Blackout Period Comes to An End

We celebrated Brian's birthday this weekend in Tokyo at the New Sanno hotel. Finally, a long 3 months and 10 days have passed since my birthday, and now we are the same age again. We spent the days leisurely at a nice nearby park and at the indoor hotel pool.

We spent the evening with our good friends, Doug and Darlene, at a fun upscale Mexican restaurant called Fonda dela Madrugada in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo. We enjoyed great food and guacamole (almost as good as Brian's), and a $65 pitcher of delicious margaritas.

Brian's evening was made extra special with a birthday serenade by the live mariachi band and a kodak moment with one of the band members' sombreros.




Although it looks like he is about to burst into his own rendition of "La Cucaracha," alas, he didn't. Somewhat surprising, considering the aforementioned margaritas. Not sure if that would've made the evening more or less fun anyway. It was pretty fun as it happened.

Strawberry Picking: Our Girls Are "Green"

Miranda seems to take after Brian's green-ness. We went strawberry picking on President's Day. Miranda snapped the strawberries (I love that sound) off the vines one after the other for the full 30 minutes of strawberry picking.

Then she popped them into her mouth--stems and all. Brian noticed and appreciated her green-ness. "No waste that way..." he marveled with pride.

The dietitian in me was just hoping the stems counted as a green vegetable, since she's not too fond of the typical varieties. But she does love her fruit.

Sydney might also be considered "green." But only because she picked the green strawberries. And the fact that she didn't pick (or eat) more than 5 strawberries in the whole 30 minutes. She likes them usually, but she'd just eaten a whole package of them two days before this outing. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

"Can I go run around outside, please?!!"

Kiki, Our Witch

If there are two things Sydney loves, they are preschool and movies. Here she combines her love of both. She's playing dressup at preschool and pretending to be her favorite character--Kiki, the young, cute witch from the animated movie Kiki's Delivery Service.

This movie is now owned by Disney and, therefore, it has been dubbed in English. But originally it was in Japanese, created by the famous Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki.

My Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away are our two other favorites by this animator. My Neighbor Totoro is my personal favorite since it takes place in Japan and features many traditional Japanese things in the movie. But Spirited Away was the first anime movie to win a Japanese Academy Award (2002).

Sayonara in Sight

We have our orders, so it's official that we're planning our move back to the USA. Back to Norfolk, VA actually. Brian likes to say I sealed his fate (deployment) on the USS Nassau for the next two years by requesting to be back in the States and closer to our families. This is true. But didn't he seal mine when he asked me to marry him...along with the Navy. Don't we all happily make choices that involve some level of sacrifice?

Although while I have sacrificed in the area of my career while we've lived overseas, I recognize it is because of this I have been able to: enjoy staying home with my children, get involved in the community, and learn everything I can about Japanese culture. Similarly, I imagine that while Brian is likely feeling shipboard life in the realm of adult medicine away from his family for months on end is not ideal, I'm sure he will end up personally appreciating the opportunity to provide humanitarian assistance to underprivileged parts of the world, and professionally earning recognition in his Navy career.

So, turnabout is fair play. Yes, I chose Norfolk for us. It's east coast near family, not a small town in the middle of nowhere, and it's familiar. (Although I would argue we'll both be sacrificing with him gone so much.) But Brian realizes that choosing where we live next--and only if the detailers are amenable--is all I can pretend to have control over in this nomadic Navy life. And the choices are limited, I can assure you. Ultimately it is the detailer who decides where you go, when you go and how long you stay there. This time, he happened to agree with us on the where. So, we leave in early June and will spend two years in Norfolk.

With fewer than four months left in Japan, I feel it's too soon for Sayonara just yet. I'm having trouble visualizing pack-out dates since I'm not yet finished exploring (or buying). In fact, I'm hoping it will be more like "matane" (see you later) than "sayonara" (goodbye), come early June. I would really love to live in Japan again at some point, especially if the girls are old enough to appreciate it. And I wouldn't mind that it would seem to prove I do have control over my whereabouts--because of or despite the Navy, it remains to be seen. After all, this is only move #2.