Babymoon

We decided to get away to celebrate our anniversary (a little early) and enjoy one last vacation as a family of two. Even though the baby is due in October, Shane will be going back out to sea soon and we won't have another opportunity before the baby is born so we jumped at our chance. Since it's still cold here - in the 40s when we left and even now it's only highs in the 50s - we decided to go for a tropical destination that's only 4 hours away by plane...Guam!

The first day of vacation was a little rough to say the least - we missed our train to the airport by 3 minutes which resulted in us missing our flight! Fortunately we were able to get on another flight (after paying a ridiculous amount of money of course) but had about 8 hours to kill at the airport. The one highlight of the day was that Shane LOVED the cut and shave he got at the airport!

Definitely worth the wait...taking advantage of the infinity pool with an amazing ocean view.

Guam has the world's largest Kmart and though we didn't buy much I was VEERRRRY excited about the ICEE!!! I did hit a maternity clothes jackpot at Ross and Motherhood which I'm realizing I will be wearing MUCH sooner than I expected! (Two important reminders: #1. there are NO ICEES in Japan #2. I don't really shop for normal clothes in Japan so the thought of shopping for maternity clothes sends chills down my spine!)

Anniversary dinner at Roy's - so yummy!!!!

View from our balcony!

Just goofing around

An awesome little cove we found away from the touristy area. Decided to take an impromptu swim and snorkeling pit stop.

Okay, so I've seen plenty of chickens and pigs in my life but this was the first time I've needed to wait on them to get into a parking lot for a tourist attraction. Can you imagine waiting on pigs to go to Disney?

Talofofo Falls

Slightly scary suspension bridge - especially when Shane started shaking it!

All smiles!

Shane relaxing in the waterfall!

Since I'm not allowed to scuba dive while pregnant we took FULL advantage of snorkeling! It was so great being in the water even if it was only on the surface.

I just can't explain the feeling of relaxation I get in the ocean...

and it's soooo wonderful that I get to share it with the best guy in the world!!

Since Guam is one of the places we could potentially be stationed, we felt it was important to see the Navy base. From this perspective I'd say it's a pretty good base! ;)

Last but not least for those patient enough to hang to the end...this is my 14 week belly photo! At that point I hadn't gained any weight (don't worry I'm making up for it now) but the pooch is definitely beginning to show!

Fun in Hakone

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!! I realize it's a little late since it's already December, but Shane made it home a few days before Thanksgiving and I haven't had a chance to post. Since Shane was gone for the holidays last year we were extremely thankful for just being together on Thanksgiving! We definitely missed being with family but made the best of it by spending it with friends! It's interesting to celebrate Thanksgiving here since it's a 100% American holiday. It's strange because outside it was just another day, but inside our house it still felt like Thanksgiving. I can't fully explain it, but I guess it was just one of those days that I felt very American, and very thankful to look at the US from an outside perspective and still be incredibly proud. So, in addition to my family and friends, the yummy turkey, green bean casserole and pecan pie - I am also thankful for being an American!

Shane was off Thanksgiving weekend (yay!), so we decided to spend the weekend in Hakone. It's a cute little town near Mt. Fuji (about 2 hours from Yokosuka by train) tucked in the mountains with tons of trees and beautiful views. It was the perfect time to visit as the trees were changing colors for fall. We had a fantastic time and some much needed relaxation for Shane after a long deployment!

Beautiful Lake Ashi - on a clear day you can see Mt. Fuji just behind us over the mountains. See the red torii gate in the water? The torii led to the shrine pictured above, and we really enjoyed walking through the forest between the two on a perfect autumn day.

Meals can be pretty interesting in new places here - we went to several restaurants before we found an English menu! Actually, the restaurant from the left pic only had a Japanese menu, but they had a window display and we brought our waitress outside and pointed! The food was excellent - I think we could live on Japanese curry!! Oishii des! (delicious!) Oh and the bulldog sauce in the picture tastes just like A1! On the right was our huge meal from a chinese restaurant that we stumbled upon and absolutely LOVED! Shrimp in chili sauce, fried rice, egg drop soup, pork dumplings and beer! We were extremely relieved to find it because the area we were staying in basically shuts down in the evening and we were beginning to doubt if we would get any dinner!

One of my least favorite (but funniest) parts of the trip...Owakudani is an area we reached by cable car that has hiking, steam vents, and sulfurous fumes. Let me repeat sulfurous fumes that are by far the grossest, overpowering smell that I have ever encountered! (The sulfur fumes in Hawaii didn't even come close to this horrid smell!) Apparently the big draw to this particular spot is the black eggs - they put normal eggs in the naturally boiling sulfur water and it turns them black. The sign on left says "Danger: 80 degrees celsius of temperature of the pond" which is 176 farenheit! They say that eating a black egg will add 7 years to your life. The little boy above might gain those years, but we will not get that benefit! The fumes reminded me waaayyy too much of a ROTTEN egg which prevented me from eating ANYTHING much less an EGG!!

Hakone is known for amazing onsens (Japanese natural hot springs). The minerals in the water are suppose to be very relaxing and have healing qualities - but the rules are a bit different than a spa in the states. Men and women are separate, you must shower first (and not just a bird bath - soap, shampoo, the works), oh and then of course clothes and tattoos are STRICTLY prohibited! I was not thrilled about the nudity and Shane has tattoos so we were beginning to think we would have to skip this Japanese experience. When we got to the hotel and asked about his tattoo they said it was okay! We dressed in our yukata (robes) and slippers (that were probably half the size of Shane's foot) and off we went! Our hotel had both indoor and outdoor onsen for men and women with beautiful garden views and luckily there weren't many people! It was a lot like a mineral bath and very refreshing sitting in the warm water with the crisp air outside!

