Being Thankful

I realize it’s the end of September and not quite November, but shouldn’t we count our blessings and be thankful year round and not just when celebrating Thanksgiving? I must be honest in telling you that I am selfishly writing this blog to remind myself of all of the things I have to be thankful for. It’s been rainy for the past several days here and since we do not have a yard I have to take Cheyenne outside in the rain to “go potty.” It’s made me very bitter and I’m having problems understanding why it is that we were not given a home with a yard. We’ve been here for four months. I’ve been bitter about this for four months. Winter is quickly approaching and I’m going to be taking Cheyenne outside 3-4 times a day in the cold. This is why I need to remind myself to be thankful!!!

At least we are all living together. Sometimes all of the ‘garden units’ (that allow pets) are filled when people arrive here at the base and have to leave their dogs in the kennel for months, if they even get to bring them. I should be thankful I have Cheyenne here with me at all!!!

It gives me an opportunity to say hello to my neighbors. At least once a day while walking Cheyenne I see a neighbor in the parking lot or headed in or out of their house; even if it’s just a quick hello or a wave, I still get to see our neighbors, and that’s a good thing to keep in touch with them.

We are both getting exercise. Cheyenne has gained about 4 pounds in the time we’ve been here. It’s not a big deal but we used to let her into the backyard and she would run laps and give herself plenty of exercise! She loved it. I try to walk her around the block at least a few times a week, and sometimes we go for a run, because I know she needs it! It’s good for both of us!!!

Cheyenne gets to meet the other dogs in the neighborhood on our walks. (This is when she regresses on her newfound leash training)
Cheyenne is finally leash trained! She really used to be the most awful dog on a leash. Now that she walks on one frequently, she is great at it!

We live in such a tiny apartment and there are couples in the same situation as us, with no children, who are in 3 bedroom 2 bathroom homes with yards… and I am jealous and bitter but I seriously need to get over it! This is where we are living for the next 3-4 years and I need to deal with it!!!

I do like the kitchen. It’s ugly and I hate the stainless steel countertops but there is a very deep double sided kitchen sink that I do like. And the water is super hot! Plus, there is enough storage in the kitchen, and it was logically built (for the most part).

We have full sized appliances. While our fridge is not wonderful and the clothes that come out of my dryer sometimes do not smell like they should; they are American sized! If we lived off base we’d be lucky to have a refrigerator larger than the mini-fridge I had in college, and we probably wouldn’t have a washer and a dryer in our house!

We have new carpet! It’s a nice color and is relatively soft. It does shed some and because of that my vacuum cleaner broke (minus the fact that I fell on it that one time… ) but… at least our floors are not tile throughout like our houses in Enid and Corpus Christi!!!
We have a good view from our balcony. We are pretty sure in a few weeks when the trees really begin to lose their leaves we will be able to see the mountains and that will make for a beautiful winter. (IF there is such a thing.)
There are thermostats that control each individual room, so we can keep the bedroom cooler than the living room if we choose and the kitchen cool when I’m cooking. That really is nice.

+PLUS+

I am living with my husband, whom I love more than anything, in a foreign country and we are exploring and having a wonderful time. AND Cheyenne is here with us! And that should be reason enough to be thankful. If we were living in a cardboard box in Detroit (ehhh… let’s make it the Gulf Coast) we’d be happy because at least we’d be together. Right, George?

What all are you thankful for? I love hearing from all of you!

Chelsea

My First Birthday in Japan

My birthday was this weekend. It was wonderful. Every time I sit down to blog I always think “I need to blog about teaching English in Japan!” BUT… it hasn’t happened and isn’t going to happen today. Except to tell you that I have a new student whom I meet with once a week. She rides the train about 1.5 hours, I pick her up, sign her onto the base, bring her to my apartment and we chat. She is very fascinating and I feel so lucky to have her as my student. The reason I am telling you all of this now is because she invited me and my two friends Adam and Cari to the pub she owns for my birthday!

Long story short I felt like royalty! The patrons of her pub were so colorful and I really enjoyed meeting all of them. We were served the best food I’ve had to date in Japan… sashimi, chicken yakitori, shrimp tempura, pumpkin tempura, potatoes, yakisoba, edamame, fruit, wine and beer. It truly was a feast! We sang karaoke and did a little dancing, a lot of talking with the locals and she even arranged for us to have a ride home so we wouldn’t have to take the train back! She even sent us home with Tiramasu desserts. It was one of the best birthdays, and as I said before, I am so lucky to have her as my student! 

