Chase this Week

Chase was not feeling good all week. He had a low grade temperature, bad cough, runny nose, and was super crabby. You feel so bad when they are sick, and you get so worn out too. So I gave him a popsicle to make him happy that I never got back from him, but he really enjoyed it.
Chase ready for a walk in Bob. It is such a sweet stroller, it was a great b-day present from my hubby.

Just waking up from a nap. So sweet, he is holding his blankey.

Couple pictures of Chase at the Weasels Den here on Base. It is catered toward a little older kids since there are a ton of jungle gyms and slides, but Chase thinks he is big stuff and just runs around.

Photos around Misawa

Picture of our Branch building. We attend an American branch and the Japanese branch meets after us. They don't combine the branches since we can't speak Japanese and they can't speak English.

A couple photos of Japanese style homes. They love to garden around here which is really cool and really pretty to see all their flowers and sculpted trees and bushes.

Another Shrine

Rice Fields

Entrance to a Pig Farm (Smells wonderful), but these are my favorite flowers that I see around Japan in all different colors.

Our Nissan Cube and Honda CR-V

Driving is completely opposite here than in the states. We drive on the left and our steering wheel is on the right and our blinkers and wipers are opposite. It took about a week to get use to driving on the wrong side of the road, but now it seems weird if we were to drive on the right. Funny how that happens. And we both love driving the Cube, cause you have plenty of room inside and we fit in with all the other cars here. The roads are really narrow and a lot of times you have to nudge your car out pretty far at a stop sign because the shrubbery is blocking your view. So they have these huge mirrors all over the place to help you see. Although I still don't really trust them. And in the last picture, the upside down red triangle is our stop sign which can be hard to miss at times. The top 40 sign is the speed limit which is in km per hour. 40 tends to be the average speed limit around here which seems really slow since km per hour is even slower than miles per hour.

Finally Pics of Our Home

Chase's Room and yes it is pink.

Master Bedroom and Bath(View of the Woods from our window)

Guest Bedroom and Hallway

My favorite part of the house. There are two types of Japanese toilets. They refer to this one as the western style. I will show you a picture later of the other style. But this toilet has a heated seat and different buttons to push to spray your bottom and you can adjust the water temperature of the spray. It is very cool. Although I am dreading that Chase will figure out the buttons and I will find him soaked. Especially since he loves to lift the toilet seat lid and throw things into it(wooden spoon and shower cap so far).

So the shower and bathtub are in the same room. And you can take the shower head on and off. It is actually a great shower, and our master is just like it. They have it this way so you can rinse off and get clean before entering the bathtub. But you have to be careful which way you turn the dial cause up turns on the shower head and down turns on the faucet. I had the my landlord in looking at the shower one day with me whose English isn't very good. But even she turned the knob the wrong way and soaked herself. She was flailing her arms and screaming and then started laughing. It was pretty funny, and Chase didn't know what to think.

Guest Bathroom

Kitchen and dining room and view from out our back windows. And apparently the Japanese think Americans are really tall cause our cabinets are so high I have to use a step stool in order to reach them.

Workout room and view from my treadmill.

Laundry Room and door going out to two car garage.

Family Room

So far all the Japanese homes have this type of entry. Because it is a must for everyone to take off their shoes before entering anyone's home. And we do have big shoe closets that you see to your left. Even the movers that brought all of our boxes and things into the house, took their shoes on and off every time they entered the house.

Everything is smaller in Japan. Everyone has these two dinky trash cans that fit one trash bag. But the trash guys do come twice a week and pick them up right from your house. I am waiting for the BX to stock some big size trash cans, which is what our American neighbors do since I guess we are just more of a trashy bunch. And our garage opens at a snail pace, you could read a book by the time it opens.

Front of our house