See the resemblance? Goofing off at the Hakone Open Air Museum.

We decided to go with a very Japanese lunch...hot dogos! :)

Mmmmm coffee!!

One last story (that's completely unrelated to these pictures): we were on our way home on the train and saw a guy sleeping. We've realized sleeping on the train is pretty normal, but the unusual thing about this guy is that he was standing!!! Okay he was leaning I guess, but trains are not the most stable and it's pretty necessary to hold on to something otherwise you can go flying. Not only was he not holding on, he was in a head bobbing, shoulder slumping sleep...to the point that he hit his head on a bar...repeatedly! I really wish I could have recorded it, but we were laughing wayyy too hard to get away with recording it without being noticed. The best part is the guy woke up right on time, rubbed his head, and got off at his stop! Have I mentioned that I LOVE Japan?!

Hong Kong 10/28-11/2/09

Another incredible experience in Asia - Hong Kong! The USS GEORGE WASHINGTON had a port call in Hong Kong so I flew over to meet Shane for a few days! It was nice not only for the experience, but it also broke up the time that we have been apart. Since we arrived in Japan five months ago (can't believe it's been that long!), Shane has only been home for six weeks of it! So it was really nice that this trip (like Singapore) has allowed us to see each other at least once a month. Fortunately he's coming home soon and will be around for a while! Anyway, back to Hong Kong! I snapped the picture above when I took my first step outside our hotel and it's very representative of Hong Kong...crowded, shops on ground level, apartments above, and crazy signs that I can't read!

See the resemblance? This is the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island and yes it IS giant! It's the largest seated Buddha in the world - made of bronze and 26 meters (85 feet) tall - an incredible sight to see!

At Po Lin Monastary, Shane fought the dragon and the dragon won! We had a vegetarian lunch here that we were both a little skeptical about but it was actually really good - noodles and spring rolls were yummy! Dessert was interesting - chewy, dough balls of different flavors - we had one with bean curd, one covered in sesame seeds that's filling reminded me of dirt, and one with sugar and coconut.

Even though we didn't do anything to celebrate, I was happy to find that Hong Kong is into Halloween!! It was fun to see all their decorations. This was my favorite - it was in the mall by our hotel in Kowloon - a huge Pacman haunted house!!

A picture at the Golden Buddha in Wan Chai. HK is different from Japan in a lot of ways, some I expected and some that I didn't. I had a hard time with what I viewed as a lack of consideration for others. In the states and Japan people are generally pretty considerate with strangers - they wait their turn in line, try not to stare, try to walk with the flow of pedestrian traffic, and will generally try to make you feel comfortable...so it seemed a little chaotic at times when things didn't go as I expected. Looking back on it, I realize the things I was bothered by weren't intentional or personal - just different, which took me out of my comfort zone. It's one of the things I'm continuing to learn during our time overseas - it's THEIR culture, not mine which means I'M the one who has to adapt!

It was incredible seeing you Emily!!! For those who don't know, Emily is from east Texas too. Her Mom cut mine and Shane's hair for years (and still does when we go home sometimes!) It was incredible to connect with someone from back home and to share stories about our crazy overseas adventures!! Emily gave us a unique opportunity while we were there - a day in the life of a "local". We went to church with her, had a traditional Chinese meal (complete with yummy Dim Sum!), and then she gave us a walking tour around her area. I can't say thank you enough for such an amazing experience and hope we'll be able to return the favor one day!!

Construction was pretty interesting...this wasn't the only bamboo scaffolding I saw while we were there. Actually, I never saw any that WASN'T bamboo! On the right: hundreds of GOLDFISH!!! I've never seen so many in my life! The Goldfish Market was exactly as advertised...shop after shop with thousands of goldfish. I have no idea what they do with all of them - I can't imagine that they actually sell mass quantities, but who knows! We went to several markets while we were there and I even learned to haggle. Shane was a trooper and survived the Jade market with me, but after that we were both done with markets!

Since Shane was gone for his birthday, we decided to celebrate early in Hong Kong. His choice - an incredible steakhouse (surprise, surprise). This place was unique because you pick the steak, salt, mustard, wine, and steak knife from different countries around the world. A wonderful meal for a wonderful man! I love you Shane!!

If you'd like to see ALL of the pictures from our trip, click here.

Happy Culture Day

Today is Culture Day in Japan. A national holiday established in 1948 to commemorate the November 3, 1946 announcement of the Constitution. It is recognized as a day to celebrate peace and freedom and promote culture. Sadly the only culture I got today was from the comfort of our house! I just made it back from Hong Kong last night though - Shane's ship pulled in there for a few days so I flew out to meet him! It was an amazing trip and since he's been gone for the last 3 weeks it was nice just getting to see him! I will post more about Hong Kong (with pictures) soon, but I'll just say we got a heaping spoonful of culture while we were there!

Shane's out with the ship again now and I'm back in Japan...doing fun stuff like laundry and trying to figure out the most effective use of our heaters since it's C-O-L-D!!! There was sleet last night as I was walking home from the train, SLEET!! Oh and yes, of course I forgot my umbrella, ouch! Sooo, in addition to doing laundry today I made it a priority to dig out every piece of winter clothing I own. Yay for wool socks and sweaters!!!

Since I didn't get a chance to write on the 31st - I hope you all had a great Halloween and have a wonderful Culture Day!!!