Fish Market

Have you lost your appetite yet? This fish market was unbelievable! There were just rows of people selling fish, squid, crab, fish eggs, and who knows what. Some stands had samples you could try. We were not very brave, but we did try some tasty crab and shrimp. The picture of Chase is right after he ate some crab, and I think he approved. We will have to go back and buy some fish or crab sometime, and we will let you know how it turns out. This fish market is in Hachinohe which is a city about 15 minutes from Misawa.

Shinto Shrine

What is your Chinese sign? Cole and I are the year of the monkeys and Chase is the year of the rat. We went to a Shinto shrine where we learned that there is a special ritual done in order to cleanse yourself before entering the shrine. It does involve putting the water in your mouth, so I hope everyone's hands were clean that day. And there is a special way to say a prayer which involves ringing the bell, clapping your hands, and bowing. Here you see me clasping my hands as I bow. But you don't want to clasp your hands and bow in front of people like we see in the movies cause it is only done for honoring the dead or in spiritual situations (at least that's what they told us). The Japanese love to bow whenever they greet, leave, say thank you, and just because. Needless to say, you end up doing a lot of head bobbing in return.

Buddhist Shrine & Samurai House

Here are some pictures of a Buddhist shrine, a Japanese cemetery, and inside a samurai house. The air force requires that all newcomers to the base go on two days worth of tours. The first day they showed us around Misawa and took us to one of the Buddhist shrines. A couple things we learned from the shrine: Buddhists don't go to church once a week. They do a lot more individual meditation and then go to the shrines on holidays or during special occasions. Anyone can enter their shrines, but you have to take off your shoes (which is required when you enter most homes, restaurants, and some bathrooms.) When they enter a shrine they will say a pray and either burn some incense, wash their hands, or ring a bell. Their cemeteries are also very interesting and they have a lot of them right next to the roads. They believe in cremation and usually one statue contains many family's ashes and if I remember right, the sticks have the deceased member's holy name engraved on them.

Misawa Local Festival

Here are some pictures of the Misawa local festival we went to our first weekend in Japan.  It was right outside the Misawa Air base gate, so we were able to walk over to it from the tlf.  They had a lot of food items on sticks.  My favorite was the chocolate covered banana, and some chicken skewers.  Cole tried the calamari skewer cause he said he wants to be adventurous.  However, later his stomach told him to be a little more choosy.  I think Chase wasn't sure what was going on with his surroundings cause we had a hard time getting his attention for a picture.  And it was drizzling outside while we were walking around which we are finding to be the norm around here.  It is so green and beautiful around here, but it is because it rains a lot here.  More just drizzle rain and once a week a down pour it seems.  

Misawa Air Base

Right after we arrived to Misawa, our sponsor picked us up and we headed to Misawa Air Base.  We actually share this air force base with the japanese air force, so that is why they have a sign right next to ours.  Their are mostly americans on the base, but their is a strong japanese presence.  The town of Misawa has 40,000 people with 10,000 of them being Americans.  We stayed in the tlf(temporary living facilities) for two weeks which felt like we were on a never ending vacation.  It had a little kitchen, family room, and one bedroom with a washer and dryer down the hall.  It wasn't too bad and Chase finally decided one night that he would start walking here.  So that was a lot of fun.  The picture with him and Cole's hat was taken right after he started walking (two weeks before he turned one).  The last picture is our first experience at a restaurant in Japan with the Broughs and Farnsworths.  It was a chinese restaurant over at a mall about 10 min. from our place, known as Shimoda or Aeon mall.  When you order at restaurants around here, you don't know exactly what you are ordering since most menus are in japanese.  But they do have pictures in the menus and they have the actual dishes of what you can order in their display windows which is a little different.  Our meal was really good and Chase was enjoying it as well.

Our last Goodbye to Brighton

With our move to Japan and Cole's upcoming deployment, we decided it would be best for Brighton to stay in the states and go to another family. It was a really hard decision for us and we still can't really talk about it. But we love Brighton dearly and we know she will never be replaced. She was a very special girl who loves to snuggle and loves life. Brighton right now is staying with her mom and half sister, but she will be going to a lady soon who lost her Berner a year ago and is excited to have Brighton join her.

Chase's 1st Visit to Hogle Zoo

Fun Pics in Salt Lake

My fam did an early birthday celebration for Chase and I before we left. Chase loved the whip cream and it ended up all over his face. Chase also had fun in his little pool, and meeting his 2nd cousin Sammy, and baby Bronx. Shalee looked great for just having a baby.

Pics from Luce and Derek's Wedding

Here our a couple of pics Kara took. I can't wait to see more pics from Luce's big day. It was a beautiful wedding and Luce and Derek looked so happy. And Chase was too cute in his little bowtie.

4th of July in St. George

We had a great time in St. George for the 4th of July with Grandma Dawn and Grampa Gary. And it was fun to hang out with Tawnie, Tom, and baby Josh. Thanks for the great food and for letting us take over the pool. Chase just loved the lady bug float. He walked all over the shallow end and floated in the deep end without the sun in his eyes.

Last Days in Omaha and Cole's Graduating Residency Roast

Live from Japan

So I know many of you think we have fallen off the planet since it has been awhile since our last post. But we are still alive, and we haven't fallen off the planet, we are just on the other side in beautiful Misawa, Japan. It is going to take me a little while to catch up since our lives have been so hectic the last couple of months and we have taken a lot of pics already. So here is just a recap of what we been up until I get caught up with all our pics.

So after we left Omaha at the end of June, we spent a few weeks in Utah seeing family and friends. We had a great time hanging out with everyone and we miss you guys and wish you could be here on this adventure with us. After missing our flight to Japan, long story, we did make it out the next day and after two days of travel we made it to Misawa. It took us a week to adjust to the time zone, and Chase had a really rough first night. Cole had to walk the halls at our hotel since our neighbors were banging on the wall at 3:00 in the morning. And upon arriving to Misawa, we stayed in temporary living facility for a few weeks. And we were so glad to move into our 4 bedroom, 2 bath house last week and sleep in our own beds. I am still in the process of getting everything put away, and Chase is loving the mess cause he has so many mores things to play with.

We don't officially get internet till the 23rd which is why it seems like we have disappeared, we are excited it is fiber optic(super fast), and right now our connection is either really slow or hit and miss. We love our house and we have great views of a forest and a cabbage field. And I love the heated toilet seats. We will post pictures soon.

Other than that we have been to a couple of different festivals, we celebrated Chase's first birthday, and found out Cole is being deployed in December for 6 months. We also finally closed on our house today back in Omaha, and just got back from a fun day with friends at an arts and crafts village where we made japanese noodle soups, decorated little wooden japanese horses, and made some sort of japanese peanut cookies.

Will try to get pics posted soon of everything.