Japan 2014 More

Saturday

Today was our first stick-around-home day. It was colder today. We started the day by going to the bakery on base and getting breakfast- burritos and doughnuts-yum. Then we went to a football game for Caleb and Max. Caleb was the quarterback and he did a great job. He ran for a touchdown and threw a pass for the winning touchdown.

We did a lot of shopping today. Went to a produce store off base and got some veggies. Then we went to the dollar store which was really impressive. There were three floors. It was a huge store with all kinds of interesting things. We mostly bought candy to take home-- whistle treats, grape treats, gum and I also found a Santa suit for Hunter. He'll like that. We're excited about some bath balls we bought for kids that dissolve in the tub to reveal a little toy in the middle. We bought a few other gadgets.

Then we went to the commissary and got a few more groceries and some makeup for Leanna. A very successful shopping day.

We ate a late lunch at Black Box - a ramen store. It was kind of like glorified Top Ramen with a hard-boiled egg in it and some bamboo shoots. Yum.

The rest of the day we made banana bread and regular bread and played games. We also watched an old family video we had made for Caleb 9 years ago. Very fun. Tried an apple pear for the first time. Love it. Tried a persimmons earlier in the week. Loved that too.

Sunday

We went to church with Leanna and the kids. Mike is out of town on a trip for work. The meetings were very good. Hung out the rest of the day at home. Had a wonderful dinner called bulgogi. Played "dance moves to Big Bootie" with the kids. They really liked it. Played more games and had ice cream, milk and candy bars-- personalized shakes in a bowl. Nummy. 

Monday

Sent The kids off to school and went to Mt. Mitake.  It was a very beautiful nature walk along a river coming off a waterfall. The fall colors were spectacular! Every other minute was a spectacular view! Thoroughly enjoyed the walk/hike.

We went home and played a gamed of Splat on the kitchen table map. Fun. 

For dinner we took ourselves and the kids to a Guioza restaurant. Guioza is like a pot sticker. We really liked the food there.  For home evening treats we went to an ice cream store called Chatterai's. Quite the assortment of ice cream was there. We got several varieties to share and enjoyed them all.

Tuesday

Had a lazy morning. Packed to come home.  Had to be on the bus for base to the airport by 1:00.  Decided to take one last outing to get sushi. Leanna felt like our experience wouldn't be complete without it.  We went to a restaurant that had a conveyer belt that went by each table.  It was loaded with sushi and other treasures that you could grab or you could order certain items and it would ding when it came to your table and you would grab it off.  To pay at the end they just counted your dishes.  Surprisingly we thought the sushi we had was delicious as well as the other items we tried.  Very fun!

Caught the bus with time to spare and had a nice ride to the airport.  No problems finding our way or getting through security.  Loved that they gave us slippers to put on through security when we had to shed our shoes. One final Japanese courtesy.  

Some pics on bus ride back to the airport.