I'm doing the weekly update early this week. We're leaving for the beach tomorrow morning around 11. And while I'd probably have time to write it before we go, I don't really want to take any chances on forgetting. The condo we're staying in has wireless internet, but no telling if it'll be free or not.
Not much has happened this week. I got a new game for the Nintendo DS Mike bought me before we parted ways in Japan. It's called Brain Age and I LOVE IT! It's the main reason I wanted the DS in the first place. In two days I've already dropped my brain age from 45 to 34. The ultimate goal is 20 but I'd settle for just 26. =)
Jackson has been having fun with Grandma and Grandpa. Especially Grandpa. They go on walks a lot and now Jackson can say walk ("wa"). Today they found a water drainage ditch (dry) and he was fascinated. He also likes for Grandpa to take him to the yellow ribbon on their tree so he can touch it.
Daddy Doll was broken again (accidentally moved the voice recorder switch from play to record) but it's fixed. Hopefully for good. I taped it down this time. Fingers crossed. Jackson's glad to have it working again. He loves hearing Daddy's voice!
Jackson has been a tad difficult where sleep is concerned this week. He's been refusing naps which makes bedtime harder. Not sure if he misses Daddy, or what. But he's been needing some extra cuddle time, too.
We're looking forward to the beach this week. And I'll try my hardest not to dunk him under a wave this time around! Look for pictures in next week's update.
That's it for now! Short and sweet.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Weekly Update 6/21/09
First of all, the two most important things to say today are: "HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!" and "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"
I can't believe Mike and I have been married six years. I can't believe Mike and I have ONLY been married six years. It seems like just yesterday we were walking down the aisle, yet it seems like we've been married forever. I can barely remember how things were before I met him. We've both accomplished so much in the past six years! I'm very proud of him!!
On to the weekly update. On Monday we flew from Dayton to Raleigh where Mike's dad picked us up and drove us home to Pinehurst. We settled in quickly (including a nap for a very cranky Jackson). The flights were both fine and uneventful. We changed planes somewhere. I've been through so many airports in the last 3 weeks I can't keep track anymore.
Wednesday afternoon we went to Cannon Park in Pinehurst. It has lots of fun things for kiddos to do and Jackson had fun playing there when we visited in February. He had a good time this time around, too, but it was much hotter so we couldn't stay as long. And now he can go up steps (not a ladder) and slide down a slide all on his own. So he really likes to do that, and he also really likes the swings.
On Wednesday evening, Andy and Char took Jackson to a Jungle Safari traveling animal display. I had a headache and stayed home but Jackson liked it so much we went back on Thursday when Jada was here. Jackson's favorite part was the camel.
He liked feeding the goats the first day, but when we went the second day he was getting a little sleepy and was more interested in being held.
We had a nice time visiting with Jada while she was here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Saturday before Jada left we went to Chili's for lunch. Jackson had his first corn on the cob and LOVED it. It took a little coaching to get him to figure out how to get the corn off the cob, but once he got the hang of it he really went to town. Looking forward to a repeat performance at the Deiderich family reunion.
And of course today is Father's Day. We're going to lunch soon to celebrate. And little Alex is just moving up a storm lately. Can't wait to find out what we're having on July 24th!
I can't believe Mike and I have been married six years. I can't believe Mike and I have ONLY been married six years. It seems like just yesterday we were walking down the aisle, yet it seems like we've been married forever. I can barely remember how things were before I met him. We've both accomplished so much in the past six years! I'm very proud of him!!
On to the weekly update. On Monday we flew from Dayton to Raleigh where Mike's dad picked us up and drove us home to Pinehurst. We settled in quickly (including a nap for a very cranky Jackson). The flights were both fine and uneventful. We changed planes somewhere. I've been through so many airports in the last 3 weeks I can't keep track anymore.
Wednesday afternoon we went to Cannon Park in Pinehurst. It has lots of fun things for kiddos to do and Jackson had fun playing there when we visited in February. He had a good time this time around, too, but it was much hotter so we couldn't stay as long. And now he can go up steps (not a ladder) and slide down a slide all on his own. So he really likes to do that, and he also really likes the swings.
On Wednesday evening, Andy and Char took Jackson to a Jungle Safari traveling animal display. I had a headache and stayed home but Jackson liked it so much we went back on Thursday when Jada was here. Jackson's favorite part was the camel.
He liked feeding the goats the first day, but when we went the second day he was getting a little sleepy and was more interested in being held.
We had a nice time visiting with Jada while she was here on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Saturday before Jada left we went to Chili's for lunch. Jackson had his first corn on the cob and LOVED it. It took a little coaching to get him to figure out how to get the corn off the cob, but once he got the hang of it he really went to town. Looking forward to a repeat performance at the Deiderich family reunion.
And of course today is Father's Day. We're going to lunch soon to celebrate. And little Alex is just moving up a storm lately. Can't wait to find out what we're having on July 24th!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Weekly Update 6/14/09
Don't worry Mike, this week's update will be much shorter.
Tuesday was the trip to the Tipp City Family Aquatic Center. (aka the pool.) It was lots of fun for everyone! They had a play thing in the middle of the big pool that was a lot like the one in Guam. He hates to have water on his head, but MiMi put him on the slide just past the water sprayer, I caught him and OSheila helped him walk back around to MiMi. He also floated around the pool in his new car float we bought him. There was another water slide that had a set up similar to what would be at a water park. The water just flowed down from the sides, so nothing to be on Jackson's head. It wasn't in a pool, just on the ground, and had a pad at the end for the kids to land on. The pad wasn't big enough though, and a lifeguard had to stand at the end with one of those foam lifesaver things to act as a bumper pad. With a little help up the steps, Jackson could go down by himself and get caught at the bottom. We could barely get him away from the slide. It was also difficult to explain that he needed to walk instead of run. In the same area there was a frog that squirted water out its mouth. But it would stop for a few seconds and then start again. When it stopped, Jackson looked in its mouth to see where the water went. Then got squirted in the face. Funny for everyone watching, but not so much for Jackson.
