The last 3 weeks have been pretty hectic. Because of this, we haven;t been sitting down to blog. but we did dump a few pictures into Facebook. If you missed that, click HERE. There a few captions.
Couple of exciting things lately. We did get our household goods in, so the house is once again topsy turvy, and boxes are everywhere as we determine where best to put "stuff". As soon as we have it in some form of order, we will make sure to get pics up.
We did get out this weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival in Nago, and had a good time. Unfortunately it may have been a week or so early this year, since the blooms were just getting started. But you can't plan festivals for cities that size, on the spur of the moment, so they set dates, and hope the 70,000 cherry trees throughout town, and on Mt Nago cooperate. They were trying. But more than anything, it gave us a chance to explore a new city, and to try a lot of new foods, as well as venture out unaccompanied for one of our first times, away from base, and the generally English adept populations.
You can see the pictures here.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Homeless in Seattle
When we planned our trip out, we wanted to spend a few days in Seattle. In part because we wanted to visit and explore a new part of the country, and in part to have a few days off from traveling before getting on a plane for 14 hours. We are so glad we did, and wish that we'd had more time there.
Our first impression was not the best. We arrived around 6:30 pm on New Years Eve, got our rental car and headed for our hotel. We check in, and have 3 kids who are STARVING, so we set out to find a restaurant nearby, once we realize there is NO SPACE left in the parking garage. We find a pizza place in the GPS less than a mile away, but the roads were so confusing and narrow it took us like 10 minutes to get there. If you've ever been in Seattle, around Lake Union, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say "city planners is a fabulous concept". It's an intricate network of one way streets, interspersed with two way streets so narrow they SHOULD be one way. Every intersection turn is a hair raising adventure of turn and stare into headlights terrified you missed a one way sign. And with recent changes to traffic patterns, the Garmin wasn't as smart as it usually is. When our GPS says we have arrived, we look around the intersection wildly, as the light turns back to red, and don't see the restaurant. So we said screw it and decide to order pizza from the hotel room. So New Years Eve was spent with Dominos and Coke, with the 5 of us. Later that night, we realized we did have a pretty good view of the fireworks from our balcony, though.
The next day we walked across the street to a great little cafe called Joey's, on the lake, to have lunch with a gold star mom and another Marine Alex served in Afghanistan with. It was enjoyable catching up, and the food was great. Thanks Monica, Jessica, and Vishnu.
We had been told by some friends that went to school here, that we had to take the kids to see "the troll" under the Freemont St bridge. If you didn't know it, trolls STILL live under bridges, even in this day and age. The girls had fun climbing all over it, and Avi helped with a little hygiene as well. (And yes, that is an actual VW beetle in his hand, for scale).
After there, a quick cell phone google search for "Seattle sunset views" led us to Kerry Park, a mile or so north. Alex got a few great pictures of the city skyline, complete with a view of Mt Rainier (which we are told is fortunate that time of year).
Having exhausted our daylight, and warming ability of our "Japan jackets" we headed in for some hot chocolate, and a hot tub.
We spent our last full day exploring as much as we could. First stop was Top Pot Doughnuts which we have seen on Travel Channel and Food Network, and had to try it. Any of you who know Alicia, will know that donuts are on a near orgasmic list for her. So this was a no brainer. A quick street car ride, and 2 blocks, we arrived, and had breakfast.
We added another 6 or 7 blocks, and tried to go to the top of the Space Needle, but one of our kids suddenly got "sick" on our walk over. We can neither confirm nor deny that it was too many donuts, or nerves about the height, but it persisted, so we missed the EMP Museum and the Space Needle. But we did get some neat pictures of the Seattle Center area, and architecture.
We took the monorail to where we could catch the bus back to our hotel, and ended up at a mall, where we had lunch and caught the bus back to the hotel. About 10 minutes later, we realized she seemed fine, and we didn't want to waste the day. After a Pepto-Bismol tablet, and a promise that we weren't going back to the Space Needle, we decided to go try Pike Place Market.
After a nap, it was off to Pike Place Market. There were so many little stores and vendors, that I'm sure we missed a bunch. We ate some delicious Mac and Cheese at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. Bought some scrumptious pears, oranges and pomegranates from a produce stand, and finished our night off with some Starbucks.
We got another great sunset view from the waterfront along Pike Place, before heading back in for the night.
All in all, it was a great trip, and we were really glad we got the chance to explore a new city. It also gave us a chance to decompress, and express a few lessons on crowds, and travel, and behavior for the girls, before going to another country. We'd love to go back again sometime, and this time maybe leave the kids (with Grandma or something... not leave them in Seattle).
And those of you who find yourself here on a PCS, I highly advise it, since it will let you get some sleep before the 12 hr nightmare of check in, USO, boarding, etc......(but that's a whole other story)
P.S. All you Fifty Shades of Grey fans. In case you were wondering what Escala looks like, we passed along the first floor of it, and took this shot of the tower itself. A two bedroom unit can be yours for only $619,000 (Christian Grey and red room not included)!
