Jacob & Enoshima Island

My little Jacob has just grown up in front of my eyes. He was barely 3 when we moved to Japan. He's now finishing 1st grade and turning 7 this year! Jacob was born on September 11th. If you tilted your head to say, "oooh, really", then you know that's pretty much what I get every time I have to fill in his birthdate somewhere. I always have to say, he was born in 2000. It was his birthday first. Even though this day is now part of our lives, even more so being in the military, it's more about celebrating Jacob. David always some sort of ceremony or memorial to play for and so is always working, but we make it a special day for Jacob. He doesn't know any different either way, it's cake and presents day for him! He is a smart, active, loving, spiritual little man. He always wants to make sure we say our prayers. Even when we're out driving and need to find parking, he'll say, Mom, we should say a prayer. A few months ago, we went on an adventure with some friends. We went to visit Enoshima Island. It's a beautiful place with a fantastic view of Mt. Fuji. My friend had her 3 kids, and I had mine, Jackson being only about 3 months old. I had my double stroller, with Jackson in a car seat hooked on to the front of it. We made our way up about 5 long escalators to a beautiful lookout area. Usually, in Japan, if the Japanese see you doing something you're not supposed to, they will give you the crossed arms, "don't do that" signal. Well, we got none of that on our way up and so kept going on our adventure. As soon as we were ready to go back down, we quickly realized there were no escalators DOWN!! We put the babies in carriers, folded up strollers, and started our painful decent. I think I probably looked like a very mean and cross mommy by the time we got about halfway down, I was in so much pain! We finally got to the bottom only to realize the end of this staircase was the ocean! We were going to have to carry everything BACK UP! I called another friend on my cell phone fully expecting myself to ask her to fly her magic helicopter over and pick us right up, but only vented for a minute. As soon as I hung up the phone, my friend said that Jacob had suggested to her that we say a prayer. We took all these sweet, trusting children into an opening in the rocks and said a prayer that we would be safe, happy and able to find a shortcut out of this maze. As soon as we made it up one section of the stairs, a Japanese man came running out of his shop with a map. He stopped me and started say..."shortucutu", which is Japanese English for shortcut! Sure enough, we had passed a small turn in the path that at this time we took. It led us all the way out without a single stair! Talk about a humbling and learning experience for me and the kids. Jacob has taught me so much about life. I am so grateful for him! He's my jedi! (Pictures: Kids at Enoshima Island (you can see Mt. Fuji in the background), Jacob the Jedi, and Jacob in Kimono)

Godzilla

I never, ever thought I'd know a thing about Godzilla, or care for that matter. Well, not only do we live in Japan, where Godzilla and all his friends are almost a "mascot", but I also have a husband and boys. We have learned a lot about Godzilla, watched several of the movies, and of course, have a collection of this plastic icon along with some of his friends. Hot Lava monster, Mothera, Rhodan, Mecca-Godzilla are a few. Yes, I know their names. These picture were taken a couple of years ago at the "Godzilla Park". It's official name is "Kurihama Flower World", but the kids' call it the Godzilla Park. It's a beautiful garden with a bazillion flowers different in the different seasons. It's a gorgeous place that you can walk around and enjoy nature and the view. As you come up around the corner on the first hill, this ginormous Godzilla thing gets all the kids excited. So much for the nature lesson! You can't tell when you first look at it, but the big Godzilla is a slide. You enter through his legs right in front and it shoots you out the bottom of the tail. It's pretty fun and surprisingly fast! This whole area around Godzilla is a park for the kids, and they absolutely love it. Jacob was a little nervous the first time we saw the slide, but he warmed up to it. David even had some fun. At this park, and at many other parks here, they have these roller slides. The whole slide is metal rollers. You get on one of these things and go rolling down and get going really fast. It's super fun, but by the time you're done, your bum is really tingling! So anyway, we'll always have great memories of Godzilla park. And if you ever come visit, we'll play with Godzilla toys! (Pictures: David and Jacob on the roller slide, front and back of the Godzilla slide, Abby coming down the Godzilla slide)