Thursday I had an appointment at Wright Patterson with an OB for baby Alex. Heartbeat was 158 which was good. They also took blood to do a quad marker screen to test for the potential to have some genetic problems. I expect it to come back normal and I'll find out at my next appointment what the results are. We also scheduled my next appointment (July 20th) and the ultrasound (July 24th) that will hopefully tell us the sex of the baby.
That was pretty much all the excitement for the week. There were meals, baths, naps, and bedtimes mixed in, but nothing exciting. Now we're packing since we leave for NC in the morning. Hopefully it'll be an uneventful trip!
Tuesday was the trip to the Tipp City Family Aquatic Center. (aka the pool.) It was lots of fun for everyone! They had a play thing in the middle of the big pool that was a lot like the one in Guam. He hates to have water on his head, but MiMi put him on the slide just past the water sprayer, I caught him and OSheila helped him walk back around to MiMi. He also floated around the pool in his new car float we bought him. There was another water slide that had a set up similar to what would be at a water park. The water just flowed down from the sides, so nothing to be on Jackson's head. It wasn't in a pool, just on the ground, and had a pad at the end for the kids to land on. The pad wasn't big enough though, and a lifeguard had to stand at the end with one of those foam lifesaver things to act as a bumper pad. With a little help up the steps, Jackson could go down by himself and get caught at the bottom. We could barely get him away from the slide. It was also difficult to explain that he needed to walk instead of run. In the same area there was a frog that squirted water out its mouth. But it would stop for a few seconds and then start again. When it stopped, Jackson looked in its mouth to see where the water went. Then got squirted in the face. Funny for everyone watching, but not so much for Jackson.
Thursday I had an appointment at Wright Patterson with an OB for baby Alex. Heartbeat was 158 which was good. They also took blood to do a quad marker screen to test for the potential to have some genetic problems. I expect it to come back normal and I'll find out at my next appointment what the results are. We also scheduled my next appointment (July 20th) and the ultrasound (July 24th) that will hopefully tell us the sex of the baby.
That was pretty much all the excitement for the week. There were meals, baths, naps, and bedtimes mixed in, but nothing exciting. Now we're packing since we leave for NC in the morning. Hopefully it'll be an uneventful trip!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Weekly Update 6/7/09
I'm going to try to do an update each week on Sunday. Mike kind of requested that I keep up with the blog a little better... =) so I'm going to make an effort at least. I'm already behind since it's Monday night.
Our visit to the states so far has gone pretty well. It took about a week for Jackson to get days and nights straightened out. It was a rough week, but well worth it obviously in the end. We've spent some nights at Mom and Matt's house, some at Aunt Sheila and Uncle Don's house, and one at Dad's house in KY. We've gotten to visit with LOTS of people, too.
Camden's graduation and party were last weekend. We had only been in the states for 4 days, so Jackson and I were both pretty tired for the party on Saturday. Jackson did REALLY well for having to sit through a 2 hour ceremony.
He was climbing from lap to lap, but didn't really fuss very much. The four days up to the graduation were pretty hectic. In between trying to get Jackson onto a normal schedule, Sheila and I were making posters, scrapbooks, and photo albums for Camden's party. We ended up with two tri-fold posters, one sports article scrapbook, one sports photo album, and one everything else photo album. It was a TON of work, but well worth it. Everything we did got lots of attention at the party and Camden even thanked me. 
The rest of the week was pretty much spent just hanging out. Mom gave me a pedicure one day. I spent another day driving around to the WIC office in Troy, Wright-Patt to drop off records and confirm my appointment, and the mall.
Then this past weekend Jackson and I headed to KY to visit with Dad and Grammy and PaPa. We got there for lunch on Saturday (Skyline is tradition and it was great!). We spent the afternoon at Grammy and PaPa's, had mexican for dinner, then went to Dad's for the night. He has two mastiff-bull mastiff mixes (Luna and Athena). They're ginormous. When I opened the back door to the car, one stuck her head in to see Jackson. He freaked out. He loves dogs and is used to being around them, but none that big. Once I got him out of the car and held him, he was a little better and they were licking his feet and legs. Then we went inside and Dad made them get in their bed in the living room. Then Jackson was a little better with them since he could approach them on his time and with my by his side. He got to where by the time we left, he would go to their bed by himself and try to get them to give him kisses. On Sunday we went back to Grammy and PaPa's after lunch for some more visiting, then back to Tipp City for dinner. It was great to get to hang out with everyone, despite having a brief power outtage.
Dinner Sunday was Bob Evans to celebrate Mom's birthday which was Saturday. There were 14 of us so it was a pretty big group. Everyone had a good time, and of course it was good food. Ben (my cousin) had french toast but couldn't eat it all. So Grampers was giving some of it to Jackson. He's had french toast, and syrup before. But we usually just drizzle a little syrup on the top for flavor, and this was pretty much soaked in it. He was getting a little antsy and tired, so after we were done eating, I let him out of his high chair. He ran around like a little maniac. Still behaved, and stayed right by our table, but RAN. I think that was a combination of sugar and trying to keep himself awake. When we went home, Mom and Sheila were getting him ready for bed and he got sick. I think that was a combination of french toast, syrup, and running. He was fine within seconds and wasn't running a fever at all. Lesson learned.
