Japan to Oklahoma to Korea.... The ramblings of an Army wife.

Several family members and friends mentioned that they enjoyed reading my blog adventures from Japan and so this is for you! Since the last blog post I have been very busy. You know just popping out two babies in Japan, moving to Oklahoma and then moving again to Korea. (South Korea obviously)
We loved our time in Japan and definitely made the most of it. We had several trips to ski resorts, Tokyo, and nearby castles. Yes, Japan has castles.  I won't post all about it here because, well, that's not what I want to talk about.
I want to talk about what happens when you live somewhere for 3 whole years and then have to move to the worst place on the planet. (opinion, not fact. Sorry Oklahoma, you just weren't my cup of tea.)
We had great friends in Japan. Like actual real life couple friends. For the first time since being married we had friends. Friends that you could call in the middle of the night to come sleep on your couch while you went to the ER with your sick kid. Friends that would call you in the middle of the night because they had bad news from home and needed a friend to talk to. Friends that would walk in your door without knocking wearing pajamas and slippers because they knew you would also be in pajamas. At 3 in the afternoon. Yes, I am talking about those kind of friends. The ones that stick with you forever. The ones that make you mad at the Army for taking you away too soon. The ones that you cry over because you had to leave and they got to stay. Do you get the picture?
So here I am in Oklahoma, a place I didn't really want to be to begin with, crying my eyes out because it hurts to make friends. I shut people out because I didn't want to go through that kind of heartbreak again. And you know what? That sucked! (I'm not crying..... you're crying) I am here to testify to you that taking time to make friend is IMPORTANT! It hurts and it sucks when you have to leave those friends, but it makes each move possible. I was completely miserable in Oklahoma so when the surprise orders to Korea came I was overjoyed! To be back in a somewhat familiar country with friends only a 3 hour flight away sounded like a dream! We jumped at the opportunity and now here we are in Korea. I am happier than I have been in a while, but what about my kids? Are they happy? Did they shut themselves out so they wouldn't have any broken connections in Oklahoma? No. They are more resilient than their mother. They made friends, they adjusted, they were happy! What about now? Are they happy now? Well most of them are. In fact 75% of them are happy and have friends. So I should just run with the statistics that the majority are happy and we are good, right? If we were talking about goldfish instead of children I would say yes. But these are actual human beings that I have to live with every day.
The Army never tells you that your child is going to have a hard time adjusting. They tell you how to help them adjust. They don't tell you those methods aren't going to work for some kids. My heart aches for my oldest. He has had a really hard time making friends, he is awkward and a little chubby. (my husband assures me that he will hit a growth spurt and stretch it all out) He comes home from school moody and angry. He says that he doesn't fit in with the cool kids. My heart goes out to him because we all know I wasn't the cool kid either. I am not athletic, I was in orchestra though no great talent their either. I didn't feel like I was cute, or confident. I feel for him, I really do. But when he insists on wearing clothes that are too small ( he has plenty that fit) and then gets made fun of because his belly showed every time he raised his hand, I have little patience for him. Yesterday was pajama day. He doesn't wear pajamas at home so we don't buy him more than a pair a year. You know the ones. The obligatory Christmas gift pajamas. Well its almost November now so those ones that fit him last year, don't fit him so well now. He came home in tears. Then this morning what does he do? He puts on a shirt that is too small and won't change it. You can see why my patience is lacking. I don't know what to do for him yet. I am open to suggestions. And yes this was rather rambling, but it is what has been on my mind. So go out there and make a friend today!

Summer Festivals, Typhoons, T-Ball, and Puppy Dogs

This summer we tried to go and do as much as we could whenever Randy had days off. Japan has a ton of festivals all summer long and we were able to go to quite a few of them. This festival was right outside the main gate and took over the main street. I don't remember what it was called, but it was fun.