On Saturday I had some friends over to my place. I ordered a few pizzas and made a salad and cookies. My friend Kate even made me a homemade chocolate coffee cinnamon cake which truly tasted heavenly! I’m a huge chocolate addict so it hit the spot but wasn’t too sweet so the non-chocolate lovers of the bunch enjoyed it as well! Thanks again Kate! :)

After everyone left my place I headed over to a party that some of the people from the squadron were having. It’s to honor the guys and gals who are going to miss the holiday’s due to a deployment. It’s called an all-holiday party and you are supposed to wear Halloween costumes, eat Thanksgiving themed food, there’s a Christmas gift exchange and at midnight there’s a countdown with a champagne toast and everyone shouts “Happy New Year!” I think it’s a brilliant idea! I made it to the party about 10 ‘til midnight and participated in the “Happy New Year!” It was a lot of fun to see everyone dressed up and see some of the gifts that were exchanged. What a hoot.
Overall it was a really wonderful birthday! For those of you who don’t know my mom owns a ‘party rental business’. She has moonwalks, cotton candy, popcorn and snow-cone machines, giant slides, karaoke machines, margarita machines, balloon rooms, dunk tanks etc. (So if you’re in the Atlanta area and need any of these services contact me, I’m happy to put you in contact with her!!!) The point to this is: imagine how fabulous all of my birthday parties were while I was growing up! My parents never skimped on throwing the best parties for all three of us kids. My birthday always felt like a big deal. Now that I’m older and really don’t have anything to look forward to birthday wise (except my car insurance rates going down), except for a day to celebrate with friends and family (pending we’re on the same continent). But you know what? That’s all that it’s about! I am so thankful to have made so many good friends who came over to celebrate with me this weekend! I’m so fortunate! And I had a wonderful birthday, and I’m looking forward to the next 2 (maybe 3) in Japan!  Thanks to everyone who made me feel so special!

I'll get pictures up soon!

Chelsea

Playing blog catch-up: Tonsillectomy

So I can get you caught up on how my surgery went... I'll just copy and paste you the e-mail I sent out to my parents and siblings, updating them on my surgery.

Here you go. Please note that I may have been on prescription medication. So, here are my apologies in advance if the context is a bit 'loopy'. :)

Hi Family,
Just wanted to give you guys the quick story on having my tonsils removed! I'll probably blog about it too but am bored right now and thought I'd shoot you all an e-mail... even though I know your computers aren't working really well. We got to the hospital on time and they set me up in my own bed. They made me change out of all of my clothes and put on a gown that didn't tie in the back. My appointment was at 8am and couldn't eat or drink anything from midnight the night before. They decided to put an IV in me and start me on fluids. The nurse stuck me in my left wrist but my vein ruptured (her words, not mine). So she tried my right wrist, and that vein ruptured too. Then she called over another nurse and he stuck me a third time, on the top of my right hand. This vein also ruptured. OUCH! This is 3 very painful sticks and by now I am crying. Of course. So then another male nurse came in and said he was going to do it. He found a vein about 6 inches up my right arm and stuck it. Thankfully this one worked!!! It hurt really bad. They all kept apologizing though, and told me thanks for challenging them so early in the morning.

They made me take off all of my jewelry and took the nail polish off of my big toes. I know they explained to me why they did this but I don't remember why. Anyway, I finally had to use the restroom so they draped another gown around the back of me and helped me walk to the bathroom. I took the draped thing off of me and laid it across the sink but the water automatically turned on and soaked it. oops.

The results came back negative for babies (HOORAY) so then they started me on anesthesia. I gave George a kiss and then started giggling. Everyone in the room (about 8 doctors, nurses and anesthesiologists) said they like when people giggle because that means I'm happy. And they all laughed back at me. And that's the last thing I remember. When I woke up I really felt like I hadn't fallen asleep and kept asking when it was time for me to go back to my surgery, even though it was over. I also apparently insisted George take my picture and was upset when he said Cheyenne couldn't be in the picture with me. (These pictures are on facebook).

