Been here 3 months!

Well let's see what's been going on lately with us?

It's been a little while so it's kind of hard to remember what all we've been up to. Nothing exciting really. Just been trying to stay cool and staying indoors with the air conditioning. We go to a lot of movies...pretty much like we did back in the states. Normally we just go to the movie theater here on base but last weekend we went to a Japanese movie theater so that was a different experience. Ken was wanting to see Transformer's 2 when it came out and since they don't get the new release movies here on base as quickly as they do off, we decided to try out a theater off base. The tickets are a little more expensive, 1,600 yen a person. Which is roughly $16 a ticket in US dollars. When we went to purchase our tickets, the man at the window pointed to a paper with seats and asked where we would like to sit in the theater, at least that's what we thought he was asking us..ha. It was kind of like at a sporting event where your ticket price is based on the seats you want to purchase. So after we bought our tickets, we went inside. We checked out the concession stand, cause pregnant ladies like to eat ya know, and that was very different as well. Not only did they sell "taco rice" which is exactly what it sounds like. White rice with everything you would eat on a taco on top of it and also very popular here. But they also sold beer and hot dogs...yes at a movie theater concession stand. I myself went with a carmel popcorn and this icy type drink. So we found our seats in the theater and watched the previews which were in Japanese but thankfully the movie we were seeing was in English just with Japanese subtitles. We will probably only go to that theater when it's a movie that we really want to see but don't want to wait the extra month or so for it to come to the base theater.

What else have we done? We've been working on getting Gabriella's room all ready for her arrival in a couple of months. Stocking up on diapers and other things. We're so anxious to see her and have her here. Despite the constant heartburn, back pain and weight gain I've experienced I know it will all be worth it soon. I'm nearing 32 weeks pregnant and she is growing and moving around more each day. Lately she has however decided to camp out in my side below my ribs, not too comfortable for mommy but must be comfortable for her. She's running out of room in there I guess. For Father's Day I surprised Ken with 4D pictures of her. They didn't turn out that great but we can definitely see some chubby baby cheeks there! We can't wait to see what she looks like. Or should I say "who" she looks like. : )


We missed hanging out with family for the 4th of July but hope everyone had a nice Independence Day. A lot of people have asked if they celebrate 4th of July in Japan and the answer is yes. American's do at least. Here on base they had what was called AmeriFest that we went to last night. Basically it was music, food and fireworks. Although we spent more time stuck in traffic going to and from than actually enjoying the festivities. Oh well. We got to see some fireworks and heard a little bit of Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band (the dude from Forrest Gump) and it gave us something to do. Thankfully the weather was nice.Other than that, not much is new here. Ken recently started working in a different battery where he is basically his own boss. Never a bad thing. He seems to like it more.We had an unexpected visitor in our shower the other morning that I wasn't too happy to come across...see picture below. I don't much care for the "wildlife" here. It's fine if they stay outside where they belong. We went walking the other night and had a bat fly over our head. The bats are huge here. We tried a green Pepsi the other day. It's still in the fridge because neither one of us cares for it too much but wanted to try it. It's like a cinnamon flavored carbonated beverage...uh no thank you.


Oh we had maternity pictures taken at the beach the other day. The photographer isn't quiet done editing them all but has sent me a link for some of them if you all would like to check them out, at least what we have so far. As soon as I get the finished CD from her I will be sure to share them with everyone. The link may or may not work but it's worth a try. Keep in mind these are just the proofs for now.

http://flickr.com/gp/28196396@N06/3icgw8

Well, unless there is anything else that Ken would like to add, I guess that's about it for now. We love and miss everyone! Feel free to come visit us any time! : )

Love,
Ken, Angela and Baby girl Gabriella