Monthly Archives: November 2016

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Yesterday (11/24) marked exactly three months here in Japan. The family is happy and doing well, and we’ve done so much already to make this home that it feels like we’ve been here a year! Sam is enjoying himself and thinks we made the right decision. Ben is actually on the fence about moving back to the US. Dave is doing well handling the responsibilities. I am deeply appreciative of the daily gifts of exploring the area, developing new friendships, learning the language and a new sport (Kendo), while continuing to work.

Here are a few pictures from today – first Nov snow fall in 54 years!

Thanksgiving dinner at the Officers’ Club. We hadn’t eaten there yet so decided a huge buffet was worth checking out. Ben would not stop eating! Usually we have to beg him to finish a few bites of cereal before playing. He and I stock up on holiday food 🙂

I went for a turkey trot in the morning, in the snow, to see the city and the sea. This is Sarushima Island complete engulfed by swift-moving fog (kage – not entirely the right word, but it would do well enough in a broken-Japanese conversation).

Further down toward Hashirimizu the sea was roiling and green (midori umi). Beautiful.

My friend at kendo – Kumiko. She spent hours at a McDonalds helping me order all the gear for Ben and I.

UBUKATA-SENSEI. Our club’s president and a dear man. He is very warm and encouraging. He is a 7 Dan (7th level black belt). You have to hold the belt as many years as the belt number before testing for the next level.

Ben trying out goalie at practice 🙂 His friend Bremerton  Jake providing tips. 

Beautiful walks to school with fall colors and a view of the ocean to our right. This is Ben’s good friend Jackson who lives across the street.

Sam still loves to code. He’s creating a Christmas mod for Minecraft. Lots of generated structures and features!

The boys and I took a group out rock climbing. It was amazing!!!!

Corner climbs are hard but we had good instruction.

Sam and Ben on the warm up climb.

The neighborhood gang: 8 kids and 3 moms.

My walk to the barn last week. You probably can’t see it but the clouds parted enough to allow glimpses of distant mountain ranges and the ocean. I think I could see to Korea.

Some pictures of Tokyo today – the Imperial Palace and Hibuya Garden. Trees are in full color. Many beautiful parks for a big city. 

Replica of the Liberty Bell. Gift suggested by General MacArthur.

Sunset over Yokosuka. If you zoom into the middle of the shot you can see Mt. Fuji.