Because of the shape of my chin and face, and throat for that matter, they had to intubate me at some point during the surgery cause I wouldn't breathe on my own but they gave me oxygen and I'm fine. The doctor explained to me afterwards that my throat is going to hurt worse than normal because they had to do that. He also said that my tonsils had a ton of scar tissue on them as well as lots of puffy white dots, like if I was really sick. Even though I wasn't sick at all before the surgery. That means my tonsils really were in very bad shape!

Yesterday when I got home I felt pretty good. I had a sore throat but it really didn't hurt any worse than when I'm sick with tonsillitis or strep. I am on an antibiotic and percocet. Before I agreed to the surgery I made the doc promise to give me a nausea medicine. After the surgery he was explaining my meds to me and didn't mention one. He said he didn't want to because it could have a bad effect with the pain meds. I haven't had a problem feeling sick from it though so I guess it's okay! I take the pain stuff (it's liquid!) every 4 hours and that has kept me pretty comfortable.

I did wake up with a choking feeling yesterday afternoon and coughed a little more than I was supposed to. I'm supposed to sleep sitting up for the first 48 hours after surgery, which has had a very bad effect on my neck, and my ribs really hurt too (I have no idea why). I've been eating applesauce, yogurt, pudding, popsicles, chicken broth and lots of water. I'm very happy that I can eat! Even though today really does not feel good I was prepared to feel worse! I am constantly hungry but am taking that as a good sign that at least I can and want to eat and drink. I was very afraid I'd feel too nauseas to eat or drink and would make myself sicker.

Anyway... that's the update. I love you guys so much and miss you and I'm already bored out of my mind for being in bed for 2 days. Maybe I'll move to the couch tomorrow...? And since I can't talk on the phone really I thought I'd give an e-mail update. You can call and check on me anytime. I will try to talk to the best of my ability, but only briefly!

I LOVE YOU guys!

Love,

Chelsea

P.S. I've been using my yellow baby-blanket. It makes me feel better. :)





So... that's the e-mail sent to the family! That was written on day 2 after the surgery. Day 3 was alright, but day 4 and 5 were miserable. I felt so horrible! I can't explain how much pain I was in. I was just so uncomfortable. My whole body ached and I just felt sick! Days 6 and 7 were better than 4 and 5 and I felt like I was 'on the mend'. BUT day 8 and 9 were the worst of them all. I was sure I was going to die. My ears hurt SO bad. The doc had warned me that I would think my ears were infected and I sure did! But because he had warned me of this I knew that they weren't and was able to get through it. It truly was an awful process. I am glad I only have one set of tonsils and I won't have to get them out again! I wish to never relive that!!! Whew! I am looking forward to the positive effects of not being sick all the time! I had strep, ear infections and tonsillitis frequently (like, every 2-3 months, if not more) and I hope those will subside! I haven't been sick yet! Although it's only been about 4 weeks, I've been feeling well... with the exception of my throat hurting when I yawn. My sneezes are also different!!! I used to have tiny sneezes and was complemented on 'how cute' my sneezes were. But now... they're big sneezes! They feel completely different and I don't care much for them. Oh well! I hope I get to feeling better for good!!!

Hope you are all in good health!!!

Chelsea

Why you should lock your doors...

Ok. So. I realize it's been a very long while since I've posted... over a month. I've had quite a bit to post about but I just haven't gotten around to it... despite George's daily "When are you going to update your blog?!"

I left you all with a cliffhanger on how my surgery would go and how the Friendship Festival went. But since I've had very little inquires on whether or not I survived (I'll assume you've been checking my facebook and realize I've been posting so I'm not dead) I figure you all know I'm alright. I've been very busy with homework. Going back to school full time has been semi-exhausting. I'm also still teaching about 15-20 hours a week, which some would refer to as "part-time". Between those classes, doing laundry, socializing, walking the dog and making the occasional home-cooked meal, I'm staying pretty busy! I can't tell you the admiration I have for mothers who go back to school! I am worn out from my life... I can't imagine doing this with a kid or two or three! They all deserve an award!!!

Today something happened to me that me made feel like I needed to blog about. Mostly for your entertainment. Trust me. This story is one of the best I have to date.