Today was a trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Jackson, Mom, Taylor (Camden's girlfriend) and I headed there around 9:30. On the way there we were discussing GPSs since we were using one. Mom and I were telling Taylor about the time Mom, Matt, and Camden followed Mike, Jackson, and I from Apple Valley to Cedar Point using a GPS. It was new, and we convinced Matt that whatever way it told us would be faster than anything we could come up with on our own. He reluctantly agreed to trust it. We ended up going down gravel roads in the middle of nowhere and some farming access roads. Within seconds of telling this story, the GPS sends us down what appears to be a driveway/alley in the ghetto of Dayton. Taylor was amused.
I was a little worried the museum wouldn't have anything age-appropriate and fun for Jackson, but figured it would be worth a shot to try. Turns out I had no reason to worry. There were ALL KINDS of things for him to play with and do. Of course there were plenty of things that he couldn't do, too. Right after we walked through the door we found, "That Kids Playce." It had a fossil digging pit, tunnels to climb through, a play house
, big blocks to build with, balls to kick, a tube slide, and best of all, a water table. He had a lot of fun crawling in the tunnels with MiMi. 
The digging pit said not for kids under 3 since they might put the shredded rubber in their mouths, but that's not an issue with Jackson so we just let him go and he dug right in. 
The water table of course was a hit.
Then he found the slide.
We couldn't get him away from it. He would get to the bottom, say, "more" and run back to the stairs. Mom was helping him at first, then even though he was capable of doing it on his own he wouldn't go up unless Mom or Taylor was at the top to "help" him by sitting there and looking at him.
We eventually were able to drag him away from the slide and we headed upstairs. There we found a (pretend) general store, a vet office, a legoland, some stuffed animal displays, some REAL turtles (Taylor and I thought they were fake then one moved its head and we both about had a heart attack), a car "garage", and a zoo type area with a few live animals. In the general store, he pushed around a little cart and put some "groceries" in it.
He was starting to get a little tired so he would get mad very easily when he got his cart stuck against the wall and had to have help to move it again. The car drew his attention and many times he went back to it saying, "Caa, caa" (his version of car). 
There was also a tube slide that started on the second floor and came out on the ground floor. We tried to keep him away from it because I thought he was too little, but he wasn't giving up. I went downstairs to catch him and Mom came down the slide with him anyways, so he was fine. Then he lost a shoe and had a fit when I was putting it back on (tired) and threw his head against the floor (ouch!). We went back upstairs to look at the live animals before heading out. He really liked the geese (which we called ducks) and kept saying "kaack, kaack" (quack quack). You could get really close to the turtles, and he seemed to like that, too. 
We walked past a dragon exhibit and stopped in breifly to see what they had.
Mom found a little dragon hand puppet that Jackson liked and kept giving kisses to.
We made a pit stop before leaving and Jackson and I were waiting in a little eating/vending machine area. He was pretty tired at this point and when I told him no about something, he laid down on the floor with his head down.
(pic is him getting up--I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera.) Yeah, tired.
Some more museum pics:
We went to Olive Garden for lunch, and had a nice time. He behaved despite being tired. And he (and I) napped as soon as we got home, though not for as long as I would have anticipated.
All in all, it was a great trip. Jackson had a lot of fun. It was exhausting for everyone, but definitely well worth it. We may be heading back another day for a repeat. Although next time we'll go AFTER a nap so he's nice and fresh.
Our visit to the states so far has gone pretty well. It took about a week for Jackson to get days and nights straightened out. It was a rough week, but well worth it obviously in the end. We've spent some nights at Mom and Matt's house, some at Aunt Sheila and Uncle Don's house, and one at Dad's house in KY. We've gotten to visit with LOTS of people, too.
Camden's graduation and party were last weekend. We had only been in the states for 4 days, so Jackson and I were both pretty tired for the party on Saturday. Jackson did REALLY well for having to sit through a 2 hour ceremony.
He was climbing from lap to lap, but didn't really fuss very much. The four days up to the graduation were pretty hectic. In between trying to get Jackson onto a normal schedule, Sheila and I were making posters, scrapbooks, and photo albums for Camden's party. We ended up with two tri-fold posters, one sports article scrapbook, one sports photo album, and one everything else photo album. It was a TON of work, but well worth it. Everything we did got lots of attention at the party and Camden even thanked me. 
The rest of the week was pretty much spent just hanging out. Mom gave me a pedicure one day. I spent another day driving around to the WIC office in Troy, Wright-Patt to drop off records and confirm my appointment, and the mall.
Then this past weekend Jackson and I headed to KY to visit with Dad and Grammy and PaPa. We got there for lunch on Saturday (Skyline is tradition and it was great!). We spent the afternoon at Grammy and PaPa's, had mexican for dinner, then went to Dad's for the night. He has two mastiff-bull mastiff mixes (Luna and Athena). They're ginormous. When I opened the back door to the car, one stuck her head in to see Jackson. He freaked out. He loves dogs and is used to being around them, but none that big. Once I got him out of the car and held him, he was a little better and they were licking his feet and legs. Then we went inside and Dad made them get in their bed in the living room. Then Jackson was a little better with them since he could approach them on his time and with my by his side. He got to where by the time we left, he would go to their bed by himself and try to get them to give him kisses. On Sunday we went back to Grammy and PaPa's after lunch for some more visiting, then back to Tipp City for dinner. It was great to get to hang out with everyone, despite having a brief power outtage.
