Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!
This year I went out with the 77 Spouses Club to MacArthurs Garage, an American-style bar that goes all out for Halloween with decorations and costumes. It was a ton of fun! Japan doesn't celebrate Halloween nationally, though there are some bars and some areas in Tokyo that have celebrations. A few of the children's schools around here that have American children in them will also do class parties. Safe to say, we got some very interesting looks on the train that night!

Casey the Mad Scientist and I

I've always wanted to be Ariel for Halloween (at least as an adult); this year I realized I had all the pieces to make my own costume! (minus Flounder) Hooray for easy DIY costumes!

You bet I brought a dinglehopper!

We encountered this group of very drunk and very fun Japanese friends at the bar; they were so funny and went all out for Halloween!

We had a ton of fun on the train; when we went home it was around 1030 or so, and there weren't very many people (which made us stand out even more) I love this picture because of the Japanese guys in the background giggling at us.

Sam gets a special shout out today because it was on Halloween 5 years ago that we adopted him from BARK in Tucson! It's his "Gotcha" Day! 

Another great part about Halloween was that I got to Facetime with Alex!

It's been a while since we saw his handsome face here!

Samurai Fest

A few weeks ago  (I swear someday I'll be better at updating this thing more on time!) we went to a festival in a town about 30 minutes away where my friend Casey and Brian teach English at a local school. I'm not entirely sure what it was commemorating, but people dressed up as warriors (they asked Brian and our friend Digi from the squadron to dress up too!) and played in a mock battle.

Traditional shoes...traditional shoes...Vans... (they didn't have shoes big enough for the gaijin!)

These ADORABLE kids from the school got up and sang their school song!

The horn blower (it was a very decorated conch shell)

we got snow cones!

Casey and her aunt who was visiting

For 100 yen (basically $1) they dressed us up in these costumes and printed a few pictures for us! It was so much fun! We attracted quite the crowd of newspaper and media photographers.

All is well here. Fall has set in, which means the weather is lovely and cool. It drops down to pretty chilly temperatures at night. The house is freezing all the time due to the complete lack of insulation, but I'm okay with that; I like a cold house! I just have to wear slippers and sweatshirts most of the time and I've been drinking a ton of tea. 

More pictures to come...Halloween in Japan up next!

1st Port Call: Guam!

I'm back! I'm sorry for the delay, I kept meaning to post and then forgetting about it!

2 weeks ago, we hopped on a plane and made our way to meet the boat in Guam! We got to spend a few days together, but then Typhoon VongFong got in our way and the boys were recalled to the boat; all flights to Tokyo were cancelled and we got stuck in Guam for an extra two days to wait out the storm (all the while, Tokyo was getting hit by Typhoon Phanfone), but we made it through, made it home, and it was a great trip!

At the Tokyo Narita airport!!

We made it!

Beautiful!

We got there a day before the guys, so we did a little exploring and enjoyed a few island-y drinks!

 They arrived! He grew a pretty excellent Navy stache!

Casey, Allison, and I playing in the ocean! The boys were there too.

Happy Castillos! The water was super clear and blue! A perfect temperature too!

Someone had this awesome polaroid camera (I want one!) that took some fun pictures at a "Wetting Down" party we went to with a ton of people from the boat. (Wetting Down is a promotion party, with those getting promoted contributing a ton of money to provide a bar tab)

Wandering the beach at night, having a Guam beer!

mango mimosas for our breakfast!

We took the trolley out to a place entitled "The Beach Bar." It was super fun! We played cornhole, snorkeled and watched the sunset behind an incoming storm! 

Lovely Day!

 (L to R: Rodney & Allison, Us, Matt & Casey)

Matt (Casey's husband) and Alex on the trolley to dinner!

Snorkeling!

I didn't have the camera when we saw it, but Guam has these AMAZING starfish unlike I've ever seen! They're bright, bright blue and huge! We were snorkeling and we found one! It was really cool to see!

We ate some delicious pineapple carrot cake!

 After the guys were recalled to the boat and we got cancelled...twice, we went over to Julie's hotel and had some cheering up beer!

YIKES.

After the storm passed, We spent our last night on the balcony reading and having a few beers.

All in all it was an amazing trip! Counting down the weeks until Alex comes home!