Today I woke up (though I slept in until a ridiculous time), did homework for several hours, went and taught a class, picked up a pie from the commissary to take to dinner at a friend's house, and then went to a 1st birthday party for one of our friends' daughters. This party was a little bit past my house. As I was leaving this party, it was getting dark. I was looking for my house, and then saw some flames.

Flames... as in...fire flames!!! Big ones. Then I thought... "that's an end unit. Oh my gosh... my house is an end unit. Oh my gosh! My house is on fire!!!" I completely panicked. I gunned the gas pedal and drove very quickly into my parking space.

Here are the thoughts going through my head... "Cheyenne! I've got to get to Cheyenne! I wonder whose car that is parked in my neighbors spot... Cheyenne! OMG, I've got to get to my dog! When's the last time we BBQ'ed... maybe the computer caught on fire... did I leave the stove on? Quick! Run up the stairs! My wedding photos are going to be ruined. I wonder whose bike that is? My furniture! Where's the wreath on my door? Oh good, voices! Firemen! The firemen are already at my house!" SO I swing open the door, run inside and then thoughts are... "My carpet is a different color... wait, where's my furniture... and who are these two guys doing karate in my living room. Oh... maybe my house isn't on fire. This isn't my house. And it's not on fire either. Oh my gosh, I'm at the WRONG HOUSE!!!"

So then I say to the guys who are looking at me, because I'm standing in their house... "This isn't my house." To which one of them who is still holding a karate pose says... "Okay." And then I say... "My house isn't on fire." And he responds... "Okay." Then I start repeating how sorry I am and I run out the door, closing it behind me. I run down the stairs, get in my car, drive to my correct home (one apartment entrance down...). I am laughing hysterically at this point. Who else could this possibly happen to?! Only ME! I can't believe I did that. I went to my friend's house and tell them this story (I was having dinner there and was bringing the afore mentioned pie) and they told me I had to blog about it. I am SO horribly embarrassed. I am also SO very thankful that my house wasn't on fire and neither was theirs. (It turns out they had a fire-pit on their balcony that was billowing some pretty big flames, but wasn't "on fire")

In my defense, all of the apartments here look the same. And... all of the cars look the same. (To an extent).

It's semi-common knowledge that some people who live on base do not lock their doors. It's a very safe place to live and it's not always necessary to do so. However... I am a door locker. I was raised this way and I am a firm believer in constant door locking! I am a cautious person! I can't help it! I always hope for the best, but plan for the worst. You just never know when a crazy person will think your house is on fire and come barging in unexpectedly.

I am SO thankful that it was two guys who acted very calmly about a crazy lady barging in (aka... ME) and not a poor mother of 4 whom I could have really startled! I am thankful it wasn't a couple doing something dirty... I'm thankful no one's home was on fire and all of our items are safe. I'm glad Cheyenne didn't suffer from (imaginary) smoke inhalation. I'm thankful that everything is okay! Besides my pride, nothing or no one was injured or hurt and nothing was damaged. But I must tell you... that was a really scary moment. I feel completely crazy. I spoke with my Mom on the phone this evening and she told me it only gets worse with age... while I realize I am still very young, with a birthday coming up this weekend (by the way... did you put my b-day present in the mail?!) I can't help but feel a little old and senile.

Lesson: Lock your doors. There are lots of crazy people out there. What if I was a big scary drunk person who tried to crawl into your bed... at a house that wasn't his in a bed that's not yours?! Just think about it! AND... LOCK YOUR DOORS! :)

Chelsea

Tokyo Tower and other Shenanigans

On Saturday George, our friend Adam and I went exploring in Tokyo and went to Tokyo Tower! It's a replica of Paris' Eiffel Tower. The one here in Japan is several meters taller (I don't remember exact measurements), and it's painted orange and white. We got a very late start to our day and I don't think we left the base until 2ish Saturday afternoon! We usually drive to the other side of the base, park our car there and then walk the 15 or so minutes to the train station. We decided since we were already running so late to try to park down near the station. We failed to find a spot to park and ended back at the base where we walked anyways. Ha.

We rode the train into Tokyo, which was about 70 minutes. Sometimes if you catch an express train it's a little shorter, and if you have to change trains, sometimes it's longer, but we made average time. And we are getting SO much better at using the trains. I am really proud of us!

