Fishing!

So this past Sunday we went fishing at the marina with Bonnie and Dan. It was really nice out there, especially since more on base there really isn't a cold breeze, so it was cooler out there, actually bearable. Here is Ryan with the little basket that you put frozen/cold baby shrimp in there and then the line above it has fake ones that are the hooks. I guess right now the season is only small fish unless you're on a river.

Here is me trying to fish.

Me with a little fish I caught, can't remember the name, pretty tasty though. We cooked about 10 of those later that night, they weren't that bad, not too much meat, you would get a lot of little bones but we just breaded them in cornbread and deep fried them.

Ryan
Us. A pretty look out the harbor.
Another part of the harbor, to the left of the picture above.
The pier we were fishing off of.
The main marina. We rented a kayak there for only $3 an hour, the main rec. center thing rents out tons of stuff for free! You can rent everything you need to go camping, fishing, jumpy houses, pretty much anything you can think of, all for free.

4th of July!

So this 4th of July Ryan and I, Dan and Bonnie went over to our friend Ben and Letisha's place for dinner, then at 8:30 there were fireworks at Penny Lake. Penny Lake is just a runover lake here on the base, you can't swin or fish in it. But it is on the seawall so you could sit on that or at the baseball fields next to it.

So this is a picture of me, Leticia and Bonnie.

Picture of Ben, Ryan and Dan. Not the best picture of them. We were doing goofy ones too, I think this might be one of them. Ryan knows Dan because they were deployed here before togther.

A picture of all of the couples! Ryan and me, Leticia and Ben and Dan and Bonnie.

Picture of us!

Us with the fireworks going off.

Some fireworks.

I had a video to post but it's been loading for more than an hour and isn't done yet, it was just fireworks.

Sea wall

Here is a video of the sea wall. The base is actually on a small island so this is the sea wall that goes around most of it. I walked some but not all of it. Maybe when I get a bike I will. It may be hard to see some of it. I had another video and it downloaded but it's never uploaded, I've tried it all day, I'll try again later

Kintai Bridge

So last friday we went on our welcome aboard class and we went out in town to the Kintai Bridge and out to lunch. Even though Iwakuni is a very small town, when you drive around everything is so packed and busy so it took like 30min to get there even though it's not that far. It just seems like your far away from base.
So this is one our way to the Bridge. The roads are really small and narrow as you can see.

This is on the other side of the road at the place we ate at.

This is the Nishiki River. Also on the other side of the road.

This is the restuarant parking lot. I feel like the asian guy in the movie Caddyshack taking pictures of everything. This is the place we ate. The food was not that great. It was Iwakuni style sushi, which just means that they put something different in it. Some noodles and soup, tea and pineapple, which was probably the best. But the table was very low to the ground and we sat indian style, it was one of the nicer stores. It had a little bakery/gift store on the bottom part.

Me next to a very small car.

This is the Nishiki River next to the Kintai Bridge. It was really pretty. The part we are standing on is where the samuri's/politicians lived, it was really nice. The other side is where the commoners lived.

This is the Kintai Bridge. The roadway is actually steps, so you can't really ride over.

View from the driving bridge. The water was like a blue/green, really pretty.


Us at a big water works thing on the nice side.

Below the water is a little area that you can play in it. There was no one there because school is still in session.



Classic Japanese pose. I guess why they do that a lot is because they believe you should pose for your pictures and that's the easiest one to do. Up the hill behind me you can take a tram ride up the mountain and walk to the main Samuri's castle.

Nice picture of the bridge.


The area that you can play in.


There are some shops there and they all serve icecream. I think japanese people love icecream because you can get any flavor you can think of. Ryan got a grape/green apple one, I just got chocolate/strawberry. But every place that has a plastic cone out the door means, they serve it.



We will probably go there this 4th of July weekend because we barely got to see everything there.

