And.....after 77 days of being apart, USS LASSEN finally returned to homeport in Yokosuka!! 

I was so excited for homecoming.  That was the longest since 2005-2006 that we were apart.  It was totally worth it.  The FRG board members got to go down to the Mess Decks to meet the Sailors, but before I got to see Kendall there...I saw him here...

Ok, I know you can't tell which one is him, but thats the beauty of being completely in love with someone, you can spot them from a mile away.  I saw him as soon as he stepped on the brow. <3 

And finally, after 77 days.....

The moment every military wife longs for as soon as she even HEARS the word "deployment"....the moment she gets her love back.  It was well worth the wait. 

We got a week with him before he left again, lol.  7 days seems like crap after 77...but I'll take everything I can get. We had a great time though while he was home.  He took leave for a few days, so no work at all. We just did whatever we wanted to do, took the kids to the playground, went bowling, put a TV up in Dylan's room, etc.  It was so nice, just being a family again.  Not being second fiddle to the Navy. 


But like I said, now he's gone again. 

Know what makes a good Navy wife?  It's not her courage, or her strength.  It's her ability to hear that he's leaving so soon after getting home, to bitch for 5 minutes, but then she puts on a brave face and deals with it.  Which is basically what I had to do.  Once again, I'm just ready to have him back home. 

Church pew or bar stool kinda town (Courtesy of Jason Aldean of course)

So I'm sitting here back in Japan, alone.  Kendall's ship had a last minute schedule change (whats new?) and the kids are (thankfully) asleep.  It hasn't been the best night for me.  It was a good day, the kids and I did alot together...but Dylan was freaking out because he had to go to bed. It's like its a new concept for him that he has to sleep.  Anyway, I stole my 3 year olds iPhone (LONG STORY) and downloaded Jason Aldean's "My Kinda Party" album.  I hit shuffle, like I always do.  The song "Church pew or bar stool" came on and he's talking about a small town and how he's gotta get out. Yada yada yada. As I'm listening, I realize I'm crying.

Church Pew or Bar Stool is my hometown.  It's Morgan City. So is Tattoos on this Town, but that's another post.

I just spent 2 months back in 'Bama.  I got a ton of time with my parents, my family and my best friend. And as ready as I was to come home to Japan, because lets face it, home is where my husband is...I still find myself wanting to be in Morgan City.  I don't think that will ever change. That was where I grew up, where my roots are.  My roots there are deep. My roots here are short. I know we'll be leaving Japan in 2 years. I don't know when we'll be back in 'Bama.  I don't know when I'll see my family again.  I don't know when I'll be driving down Pine Ridge Road with my windows down, Lynyrd Skynyrd blaring and my bare foot out the window. The sweet smell of honeysuckle, or the kudzu that seems to invade everything in the spring, I miss those. My babies got to eat the dew from a honeysuckle, just like I did when I was growing up. I always said I'd never leave that place...and look at me now.  I have days where I long to be there, in my parents house...with Daddy picking on me and Momma buzzing around.   I just got back here 8 days ago...

I guess sometimes a girl just needs to cry because I can't seem to turn it off tonight.  I miss so much being gone. Things go on, my friends get together and do things without me. We have family things I'm never there for.  I miss births, graduations, birthdays and anniversaries.

When I was home I saw so many of my "stompin' grounds." (Here's where Tattoos on this Town comes in.)  There was the 7-11 we all used to hang out at.  While taking my brother somewhere, I drove down the road where I used to go parking, lol  I even found the hidden driveway.  There's the tree with eyes, the broken bridge, yellowbluff. The cold hole.  The spot where I had my first kiss. The spot where my first serious boyfriend told me he loved me...and the spot where he first broke my heart.  The river where we used to jump from the bluffs. I remember how I lied to my best friend, Amanda telling her I had jumped when I hadn't, without realizing I'd HAVE to do it now. Amanda and I ate at the same resturant we all ate at on prom night, sat so close to the same table. I could almost see us all there, laughing and talking about our plans for the summer.  Everytime I drove in to Huntsville I passed the spot where my husband gave me his last name.  Driving up the mountain and looking at the rock seeing if someone had spraypainted it with something different. My home. It is me. 

