All Things Jones

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.