We Are Marshall

Today we all made a trip out to this store we had heard about called Nitori. It was an adventure to find it but we made an afternoon of it. The store is much like an Ikea/Bed Bath and Beyond. Just a little side note to Courtney...I am searching out all the great shopping places. :) But Jackson was in rare form and wanted to run, run, run everywhere. That is one of his new favorite things he will yell "run, run, run" and just take off. He also loves to touch everything in the store. Steve says that he gets that from his mama. We were looking at curtains and Jackson wanted to touch them and hide behind them. Steve told him not to touch them anymore and to use his eyes. He about rolled on the floor when he leaned into the curtain and batted his eyelashes onto the curtain. I wish I had had the video camera with us so I could have captured it but I will have to get him to re-enact it.

As I sit here in the Internet cafe I see tired people walking into the newcomers briefing that is held every Wednesday. We were lucky to arrive on Monday evening and have the briefing a day later because that is when you take the test to get your license. (Don't worry Courtney and Ian it is super easy they go over everything in the brief and let you know all the answers.) The only thing that is difficult is once you hit the road. But you have to have a license before they will let you buy a car. But let me start from the beginning....it is going to be long with lots of pictures but I promised to keep you all up to date with us.

The View!

We left the states on the 5th of July after a short but great weekend with both sets of Grandparents in Washington D.C. We were able to go to Fort Meyer to watch the fireworks. This is where we use to go when we were kids to watch them when we lived in DC . It was so great to take Jackson to somewhere that is in my history. He LOVED the fireworks or as he would say the boom, boom, boom! He is still talking about the boom, boom, boom, lights, lights, clap, clap, clap, un, un, un (Fun). Follows that with Bubba and if you ask him who else was there he will go on to list hunna, da da, ma ma, ga pa, gan ma.

Clap, clap, clap

Where did the fireworks go?

The flight from the states was so much easier than I ever thought that it would be. It was a very long travel day but Jackson was excellent and didn't have any melt downs. He slept a lot on the plane and woke up when it was time to eat. He also liked when we would walk him up and down the aisle and to the galley. He made a friend on the plane and since then when he sees kids or someone his size he yells "friend" or "end". We took off at 12:50 pm DC time and landed in Naha, Okinawa at 8:30 pm on the 6th of July. We were met by our sponsor, his wife, and Steve's friend Mackie.

The luggage

With Honey's backpack that holds the cars.

We went that evening to our hotel (TLF) and slept until about 4 am. We were up bright and early and walked around the base to see what there was to see. We went to see the cars on the lemon lot and found the BX and Commissary. We took it easy that day and slept and got our cell phones. On Wednesday we went to the newcomers briefing and got our SOFA license so we were legal to drive. Thursday we went to a housing meeting and went looking for a house. We wanted to live off base so the Realtors started calling. We saw 8 house/apartments on Thursday and 2 on Friday. We were able to fall in love with a house on Friday and sign a lease.

I am very excited about our house. We are one block from the sea wall and the water. This is what the Sea Wall looks like.

This is the view from the Sea Wall. It is going to be a great house for us. There is a lot to do in our neighborhood and a park one block from the house.

We are in the Miyagi neighborhood near the Sunabe Sea Wall.

The front of the house.

The front door on the side of the house!

The laundry room with our Japanese dryer. This is on the first floor.

The Foyer you can see part of the front door to the left. This is looking in from the garage.

The second floor with the living room and the kitchen.

My kitchen. Very American!

Looking at the living room from the kitchen.

The half bath on the second floor.

Master Bedroom on 3rd floor

Master Bath

Jackson's room also on the third floor!

Guest Bath outside Jackson's room....I love the footed tub!

The guest room on the fourth floor. We have lots of room for company so come on over!

Fourth floor this will be a play room it on the back side of the house.

Saturday we received the keys to our house and did a lot of exploring. We also walked out to the sea wall and Steve was able to snorkel with Mackie and his family while Jackson and I walked around the rocky low tide area.

Low Tide at the Sea Wall.

Jackson and Daddy on the Sea Wall

Jackson's favorite part was seeing the blue fish. Mackie's wife invited us all back to her house and the boys stayed at the house and cooked out while I was able to attend a girls night out with her. It was fun to meet other wives here on island.

Sunday we did some more exploring and went to some Japanese furniture stores and moved a lot of our suitcases from the TLF to the house. We went to bed early that night because the movers were coming on Monday. Monday we were able to sign for our car that we bought over the weekend.

After buying the car we ran over to the house and the movers were there to move all of our furniture in. Although some of our stuff of broken or damage most of it made it in good condition. We are excited to get to go shopping for the things that we have to replace. Monday night was our first night in our new house and Jackson's first night in his big boy bed. We decided that we don't need to reintroduce the crib since he hasn't been in it since January. We converted it into a toddler bed but right now the room is not safe for him due to all the boxes so his mattress in on the floor of our room. He is doing great and loves the big boy bed.

Yesterday we went to the Marine base, Camp Foster, and bought snorkel equipment for me so I am very excited to get out into the water and do a little ocean exploring. Steve use to do a lot of snorkeling and scuba diving so he is excited to take me out and do some of it. So that brings us to today. I am here updating all of you and doing a lot of unpacking. It is a lot slower than it was in the past with Jackson under foot. But I would not have it any other way.

An update on Jackson. Jackson is going well. He is adjusting to life here. He adjusted to sleep much better than Steve and I did and faster. He is back on a great sleep schedule. He is still unsure about the move I think. He has 2 sleeping buddies, bear and dog, and they use to be just that, sleeping buddies. Right now he is needing to carry them where ever we go. When he gets upset he will yell for them and is a bit more snugly than he use to be.

He is so chatty right now. He will repeat anything and he is very big into telling stories. Stories as is in if Steve and Jackson do something and they come to tell me about it Jackson will tell me the major details. Sometimes he needs a little coaxing. His favorite stories about the boom, boom, booms with Bubba and the drive, drive, drive with ga pa! He loves all the stairs that we have in the house and he loves to be outside and riding his bike. We took him on his first bike ride on his trike last night. I didn't get a picture yet but I will get one soon.