"Whiskey or the Bible.  A shot glass or revival."  That's me, that's my hometown.  We take things slow there.  We take the time to get to know our neighbors and we love get-togethers.  Every car I pass I can pretty much guarantee the driver will hold up his or her first 2 fingers to wave...and I'll do the same.  I'll even know most of them by name. When I walk in to our drug store or grocery store, the people will greet me by my name and ask me how my Momma is. I haven't lived there in over 6 years now if that tells you how amazing my hometown is. The people there will give you the shirt off their back if you need it.  I am the same way, like my parents are. We don't even have a caution light and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Morgan City, Alabama will always be one of my favorite places.  I can travel all over, see the 7 wonders of the world...and they will never compare to driving down Pine Ridge and pulling in to my parents house where I grew up.  Knowing that just for a few days, I'm "home."  I do have two homes.  I have my home with my husband and our family.  I'll always want to be there.  I have my home in 'Bama with my friends and family.  I'll always want to be there too.  I know why I hang around that church pew or bar stool kinda town.

Roller Coaster Ride

Titles.  Always trying to think of titles for these things.  Unfortunately I have nothing right now. The last 14 days have been a blur. 


11MARCH2011
After visiting family in the states for 16 days, my family and I hop a flight back to Tokyo. Getting on the flight and the actual flight itself was pretty uneventful.  Easy going. Kendall and I were separated on the plane, he sat up front with our son and I sat on the wing (as always) with my daughter. After trying to catch some sleep that never came, we decided to switch seats so that Kendall could get some rest. Sitting on an international flight, there are TV screens on the back of every seat, as well as two big screens at the beginning of the "coach" seats.  It lists the miles you've traveled, how far until you land, time in the air, how fast you're going, etc.  I was watching the miles go down, desperate to get off the plane and back to our normal lives.


"To Destination: 30mi"


Awesome! Almost home!


Pilot: "Ladies and Gentlemen, we were just informed that Narita Airport has been closed due to a small earthquake.  We're being re-routed to Yokota...."


Awesome.


So, we land in Yokota and sat.  And sat.  And sat.  For 5 hours. The Air Force wouldn't let us off the plane because they didn't want Japanese Nationals on their base, but it took them 5 hours to decide that.


Re-route to Nagoya Airport.  5 hours away from Yokosuka.
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12MARCH2011
We land in Nagoya. No trains are running.  No room in any of the hotels. People are sleeping in airports. Kendall said that no, that wasn't about to happen to us, so we agreed to pay....are you ready???  100,000Yen  (1,234 USD) for a taxi ride from Nagoya to Yokosuka.  We were able to talk the guy down to 80,000Yen...around 1,000 USD though.


So we're driving.  The kids are sleeping.  We're trying to sleep.  Again, smooth sailing.  90 miles from home...traffic.  Dead stop.  The Tsunami had closed the Tomei Expressway.   The taxi driver told us in extremely broken English that the train in Shizuoka was running. 


0400, we paid the driver 60,000Yen since he didn't take us the whole way...and waited for a train that was running at 0513.


One thing you have to understand is that train stations in Japan (at least every one I've been to) are outside.  There is no heat. It was 34 degrees outside.  We had both our kids in just flimsy jackets, in 30 degree weather for over an hour, waiting on a train. Come to find out, the train wasn't running. All that for nothing.
-------




So we walk to the nearest hotel.  No rooms. Luckily, the clerk spoke pretty good English and did everything he could to find us a way home.  He brought the kids something to eat, along with Calpis to drink. A Japanese girl was making Origami birds for them too. 


(It wasn't until we got here that we actually saw how bad the Earthquake and Tsunami were.  All were told on the plane was that it was a "small" earthquake and that "a few" people had died.  But no, it was much worse. )


After about an hour or two of sitting in the hotel, the guy finally found a running train.  He called a taxi for us and we took off.
-------


We pay the driver over $50USD probably, and go inside to buy a ticket.


Our Passmo cards didn't work.  Our bank cards didn't work.  We had no Yen because we had to run to meet our flight before we left the states and had no time to get to the money exchange.


Teared up. Stressed out.  Tired. 


Kendall wouldn't stop until he knew we could get home.  He stood in a line and THANKFULLY got a lady who spoke English, he told her what was going on and she helped us out big time.  We spent $130USD, but she got us tickets on the bullet train to Yokohama, and tickets to get us from there to Yokosuka.  I did cry then, I was so happy to be going HOME.


We get to our platform and make sure we were waiting for the right train...then we hear this...."weeeeeee" sound, and to our left came a bullet train.  Fast as lightening.  So of course, because I'm like a 5 year old sometimes, I start jumping and down because we were going to get to ride it!!


We get on the train, take off with speed like hell.  Turn a corner and BOOM...there's the ever beautiful Mount Fuji.  As close to her as I've ever been, and probably ever will be.  Fuji-san is definitely a sight.
-------


We arrive in Shin-Yokohama, have to catch another train to the actual Yokohama (thanks to the help of a Japanese lady who told us we were on the wrong train and who helped get us to the right spot), only to find out when we get there that the stations to Yokosuka are not up and running.  Cry some more.  SO CLOSE TO HOME!  


