Sasebo Trip

On December 27th we rented a car from the base and traveled 350 kilometers south to the Navy base of Sasebo.  It was our first time leaving our island of Honshu.  Sasebo is on the island of Kyushu.

Renting the car gives you two advantages.  When you are driving around town, you can pick out the American military (associated) cars and not just by the prefix of "A" or "Y" on the license plates.  They are the oldest, ugliest, and generally worst cars on the road.  We paid $1,500 (actually, it was too much) for our van and $2,900 for Mick's (really mine as well) Miata.  When you pay so little for cars, you should not expect to be able to drive them long distances.  It's not like you can call AAA if you break down.  However, there is a second benefit.  When you rent a car from this government agency, you get unlimited "get out of tolls free" passes.  It is through an arrangement with the country of Japan.  Our government vehicles do not have to pay tolls (and the tolls..........WOWZER......they were 7,000 yen, or around $85 each way to Sasebo) and then Japan gets to say "We helped out the United States by X amount of tolls waived" when it really doesn't cost them anything to have us on the road....and then spending money in their towns.  Win!Win!  So our car was $60 a day, we were gone three days, the tolls would have been $170, so it cost us essentially $10 to rent the car. 

Oh dear........I do go on.......where was I?

No, I need to continue on the roads and the tolls.  There's an unbelievable amount of tunnels in Japan.  I didn't realize how mountainous Japan was, but again.....WOWZER......it's about 70% mountains.  Lots and lots of really long tunnels.  And nice freeways.  But they're all toll roads.

Okay, I'll try to get back to Wagonerland saga.  So we're driving.....and the baby is doing pretty good and then she's not.  And the girls totally rallied and we did about 5 minutes of "GIGI WIGI (Clap!Clap!Clap!Clap!Clap!).  Then we segued into the Cuppy Cake song.  And we sang that.....no exaggeration.......for at least 10 minutes.  And we didn't even know the second verse.  We probably sang it for longer, but I'm trying to keep it real.

So we get to Sasebo and the MAIN ATTRACTION was a Chili's!!!!!!!  We ate there twice.  What's funny is that it isn't a current menu.  Remember in the 90's when they had the "guiltless" entrees?  And you had to pay for chips and salsa?  Well, it was that menu.  It was still delicious though!

We stayed in the Navy Gateway Inns and Suites which is a Temporary Lodging Facility.  It was actually very nice except they only had one bed in each room (we're a two hotel room family now) and the loveseat in the living room did not fold out into a bed.  An added "benefit" (HA!) is that we had a view of the USS Essex and had the good fortune of listening to them work on it during the day.  If you've never been around a shipyard......this is one continuous LOUD noise!

We explored around the city of Sasebo and that was a super treat!  We stumbled upon this outlook to view the Kujuku Islands..

I think we're blowing kissies to Mommy here!

There is a "99 Island" boat tour that we'll go on another time.  Another observatory place is where they filmed the opening scene for the movie "The Last Samurai."

Then we went to the highlight of our trip, the Saikai Pearl Sea Resort, which is not a resort, but an aquarium.  I must admit, I'm pretty spoiled and jaded when it comes to aquariums, living near Sea World in California and Florida as well as the world class Henry Doorly Zoo.  What could they do to impress me so?  Well, take a look!

First we went to the Jellyfish Laboratory.....

Where Mick could laugh his diabolical mad scientist laugh....

And I could quote "Finding Nemo" for 10 minutes straight. 

Oh! Intro! Jellyman, Offspring.  Offspring, Jellyman. Taking on the jellys!  You've got some serious thrill issues, dude. 

But as much as I love to quote Nemo (and I could seriously do that all day long), it didn't compare to our practically private dolphin show!

Playing catch with them was SOOOOOOOOO fun!!!!!!!!!!

Woohoo!!!!!

The trainers would come out every 20 minutes or so and do a mini-show.

They could really jump and flip!!!!

Belly rubs like puppies.  ☺

And they would jump up on the deck and shimmy around.  That one made me a bit nervous, but once they got started doing it, they wouldn't stop, so they must have liked it!  This one went all the way from the big pool to the small one. 

TADA!

Such fun to watch it so close and with so few people.

 Gigi was a bit scared of the dolphins and watched it from the safety of the inside of the building after we sufficiently scared (scarred) her. 

"Why do they do this to me?"

"I'm so cute!!!!"

Then we went underground and looked at the fish from their point of view. 

Hello Mr. Ray!