Dinner Sunday was Bob Evans to celebrate Mom's birthday which was Saturday. There were 14 of us so it was a pretty big group. Everyone had a good time, and of course it was good food. Ben (my cousin) had french toast but couldn't eat it all. So Grampers was giving some of it to Jackson. He's had french toast, and syrup before. But we usually just drizzle a little syrup on the top for flavor, and this was pretty much soaked in it. He was getting a little antsy and tired, so after we were done eating, I let him out of his high chair. He ran around like a little maniac. Still behaved, and stayed right by our table, but RAN. I think that was a combination of sugar and trying to keep himself awake. When we went home, Mom and Sheila were getting him ready for bed and he got sick. I think that was a combination of french toast, syrup, and running. He was fine within seconds and wasn't running a fever at all. Lesson learned.
Today was a trip to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Jackson, Mom, Taylor (Camden's girlfriend) and I headed there around 9:30. On the way there we were discussing GPSs since we were using one. Mom and I were telling Taylor about the time Mom, Matt, and Camden followed Mike, Jackson, and I from Apple Valley to Cedar Point using a GPS. It was new, and we convinced Matt that whatever way it told us would be faster than anything we could come up with on our own. He reluctantly agreed to trust it. We ended up going down gravel roads in the middle of nowhere and some farming access roads. Within seconds of telling this story, the GPS sends us down what appears to be a driveway/alley in the ghetto of Dayton. Taylor was amused.
I was a little worried the museum wouldn't have anything age-appropriate and fun for Jackson, but figured it would be worth a shot to try. Turns out I had no reason to worry. There were ALL KINDS of things for him to play with and do. Of course there were plenty of things that he couldn't do, too. Right after we walked through the door we found, "That Kids Playce." It had a fossil digging pit, tunnels to climb through, a play house
, big blocks to build with, balls to kick, a tube slide, and best of all, a water table. He had a lot of fun crawling in the tunnels with MiMi. 
The digging pit said not for kids under 3 since they might put the shredded rubber in their mouths, but that's not an issue with Jackson so we just let him go and he dug right in. 
The water table of course was a hit.
Then he found the slide.
We couldn't get him away from it. He would get to the bottom, say, "more" and run back to the stairs. Mom was helping him at first, then even though he was capable of doing it on his own he wouldn't go up unless Mom or Taylor was at the top to "help" him by sitting there and looking at him.We eventually were able to drag him away from the slide and we headed upstairs. There we found a (pretend) general store, a vet office, a legoland, some stuffed animal displays, some REAL turtles (Taylor and I thought they were fake then one moved its head and we both about had a heart attack), a car "garage", and a zoo type area with a few live animals. In the general store, he pushed around a little cart and put some "groceries" in it.
He was starting to get a little tired so he would get mad very easily when he got his cart stuck against the wall and had to have help to move it again. The car drew his attention and many times he went back to it saying, "Caa, caa" (his version of car). 
There was also a tube slide that started on the second floor and came out on the ground floor. We tried to keep him away from it because I thought he was too little, but he wasn't giving up. I went downstairs to catch him and Mom came down the slide with him anyways, so he was fine. Then he lost a shoe and had a fit when I was putting it back on (tired) and threw his head against the floor (ouch!). We went back upstairs to look at the live animals before heading out. He really liked the geese (which we called ducks) and kept saying "kaack, kaack" (quack quack). You could get really close to the turtles, and he seemed to like that, too. 
We walked past a dragon exhibit and stopped in breifly to see what they had.
Mom found a little dragon hand puppet that Jackson liked and kept giving kisses to.We made a pit stop before leaving and Jackson and I were waiting in a little eating/vending machine area. He was pretty tired at this point and when I told him no about something, he laid down on the floor with his head down.
(pic is him getting up--I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera.) Yeah, tired. Some more museum pics:
We went to Olive Garden for lunch, and had a nice time. He behaved despite being tired. And he (and I) napped as soon as we got home, though not for as long as I would have anticipated.
All in all, it was a great trip. Jackson had a lot of fun. It was exhausting for everyone, but definitely well worth it. We may be heading back another day for a repeat. Although next time we'll go AFTER a nap so he's nice and fresh.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
The trip from Japan to the states.
Many of you are aware of our Space-A woes. Space-A is space available and it basically means if the Air Force has a plane going somewhere and there's room, you can ride along for free. Lots of procedures and red tape, but hey, it's free. All the flights we kept trying to get on got rescheduled and re-routed, etc. One was full. Finally, on Monday there was a flight scheduled to leave the next morning for McChord AFB, WA. There's a TV channel on base in Japan that lists flight times and show times (what time you have to show up at the terminal), but it's usually wrong. I called Monday night to verify times, but they closed early for Memorial Day. As of a previous phone call, the show time was supposed to be 0520, but they said it may not go. So I set my alarm for 0405 with the intent to verify it was going and the show time, and made sure everything I could possibly pack ahead of time was packed since it was going to be an early morning. At 0405 when I called they informed me it was going and the show time had changed to 0415. Yep. Ten minutes. I freaked. But we decided to try to make it. I threw the last few things in the suitcase, threw on clothes, woke up a very sleepy Jackson and we headed to the terminal. We got there at 0417. So from asleep in bed to packed, out the door, and at the terminal (about a 3 minute drive) was 12 minutes. That seriously has to be some kind of record. They ended up letting people on the plane that showed up as late as 0500. Wish I'd have known I had time to pee and put in my contacts!
