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!

Well FROCK!

Here he is ladies and gentlemen...a newly frocked E6!!

Photo taken by: Gas Turbine Systems Electrical 3rd Class Charlotte C. Oliver

I am SO proud of him!!!

My little Fire Controlman First Class!!

Movin' on up

Good news, good news! 

My husband advanced to E6!!  He is now a Petty Officer First Class in the US Navy.  You can't imagine my excitement, our excitement, when we got the call.  He's been trying for so long, he's deserved for so long, but it just hasn't happened because of how closed up his rate has been.  Out of the 388 people that took it, only 41 made it, and my husband was one of them.  I am seriously so proud of him.  The frocking ceremony should've been today (email is down at the moment so I have no way of knowing for sure), so it should be offical now!

The fact that the Navy has to TEST to advance...is just beyond me.  They're the only branch that still has to test to make rank.  If they'd just allow advancement based on evals and merit, Kendall would've been a Chief by now.  BUT - I won't get ahead of myself.  We just made E6 and that's awesome. 

I have spent the last few days buying new uniforms, sewing patches on said uniforms, buying new medals and ribbons.  I know it seems kinda "June Cleaver-ish", but hey...I'm happy doing it.  Do you have any idea how much money we've said by me doing the patches myself? Ha! That comes in handy this time of year, with Christmas being around the corner and all.  ; )

Random Japan

I found two more random Japanese things I like. 

Yeah....CREAM COLLON, lol.  The name made me giggle, because I have the mind of a 5th grader when it comes to stuff like this.  I can't tell you what it is, what's in it, nothing.  All I know is it's like....an ice cream cone shell with this...creamy collon gunk on the inside, lol.  Very yummy, very tasty. 

And this.  This is....Morinaga.  Actually, I'm not sure if thats the name of the drink, or the name of the brand...I don't know.  DyDo makes it, and it's like...coffee, flavored with pancake syrup.  I'm not sure what I think about it, but I could NOT stop drinking it, lol.