SHARKS!

Apparently this is the local (sand)bar that fish hang out!

More quoting "Nemo."  I'm a fish with a nose like a *sword*.  (It was really my lucky day!)

Useful information. 

That's a lot of girls in that tank!

One last look at the dolphin pools against the gorgeous Kujukushima Bay. 

And one last gratuitous photo op. 

Hook 'em Dolphins!

And we FINALLY get somewhere where Gigi could have a good time. 

And the other girls too!

But unfortunately we got there with only 5 minutes left to closing!  We tried to ignore the woman speaking in Japanese over the intercom, but then they started playing "Auld Lang Syne."  Subtle yet effective.  "AMERICANS!  LEAVE!  STOP PRETENDING YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!"

All in all it was a fabulous day and we can't wait to go back!

A very fun time in Sasebo!  Do you want to go there when you come and visit us?

I'm a really fun person to travel with!

Gigi and our little tree

We didn't bring a tree over or any of our ornaments.  I bought this little one at the Thrift Store for 2010, but bought a big one for next year at the 75% off sale at the Exchange a few days ago!  Our little fiber optic tree was really cute for this year and looked a lot better when it was put on our Keurig coffeemaker (I didn't cheat...it was listed on the customs form) from Mom and Dad as the "stand." 

STRRRREEEETCH!!!!!!

What?  I'm not doing anything!  :)

Olivia's Christmas card to us

As we're cleaning up, I found this and wanted to scan it in and share it with you.  

About melts your heart, doesn't it?  

We love you too Olivia 

and are so grateful 

that we were given you 

as our very own daughter! 

xoxo

Polar Express Field Trip

I walked into Olivia's room tonight to turn out the lights and lay with her for a few minutes and she was watching the "Polar Express."  Tomorrow they are heading back to school and it reminded me that I had forgotten to blog about her field trip on the last day of school before Christmas break!

The whole first grade and however many parents who wanted to come walked to the movie theater (about 1/2 mile) to see The Polar Express.  It was also a pajama party and all the kids and one Mom came in their pajamas.  Can you guess which Mom came in pajamas?  

Come on...really?  You're surprised?

I told Olivia that this is quite a neat opportunity to be able to WALK to a real movie theater during school for a field trip!

We were driving with a friend of Audrey's the other day, playing "I Spy" and she said, "I spy with my little eye something beige.....all the buildings!!!!"  But besides the tan buildings and cooling pipes.....isn't my little girl so cute?!?!?  ☺

It was a really fun field trip.  We all got popcorn and a drink and it cost something like $4.00 for the trip. 

There are 3 first grade classes.  Olivia is the mint green hat hiding in the back. 

There are some real benefits to living on a military base!

Hooray for the Exchange and the Club!

I ordered a playhouse for the little girls in October from the Exchange catalog.  They told me that due to our remote location and being a Marine Corps Exchange rather than the bigger Army/Air Force Exchange, it would take four to six months to get here.  I sighed and said, please send it anyway!

Christmas miracle, it arrived last week!  We waited to pick it up on Christmas Eve and Mick put it together while the little girls were napping.  Everyone was so excited to play in it!!!!!

This picture makes me laugh because when Audrey and I were first looking at them on the computer I said, "Look!  Claire's about to do 'Hook 'em'!"

And here's the next picture!  ☺

A few last pictures and I think I'm caught up on Christmas (while still not caught up on Tokyo or our ITT trip last Saturday to see lights at Bihoku Park).

We went to the Club for dinner and it was nice!  The girls didn't eat a great deal, but Claire and Olivia played with her new Princess Polly Pockets and took Gigi walking. 

Tomorrow we're going to a Navy base about four hours away.  Our first big driving adventure.  Fun! 

Christmas Present Opening

Like I said before...this was not the year for restraint and the girls were pretty stoked about it!  ☺

Santa brought both A and O a flat screen (22 inch) television and a DVD player.  Mommy would never do such a thing.  I just, for the first time this February, (I was almost 39) brought a television into my bedroom.  I would never have let my kids have a t.v. in their bedrooms!  However, Santa (and Mrs. Claus), in their infinite wisdom, realized that there are 6 of us living in a 1,400 square foot townhouse with not as many friends as we are used to....and we could stand to have some quiet, private time away from the rest of the family.  He is a smart man! 

