To our Loyal Followers...

First I'd like to say thanks for keeping up with us. That's very cool!
I also just wanted to let you know that we will be down for a little over a week (hopefully no longer) until we get our internet service started at our house. I'll spend the time getting the house in order and then I'll have some new pics to post of our new place and hopefully inspire our first visitor (yeah, we're a bit homesick for our loved ones). So, check back with us around Tues. the 30th or so. Until next time...

We have finally put in an application on a house! It is a house we saw quite awhile ago. We like the house, but hesitated to commit because there is no yard at all (most of the houses we did find with yards were not what you'd imagine - more like a patch of grass) and is kind of isolated. Being located at the top of a hill, we would be dependant on our cars to get anywhere for the girls to play outside. Although, because it's a really small neighborhood, Stel should be able to ride her bike around. We held out and did some more searching for houses with yards and locations accessible to parks, train stations, or stores within walking distance, but we couldn't find a house that had it all. We finally decided it was time to get ourselves out of the Navy Lodge!

The house is in an area called Shimoyamaguchi, in the town of Hayama, which is on the other side if the Miura Peninsula. Hayama is where the Emporer has his summer palace - yeah, we're fancy.

The house is bright and cheerful, unlike alot of the houses we saw, and I think will accomodate us nicely. The backside of the house overlooks a beautiful hillside, which I hope will give us some awesome autumn colors and cherry blossoms and, from the master bedroom, there is a view of the ocean - again, fancy.

This househunting process has been, at times, an extremely frustrating experience, but it has been an experience all the same. We learned alot about our surroundings and about the geography of the peninsula. We were introduced to alot of local people i.e. the housing agents. We really enjoyed meeting several of them (shout out to Rika, Miho, Saito-san, and our man Pedro.) I have to say, I'm glad this part is coming to an end, but thankful for it.
Some pics of the girls on the Photo Journal page

Lacey is crawling and pulling up on things but still not really sitting on her own yet! She held her balance for awhile at our going away party, but never really bothered to try again. That has been an effect of being in this room. Floor space is limited, so she's been on a soft bed alot, which isn't really condusive to learning how to sit up. But, she's had the desire, I assume, to see the world from a different perspective, so she started moving. Well, ok, nevermind that. I just took a break to feed Lace and she sat up, on her own, in the bed to eat! Yay, Lace. I'll let you know when she walks! She's also super grabby and thinks her hands are the greatest things ever, but she is holding a bottle on her own. Stel starts preschool tomarrow. She's starting a program that we think is going to be amazing. Sunny Hill School is run by the wife of one of Trips' coworkers at their home, which is in an absolutely georgeous location. The curriculum is very thorough and seems like it's going to be tons of fun and very educational, especially since their are only a handfull of children. Plus, they (we) take field trips every 3 weeks, so we have the opportunity to see some more things in Japan.

Baby you can Drive my car

As of last week, Trips and I both got our Japanese 'professional driver' licenses! Look out!

Trips also managed to aquire a set of wheels for us...our awesome Nissan Super Saloon. Well, it was free anyway and got us some much needed independance.

When we got it, Trips soon discovered that it didn't have any shoulder straps in the back seats, which was a concern for the child safety seats. He made a call, and within the hour had bought our 2nd car, a nice Mazda Premacy, for a couple thousand.

We haven't yet accomplished all the necessary tasks required for driving the Premacy, so we've been in the Super Saloon. I've driven it onbase. The opposite thing wasn't so difficult. Trips, on the other hand, has been brave enough to take it offbase. This is a brave task for four reasons, at least. First, of course, we're still getting used to everything being opposite - opposite side of the car, opposite side of the street, controls are even opposite (the cars on base are said to have extremely clean windshields because of the tendancy to hit the windshield wipers when trying to signal). Then, there is the fact that the Japanese are very much offensive drivers. Third, even though there are alot of cars on the road, there are just as many pedestrians and cyclists. They are everywhere and just as offensive in there actions. But, because there are so many pedestrians, there are many pedestrian crosswalks, so the speed limit stays low, which ties us into the the forth reason. The speed limit also stays low because most of the streets, even some of the main roads, are extremely narrow. And here we are in this large van. The combination of all of these aspects makes driving a large vehicle not such a good idea. The tiny car is king around here. Oh, I just thought of a fifth reason. It is acceptable in alot of places to just pull the car to the side of the road for temporary parking, say to run into a store or something, so there's alot of weaving around parked vehicles. I have to give my hubby big props. We haven't hit a thing in 2 days of driving! I have decided to wait for the smaller car. I think Trips may consider junking the Super Saloon soon and getting something smaller.

So, there we'll be, haplessly making our way up and down the crowded little streets of Japan. And, as if we won't stand out enough just by the mistakes we'll be making, it's guaranteed all will know that we are American, first time drivers! If you take another look at the picture above of the Super Saloon, you'll notice a yellow and green emblem. This is called a wakaba mark. It distinguishes you as a new driver in Japan (good for 1 year). It is actually a pretty cool thing 'cause in case of a minor accident, if you are driving with this on you're car, you are basically dismissed on any fault (the elderly are allowed a similar emblem). But, not only will everyone know we're newbies, but American newbies at that. The Y on the license plate signifies an American owned car.

The past two days we've loaded up the van and gone on drives around the Miura Peninsula. I have to say, we've done a pretty good job of navigating our way around. Nothing in Japan seems to be built on a grid system! We've discovered new areas of the peninsula that we hadn't seen yet with housing agents and got to go see the beautiful home of one of Trips' coworkers. The freedom to get beyond the base on our own time was nice. I wasn't convinced the girls thought the same through the cries, whines, and screams.