Beautiful Japan

We TRULY have fallen in love with this country. Living on base surrounded by awesome military families has helped, too. But this place is exquisite. We are in the North and have snow covered mountain ranges all around us. There are evergreens everywhere, dense forests, and amazing sushi and food. The Japanese here love the Americans so much. Misawa City is a sweet, crowded yet rural town.

Every trip off base is an adventure - there are so many Ramen and sushi restaurants! Our favorite is Kappa Sushi where you order your choice on a computer at your table, the sushi is freshly made and it shoots out on a little train and arrives at your table. We love that!

Since being here, I have acquired a mamasan - she comes once a week (or more if needed) to clean our house, teach our children Japanese, babysit and cook should we need it. It is amazing and I was so excited to find her.

Noah has made his lifelong BFF in Aaron, they live down the street and both of our families have fallen in love with the other. It is so sweet how our children love each other and how us parents love the other's children. Noah's had about 6 spend the night parties and they have become brothers. It is so fun watching your babies meet their first best friend.

Dan's job is super busy - but as a commander, he is doing a fabulous job. The troops and leadership love him and I am really proud.

We have had about 5 snowstorms already and they have rid the trees of the final beautiful colors Japan had to offer. We are all decorated for Christmas and can't wait to spend the holidays with our new Misawa family. This is far different than being at home - which we really miss - but new experiences are fun and exciting too. Plus we get the advantage of starting our own traditions as a little family of four.

Noah is loving his Taiko drum classes. He goes each Tuesday and is really into it which is great. We are still waiting on him to get off of the waiting list and into his preschool. He and Elly go to a sitter several hours a day so I can get some work done but he's desperate to get back into the routine of school; as am I..... I am expecting a call anyday that he's off of the list but every day waiting is still agonizing.

We had the privilege of having Trace Adkins come perform on a USO tour. Not many people make it up this far north so for him to make that effort spoke volumes about his patriotism. My friend, Denise (Aaron's mom), is the Squadron Commander for the unit that helped get him here. He performed in an aircraft hangar and we were on the front row. I'm not a huge fan of his music but having him here was a big morale booster for the troops. Afterwards, Denise took us back and we got to spend some time with him before he left for his quarters. It was great.