Salty Sailor

In the Navy, when you've been out to sea for a while, lived 24-7 on a ship, and have seen the world, you can call yourself a "salty sailor". I never in my wildest dreams imagined a life like ours. I wouldn't trade it for the world. While the kids and I have had our adventures in Japan, David has become a salty sailor. This picture of him in front of the Sydney Opera House was taken a year ago, but he's been back there since, and will be going again in June. He's got quite a list of places he's been to, most of them more than once. 3 Years of sea duty, although hard on all of us during the separation, has been an amazing experience for him. He's been to India, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand, China, Singapore, Phillipines, Guam, Saipan, all over Australia and throughout Japan. When not going by air with the Seventh Fleet Band, he's been attached to the USS Blue Ridge. It's the second largest ship homeported here. I am sometimes envious of the adventures he's had. After one 2 month cruise, we were waiting on the pier for the ship to pull in. It was cold and very windy, so we were all invited to go on the ship after it pulled in to wait for our sailors. We were hearded into the eating area where we waited for David to finish his duties. The ship was anchored, but still swaying back and forth on the water. It was cramped, dark, and confining. I decided then, that I would enjoy his salty sailor stories from the shore, and I wouldn't complain about him being gone. I can't imagine life on a ship.

Tokyo

Tokyo is the most amazing city! There's a tower there called the Tokyo City View Tower. This picture, taken by David's Mom, is from the 52nd floor. When I came out of the elevator for the first time and into the viewing area, I'm pretty sure my mouth was wide open and I did that breath intake like I couldn't believe what I was seeing. From the 52nd floor, you can see a long way. In Tokyo, it's all city as far as you can see, and then there's water and it all just stops. It's so surreal. I've never seen anything like it. Tokyo and the surrounding metropolis has 35 million people!!!! It also holds the record for being the most expensive city in the world! The train/subway system is just a work of art. If you look at the train map of the Tokyo area, it looks like a big bowl of organized spaghetti noodles. It's the most amazing thing! One thing that has surprised me about Tokyo and even Yokosuka where we live is that there are a lot of signs and directions in English. For the most part, if you know the names of the stops your going to, you can navigate pretty good. Now about 3 years ago, I wouldn't have said that, but after getting used to the trains and subways, I feel pretty confident about going out and about. A few months ago, I took all three kids up to Tokyo by myself. David had to work and we needed to go to the US Embassy to get Jackson's passport. We drove the car to Tokyo, (it's about 60 miles maybe and takes about 1 hour 45 min. to drive) and parked at a hotel there called the New Sanno. It's owned and operated by the Department of Defense. Then from the hotel we took a taxi to the Embassy about 20 minutes. I bet we were a sight, baby in the chest carrier, one kid holding to belt loops on one side of me and the other on the other side of me. After finishing at the Embassy, we walked around downtown Tokyo and got on a subway going through the famous shopping district of Ginza. We changed to a train and got off at Hiroo station, then walked about 10 minutes to the hotel and our car. It was quite an adventure.

Geijin-Gaijin & sweet Abby

So, I have already pulled a "geijin" for all of you to witness! My sweet friend Renee pointed out that it's spelled GAIJIN. Still pronounced the same, but I misspelled it. Just goes to show, Japanese is a hard language...is it kanji, hiragana, katakana, spelled the way it sounds....who knows. I can ask for water and chopsticks at a restaraunt, I can definately say I'm sorry and excuse me. I can say thank you and please. And I know they're saying "oh, cute!!" when the Japanese point at the kids as we're out and about. I've even had people "ask", or make the eyebrow raise question mark look, to see if they can touch the kids' hair. They love blonde hair. I wouldn't be surprised to see Abby's picture posted somewhere here. People have taken many pictures of her, especially with their cell phones!

"Action" Jackson

Since being in Japan, we've added a new member to our family. Jackson David Ward was born on August 31, 2006. He quickly got his nickname "Action" Jackson because of the action he gave us coming into this world. That's a story for another post, but he's lived up to his nickname already. He's now a thriving 7 1/2 months old. He's all over the place and leaving a drool trail like a snail. We're all totally in love with him, though! This picture is of Jacob 6, Abby 4, and Jackson 7 mos., on Easter Sunday.

Ward Geijin Adventure

I am now on the wagon of this new fun thing called a blog. My sister in law Janus started one when she had a 6 month adventure to India. I really should've started this about 3 1/2 years ago when we moved here to Japan, but I am finally doing it now. I will attempt to recap in short story about our 3 years here. And hopefully be able to let everyone share our adventures as we prepare to move back to the states. Our blog is called "Ward Geijin Adventure" (pronounced 'guy-jean'). Geijin in Japanese means foreigner. It's a word the foreigners use to joke about themselves in a strange country, and sometimes it's a word that the Japanese use to laugh at us foreigners who don't know what the heck we're doing or saying! :) (This picture was taken in October 2004)

I hope you all enjoy and send me your comments!