Gigi was very excited about "her size" Elmo from Santa Claus.  It was funny that Daddy and she were wearing the same suit as Elmo!  ☺

It was a very burnt orange Christmas for Mick!  Even the big girls and I got some Texas stuff because Daddy likes us to wear burnt orange on game days!  ☺

It was a very Keurig Christmas!  Thank you!  Also, I want to point out that I had our matching footed pajamas from 2007 embroidered with the snowman and monogrammed before we left for Florida, but didn't get around to getting Claire one in her size this year.  After looking at these pictures....I definitely will get on that next year!

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Tracy and Uncle Doug gave Claire this grocery cart to go with the grocery stand that they gave her.   However, Gigi likes it just as much as Claire and plays with it whenever Claire allows her near it.  (Which is not always.)  Gigi got the rocking cow from G, G, T and D, but is a bit afraid of it right now.  However, I'm super excited about it because we left our beautiful wooden rocking horse in storage and I miss it!    And sorry for the world's longest caption, but notice that I had Claire's name embroidered on the pajamas as she was the first to wear them and then Gigi's name under it.  Are heirloom Christmas footie pajamas obsessive?  ;-)

Audrey's "big" present was a Nook from G, G, T and D!  She loved using the Kindle app on her iTouch, so I know she is going to LOVE this!  ☺

Claire's favorite present, at this moment, it changed hourly, was the Princess and a Frog costume from G&G. 

Mick got a classic Elvis costume from Tracy and Doug, complete with a black wig!  I don't know why they thought he needed a wig! ;-)

Claire was very excited to open up Sensei Ai's present of Japanese candies!

There were many more thoughtful presents from around the family that aren't pictured here.  Claire (AND Olivia) love the hairdresser costume that Aunt Katy and Uncle Dario sent for Claire and were playing "salon" for a good long while yesterday!  GrandDad doesn't get photo evidence of the joy his contributions to their education account bring, but they are appreciated by us, now, and will be by the girls later!  Uncle Curt and Aunt Anne sent some really thoughtful gifts for all, but the favorite is the Wii Sports Resort game!  Mick and Audrey played until TOO LATE on Christmas night! Aunt Judy and Aunt Mary Frances remembered Claire and Olivia's love for puzzles and sent a really neat Santa cube puzzle.  Puzzles are a favorite activity year round, but especially on the holidays!  And there are more gifts coming in from Nana and Aunt Nico.  I told them (and all of you for the future) NEVER EXPRESS SOMETHING TO US because it so much more fun to have the holiday prolonged!  ☺

I laid with each of the girls (like almost always) last night in their beds and talked about Christmas Day and the big girls were in awe over how "spoiled" (their word) they were this year.  I told them that yes, they were, and it won't always be like this, but it sure was FUN (for me too!!!!) this year!

Last night, when Mick and I finally hit the sack (where did that idea of an 8:00 bedtime go, when we were laying down at 11:30?), I said that when you don't have family or friends that are like family (like it was in Camp Pendleton, Charlottesville and Fishhawk), it is full-on, all cards on the table, nothing held back parenting, (all the time but, oh!) especially on Christmas Day since you want so much for your kiddos to be happy!   It was just the six of us and we had a lot of fun and I think the girls had a wonderful day (HOORAY!), but WHEW!  That was hard work!

I need to thank Daddy, that Mick Wagoner, for all of his hard work on Christmas Day.  I was soooo wiped out and took a nap with the little girls in the morning after we opened presents, but he powered through and put together the vanity that G, G, T and D sent Olivia as well as the grocery store for Claire.  He was super helpful and fun all day and when it got to evening I said, "I'm so tired and I took a nap!  I can't imagine how you feel!" and he said, "I'm trying to be a Marine for you, sweetie."  I told him that I especially appreciated being married to a Marine Officer with all of his sleep deprivation training on Christmas Day!  I am so.not.a military officer by any stretch of anybody's imagination.  I cry when I get tired and I can't handle stress.  So, thank you Mick for a wonderful Christmas!

Okay, long, long post.......I'll sign off and write another one when I have a minute.  Merry Christmas!!!!!

Sink Antics

A momentary break from Christmas shots to share with you pictures of Gigi's bathtime!   

(Well, it was on Christmas night, does that count?)

She likes to play with cups and spoons and bowls.

She LOVES the running water.

And now has taken to drinking it!

Mick and I were cracking up watching her! 

I don't know why we didn't bathe our other children in the sink.  It's convenient and you can still hang out and talk with the other parent and pick up the kitchen (within one step of the sink with eyes always on her).  She might be bathing here the entire time we're in Japan!  ☺