

We don't use pennies over here.  On base, they primarily use American currency.  But, they round up or down to the nearest 5 or 10.

I have a friend who is convinced that they are ripping us off.  She calls it the 'Penny Situation' and insists that somehow they are getting the better end of the deal.  Actually, she's got the funniest rant about it.

I am remembering the death of the centime in France.  Basically, France, before they went Euro, realized it was pointless to have centimes (at the time, I think it was valued at less than a cent).  So, shopping totals were rounded either up or down, to the nearest 5 or 10.  The 5 centime coin as the lowest denomination.  It worked in your favor as much as it worked against.  

The only thing I've noticed here, is that if something would ring up to $5.02, you HAVE to give them at least $5.05 for them to ring you up and finish the transaction.  They will GIVE YOU BACK the .05 (because it rounds down), but they seem to think that they need it in their hands in order to put that sum into the cash register.

For me, THAT is the 'Penny Situation.'   Hello?  Put $5.05 in as the cash I've given you, and it will round it down to the $5 I've handed you.  I have actually had to pull out a $20.00 to buy something that was $5.02.  My $5 bill wasn't good enough, she wouldn't ring it up.  Of course, I got $15 back.

Sometimes, as I wait in long lines at the NEX, I wonder if we're being held up as each poor fool who is buying something is being made to come up with that additional .05 before they'll ring them up, then has to take the time to re-pocket that same .05.  I am considering starting a nickel dish here, kind of like the penny dishes you see at mini-marts back home.  But this one needs only ONE nickel.  

Children's Day

Kodomo no hi is Children's Day in Japan.  May 5, or 5/5, originally known as 'boy day.'  

In Japan, they put up koinobori to show how many boys are in the house.

A friend tells me (I don't know her source, so I don't know if it's true) that you put up a

 black large koi (carp fish) for the dad, and the first boy is a red koi.

When we were by the zoo in Yokohama, they

 had many huge ones hung out over the valley.  They were spectacular.  I got us a small one at the 100 Yen Store (a buck) that we have in our hotel room.

Tim went out with guys from back home last night.  I think he enjoyed having some fun without us tagging along.  I am a bit concerned, as he chose to go to a karaoke place.  Charlie's is the place to hang out.  He came back smelling like smoke.  That is one thing about Japan that I don't like.  Smoking is everywhere.  I hate it at the restaurants.  I want to have clean air!!!

William broke my nose the other night.  He was ultra mad at -whatever- and we were trying to ignore the fuss.  He finally sought me out, and I was trying to talk him through the reason and the logic that only HE wasn't getting what he wanted because he was having a fuss.  Then he head butted me.  

I hit the floor, and William looked like Mel Gibson in all the movies where he head butts someone.  Didn't faze him in the least.

I heard the loud pop, and knew it was bad.  It even knocked loose some teeth.  Today I could brush my teeth and even eat a bit without being in dire pain.  The septum is definitely compromised.  William has been reminded several times that mom is not happy about this.  I know he didn't mean to, but that is little solace when I'm in pain.  

Kannonzaki Park

Yesterday was one of those glorious spring days.  It was sunny and warm, but not too warm!

I ran into a friend who said, "Let's go to Kannonzaki Park!"  I couldn't say 'yes' fast enough!

She had told us about this place, but when we ventured out there, it wasn't clear to me which way to go to get to the long roller slide in the woods.  Having a guided expedition was like a dream come true!

She packed us lunch, and we were off on an adventure.  It was a trek up the hill, but it was so worth it!  By the slide is this wonderful boat structure to play on.  William was so torn.  He loved the slide (it was really fast) but he also wanted to play on this boat!  

Best of all, he had a buddy along to play with.  At one point, we were at a different play structure in this huge park, and they were holding onto a rail and walking on a little thicker rail.  Below was a rope net, in case any kid fell, but they were way up there.  At the end, there is a long step-over to the platform (this would never be allowed in the states, there were many places a kid could fall through and down) and I heard Josh say something like 'this is scary.'  William rejoined with, "I'm scared, too," and proceeded to follow him onto the platform.  

If you'd like to see the whole park, go to this link with the slide at the end.  

It was one of those perfect days, where the kids only whine a bit when leaving, because they are so pooped out from all the hiking, climbing, sliding and FUN.