Our new adventure...Okinawa, Japan

We made it to Okinawa, and what an adventure. In true Military style our SATO (military travel agent) messed up our iterary. We arrived 3 hours early for our flight to Seattle, only to find out that the flight we were scheduled on left 1 hour earlier. So they booked us for a 7pm flight. By the time we got through security the plane was boarding and about to leave. We had to run through LAX to our gate. The kids handled it really well. They were able to keep up with me, while Mike was running behind with the luggage cart filled with our carry-ons and car seat. We made it on the plane and relaxed we started the first leg of our journey. A couple of hours later we landed in Seattle, Washington. Right off the plane we found out that the Alaska Airlines had broken the stroller. There goes a brand new stroller, we trashed the stroller and Sarah had to walk.

We collected all our luggage. 9 checked bags, 6 carry-ons, 1 car seat, and headed to the USO. We were going to relax for a couple of hours because our Itinerary (the messed up one) said that we couldn’t check into AMC (air mobility command) military flight until 1:30am. Well when we got to the USO we found out that they were checking everyone in and that the flight leaves at 1:30am. So we make our way down to the counter and check in and headed to the gate. Our plan was to get food when we got to the gate. Come to find out that everything in the airport closes around 11:30 and there were no places to eat open by our gate. The kids were exhausted and all we could find was some lemonade, soda and chips. What a healthy dinner.

At 1:30 we loaded the plane thinking we were heading straight to Yokota, Japan (on the mainland), boy were we surprised that the plane was so full that we had to stop and fuel up in Anchorage, Alaska. Thank goodness that they fed us breakfast on the plane. I was starving, but the kids didn’t wake up. I tried and tried to wake them up to eat, but they were so exhausted they could quite wake completely up. They slept until lunch time, when I was finally able to wake them up.

After Alaska we headed for Yokota, Japan. The kids started getting antsy on the plane wanting to get up and go to the bathroom every hour. The poor family in front of up got bumped a lot. Conner and Kyle made some friends with their kids playing DS’s. That was the long leg of the flight, about 6 hours.

After Yokota we had a short hour flight to Iwakuni, Japan, and then finally another hour flight on to Okinawa. I was so glad to get off that plane. We landed on Kadena Air base where our Sponsors met us. They helped us get into our hotel, stocked us with food and lots of snacks for the kids. They are a really great family. Our total travel time was over 24 hours, 5 take-off and 5 landings, 1 pack of gum trying to pop our ears, a couple of tantrum, and to many trips to the bathroom. But we made it, and I don’t want to do that again for 3 more years when the kids are older.

We were so exhausted when we got to the hotel but we forced ourselves to stay awake until 7pm local time. The kids made it to 6pm. Conner and Jacob were up by 4am, and the rest of the family quickly followed. The kids are now eating all the snacks and it’s only 8am. I think there bodies feel like they are still in California where it’s 4pm.

Our plan today is to head to the exchange and hopefully get a stroller. We will probably be walking places for the next week. I’ll do another post on the driving here later, and hopefully get take some pictures. Until next time as our adventure continues

Family Vacation

I know it's been a while since I wrote a post. This move has kept us very busy. We moved out of our house on Camp Pendleton on June 15 and then a week later we left on a family vacation to Kansas. We visited Mike's brother Bob and family. His other brother Steve and family went out there the same time too. It was a great visit with lots of kids (10 total).
Our trip started on June 25. Mike and I decided that it would be fun to take the northern route through Wyoming and Nebraska then south through a little bit of Iowa, and Missouri. We figured it would be great to see a lot of the U.S. before we leave it for 3 years. While we were in Nebraska we stopped by a train yard with working trains. The kids loved seeing all the trains. Of course we saw a lot of farmland. I think the kids were tired of us pointing out every Cow, Sheep, and horse we saw on the side of the road.

We arrived late Saturday night in Kansas. Steve, Francine, and kids arrived Sunday afternoon. We were all together 6 adults and 10 kids. We had so much fun and all the kids got a lot great. Kyle and Aidan were immediately buddies. By the end of the trip they were wearing matching clothing. Sarah and Stevie became BFF. Sarah would save a seat for Stevie at the dinner table. "That's were my Best Friend is sitting," she would say. We are going to miss everyone when we move. I'm glad that we had this opportunity to invade Bob and Olivia's house for the week. Here are some pictures of the week.

We were there for 4th of July, and saw some awesome fireworks.

Aidan and Mia trying to catch a ride with us back to California.

One last picture before we loaded the kids up and started our trip back to California.

Thank you Bob and Olivia for a wonderful time.

On our way back to California we stopped in Colorado at the dinosaur museum. We had stopped there 6 years earlier on our previous trip out to Kansas. The kids love this museum filled with robotic dinosaurs and bones.

The next time I write in this blog we will be living in Japan. Our next adventure is beginning.