The Zojoji Temple is next to Tokyo Tower, and it's beautiful! I had read on my favorite Tokyo travel site to visit the tower and temple in the same day because they're so close to one another. So we did. We washed our hands at the entrance to it, following suit of the people before us (we're still learning all the customs and courtesies), and went in to view it. You could smell the incense burning from far away! :) We finished with the Zojoji Temple pretty quickly. Besides the beautiful architecture, there isn't a whole lot to see or do at the temple's we visit, but I can always appreciate the time we spend at them and the experience gained from it!



We waited in line for about 20 minutes to get tickets to go up to the observation deck of the tower. 20 minutes was nothing because when we got in line there was a man holding a sign that said it was a 50 minute wait! We were very pleased with the 20 minutes! They had a "combination ticket" where you got to go to the observation deck, see the Guinness Book of World Records Museum, a 3D show, and a Wax Museum for 2100yen, or 24ish dollars. George and I talked Adam into the combo ticket (poor Adam).



We made it to the deck and observed the sights. This was our third tall building observation deck in 3 months, with the Seattle Space Needle and Yokohama Landmark Tower being the first two. So while we enjoyed the view at the Tokyo Tower, it was nothing spectacular compared to the other two we'd recently seen. And I may not be giving Tokyo Tower a fair chance because it was a very hazy day, late in the afternoon. One thing this did have was a glass floor! You could stand over the glass and look straight down. I was really excited about doing this, and it made me feel as much anxiousness as you would think it would make you feel!





There was a line to get back on the elevator and someone (ahem... George) suggested we take the 600 stairs down. We contemplated it and then all of a sudden, we were doing it. It really wasn't that bad. Just when I was thinking "Why didn't we wait for the darn elevator?!" I saw a monkey. No joke. A monkey... wearing a dress. I've already told you in previous posts how much I like monkey's. And throw clothes on one? Score! This made me hurry along and I don't even remember the last few flights of stairs! There was a monkey show that was ending by the time we made it down, but they were really cute and I got to take a picture of them!




We did the wax museum next, which was pretty awful. :) George and I had never been to one! There wasn't a single sculpture in there that was terrific but I did see get to see wax Beatles and I found that to be VERY exciting! Paul and Ringo were decent but I couldn't even really tell George and John apart. But it was still cool and they had a lot of Beatles paraphernalia to look at, so overall, I was happy. Also, I recently watched a youtube video of Ozzy Osbourne standing in a wax museum and when people would try to take pictures with him he would come to life and scare them. I had this in the back of my head the whole time. So while I was looking at one (maybe the Alice in Wonderland people) George grabbed me and made a "Rahr" noise that made me scream and jump. He never tires of scaring me. I'm skiddish. What can I say?

Me and the Fab Four. :)


This was supposed to be Julia Roberts. That's Jodie Foster in the foreground.


A full replica of The Last Supper, this one was really neat!




Next we viewed the worst 3D movie I'd ever seen. 3D makes me feel dizzy and ill in general, but it came in the combo pack so we did it. It was in Japanese of course but even if it had been in English and we'd understood it, it still would have been awful. There ghosts and zombies and floating people and blood and it was really weird. Thank God it only lasted about 10 minutes! After that we walked through a very silly haunted house.

George and Adam with their super cool glasses on!


We walked through the Guinness 'museum' next. It was pretty outdated. It still had Hank Aaron listed as holding the most home-run record and a few others we found that we knew were no longer accurate. It was still fun to read through them. They had a few objects from movies and whatnot, but overall, I'd recommend if you go to the tower, see the view then head somewhere else! I felt bad we made Adam pay for those tickets. He was wiser than us but was a great sport about it all! :)

We found a little Irish pub on the way back to the train station. Adam got a chicken pizza and George and I both had fish and chips. The food was pretty good! We took the train home and made it back safe and sound!

After we got home I went out and had a girls night out, complete with dancing! It was a good time! We spent Sunday hanging around the house!

We have the Friendship Festival this weekend and there is an estimated 300,000 visitors coming to the base. Everyone keeps saying this, but I don't know if I can believe it until I see it! Then Monday I am getting my tonsils removed! I will probably blog plenty that week because I'll be home in bed, but George has promised to take good care of me! So please keep me in your prayers and good thoughts for a speedy recovery!