Our first impression was not the best. We arrived around 6:30 pm on New Years Eve, got our rental car and headed for our hotel. We check in, and have 3 kids who are STARVING, so we set out to find a restaurant nearby, once we realize there is NO SPACE left in the parking garage. We find a pizza place in the GPS less than a mile away, but the roads were so confusing and narrow it took us like 10 minutes to get there. If you've ever been in Seattle, around Lake Union, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say "city planners is a fabulous concept". It's an intricate network of one way streets, interspersed with two way streets so narrow they SHOULD be one way. Every intersection turn is a hair raising adventure of turn and stare into headlights terrified you missed a one way sign. And with recent changes to traffic patterns, the Garmin wasn't as smart as it usually is. When our GPS says we have arrived, we look around the intersection wildly, as the light turns back to red, and don't see the restaurant. So we said screw it and decide to order pizza from the hotel room. So New Years Eve was spent with Dominos and Coke, with the 5 of us. Later that night, we realized we did have a pretty good view of the fireworks from our balcony, though.
The next day we walked across the street to a great little cafe called Joey's, on the lake, to have lunch with a gold star mom and another Marine Alex served in Afghanistan with. It was enjoyable catching up, and the food was great. Thanks Monica, Jessica, and Vishnu.
We had been told by some friends that went to school here, that we had to take the kids to see "the troll" under the Freemont St bridge. If you didn't know it, trolls STILL live under bridges, even in this day and age. The girls had fun climbing all over it, and Avi helped with a little hygiene as well. (And yes, that is an actual VW beetle in his hand, for scale).
After there, a quick cell phone google search for "Seattle sunset views" led us to Kerry Park, a mile or so north. Alex got a few great pictures of the city skyline, complete with a view of Mt Rainier (which we are told is fortunate that time of year).
Having exhausted our daylight, and warming ability of our "Japan jackets" we headed in for some hot chocolate, and a hot tub.
We added another 6 or 7 blocks, and tried to go to the top of the Space Needle, but one of our kids suddenly got "sick" on our walk over. We can neither confirm nor deny that it was too many donuts, or nerves about the height, but it persisted, so we missed the EMP Museum and the Space Needle. But we did get some neat pictures of the Seattle Center area, and architecture.
We took the monorail to where we could catch the bus back to our hotel, and ended up at a mall, where we had lunch and caught the bus back to the hotel. About 10 minutes later, we realized she seemed fine, and we didn't want to waste the day. After a Pepto-Bismol tablet, and a promise that we weren't going back to the Space Needle, we decided to go try Pike Place Market.
After a nap, it was off to Pike Place Market. There were so many little stores and vendors, that I'm sure we missed a bunch. We ate some delicious Mac and Cheese at Beecher's Handmade Cheese. Bought some scrumptious pears, oranges and pomegranates from a produce stand, and finished our night off with some Starbucks.
We got another great sunset view from the waterfront along Pike Place, before heading back in for the night.
All in all, it was a great trip, and we were really glad we got the chance to explore a new city. It also gave us a chance to decompress, and express a few lessons on crowds, and travel, and behavior for the girls, before going to another country. We'd love to go back again sometime, and this time maybe leave the kids (with Grandma or something... not leave them in Seattle).
And those of you who find yourself here on a PCS, I highly advise it, since it will let you get some sleep before the 12 hr nightmare of check in, USO, boarding, etc......(but that's a whole other story)
P.S. All you Fifty Shades of Grey fans. In case you were wondering what Escala looks like, we passed along the first floor of it, and took this shot of the tower itself. A two bedroom unit can be yours for only $619,000 (Christian Grey and red room not included)!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Our lessons for living the Gypsy lifestyle, pt 2
Greetings from Washington! We have packed up our hotel room in Seattle, and getting the girls some last minute sleep before our 01:30 check in at SeaTac, and decided to give you some more lessons, while we catch up on our normal Wednesday night TV. So to continue our lessons from the gypsy life, and catch you up on our going-ons (yeah yeah, it is in our dictionary), I give you the continuation of our lessons:
#12. An AR-15 will fix a zombie. You can't be fully Texan without a few things. A pair of boots (we have 4 pairs of pink ones), a truck, and an assault rifle. Why you might ask? For zombies, of course! Everyone knows when the apocalypse kicks off, you grab your chillins' and head to somewhere safe. Good fields of fire are a must, and that means open spaces. Ergo, Texas. So while we were there, all the girls got to enjoy the many delights of being a country girl. Feeding cows, riding the 4 wheeler, and shooting. And no one does shooting like Uncle Tim and Aunt Amy. So we spent our last afternoon in Texas putting rounds down range, and blowing stuff up. Since we still had "Chris the zombie" from last year, but his blood and guts had dried up, we felt he needed some tannerite for a booming good time. The girls all got a chance to run through some pistol work, and Alicia got her hands on an AR-15 for a little big gun time.
