Still having lots of fun!

Hi everyone!

Caroline and I are still having a blast here in Japan. Yesterday we got to spend Benjamin's 27th birthday together as a family, which was great! I tried to hunt down a cake here but had no luck. So instead of a cake, Caroline and I bought cookie dough and made Benjamin's favorite (oatmeal raisin) for him. I'll post pictures when I get home of the birthday celebration.

Caroline and I have done a lot of exploring on our own since Benjamin has had to work every day we've been here. He'll likely work every day for the rest of our trip, but such is the life of a deployed pilot! Just getting to see him for a few hours in the evening is well worth the trip.

It is so hot and humid here in Japan! And that's coming from a gal who lives in GUAM and is from TEXAS! I know heat and humidity very well, but sheesh... it's like a sauna here! I've just about given up on doing my hair because I know it's not going to last longer than about 10 seconds in this weather. Even Caroline's hair is frizzy!

Caroline's adjusted pretty well to life out here. Luckily there's only an hour's time difference, so her sleep schedule hasn't been messed with much. We've been going to bed earlier than we do at home, so she does wake up earlier, but will usually nurse and go back to sleep for me. We either hang out in the hotel room or explore the area until Benjamin gets home in the evening. Yesterday we stayed put in the hotel though due to all of the rain. This lead me to discover that you can watch Oprah and other daytime tv shows out here! We don't get that in Guam, so daytime tv has been a special treat on the days when the weather won't cooperate!

Our hotel room is trapped in the early 1980's but it does have a full kitchen, which is great. It's also central to a lot of the essentials on base like food, entertainment and shopping. Walking around here is interesting not only because of the totally different country and culture, but because they drive on the opposite side of the road! It's a little bit like the twilight zone. Plus Caroline and I are the minority out here which is actually kind of neat. The Japanese people love Caroline and are continually approaching us out here. They've even asked to take a picture of her! Hopefully they're not showing their friends and saying "Look at this funny little American baby!"

They have HUGE locusts out here that scream all day long. They scream the same vocal pattern over and over again. Benjamin told me that one of the other pilots out here imagines the screams as meaning "I wannnnt my moooooooommy!" And that actually does sound very similar to the screams! It's kind of funny and now I can't hear the screams without imagining the phrase.

It looks like we'll be heading home a little sooner than we expected. While it will be sad to say goodbye to Benjamin (again), we'll be happy to be back with Bentley in the comforts of home. Now if only Benjamin can come home to us soon!!!