Much love,

Chelsea

A good shot as we were heading home for the night!

Why you shouldn't clean...

So today I spent the majority of my day cleaning. I don't care much about cleaning. I realize it's something that must be done, but honestly, I do not care for it. George knew this getting into this marriage and I'm truly surprised at how much patience he has with me and my cleaning habits. :) Anyways... here is a very short story as to why you shouldn't clean. It's dangerous...

Today I vacuumed the bathroom floor, then mopped it. In doing this mopping (with a washcloth, bucket of soap and water, down on my hands and knees), I moved a wooden shelf out of the bathroom and put it in the hallway so I could clean underneath it. While the floor was drying, I went to throw another load of clothes in the washing machine. I filled my basket with dirty clothes, and because the entrance to my bedroom is so narrow, I couldn't turn the 180 degrees around and walk facing forward out of the bedroom. So I backed out of the bedroom. I forgot the vacuum and shelf were still in the hallway. I tripped into the vacuum, knocking it down, making my self flip backwards, landing on top of the vacuum cleaner, hitting my head on the shelf, knocking the shelf over, clothes flying all over the place, the laundry basket landing on my chest, with my back bent a way it shouldn't be bent.

I really hate that this fall was not caught on camera. It is straight out of a movie. How do I do these things to myself? I don't know, but my back is very sore, and I scraped my leg pretty bad. Not to mention what happened to my poor vacuum.




So let this be a lesson to all of you. Cleaning is dangerous. Don't do it.

Love,

Chelsea

George's Birthday!

I'd like to take a few minutes to write about the person I love the most in this world, my husband, my Panda, George. He really is a wonderful husband, an even better best friend and a great father to our doggy Cheyenne. His birthday was this past weekend and fittingly, he deserved a birthday party!

The services the base offers really are terrific. I went to the Outdoor Recreation Building to have my bicycle fixed. They assembled it, put the tires on, pumped them up, put the pedals on and tested it that it still worked. While I was there I saw they rented a party pack. I decided then and there to throw George a birthday party in the grassy area near our apartment. I rented a tent, 2 tables, 15 chairs, a grill and a giant ice chest for $55, including delivery. I sent out a Facebook invite to our friends here on the base, and the party was on. Lucky for me, George's b-day fell on a Friday this year so it's easy to organize. I considered making it a surprise party but decided that would take too much effort. :)

Friday finally rolled around. George flew that morning and afternoon so I was pretty much on my own to get all ready for the party. I cleaned the house and started making the food a day in advance. They delivered the tent, grill etc. around 3 and guests were due to arrive around 6. I have wonderful neighbors, really, I can't brag about them enough! They are each fantastic! The reason I brag about them is that I had 3 come down and help me set up the tent, which was a fantastic help. I looked at the bag with the poles, rods, metal thingys and tent cover itself and decided we were no longer going to have a tent because I figured I'd never be able to get it set up. Adam was home that afternoon and came down to help me out, then Caitlin and Jane joined us as well! We had it done in about 30 minutes, and I'm not even sure it took that long! Thanks, especially to Adam for being the brains of the operation and figuring out how the whole structure worked! Jane ran to the store for me and got tablecloths, because trust me, these tables had been very beaten up. And Caitlin was an excellent tent holder. She knows what I mean. :)

We ended up with way more food than we had imagined we would have. We bought 24 hamburgers, 24 hotdogs, 6 brats, wings, a crock-pot full of Santa Fe Soup (more credit to Aunt Joy), a veggie tray, chips and salsa, and all the fixings for the burgers and ha-gogs (as George would sometimes say). I decided at the last minute that the tent looked bare and because I hadn't even really thought to get balloons (what's the matter with me?) I made George a very pathetic, very last minute, but made with love, "Birthday Banner". I got it hung up, and guests began to arrive.

George's sign and some of our guests/friends/neighbors.




We had a really great time! Overall at least 40something people came by to wish George a happy birthday! We stayed up chatting with friends and cleaning up until 1am! I'd call the event a success. We had absolutely zero food left. All of the burgers, hotdogs, brats and soup were eaten! We had a few carrots left from the veggie tray, but the rest of it was gone! We did have a tons of sodas and beer left over, which are STILL, eight days later, sitting in a cooler in my living room. We have nowhere else to put them! Hahaha!

