Happy 4th From Japan

We've been spending most of our time getting our house organized and set up.  The 4th for me was mostly about hooking up our entertainment system and getting started on the office.  We did take some time to head to base for the 4th of July festivities.  It does feel a bit different here with nobody shooting off fireworks around town and us being in the minority for celebrating.  But the base puts on a good festival with bands playing, bouncy rooms, and a paintball shooting range.  They even put together a military record for the longest Yakitori (barbecued chicken on a stick).  

Afterwards they had a pretty impressive fireworks display considering the small crowd.  One nice thing here is that since they don't have daylight savings time and we are farther south than Bremerton, it gets dark by 8:00 PM, so the fireworks ran from 8:00 to 8:30 and they started right on time in good Navy fashion.  So, we got William back home and in bed not too long after his bed time.  In the video William looks behind us as the fireworks go off.  There are a lot of tall apartment buildings behind us and the sound is reflecting off of them making it sound like there were fireworks behind us as well.

All in all, it was a very pleasant 4th of July for us.  Not too crowded and hectic, but a nice reminder of home.