We got checked in and baggage checked, then let Jackson play in the playroom for awhile while we waited to board the plane. Mike was with us for this whole thing up until boarding at 0510. Saying goodbye was of course hard for both of us. Jackson was pretty clueless, so he wasn't upset at all. They put us through security, then on a bus that took us out to the plane.
Our 9.5 hour flight from Japan to Washington was on a C-17 Globmaster. Sometimes they put on what are called "comfort pallets" that are basically airline seats. But this plane had two pallets (which I should mention are not what you think of when you hear the word pallet, but something similar and about 4-5 times as big), plus a fuel truck on it. Think about how huge the cargo bay has to be to hold a FUEL TRUCK and two pallets. Huge. The seats we sat in were on the side of the plane. Not super comfortable, and definitely not reclining, but not terrible. Jackson rode in his car seat. We bought meals for the flight and the loadmaster that was our "flight attendant" was really nice. It was pretty loud and they gave us foamies (foam ear plugs) which Jackson wouldn't leave in, and I decided were too much of a pain to bother with. It wasn't THAT loud. They handed out juice, nutrigrain bars, meals if you bought one, and airline pillows and blankets (it was also a little chilly). Jackson and I spent most of the flight sitting on the blanket on the floor picnic style. Try doing THAT on a commercial flight! He did manage to take a 3 hour nap, which was good considering the early morning. I couldn't really get comfortable to sleep, though. Even without in-flight entertainment, it was the easiest 9.5 hour flight I can possibly imagine.
Once we landed at McChord, I found a phone and called Mike. He gave me our flight info for getting from Seattle to Dayton. The only problem was that it was midnight in Seattle and the shuttles from the base to the airport didn't start running until 5am. Even if we had been willing to sit in the terminal for that long, it would've been too late to get us to the airport in time for our flight. So we paid almost $100 for a taxi. Luckily Mike had called the lodge on base and gotten the number for a somewhat reputable company.
We got to the Seattle airport about 0200 Seattle time. The only thing that was open was the USO. That place was a total saving grace. It was dinner time in Japan so Jackson and I had sandwiches, brownies, and some cereal. Then we just hung out and played some. Lots of people were trying to sleep, so I was attempting to keep him somewhat quiet. Not very successfully though. I think we may have woken some people up. It totally beat having to sit in the airport lobby for 2 hours until the airlines opened.
At 0400 we went downstairs to the airline and checked in. Through security--always fun with a toddler, a double stroller, a CPAP which requires special testing, a laptop which has to be taken out of the bag, and water for Jackson which also requires special testing. Oh, and no other adult. But we made it through unharmed (except the brand new laptop bag did suffer a broken zipper). Then we wandered around the airport until our 0610 flight. Jackson was sleepy but not really interested in napping. We got quite a few comments and questions about his daddydoll.
The flight from Seattle to Chicago was 3.5 hours and Jackson screamed for the first half-hour then slept the rest of the way. I managed to sleep a little, too. Changed planes in Chicago and headed for Dayton. We landed in Dayton at 1517 local. Mom and Sheila had gotten gate passes so we weren't even out of the terminal area when we met them. Jackson recognized MiMi right away and was excited to see her. After baggage claim and a drive to Tipp City, we were DONE travelling. After 25 straight hours, we were glad to have it over with. Jackson really was a super trooper for the whole process and it went much smoother than I anticipated. Hopefully the way home is the same.
Jackson's had a very hard time adjusting to the time difference. He woke up the first night after sleeping for two hours sobbing uncontrollably and inconsolably. He was up for about seven hours before going back to sleep. Then he took a 5.5 hour nap. The next day was a little better. He stayed up late, but only slept about 4 hours at night and 4 hours during the day. Then 9.5 hours the next night but with a 4 hour awake period in the middle and another 4 hour nap today. He's up now after sleeping 4 hours straight, then another 4 off and on waking up about every 30 minutes. I'm REALLY HOPING he gets his days and nights straightened out soon. I am up with him and since we're sharing a room, I wait until he's been out for at least 30 minutes before I go to bed. Which means when he wakes up every 30 minutes I don't get any sleep. I'll probably crash on the couch if he manages to go back to sleep at all tonight. Some nights I just let him get up and play for an hour. Just what I want to be doing at 2am.
More posts to follow on our time in the states. Glad to be here, but missing Mike already.
We got checked in and baggage checked, then let Jackson play in the playroom for awhile while we waited to board the plane. Mike was with us for this whole thing up until boarding at 0510. Saying goodbye was of course hard for both of us. Jackson was pretty clueless, so he wasn't upset at all. They put us through security, then on a bus that took us out to the plane.
Our 9.5 hour flight from Japan to Washington was on a C-17 Globmaster. Sometimes they put on what are called "comfort pallets" that are basically airline seats. But this plane had two pallets (which I should mention are not what you think of when you hear the word pallet, but something similar and about 4-5 times as big), plus a fuel truck on it. Think about how huge the cargo bay has to be to hold a FUEL TRUCK and two pallets. Huge. The seats we sat in were on the side of the plane. Not super comfortable, and definitely not reclining, but not terrible. Jackson rode in his car seat. We bought meals for the flight and the loadmaster that was our "flight attendant" was really nice. It was pretty loud and they gave us foamies (foam ear plugs) which Jackson wouldn't leave in, and I decided were too much of a pain to bother with. It wasn't THAT loud. They handed out juice, nutrigrain bars, meals if you bought one, and airline pillows and blankets (it was also a little chilly). Jackson and I spent most of the flight sitting on the blanket on the floor picnic style. Try doing THAT on a commercial flight! He did manage to take a 3 hour nap, which was good considering the early morning. I couldn't really get comfortable to sleep, though. Even without in-flight entertainment, it was the easiest 9.5 hour flight I can possibly imagine.
