Summer Festivals, Typhoons, T-Ball, and Puppy Dogs

This summer we tried to go and do as much as we could whenever Randy had days off. Japan has a ton of festivals all summer long and we were able to go to quite a few of them. This festival was right outside the main gate and took over the main street. I don't remember what it was called, but it was fun.

Over the summer we had a few typhoons come through the area. They weren't big by the time they got to us, they just dumped a whole ton of rain. One came through on the day of an air show on base. It was rainy enough that they cancelled the main flights. Maybe next year I will have great pictures of the air show, but for now I just have a picture of the boys getting wet in the rain.

During one of the typhoons we decided to go to the mall. It wasn't a bad idea until when we came out of the mall our car was almost flooded. The parking lot apparently has no drainage or at least not adequate for a typhoon and the water was almost up to the bottom of our doors. We were barely able to get in the car without filling it up with water. When we got home we let the dog out in the backyard and saw a small pond in our backyard. We don't usually have waterfront property but that day we did!

This was also the first year we signed Carson up for T-Ball. We would have done soccer but we got here too late to sign him up for that. He really enjoyed T-Ball and his coach was great! He liked learning about the game and had a great time playing with kids his age. Not his size, but his age. On the first day the coach asked them what the most important thing about T-Ball was and Carson said it was to throw and catch. His coach liked that answer but obviously the right answer was to have fun. Carson learned the names of the bases too. 1st, next, last and home. He didn't understand when we told him to go to 2nd or 3rd base, but he did understand next and last. He is always opening our eyes to the weirdness of the English language. 

In August we finally got a dog. We named her Daisy and she is 1/2 Golden Retriever and 1/4 Great Pyrenees and 1/4 Cocker Spaniel. So in other words she is a hairy mess. 

In September Carson started preschool. He got into a great program that is offered for people overseas and it is an all day preschool that is free and provides food and obviously education. He is having fun and you can tell how excited he was on his first day. 

Morioka Zoo

In July we took a day trip to the nearest large zoo in Morioka. Morioka is about 2 1/2 hours away and the kids were troopers on the long drive. I enjoyed the Japanese scenery and the occasional volcano popping out from around the bend.

The zoo was kind of small but it had the big animals that the kids like to see. You know, elephants, lions, zebras, and giraffes. I didn't take a lot of pictures of the animals but Japan has some obsession with face cut outs for pictures so I took a bunch of those pictures. The boys got to ride ponies and they held bunnies at the petting zoo area. 

We thought we wore them out with the long drive and the playing around at the zoo, but they stayed awake all the way home too! When the weather warms up again we will definitely be going again!

Beaches, Bikes and Babies

Does this post surprise anybody? I didn't think so. It was only a matter of time before I got pregnant. We knew we were planning on having a baby in Japan and I knew that I didn't want to be pregnant on a 10 hour flight. We were in Japan for only a matter of weeks before we found out we were expecting. I got the boys to sit still long enough to take these cute announcement pictures.

The boys were super excited to be expecting a baby brother or sister. Writing this, though I have already had the baby and I can tell you it is a boy. More on that later though. 

Once the weather warmed up the boys were able to enjoy their bikes that we brought with us. Dylan had to learn how to ride and Carson had to remember how to steer. We live on a street with a cul de sac at the end so they could just ride in circles all afternoon. 

One great thing about living in Japan is that it is an island and has lots of coastline. Unfortunately it isn't that warm where we live until August. We still went to the beach a few times for the summer. We took a short ride up to Sand Dollar Beach with some friends from church. It was a very foggy cold day, but the kids got in the water and swam anyways. We had just gotten a new puppy so we brought her along with us. Randy was working for the day so it was just Mom and the boys. We had a great time with our friends. 

Our puppy named Daisy

We took a drive to the beach in Hachinohe which is about 45 minutes away. It was a nice sunny day and we only took about 5 wrong turns. The highway isn't very well marked and just randomly turns without telling you to not go straight. Also the highway was more the size of an alleyway. 

Dylan fell asleep on the way home. 

We also have ventured to the beach right by the Misawa Port. It is the closest one to go swimming. The currents here are very strong so there is a barrier at the port to block some of the bigger waves and undertow. 

 

The base here also has a beach. It is on Lake Ogawara. It isn't our favorite place to go because there is no ocean breeze and it is kind of dirty and gross. We have ventured there a few times and I have some nice pictures so you get to hear about it!