Over the summer we had a few typhoons come through the area. They weren't big by the time they got to us, they just dumped a whole ton of rain. One came through on the day of an air show on base. It was rainy enough that they cancelled the main flights. Maybe next year I will have great pictures of the air show, but for now I just have a picture of the boys getting wet in the rain.

During one of the typhoons we decided to go to the mall. It wasn't a bad idea until when we came out of the mall our car was almost flooded. The parking lot apparently has no drainage or at least not adequate for a typhoon and the water was almost up to the bottom of our doors. We were barely able to get in the car without filling it up with water. When we got home we let the dog out in the backyard and saw a small pond in our backyard. We don't usually have waterfront property but that day we did!

This was also the first year we signed Carson up for T-Ball. We would have done soccer but we got here too late to sign him up for that. He really enjoyed T-Ball and his coach was great! He liked learning about the game and had a great time playing with kids his age. Not his size, but his age. On the first day the coach asked them what the most important thing about T-Ball was and Carson said it was to throw and catch. His coach liked that answer but obviously the right answer was to have fun. Carson learned the names of the bases too. 1st, next, last and home. He didn't understand when we told him to go to 2nd or 3rd base, but he did understand next and last. He is always opening our eyes to the weirdness of the English language. 

In August we finally got a dog. We named her Daisy and she is 1/2 Golden Retriever and 1/4 Great Pyrenees and 1/4 Cocker Spaniel. So in other words she is a hairy mess. 

In September Carson started preschool. He got into a great program that is offered for people overseas and it is an all day preschool that is free and provides food and obviously education. He is having fun and you can tell how excited he was on his first day. 

Morioka Zoo

In July we took a day trip to the nearest large zoo in Morioka. Morioka is about 2 1/2 hours away and the kids were troopers on the long drive. I enjoyed the Japanese scenery and the occasional volcano popping out from around the bend.

The zoo was kind of small but it had the big animals that the kids like to see. You know, elephants, lions, zebras, and giraffes. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the animals but Japan has some obsession with face cut outs for pictures so I took a bunch of those pictures. The boys got to ride ponies and they held bunnies at the petting zoo area. 

We thought we wore them out with the long drive and the playing around at the zoo, but they stayed awake all the way home too! When the weather warms up again we will definitely be going again!

Beaches, Bikes and Babies

Does this post surprise anybody? I didn't think so. It was only a matter of time before I got pregnant. We knew we were planning on having a baby in Japan and I knew that I didn't want to be pregnant on a 10 hour flight. We were in Japan for only a matter of weeks before we found out we were expecting. I got the boys to sit still long enough to take these cute announcement pictures.

The boys were super excited to be expecting a baby brother or sister. Writing this, though I have already had the baby and I can tell you it is a boy. More on that later though. 

Once the weather warmed up the boys were able to enjoy their bikes that we brought with us. Dylan had to learn how to ride and Carson had to remember how to steer. We live on a street with a cul de sac at the end so they could just ride in circles all afternoon. 

One great thing about living in Japan is that it is an island and has lots of coastline. Unfortunately it isn't that warm where we live until August. We still went to the beach a few times for the summer. We took a short ride up to Sand Dollar Beach with some friends from church. It was a very foggy cold day, but the kids got in the water and swam anyways. We had just gotten a new puppy so we brought her along with us. Randy was working for the day so it was just Mom and the boys. We had a great time with our friends. 

Our puppy named Daisy

We took a drive to the beach in Hachinohe which is about 45 minutes away. It was a nice sunny day and we only took about 5 wrong turns. The highway isn't very well marked and just randomly turns without telling you to not go straight. Also the highway was more the size of an alleyway. 

Dylan fell asleep on the way home. 

We also have ventured to the beach right by the Misawa Port. It is the closest one to go swimming. The currents here are very strong so there is a barrier at the port to block some of the bigger waves and undertow. 

 

The base here also has a beach. It is on Lake Ogawara. It isn't our favorite place to go because there is no ocean breeze and it is kind of dirty and gross. We have ventured there a few times and I have some nice pictures so you get to hear about it!