Once we landed at McChord, I found a phone and called Mike. He gave me our flight info for getting from Seattle to Dayton. The only problem was that it was midnight in Seattle and the shuttles from the base to the airport didn't start running until 5am. Even if we had been willing to sit in the terminal for that long, it would've been too late to get us to the airport in time for our flight. So we paid almost $100 for a taxi. Luckily Mike had called the lodge on base and gotten the number for a somewhat reputable company.
We got to the Seattle airport about 0200 Seattle time. The only thing that was open was the USO. That place was a total saving grace. It was dinner time in Japan so Jackson and I had sandwiches, brownies, and some cereal. Then we just hung out and played some. Lots of people were trying to sleep, so I was attempting to keep him somewhat quiet. Not very successfully though. I think we may have woken some people up. It totally beat having to sit in the airport lobby for 2 hours until the airlines opened.
At 0400 we went downstairs to the airline and checked in. Through security--always fun with a toddler, a double stroller, a CPAP which requires special testing, a laptop which has to be taken out of the bag, and water for Jackson which also requires special testing. Oh, and no other adult. But we made it through unharmed (except the brand new laptop bag did suffer a broken zipper). Then we wandered around the airport until our 0610 flight. Jackson was sleepy but not really interested in napping. We got quite a few comments and questions about his daddydoll.
The flight from Seattle to Chicago was 3.5 hours and Jackson screamed for the first half-hour then slept the rest of the way. I managed to sleep a little, too. Changed planes in Chicago and headed for Dayton. We landed in Dayton at 1517 local. Mom and Sheila had gotten gate passes so we weren't even out of the terminal area when we met them. Jackson recognized MiMi right away and was excited to see her. After baggage claim and a drive to Tipp City, we were DONE travelling. After 25 straight hours, we were glad to have it over with. Jackson really was a super trooper for the whole process and it went much smoother than I anticipated. Hopefully the way home is the same.
Jackson's had a very hard time adjusting to the time difference. He woke up the first night after sleeping for two hours sobbing uncontrollably and inconsolably. He was up for about seven hours before going back to sleep. Then he took a 5.5 hour nap. The next day was a little better. He stayed up late, but only slept about 4 hours at night and 4 hours during the day. Then 9.5 hours the next night but with a 4 hour awake period in the middle and another 4 hour nap today. He's up now after sleeping 4 hours straight, then another 4 off and on waking up about every 30 minutes. I'm REALLY HOPING he gets his days and nights straightened out soon. I am up with him and since we're sharing a room, I wait until he's been out for at least 30 minutes before I go to bed. Which means when he wakes up every 30 minutes I don't get any sleep. I'll probably crash on the couch if he manages to go back to sleep at all tonight. Some nights I just let him get up and play for an hour. Just what I want to be doing at 2am.
More posts to follow on our time in the states. Glad to be here, but missing Mike already.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Guam Vacation
Mike decided a while ago to take leave this week. Since he is going to the desert for 4 months and won't have a chance to use up as much leave as he needed to in order to get below the use or lose cutoff, he had to USE some up or LOSE it. So he had the leave planned but we couldn't decide what to do. We considered Hiroshima, taking a few day trips, or Osaka. Then we decided to just go to Guam... well, he mentioned someone else we know was planning that and I jumped on it. Since I'm spoiled rotten and always get my way, he had no choice but to just agree. =) I thought a few days relaxing would be the best way to spend our last free time together. Good decision.
The trip TO Guam. We got on a bus from the base to take us to the airport at 11am. It's about a 1.5-2 hour ride to the airport in Tokyo. Jackson was a monkey (surprise, surprise) and didn't sleep at all on the bus. We got to the airport and they wanted to know why our passports didn't have Japan entry stamps in them. We all have 2 passports. One set of "official" passports to use when we moved here on official business. The other set are "tourist" passports for vacation, etc. Our official ones got stamped when we moved here, but we had our tourist ones with us. We won't make that mistake again. From now on we'll always carry both. But we got taken to immigration and they had us fill out a form that apparently gets done a lot because it had a sign by it saying "MILITARY" so obviously we weren't the first ones to have this issue. For a while there I was freaked out because I seriously thought they weren't going to let us on the plane! The rest of the trip was uneventful and Jackson still didn't sleep.
The hotel. We stayed at the Pacific Islands Club (aka PIC), and it was pretty nice.
We got a really good deal ($100/night including breakfast) so we were excited about that. Plus they have a great water park with kiddie pools, water slides, and a lagoon to kayak in. And it's right on the beach. There were a few downsides. One being that the lobby was not air conditioned which made for a HOT baby when we were checking in... and with Jackson hot=cranky! Plus it was late, 8:00 Japan time, 9:00 Guam time and he was in desperate need of some sleep. Also, the lobby, hallways, and water park were not non-smoking. That got pretty irritating because almost all the Japanese people smoke. But they also had a nice spa and I got a massage on Mothers Day. It was very nice! The one downfall of the room, which overall was great and had a balcony with a great view, was the lack of place for a crib. They gave us the crib for Jackson, but there wasn't really anywhere to put it that would be dark enough for him to sleep. Except the closet. We started with one closet door, but call a call from the front desk wanting to know what was up with our closet, so I put the other door back on, too. Mike took a picture of Jackson's "jail".
Guam.
