getting settled

We've been very busy with appointments and logistics of getting settled.

Hopefully we'll be in our house next Saturday.

 

Ariel turned 3 last week.  We spent the afternoon at our new library, which we all enjoyed exploring.  We have two good library branches in our new neighborhood.

 

We did take a little time to ride the Metro into the city.  Ariel liked the Metro - it's a bit different from riding subways and trains in Japan!

 

Ariel currently likes black & white soccer balls of all sizes, balloons, Barnyard Dance! by Sandra Boynton, swinging and jumping.  Oh, and bubbles.

temporary living

We are in temporary lodging with the cats until we move into our house Sept. 1st.  It's adequate, and there's plenty to explore in our new neighborhood.  It's pretty with lots of trees and some nearby waterfront on the Potomac.

Our rental house will have plenty of play space for us.  We're in the process of buying cars and doing lots of move-related administrivia.

We have on temporary cell phone: 703-855-9409.

We made it

We are all safely in the USA!
It was a 12 hour direct flight. The cats and Ariel did very well.
The cats rode under the seats in front of us, and are now enjoying being in a hotel with us.

The whole trip was very smooth.

Sent from my iPad

video of Ariel swimming

Ariel reading "The Three Little Kittens"

Listen for "kitten! mitten!" "Purr, purr, purr!" and "What?!" (approximately.) It's super-cute how she loves this book and its illustrations. She has many favorite books in our bedroom that she likes to read aloud to us.

country drive

 On the day before we sold the Funcargo, we drove to the rural towns of Hidaka and Naguri, north of Ome.  We stopped at this spot by a creek that had a perfect spot for a teddy bears' picnic.

 Naguri reminded me a little bit of Floral, Arkansas.

On the way home, we stopped at "The Mall" on Route 16 to buy a Totoro doll and have Indian food.

I will try to post a couple more things, but then will take a break as we pack out of the house and leave Japan.  In the last few weeks I've seen a wild squirrel (rare here) in the mountains, and a raccoon dog (tanuki) that is semi-tame in Showa Park.  If we had left Japan any earlier, I would've missed out!

more Monkey Preschool Lunchbox

 with Daddy and Nene

"This monkey wants two of each kind of fruit!"

Ariel, the potty whiz

 We all like potty time.

 Ariel likes to do the matching game by kissing the cards.  It's an app called Monkey Preschool Lunchbox with catchy music and a flipping monkey to cheer her on.  It involves lots of fruit.

"Pick a sticker!"

Update

Today marks 4 years since arriving in Japan.  We watched the Beijing Summer Olympics in our Kanto Lodge room.  Now we're watching the London Summer Olympics.

It's also about a year since I became vegan.  Still one of the best decisions I ever made.  I'm not perfect every time, but I try.  I've enjoyed lots of new flavors and cooking.  Jeff & Ariel like the food, too.

Ariel is 25.8 pounds and just under 3 feet.  She enjoys sitting on the potty while working on her iPad.  She especially likes Monkey Preschool Lunchbox and Monkey Mathschool Sunshine apps.

Jeff got his orders today, so we are finally on our way out.  We should leave very soon.  Nene will become an American citizen!  Well, maybe she'll retain dual citizenship, as she is a proud Nihonjin.

overnight in Chichibu

 Ariel & I gave Jeff some time to work on an Air War College test/paper.  We drove to nearby Chichibu.  It's northwest of us in the Chichibu National Forest.

 Our room.  We slept together in one little bed.

 View from our balcony!

They even labeled our room.  It says "Hey-zah Pak."  The last character must mean "silly gaijin" (foreigner.)  Actually, it's probably the -san in Heather Parks-san.

 Ariel asleep in the Funcargo while I looked at a dam.  We just sold the Funcargo today and are now borrowing our neighbor's Nissan Cube.

  At a nice rest stop.  It had shopping and a little farmer's market.