Fun Time Randomness

Over the past few months, we have had the opportunity to do a lot of fun and interesting things. Some typical life events like baby showers and camping; then other Japan or military specific things like the Navy Ball and touring the Mazda factory. None of them generated enough pictures to deem their own blog post, but together, they paint a picture of the past few months of our lives. So here it goes - first off, a baby shower!!

If y'all recall, at last year's Marine Corps Ball, my friend Tracy got pregnant. She blames my apple sangria, LOL. A group of us ladies pooled together to throw her a surprise, made in Japan themed baby shower! And it was a success! Here is our attempt at a Japanese flag made from cupcakes. :)

Specially made onesies

My poor attempt at a group shot, ha ha! We had Tracy's favorite country music playing in the background and I downloaded over 50 pictures of Pugs to put on the TV to remind her of her pup back in the States. It was definitely catered to Tracy and her loves. 

Next, Joel and I spent Labor Day weekend in Hiroshima. It rained, like it ALWAYS does when we try to go to Hiroshima. But we still had fun!

Gotta have some food pics - we went to a juice cafe and ordered a mixed fruit crepe. It was YUMMY. The purple looking stuff on the top left is actually a sweet adzuki bean paste that is really popular here in Japan.

We were coming off of a three week detox which basically consisted of a vegan, caffeine free diet (still caffeine free now, woot!) so we located the one and only vegan restaurant in Hiroshima called "Shanti Cafe". That's DECAF in the picture, people! I ordered the risotto and it was stellar!

Joel ordered the mixed plate and everything was SO delicious! Hard to believe it was all vegan!

We went to a giant craft store and found the Japanese version of Settlers!!!!! Hilarious! (We are COMPLETELY addicted to this game and play with our friends at least weekly!)

The Mazda factory does an English tour on Mondays and since we were actually off work and in Hiro on a Monday, it felt right to finally go! We invited some of our friends who drove up for the tour and a trip to Costco afterwards. Sadly, we weren't able to take pictures of the assembly line, but it was an unbelievable and enlightening experience to observe how vehicles are created. Mazda's have come quite far over the years!

These pictures are a very small sampling of the cars Mazda has constructed over the many decades...

LOVE the upholstery, LOL

Even though we went out to a Japanese restaurant for lunch, the thing to do is go to the Costco cafe following your shopping trip. American style pizza and hot dogs are a HUGE hit for the Japanese patrons. :)

Right after Labor Day, my co-worker, Heather, and I flew up to Camp Fuji, a tiny base outside Tokyo. We stayed for three days and helped them set up there substance abuse, alcohol screening, and urinalysis program. They were so grateful for our help and we got a real inside look as to how the folks live on this base. NO ONE in Iwakuni can ever, EVER tell me they're bored and all there is to do is drink alcohol. This base takes the cake with how little there is to do and how limited transportation, mobility and even food options are. I feel for these guys. The lodge we stayed at on base did not have AC (it was sweltering!), I had ants sharing my bed with me, and I blew two circuits because I used the microwave while I had a fan running. Craziness!

Heather and I literally walked across the flight line throughout the day to get from one side of base to the other.

Good thing there weren't any planes landing!

It's called Camp Fuji because it's literally located at the base of Mount Fuji. This was the most we were able to see out of all three days we were there. I'm not kidding when I say it has its own weather system. It was covered by clouds the WHOLE time we were there! And the weather in Camp Fuji itself was crazy - sunny to rainy to hot and humid then frigid all within the same hour!!! Spooky!

On October 12th (my birthday!), we attended the Navy Ball. It was held in the ball room at the club since there are far fewer sailors aboard MCAS Iwakuni so everyone can fit in a smaller venue (the Marine Corps ball is held over three nights in the gym to accommodate everyone!).

Chillin' with my gal pal Ericka

Our fellow Settlers game freaks, the Coffey's!!

Sporting my $10 dress from Deb that I was able to purchase the ONE DAY I was in Texas in August. That was a trip to remember! ONE DAY! Talk about jet lag and travel insanity!

Since we also had Columbus day off, the day after the Navy ball, we packed up the car and went camping with our friends at Hamada Beach. We hadn't been to the North side of the island yet, and what a difference! Hamada was like a REAL beach! There were surfers everywhere, cliffs, a lot of sand that was there naturally (not imported like at our local Yuu beach) and a good beachy vibe all 'round.

Joel setting up our new camping kitchen set. It's AH-MA-ZING

View from our cabin, which was literally just a roof over a wooden floor. We only brought sleeping bags, so it was definitely an uncomfortable night's sleep, but memorable, LOL. We had to pay an extra 500 yen just to use the one outlet inside to charge our phones!

All smiles with our friends Abbey and Javier. SO glad they also appreciate the outdoors and the camping life! We cooked white chicken chili over the coals with our new Dutch oven and it was scrumptious!

No angst among friends, LOL

Last but not least, the Halloween Howl. This is a yearly tradition for the officers and senior enlisted and what a BLAST! Each unit comes up with their own tent theme and they were so super creative! MCCS and the school personnel (of a certain civilian rank) were invited for the first time ever so we totally jumped on the opportunity! Our tent theme was a 1950's haunted diner and Joel developed the diner sign.

Setting up early in the day - the signs on the right and left are Joel's creations!

Just a few gals, hanging around the diner

Allison's tent theme was Vegas, so she dressed up as a crazy tourist! She even put on her makeup to look like she had a sunglasses sunburn, LOL!

Our friend Hilda looked so fine

Attacked by a couple of biker zombies!!

Our Navy friends playing a little rock band in the 80's themed tent

Eric got the creepy eyes down, that's for sure!

Phew! Well, I think that's a good summary if I do say so myself. We like to stay busy and do what we can to enjoy Japan. It's such an amazing experience - the country, the culture, the military lifestyle, all of it. We are SO VERY BLESSED!