Guam's main industry is tourism. And it's almost exclusively Japanese and Korean tourists. Obviously if Americans want and island vacation they go to Hawaii. So immediately everyone knew we were military since that's pretty much the only Americans that go there. So a lot of the restaurants and shops catered to the Japanese. Food, snacks, etc. I was just glad to see $$ signs and English words. =) The hotel was a little far from the main strip of hotels and stuff but still walkable. We walked "down the hill" two out of our first three days there. Then on Monday, Mike rented a car. Once again, great deal--$35/day including insurance and a car seat. So we had that for the last two days we were there, which made it really nice. We were able to travel around the island and do sight seeing and broaden our restaurant choices.
Sight seeing. We saw Two Lovers Point
the Latte Stones
and a couple of forts.
(See earlier post from Mike's Guam TDY for descriptions of those.) Plus we walked through the Chamorro village, but all the shops were closed when we went. The native people on Guam are Chamorros, and that's also the language they speak along with English. Our last day we went to Underwater World. It has tunnels you can walk through with fish all around and above you.
It was very cool, and Jackson definitely loved the big fish.
At the end there was a touch pool where you could touch fish and starfish.
But Jackson thought it was more of a splash pool, so we didn't stay there long.
Food. We had breakfast at the hotel every day. We ate at a restaurants most other meals and had leftovers once or twice. The restaurants in the hotel were EXPENSIVE so we only had that the first night we got there and didn't have any other options. We had TGI Fridays, Tony Roma's, an Italian place called Vitale's, California Pizza Kitchen, a Jamaican restaurant, The Mermaid Tavern (twice), and Jeff's Pirate Cove. My favorite was the Mermaid Tavern (which is why we had it twice--see note above about me being spoiled). They had the best spinach dip I've ever had. Jeff's was also very cool. Some Japanese soldier hid on the island for 30 years and when he was finally captured he talked about how he could hear music coming from the Cove. The restaurant got sold a few times and now belongs to Jeff. He has kind of dedicated it to the soldier that was found. It's a pretty neat story and a pretty neat place.
The water. The beach by our hotel kind of sucked.
It was really rocky and had lots of trash on it. So we spent all of our water time in the pools. There was one pool that was maybe 8" deep and had a bunch of toys for kids in it. 
Unfortunately to get to the main play equipment, you had to go where water was coming down on your head. That meant Jackson wanted nothing to do with it. But he did play with another thing that didn't require water on your head, and loved the pool in general. Especially when we brought down his watering can from the sand set (which we didn't use).
There was another pool that was shallow, maybe 3', but obviously too deep for him to stand. 
It had big floating animals, which is why it was called the zoo. One was a crab that had a slide down its back. 
Jackson really liked that one. It got a little tiring for Mommy to keep catching him and putting him back on the top of the slide, though. They also had a lagoon that you could kayak in. I couldn't believe how much Jackson enjoyed that! 
We had fun just kayaking around a little, and there was a waterfall that he was mezmerized by.
Golf. Mike golfed three days, and the courses were beautiful! He also played pretty well.
The trip back to Japan. A NIGHTMARE. We got a late check out from the hotel hoping that Jackson would take a nap. No such luck. He did finally fall asleep as the plane took off, but only for about 20 minutes and didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the flight. After we got through the health screening, immigration, baggage, and customs, we were looking for our bus back to the base. It's normal schedule is leaving Narita at 4, 6, and 8pm. But due to the extra steps for swine flu, it had been delayed to 5, 7, and 9pm. But sometime while we were in Guam, they changed it back to 4, 6, and 8. We landed at 7:20 and walked outside about 8:10. Once we saw there was no bus, we called the base and found out they had changed the schedule back. Great. So that meant we had to take the train home from the airport. Luckily we got on an express that went from Narita to Tachikawa and only stopped 4 or 5 times in between. That took 2 hours. Then we had to get from Tachikawa to Fussa (only about 6 stops). The biggest issue was getting through the stations with 2 suitcases, a golf bag travel case, a stroller, a CPAP and 2 backpacks. When we got settled on the train in Tachikawa I looked at Mike and saw he didn't have his backpack on. When I asked him if he had the laptop bag he said, "Nope. I guess that's gone." Crap. We left it on the express train from the airport. We got off at the Fussa station and walked to the base (about 30 minutes). Got in the car and came home. By the time we got home it was almost midnight. Luckily on Thursday we called the train lost and found and they had the laptop bag. It took Mike 3 hours of travelling in rush hour train traffic to get it back, but we got it. Through all that, Jackson only slept for about an hour and a half divided between the two trains. He was really ready for bed by the time we got home!
All in all, it was a great vacation, with a few obstacles getting there and back.
The trip TO Guam. We got on a bus from the base to take us to the airport at 11am. It's about a 1.5-2 hour ride to the airport in Tokyo. Jackson was a monkey (surprise, surprise) and didn't sleep at all on the bus. We got to the airport and they wanted to know why our passports didn't have Japan entry stamps in them. We all have 2 passports. One set of "official" passports to use when we moved here on official business. The other set are "tourist" passports for vacation, etc. Our official ones got stamped when we moved here, but we had our tourist ones with us. We won't make that mistake again. From now on we'll always carry both. But we got taken to immigration and they had us fill out a form that apparently gets done a lot because it had a sign by it saying "MILITARY" so obviously we weren't the first ones to have this issue. For a while there I was freaked out because I seriously thought they weren't going to let us on the plane! The rest of the trip was uneventful and Jackson still didn't sleep.
The hotel. We stayed at the Pacific Islands Club (aka PIC), and it was pretty nice.