Friends

So yesterday I wrote on the Yahoo blog for wives in Iwakuni and complained a little about being bored and the housing situation and two of the girls really took me in. I met them this morning at the crossroads. There is Amy, who's 23yrs and a little 2yr old, her husband is a Sgt. as well. Then there is Leticia, she's 23yrs as well with no kids and her husband is a SSgt. She just got back into the Marine Corps and is a Cpl. They took me out shopping in Iwakuni called the You Me store and then to Uni Qlo, right off base. I didn't take any pictures because I didn't want to be funny. But tomorrow I will when we go on our Welcome Aboard tour. Here are some pictures of base though.



So this is my friend Leticia's place. It's just right across the way from us. She lives in a 3brm even though it's just her and her husband. Since he's an E-6 he automatically rates a 3brm. It's nice though, really big rooms and a big living area and the kitchen is nice. I really hope we live on base. My friend Amy lives off base and even though it's a nice house, all the rooms are closed off and would NOT fit our big furniture in any room. Nothing would but our dining room table I think. Not the couches and tv center in one room and the bedroom would fit our bed but not the dresser. So I don't know what other ones are like, but I don't think it's going to work.











This is the Kintai Inn. It's pretty nice. Right behind us is the golf course and to the left and behind us is the theater.


















This is the crossroads and the main intersection on the base I think.















And this is the commisary, which is so super SMALL, you have like 2 brands of things to choose from. I almost couldn't find the tomatos. And on the other side of the commisary is the MCX, the exchange. Which is alright. But this is all around the main intersection and all right across from each other and right down from us.


















This is the commanding officers house. It's in the neighborhood in front of us and near Leticia's.











I had a pretty good time hanging out with them. Tomorrow night we're going to go to Amy's house and BBQ, so that will be nice that all the hubbys get to meet. I will take lots of pictures tomorrow and look like the Japaniese when they're in America. And I'll update again as soon as possible.

Welcome to Iwakuni Japan!

I went to sleep so good last night. We got to bed about 10pm Japan time and woke up at 5am and couldn't sleep anymore. We'll see how it goes the next few nights, hopefully I can get used to the change easily.


Getting off the plane in Hiroshima. It's really pretty there, lots of hills and valleys and little islands.

Ryan and I towards the end of our 10hr flight. Wasn't too bad though.

The flight to Tokyo. We didn't get the seats we wanted but the two last ones of the 5 middle seats.

Ryan getting off the plane in Hiroshima. It was kinda of a scary landing to me because the plane was so small and we landed really fast and bumpy, then the pilot was going to turn and we were still going pretty fast so it felt like we were going to flip or something.

Here are some pictures from our hotel room at the Kintaii Inn.

The tall building is the mid-rise apartments. The main area of our room. To the right is a kitchen. Behind me to the right is the bathroom and the left is the bedroom.

So the picture goes from top to bottom. Down the road to the right on the top picture is the main gate and mid-rises and some townhomes. The picture uptop actually goes in-between these two. The picture on the bottom has more mid-rises and down that way of the road is the commisary, exchange and the crossroads, which is the food court, banks and little shops.

Here is a video, it explains those pictures a little better. Hope you enjoy this and I will post more and I get out more!

Japan here we come!

So as most of you know that Ryan and I are leaving for Japan on Saturday the 21st of June. Just as summer comes! for 3 years, figures huh! Here is a little more information about where we are going. We're going to Iwakuni, which is about 30miles South of Hiroshima.
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-map-4871780-map_of_iwakuni-i http://www.iwakunimcas.com/images/JapanMapEdited.jpg
Here is a map so you can zoom in and out to see the surroundings. I a definitely going to try to learn the spoken language there. So I will post more when I get there and I'll make sure that I updated more.

New Hair Cut

So after I went with Julia to get her hair cut last weekend, I've been feeling like I wanted to cut mine, since it hasn't been cut since November! So I went from this......

TO THIS!!!! I think it's really cute and fun! Ryan hasn't seen it yet so we'll see what he thinks!

My New Baby

So this year with our tax returns both of us get to buy something special we want. So I got my new baby Coach purse! Ryans dad has the new X-Box 360 and he has jam sessions on Guitar Hero 3 all the time. The longest I think was 4-5hours. But I love my new purse and am going to be getting my new wallet using my Bank of America Spirit points (rewards points) to get it. The only thing now is that I feel kind of hoity toity walking around with it. But of well.