My favorite things

Well, it didn't take me long to indulge in some of my favorite things at home once we got back from Japan.  We got home at about 6pm and once we were a little settled in Scott's parents went to pick up some dinner.  There is a great fast food Mexican restaurant called Rosa's that Scott and I both love.  I'm sure Callie will love it too since I went about once a week during the last couple of months of my pregnancy :)  

mmmmm, chicken enchiladas

yummy chips and queso

And I didn't waste anytime going to Target either.  All the girlfriends I met in Japan asked me what the first thing I was going to do at home, and my answer was go to Target!  We went Sunday morning and it was like I was returning to the mothership!  Callie had a great time riding in the shopping cart too.  I think she will also become a big Target fan :)

helping me pay at the register

Home again!

Okay, I am finally rested enough that I don't need to take a nap this afternoon while Callie is napping, I can blog instead . . .

Our flight from Osaka, Japan to Detroit, MI was definitely an adventure.  Callie did really great during the first part of the flight.  She even fell asleep right as the plane started to taxi, but that only lasted about 30 minutes.  She had a ton of fun playing on the floor in front of our seats.  We had the bulk head row and had about five feet of room before the wall.  Callie also enjoyed all the attention to received from the flight attendants and also flirted with all the business men that were on board too :)

playing on the airplane

She only slept for about one hour during the eleven hour flight, which was very tiring for both of us.  Once we got to Detroit we had a three hour layover so my family that lives near the airport came and we hung out at baggage claim.  Callie did suprisingly well, especially since it was like 2am Japan time.  She even let my crazy aunts push her around in a wheelchair :)

at the Detroit airport

We have been slowly getting used to our new time zone.  Last night Callie slept pretty well.  I was able to get more than four hours of sleep, so that was good!

We will be busy the next couple of weeks with a few doctors appointments and visiting with family and friends.  We are happy to be home!

We made it!

Well, we made it, we are home safe and sound in Texas.  The flights were interesting (more about that later) and Callie is now sleeping in her crib in her own room for the first time at home.  Hopefully she can get a full night's sleep :)

Texas here we come!

Callie and I will be leaving Japan tomorrow afternoon to head home to Texas.  I am excited to be headed home, but sad to leave Scott here.  He will have to stay until the end of the baseball season, and since his team is currently in first place we don't know how long that will be since they will most likely make the playoffs.  

I've had a great last week in Japan . . .  Scott had an off day on Monday and we went to the Bird and Flower Park again.  He was excited to be able to go with Callie and see how much she loves all the birds.  He also fed the toucan birds and was much more brave than I was :)  I also had coffee with a group of women that I have met here in Japan and it was great to be able to visit with everyone before I left.  They also had a Sayonara lunch today for me and another gal that is leaving (we are actually on the same flight tomorrow).  

The first couple of months I was here it was hard to meet new people because I was so focused on Callie and getting us both adjusted to life in Japan.  But eventually I branched out and started meeting people :)  I was amazed at how many great women I met while here in Japan, most of them are not even baseball families.  They are other Americans here while their husbands are working in Japan.  It was great to be able to bond with other women in the same situation as me and I will miss them very much.  Hopefully we will be back next season and we will all get to be together again :)

All in all we had a good time in Japan, but I am excited to be home!  I'll try to post again once we get home to let everyone know that we arrived safely.

Lost in translation

So in Japan translation from Japanese to English can be kind of tricky.  Menus can be pretty funny and the train schedules always say Horiday instead of Holiday.  We ran into one of the funnier English mistakes while we were in Yokohama.  We stayed in a Sheraton hotel and it was very nice.  Most of the staff spoke English and all the signs in the hotel were in both languages.  Well, there was a dinosaur display set up to advertise a nearby museum and we walked by it everyday and I couldn't help but laugh each time . . .

Yokohama

We got back from our road trip to Yokohama on Friday and we had a great time.  We stayed four nights, and even though it was a little bit hectic, it was still a lot of fun.  I was glad we were able to go, it was nice to spend some extra time with Scott before Callie and I leave to go back home to Texas.

We took the Shinkansen, Japan's high speed bullet train, and it was really nice.  I'm not sure how fast it goes, but it got us to Yokohama, which is right outside of Tokyo, in about 2 1/2 hours.  The seats were very comfortable and Callie really seemed to enjoy the ride.  She loved looking out the window.  I'm not sure if it was because we actually went through areas that were green and had trees, as opposed to the concrete jungle that we live in here in Osaka, or if she just thought it was cool to watch everything fly by.  

Our hotel room was pretty nice, I was scared it was going to be so small that we could barely move :)  It wasn't too small, but it did have two twin beds in it!  We don't have a pack'n'play here in Japan, so we used the hotel crib.  It was nice, but would not have passed any US safety standards!  The housekeeping staff did make it up nice though.  There was a little pillow and a cute comforter in it.  We didn't use any of the things that were placed in the crib . . .  I even brought our own crib sheet and the last day we had our room cleaned the maid took the sheet! (she must have thought it belonged to the hotel).  It was a little crazy trying to keep Callie entertained in the small room, but we managed.  She enjoyed rolling around on the bed and taking her bath in an actual bath tub!  She even managed to get the bathroom floor pretty wet with all her splashing!

Here are some pictures from our room.  The first one is of the view from our window.  The hotel was across the street from a very busy train station, and the line of taxis waiting for people was always huge!

All in all it was a great trip, but if we go on any more road trips we will definitely be getting a suite!  It's much nicer when Callie can sleep in her own room :)

Summer festival

Saturday was the end of summer festival on Rokko Island.  Everyone dresses up in Yukata (summer kimono) and there is a parade with shrines, food booths, and lots of singing, dancing and other performances.  It's basically like a big block party.  There must have been hundreds of people at it.  It was a little crazy, but lots of fun. It started at 4pm, so after Callie woke up from her nap I dressed her in her Yukata and we made our way downstairs.  

The weather has been kind of cloudy and rainy the last couple of days and Saturday was no exception.  It was really windy and we had a few raindrops, but it didn't stop the festivities.  We ran into some friends right away and Callie had a great time watching and playing with the kids while I visited with the adults.

  

Callie and her friends in their Yukatas

All the kids love to play with the toys I keep on Callie's stroller tray.  The favorite is usually the Ice Breakers tin (in Callie's hand).  It no longer has candies in it, just a couple of pennies so that it still makes noise when you shake it :)

Since the festival started so late we didn't get to stay for much of it.  We hung out for a couple of hours and then headed back upstairs so Callie could have her dinner.  We did get to hear most of the music from the festival since it was pretty much right outside our window.  Even though we are on the seventh floor I could still hear most of the music :)

Earlier in the day we spent some time outside because the weather was so cool.  Callie really loves watching all the pigeons and small birds, so we took some Cheerios to give them a snack.  After we ran out of Cheerios, Callie started dropping her toys for the birds to get!  Mostly it just scared them away, but I think Callie really enjoyed "feeding" the birds on her own :)

All the birds waiting for food

Callie trying to feed her toys to a pigeon that was walking by :)