Our new home!

Well, we have moved into our new home--a second floor 2 bedroom "apartment". Newly renovated with all brand new appliances....I think the only thing left from the original design is the bathtub that is almost waist deep. Long soak in the tub anyone? And the water heats up nicely and stays rather toasty for a good bit. JJ got out of the tub before the water got cold the other day! The dogs are getting accustomed to walking up and down a flight of stairs to go potty outside, and we don't have to worry about getting our trash and mandatory recycling out to the curb on certain days of the week....we just take it downstairs and put it in the appropriate bins whenever we get full in the kitchen. We are just over the hill from the flightline--in fact, if there wasn't a playground and trees in the way, we could see the flightline with ocean in the background from our balcony. JJ has a video tour of the house on his facebook page. We can't take many pictures around here for security reasons, but its nice to be able to go to the higher points of the base and see the ocean. No, we haven't made it out to enjoy a beach yet, but we have walked along the seawall at night a couple times, and I can smell the ocean every time I step outside, especially in the evening and morning when its a little cooler.

We are still trying to sort everything out with the car accident from a week and a half before we left AR, and the repairs are completed on our car, now we just have to get the deductible paid so Cheryl can pick it up and get it to a storage facility for the next few years. At least we'll have a car when we get back....

JJ started work Saturday night. He'll be on nights for 3 weeks training with a guy who is getting ready to head back stateside after 6 years, so he's learning the ropes in a 3-week cram session during the "busy season". We are enjoying church and love our branch, we've made so many new friends, and the kids are great. This last weekend I got to participate in a Kimono/Yukata and Bento class as part of the cultural exchange between the military branches and the local wards. We learned how to put together a Bento, which is basically a lunchbox meal here in Japan, and many women spend around half an hour each morning making them for their families. When done right, they hold the right amount of food in the right proportions to make a well-balanced meal. JJ didn't take to the veggies so much, but he ate the rice and the meat. The trick is getting the correct box/divided plate/platter to make it in--its easier to adjust the portions of each element. And then make sure that there is a lot of color in it, not just rice, noodles, potatoes, apples, all one color, which makes it hard for JJ because color means veggies and fruits, but he's getting much better at eating them, so progress is being made!

I made a vegetarian meal for the first time for dinner tonight as we had one of JJ's friends from Little Rock over and he's vegetarian. It went over well--the friend liked it, and except for the green vegetables, JJ liked it--of course it helped that there was plenty of pasta and cheese!

Driving here isn't quite as bad as I had thought it might be, I've gotten the hang of it pretty well--on base at least. The real test will be when I drive off base to get places, but that might be a little longer in coming since the only place we absolutely have to leave the base to get to is church and the hospital (which, thankfully, we haven't needed yet!)

We miss everyone at home, but are settling in here nicely and somewhat easily. We love all you guys!