Screw it, we'll pay for ANOTHER taxi to get us from Yokohama to the base.
-------


$120 later...we see main gate!  Turn to go in. 
Security: "Uh, this taxi can't come on base, you'll have to turn around."  And they wouldn't allow us to get out...we had to go back OFF BASE first.


ARE YOU EFFING KIDDING ME DUDE?!


So, after bitch-fest 2011 to the security dude...we just do it.  We're too damn tired to do anything else, we just want to go home.


We find an on-base taxi..."Asagao Heights. PLEASE."
Driver: "Hai, Asagao"
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13MARCH2011
Uneventful.


14MARCH2011
We start hearing about the nuclear problems at Fukushima Dai-ichi. 


15MARCH2011
Wake up, feeling pretty good finally.  Kendall went back to work, la dee dah.  At 1025, I see a post by CFAY saying that at 0700, the USS George Washington detected radiation.


FREAK. OUT.  Why in the world would they wait THAT LONG before telling us we had radiation on our base????


I call Kendall, tell him he needs to come home at lunch so we can talk about getting the kids out of Japan.  I mean, I'm thinking we have a ton of radiation all around us.


He comes home, says I don't need to leave because XO says I shouldn't.  There's no reason to. XO calls me personally to assure me Yoko is SAFE.  He said that GW picked up a spike in radiation above normal background levels, and hadn't picked it up again. I felt so much better. 


16MARCH2011
I wake up, feeling safe in my home.  Our ship was holding an FRG meeting later that night, so I was running around getting ready for that.  XO talks to everyone, assures us everything is fine. 


Good to hear.


17MARCH2011
Again, I wake up feeling great.  I take the kids out to the commissary and NEX.  When we got there...I heard numerous groups of Sailors saying, "We're getting the f*** out on Saturday, thank God." 


Who in the hell ever WANTS to get underway you know?
-------


I go home and send Kendall a text to make sure everything was still ok.  Yes, it was.


Later, we find out about an explosion or something at the plant, they were worried about the fuel rods leaking and that the containment chambers had been breached.


18MARCH2011
Nothing but a huge ball of stress.  One minute its safe, the next it's not. 


"Evacuation"  "It's just a precaution."


Kendall calls. 
"Get a plane ticket and get the kids out of here."


Naturally...when your husband says that, you freak.


A thousand questions end up in one answer: "I'm tired of being jerked around."


He wanted to get our kids out of Japan because no one knew if it was really safe or not.  Evacuate or not?  The base kept flip-flopping on what to do.   He tells me that his ship, which was currently under maintenance, was going to be getting underway.  But why?!  Yokosuka is SAFE! At least that's what you people told us!!  What do yall know that you're not telling us?!
-------


Bought the tickets for me and the kids.  We were to fly out 20MARCH.

19MARCH2011
Pack.  Cry.  Pack some more.  Knowing my family was about to be separated for an unknown amount of time was heartbreaking.  I looked around our home at all the things I hoped we'd come back for. All those things that couldn't fit in a suitcase. I was seriously a blubbering idiot for most of the day.

20MARCH2011
The day we had to leave.  I was both relieved and heartbroken at the same time.  I wanted our kids to be safe...but I did not want to leave Kendall.  At all.  A friend of his drove us to the airport, and all I could do was hold his hand, wondering when I'd get to do that again. I so dreaded him walking away from us at the airport.  What would the kids think?  How would they react when they realized he wasn't coming with us?
-------

Not good.  Hardest thing...ever. 

But, no one will EVER tell us we didn't do the right thing. Only people who don't have kids would say that. When you look at your child, so innocent, and think of the things that are headed their way...your only thought is, "I have to keep my kids safe."  So we flew back to the states.  We decided to separate our family for the safety of our children. If you ask me, and maybe my husband would agree, I don't speak for him though...I think it makes us stronger to be able to do this.  I hear people say, "Well I'm a strong military wife because I'm not leaving."  Well...I'd rather be a strong MOTHER.  I'd rather my husband be a strong FATHER.  I don't want to worry if the food they're eating is contaminated with toxic materials.  If the water we're drinking has unsafe levels of radiation in it.
-------

Japan is a gorgeous country.  The Japanese people are beyond amazing. The devastation they faced, and are still facing, is enough to bring anyone down, and yet they are still overcoming.  What we went through was nothing compared to what some went through.  Thousands, upon thousands of people died, are still dying because they have no food, no water, no shelter, no heat. It's terrible.
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But - that's my story of the last couple of weeks. It's been a crazy roller coaster ride. <----Just got my title.