Oh! I didn't mention George's birthday cake! I made my very first attempt at baking my first homemade cake. I've made homemade icing before and I've made homemade cake batter before, but never together for the same dish. George requested a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, so after some searching I found a recipe that fit this criteria on the Wilton website. After my attempt at decorating a pie for the 4th of July (see previous posts) with cake icing (what was I thinking?) I felt I could give it another attempt on George's birthday cake. It certainly didn't look professional, but I think it was a great try and I'm sure the next time I do it, it'll look even better! The cake itself was a little dry but the icing was some of the best I'd ever tasted! (If I do say so myself).

The cake! (Stupid candles)


We had a bit of a glitch with the candles! I went out of my way to find nice candles for his cake and bought the wax letter candles that spell out 'Happy Birthday". I placed them in the cake and then tried to light them. We seriously tried for 20 minutes... but never could get them to light!!! We took the cake under cover to do it, tried everything we could think of, but the wicks had finally given out because they wouldn't stay lit! Oh well, I held up a lighter when we sang and let George blow that out! A minor mishap, but what can you do?




For the rest of the weekend we kind of took it easy! We were pretty exhausted from the week and Friday's festivities so we just hung out around here. On Sunday we went to Fussa's Tanabata Festival. There was food, performers, swarms of people, drinks, music and just general festival stuff. We walked around for an hour or two, saw a very short magic show, tried lots of food on a stick, and explored the area.

George at the very entrance to the festival. I wish I had taken more pictures once it was crowded!



As we were getting ready to leave the festival, a man grabbed George's arm. He was a much older man, maybe 75-85ish range. Through his very broken English and our even more broken Japanese we gathered that he:
1. Asked George if he was from our base. Yes.
2. Asked what branch he was in. Air Force.
3. Asked George if he was a communist. No.
4. Man tells us that he is a communist. Okay...?

The man had a more negative stance than we cared for, and never offered a smile. I finally grabbed George's arm and said, "Are you ready? We need to go." It made us both uncomfortable. We don't really know what he was saying and perhaps he was not a communist and was thanking us? Ha. We have no idea but didn't care much for the experience!

At the festival we ate chicken on a stick, steak/sausage(?) on a stick, and George had a pita pocket of some sort, with chicken and lettuce. All of it was pretty good. Some of the other things we saw there were baked potatoes, lots of fish, cucumbers on a stick, pickles on a stick, bananas dipped in chocolate on a stick, and liquor being sold on the street, which I assume means they lack liquor licenses here. (?).

We walked back towards the base and went to a Chinese restaurant along the way to have a proper dinner. While we were there we could hear the fireworks going off from the festival, so along with 2 of the 3 employees of the restaurant, we stepped outside to watch them. We gazed at them for a few minutes then went back in to finish our meals. George got a spicy chicken-fried rice dish and I got "chicken soup casserole" which really was Ramen noodles, with a warm broth, chicken and vegetables. It was really good.

George received a new bike from me for his birthday, as well as a travel book about Japan (can you believe we didn't own one?) and a book called 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. We've already gone through and are marking off the places we've seen. I have more than George does right now, but I'm sure with all of the traveling he does with work, he'll have way more than me in a few short years!!! And we're looking forward to seeing a lot of those places together!

Anyway, the point is, on Sunday we went for a bike ride together! We rode to a restaurant that is like a mock Steak-n-Shake (oooh I miss that!) and had lunch then rode all the way around the base, around the flight line (which is pretty cool) and back home. We calculated it to be about 6 miles, which was plenty long for my first bike ride in say, uh, 4 years? My behind hurt more than anything, but my knee took a very close second. I had to keep stopping to take a break! OH! We had another Fuji Sighting! YAY!

It was a wonderful weekend, and I'm glad I got to spend it with George. With all the traveling he does, being in the "real Air Force" instead of our pilot training bubble makes me appreciate each and every day with my husband that much more. It's such a great feeling to know that we are together on this incredible adventure in Japan. There is no one else I'd rather experience this short life I have with, and am so grateful that he feels the same way. So Happy 25th Birthday George, I love you!!!