Fun with Friends and Family!

We are having fun visiting with family and friends here in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Elise has been playing dress up, taking walks, and getting lots of cuddles! Our days and nights are finally adjusted, so life is much better now!

Elise and her Uncle Sam!

Chillin' with Uncle Grant.

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Sam! Hooray!

Another beautiful fall day in Delaware.

Fly, Eagles, Fly! Watching the game with Grandpa Phil.

Elise meets her Banny. (a.k.a. Great Grandmother)

Walking at Hybernia Park with Great Grammy. What a lovely day!

Philly cheese steak, anyone?!?!

Hey...Elise and I made it safely to PA! Elise was a traveling superstar! We had the bulkhead seat on our leg from Tokyo to Chicago and she slept almost the whole way in a sweet bassinet that was attached to the wall. (which meant I got some sleep too) Then came a long layover in Chicago which was supposed to be 5 hours, but turned out to be 8 hours...that meant that we arrived in the Philadelphia airport at 2 am - just 26 hours after leaving our house in Yokosuka (talk about a long day!) We visited with my family for a few hours in the middle of the night and then Elise cried for about 2 and a half hours (better here than on a plane packed with annoyed people - still it was a long night.)

Anyway, we napped and relaxed today and will hopefully get our days and nights figured out in the next day or two. Elise is enjoying lots of hugs and giggles with grandparents, aunts and uncles - it's quite cute!

Hiking at Mt. Fuji and other adventures...

Josh was given a day of special liberty on Monday (a.k.a. a free day off!!), so we decided to take the opportunity to get away for the weekend. Life has been so hectic lately and we were really looking forward to a chance to relax and be together. (Knowing that if we just stayed at home to relax, we would fill our days with errands and household chores for sure - funny how that works!)

We booked a "villa" in a town called Gotenba which is near Hakone and the foothills of Mt. Fuji. We arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday, took a nap, relaxed in our room, and went out for dinner and a walk in the evening. It was perfect autumn weather and the leaves were just starting to show some color, so it was particularly refreshing.

On Sunday we woke up and got a quick breakfast at a nearby bakery and then headed for the 5th hiking station of Mt. Fuji. The 5th station is the highest point that you can drive to to begin hiking up the mountain. Open season for hiking Mt. Fuji only lasts through July and August because of the extreme weather conditions, so our goal was not the peak this time. (We'll have to do that next summer!) Plus, we did have a 3 month old with us and as it was, we were all bundled up in all the layers of clothes that we had brought! (I forgot how chilly it can be when you start climbing in elevation - oops!) Unfortunately, we did not get great views of Fuji in all its splendor because it was shrouded in its usual blanket of fog and clouds...but we did get to hike up to the 6th station and then along a trail until we reached a volcanic crater! There, the fog lifted just long enough for us to get some pictures and hike down and around the pit of hardened lava - it was very cool.

One day Elise will get to tell her friends that she ate and had a diaper change at the bottom of a crater on Mt. Fuji. (well, maybe not the diaper changing part!) She was a great sport - all bundled up in several layers of fleece and other clothing with socks on her hands for mittens! (being a July baby, this was her first experience with chilly weather!)

After walking up and down in piles of scree (an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff - thank you webster's) for several hours, we decided to take a more stable wooded trail back to our car. We then had dinner on our way to the hotel and enjoyed another quiet and relaxing evening in Gotenba.

On Monday we woke up to another beautiful day with clear blue skies and thought that surely we would be able to catch some great views of Fuji before we headed home...those hopes were quickly dashed as we drove back towards the mountain. The closer we got to the mountain, the darker and more foreboding the sky became. We kept going and arrived at another 5th station location with a light rain falling and dark clouds all around. By the time I fed Elise, the rain had kind of stopped, so we decided to hike around for a few hours before leaving for Yokosuka. This time we hiked a more horizontal trail around the base of the mountain - though woods, over bridges, and along hardened lava slides. We didn't see anyone else the whole time we were hiking, so it was kind of like having the mountain to ourselves.

Hopefully, we'll catch some clear views of Mt. Fuji when we go back to hike and camp in the spring. For now, we're just so thankful for the fun and relaxing weekend that we had!

Happy Health-Sports Day!

Today was a national holiday in Japan called...you guessed it...Health-Sports Day! Health-Sports day is held annually on the second Monday in October to commemorate the opening day of the 1964 Summer Olympics that were held in Tokyo. (incidentally, the Summer Olympics were held unusually late that year to avoid the Japanese rainy season) Many businesses and schools hold competitions, activities, and health screenings to promote physical and mental well-being. Thought you might like to know!

10 Weeks old!!

Thought everyone might want some updated pictures of little Elise! She is now weighing in at 12 pounds, 6 ounces and measuring about 23 inches long. Her chubby cheeks are all the rage here in Japan. All the Japanese woman stop to say "kawaii" (cute) and then they usually giggle and poke her cheeks - it's quite funny.

She loves bath time and listening to music (usually when Josh is dancing with her or making faces at her while he plays the guitar). Josh has also found that flying her around like an airplane helps to calm her fussiness! (since he can't nurse her, it's nice for him to have a trick up his sleeve to make her happy!)

We especially like it when she smiles and "talks" to us. She has become quite "chatty" in the last week or two and it's great fun! I think giggles might be next, we'll see!

Underway on the KHK

Josh and I had a chance to join the USS Kitty Hawk's Friends and Family Day cruise last week, so we got to enjoy a day at sea together. It was not quite as cush as a Royal Caribbean cruise, but it was a great experience nonetheless. (It's not everyday that you get offered a ride on an aircraft carrier!)

We left Elise with our friends, John and Ashlee, and they took wonderful care of her and even kept us posted with text messages about their day!! (which lasted from 4:30am when we dropped her off, until 7pm when we returned home - wow!)

We started off the trip by "mustering" in Josh's command's office and then went to get some breakfast. That was followed by a trip to the flight deck and a tour of the pilot bridge (where they steer the ship and stand watch). We continued touring the ship (it's gigantic!) and then went back up to the flight deck for an air show. It was pretty cool to see the jets take off right in front of us and then fly in various formations overhead. (I decided that I'm glad Josh is not a pilot!!)

After the air show we went to a chapel service and then headed back to the hangar for lunch. Josh was only a little bit happy that I experienced a slight case of seasickness, so that I could empathize with how he feels when he goes out to sea!!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing more touring and more chatting. (with quite a few trips down to medical, so that I could pump)

We had a good day and were very happy to get back home to our sweet little girl!

A note for you history buffs: The USS Kitty Hawk was built in Camden, NJ and first commissioned in 1961 at the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard. It is the world's only permanently forward deployed aircraft carrier and the oldest active ship in the Navy. (though it will be decommissioned sometime in 2008 and replaced by the USS George Washington)