Hittin' up the shrines

This weekend we all went to Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura!  I've been shamelessly begging my husband to go for a while, and he reluctantly accepted defeat, so we went! LOL. 

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu dates back to 1063 and was home of the first shogunate of Kamakura.  Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the shogunate and was the very first shogun in Kamakura.  He ruled from 1192-1199.





These are prayers sent by the Japanese



We also got extremely lucky and were able to see two traditional Shinto weddings!











I highly recommend seeing Tsurugaoka Hachimangu if you're in this part of Japan.  From JR Yokosuka station, you'll purchase a ¥210 ticket to Kamakura, it's 4 stops away, about a 20 minute ride.  Stops go as follows: Taura, Higashi-Zushi, Zushi, then Kamakura.  You'll take a left out of the train station and it's about a 10 minute walk.  You will walk through a tiny street with signs above that say "Shopping Town" I believe. You'll come to an intersection, at the intersection you'll take a right and follow that road until you see the Shinto gate, thats the entrance.   The shrine is free for everyone, but there is a museum for a fee of ¥200. 

There are 62 steps leading up to the shrine, so be prepared in case you have little ones in strollers, or a person who would need assistance going to the top!

This is a gorgeous place to visit, we plan on going back when the Sakura are in bloom. I actually plan on going back every season.  Twice a year I believe, they have a festival that includes "Yabusame", which is archery on horseback at the shrine.  I have been told that will be held on Sept 16 this year! That would be something to see without the kids because of the sheer number of spectators!!

Quickness

Just a quick update since I've been slacking. 

The family is good, we've been enjoying Christmas stand down and having Kendall home a little bit more!

Update A: After 9 months of being here...I finally made it out to my "Yoko BFF" Sarah's house! She lives off base and I'll admit, I was apprehensive about driving out to her house.  You know, being in a foreign country and not speaking the language...getting lost is not something I want to do, lol.  But, I followed her there and it was cake!  The next time I went there, I didn't even need the directions.  :)  Go me!  Her driveway however...is scary. Haha! It's steep as all get out.  Here's a beautiful view from her house!



Stunning view of Fuji-san as the clouds start to envade

Update B: Enoshima Aquarium with Sarah and her family!! We drove out to her house and followed them to the aquarium, along the coast with a view of Fuji almost constantly!!

This place was alot of fun and is defintely something we'll be doing again and again.  We got to pet sharks and see a dolphin show, which was my first ever.  Come summer, we'll be sitting in the red seats where we can get wet, haha!






Oddly enough, this is the first picture we've taken together since becoming friends, lol



Update C: Kendall and I put the kids in the daycare and we hit the town! We had planned on leaving Yokosuka, but after we dropped them off we decided to stay around town and see what we could see.  Surprisingly we discovered alot of things we could do when the kids aren't with us, haha.  We went to eat at Ramen, which is right outside of main gate.  AMAZING.  Our new favorite place. 

My miso-ramen

They do ramen, obviously.  And gyoza (Mmmmmm), spring rolls, etc.  This will be where I take people when they come visit Japan. 



Yakitori

This is my husband, eating what is usually YUMMY yakitori (meat on a stick).  That day however, was different.  They have a variety of meat. Pork heart, pork tongue, intestine, liver...and regular chicken and pork.  I am a picky eater, I rarely try new things, and getting me to try "chicken ball" was bad enough, and it's not what you think it is, lol. My husband is the adventurous one, he'll try any food once.  Before I knew what he grabbed, he was chewing.  I could just tell by the look on his face that he was having trouble.  Pork tongue.  HE ATE PORK TONGUE.  Said he was trying so hard not to puke.  It's disrespectful to spit food out here, and the cooks were watching him, so he suffered through it and ate it, but the other two you see in the picture, went STRAIGHT to a tissue when they weren't looking and were promptly thrown away.  You could see the tastebuds.  I wanted to gag just looking at it. 

Then we stopped by a fresh food market. :)  We'd been wanting to go for some time, but with two kids in strollers and a tight area...it just wasn't doable.  But check out our loot!

The carrots are baby carrots compared to some they had.  The apples are nothing compared to some we saw, HUGE! The greens are so green and the reds were so red.  It's almost a shame to eat anything. We spent 3,300Yen and we'll be eating on them for the next few days!

We had a blast together, a day with no kids.  We love them with everything we have, but it was so nice to go out alone!

Alrighty...that's my "quick" update!