#12. An AR-15 will fix a zombie. You can't be fully Texan without a few things. A pair of boots (we have 4 pairs of pink ones), a truck, and an assault rifle. Why you might ask? For zombies, of course! Everyone knows when the apocalypse kicks off, you grab your chillins' and head to somewhere safe. Good fields of fire are a must, and that means open spaces. Ergo, Texas. So while we were there, all the girls got to enjoy the many delights of being a country girl. Feeding cows, riding the 4 wheeler, and shooting. And no one does shooting like Uncle Tim and Aunt Amy. So we spent our last afternoon in Texas putting rounds down range, and blowing stuff up. Since we still had "Chris the zombie" from last year, but his blood and guts had dried up, we felt he needed some tannerite for a booming good time. The girls all got a chance to run through some pistol work, and Alicia got her hands on an AR-15 for a little big gun time.
#13.
SIRI will NOT tell you where your missing Nintendo DS game is, no
matter how many of your sisters you have ask her in different tones of
voice. And the only thing funnier than reading that statement, is hearing 3 little girls in the other room, repeatedly asking "Siri, where is my DS game? Siri, where is Sonny with a Chance? Siri, where is my Sonny with a Chance game?" over and over, after you have told them to "find it or else" (And for the record, Daddy found it a few days later, AFTER we left Colorado, in a backpack pocket).
#14. Just because you are born and raised in Vail, does not mean you will love skiing. Or the cold. Or the mountains. Or hiking, or any of that hippie nature crap. That is a direct quote from my darling wife. I also remember hearing "I wasn't MEANT to live in Colorado" more than once, while we were in her hometown. And evidently I will NEVER retire to Colorado. But two of the girls had a blast skiing, and they all did Daddy proud by trying their best all day, and never quitting. But Bella, our Vail baby, wrapped up the day with the statement that "next time, I'm staying home with Grandma".
Our "Vail baby":
#15. The only thing to do in Eagle/Gypsum is bowl. Somehow, in getting together with friends to catch up, we went bowling 3 times in a week. And NONE of our games improved with all that practice. (I might even say they got worse.) And for the record, Bella doesn't like bowling either.
#16. PCS-ing at Christmas time has it's benefits, but NOT if you're the family pack mule. When we left North Carolina 28 days ago, we had a car packed with 8 suitcases, and a tub of Christmas presents to GIVE AWAY. We flew out of Texas with an extra suitcase for the flight to Denver. By the time we flew to Seattle, we had 8 checked bags, a carry on suitcase, a garment bag, and 5 backpacks. All of them filled to the max. The last time I totaled scale readings (in San Antonio) we had 380 lbs of checked luggage. And that doesn't count the fact that along the way, we have left ratty jeans, worn out shoes, or stained high waters the girls had been hanging on to. It's actually quite comical to watch us moving through an airport. Dad has managed to clip 5 rolling suitcases together in a train, topped by 2 duffel bags, and 2 car seats clipped on. In the words of Goose "No, man, I've got a great Polaroid of it, and he's right there" (but we can't find it right now). The lesson is, if you are PCS-ing, don't do Christmas with TWO grandmas en route!
Okay, so we are wrapped up here in Seattle, and should be heading to the airport in an hour or so. Hope you all are already experiencing a prosperous New Year. We enjoyed fireworks off the space needle from our hotel balcony, and have enjoyed our time here. Look for pics of that in a few days. In the meantime, we will be on the move yet again, and if you managed to find us last time, by the next time you look, we'll be 8,000 miles away. Carmen San Diego ain't got %$#! on us!
But for those of you keeping tally, we've been 27 days, 4,100 miles, 9 states, all four time zones, and are only 1/3 of the way there.....
Our "Vail baby":
#15. The only thing to do in Eagle/Gypsum is bowl. Somehow, in getting together with friends to catch up, we went bowling 3 times in a week. And NONE of our games improved with all that practice. (I might even say they got worse.) And for the record, Bella doesn't like bowling either.
#16. PCS-ing at Christmas time has it's benefits, but NOT if you're the family pack mule. When we left North Carolina 28 days ago, we had a car packed with 8 suitcases, and a tub of Christmas presents to GIVE AWAY. We flew out of Texas with an extra suitcase for the flight to Denver. By the time we flew to Seattle, we had 8 checked bags, a carry on suitcase, a garment bag, and 5 backpacks. All of them filled to the max. The last time I totaled scale readings (in San Antonio) we had 380 lbs of checked luggage. And that doesn't count the fact that along the way, we have left ratty jeans, worn out shoes, or stained high waters the girls had been hanging on to. It's actually quite comical to watch us moving through an airport. Dad has managed to clip 5 rolling suitcases together in a train, topped by 2 duffel bags, and 2 car seats clipped on. In the words of Goose "No, man, I've got a great Polaroid of it, and he's right there" (but we can't find it right now). The lesson is, if you are PCS-ing, don't do Christmas with TWO grandmas en route!
Okay, so we are wrapped up here in Seattle, and should be heading to the airport in an hour or so. Hope you all are already experiencing a prosperous New Year. We enjoyed fireworks off the space needle from our hotel balcony, and have enjoyed our time here. Look for pics of that in a few days. In the meantime, we will be on the move yet again, and if you managed to find us last time, by the next time you look, we'll be 8,000 miles away. Carmen San Diego ain't got %$#! on us!
But for those of you keeping tally, we've been 27 days, 4,100 miles, 9 states, all four time zones, and are only 1/3 of the way there.....
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