We got a really good deal ($100/night including breakfast) so we were excited about that. Plus they have a great water park with kiddie pools, water slides, and a lagoon to kayak in. And it's right on the beach. There were a few downsides. One being that the lobby was not air conditioned which made for a HOT baby when we were checking in... and with Jackson hot=cranky! Plus it was late, 8:00 Japan time, 9:00 Guam time and he was in desperate need of some sleep. Also, the lobby, hallways, and water park were not non-smoking. That got pretty irritating because almost all the Japanese people smoke. But they also had a nice spa and I got a massage on Mothers Day. It was very nice! The one downfall of the room, which overall was great and had a balcony with a great view, was the lack of place for a crib. They gave us the crib for Jackson, but there wasn't really anywhere to put it that would be dark enough for him to sleep. Except the closet. We started with one closet door, but call a call from the front desk wanting to know what was up with our closet, so I put the other door back on, too. Mike took a picture of Jackson's "jail".
Guam.
Guam's main industry is tourism. And it's almost exclusively Japanese and Korean tourists. Obviously if Americans want and island vacation they go to Hawaii. So immediately everyone knew we were military since that's pretty much the only Americans that go there. So a lot of the restaurants and shops catered to the Japanese. Food, snacks, etc. I was just glad to see $$ signs and English words. =) The hotel was a little far from the main strip of hotels and stuff but still walkable. We walked "down the hill" two out of our first three days there. Then on Monday, Mike rented a car. Once again, great deal--$35/day including insurance and a car seat. So we had that for the last two days we were there, which made it really nice. We were able to travel around the island and do sight seeing and broaden our restaurant choices.
Sight seeing. We saw Two Lovers Point
the Latte Stones
and a couple of forts.
(See earlier post from Mike's Guam TDY for descriptions of those.) Plus we walked through the Chamorro village, but all the shops were closed when we went. The native people on Guam are Chamorros, and that's also the language they speak along with English. Our last day we went to Underwater World. It has tunnels you can walk through with fish all around and above you.
It was very cool, and Jackson definitely loved the big fish.
At the end there was a touch pool where you could touch fish and starfish.
But Jackson thought it was more of a splash pool, so we didn't stay there long.
Food. We had breakfast at the hotel every day. We ate at a restaurants most other meals and had leftovers once or twice. The restaurants in the hotel were EXPENSIVE so we only had that the first night we got there and didn't have any other options. We had TGI Fridays, Tony Roma's, an Italian place called Vitale's, California Pizza Kitchen, a Jamaican restaurant, The Mermaid Tavern (twice), and Jeff's Pirate Cove. My favorite was the Mermaid Tavern (which is why we had it twice--see note above about me being spoiled). They had the best spinach dip I've ever had. Jeff's was also very cool. Some Japanese soldier hid on the island for 30 years and when he was finally captured he talked about how he could hear music coming from the Cove. The restaurant got sold a few times and now belongs to Jeff. He has kind of dedicated it to the soldier that was found. It's a pretty neat story and a pretty neat place.
The water. The beach by our hotel kind of sucked.
It was really rocky and had lots of trash on it. So we spent all of our water time in the pools. There was one pool that was maybe 8" deep and had a bunch of toys for kids in it. 
Unfortunately to get to the main play equipment, you had to go where water was coming down on your head. That meant Jackson wanted nothing to do with it. But he did play with another thing that didn't require water on your head, and loved the pool in general. Especially when we brought down his watering can from the sand set (which we didn't use).
There was another pool that was shallow, maybe 3', but obviously too deep for him to stand. 
It had big floating animals, which is why it was called the zoo. One was a crab that had a slide down its back. 
Jackson really liked that one. It got a little tiring for Mommy to keep catching him and putting him back on the top of the slide, though. They also had a lagoon that you could kayak in. I couldn't believe how much Jackson enjoyed that! 
We had fun just kayaking around a little, and there was a waterfall that he was mezmerized by.Golf. Mike golfed three days, and the courses were beautiful! He also played pretty well.
The trip back to Japan. A NIGHTMARE. We got a late check out from the hotel hoping that Jackson would take a nap. No such luck. He did finally fall asleep as the plane took off, but only for about 20 minutes and didn't go back to sleep for the rest of the flight. After we got through the health screening, immigration, baggage, and customs, we were looking for our bus back to the base. It's normal schedule is leaving Narita at 4, 6, and 8pm. But due to the extra steps for swine flu, it had been delayed to 5, 7, and 9pm. But sometime while we were in Guam, they changed it back to 4, 6, and 8. We landed at 7:20 and walked outside about 8:10. Once we saw there was no bus, we called the base and found out they had changed the schedule back. Great. So that meant we had to take the train home from the airport. Luckily we got on an express that went from Narita to Tachikawa and only stopped 4 or 5 times in between. That took 2 hours. Then we had to get from Tachikawa to Fussa (only about 6 stops). The biggest issue was getting through the stations with 2 suitcases, a golf bag travel case, a stroller, a CPAP and 2 backpacks. When we got settled on the train in Tachikawa I looked at Mike and saw he didn't have his backpack on. When I asked him if he had the laptop bag he said, "Nope. I guess that's gone." Crap. We left it on the express train from the airport. We got off at the Fussa station and walked to the base (about 30 minutes). Got in the car and came home. By the time we got home it was almost midnight. Luckily on Thursday we called the train lost and found and they had the laptop bag. It took Mike 3 hours of travelling in rush hour train traffic to get it back, but we got it. Through all that, Jackson only slept for about an hour and a half divided between the two trains. He was really ready for bed by the time we got home!
All in all, it was a great vacation, with a few obstacles getting there and back.
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