Thursday, November 26, 2009

Beatlemania (10/16/09)

We attended 'Beatlemania' in Tokyo at a hotel contracted out to the American government.
The boys came with us so we could spend the night, swim, and just enjoy being downtown.
Each of the tables were decorated with black and/or white plastic hats, reflective sunglasses with the peace symbol on them, neon bracelets/necklaces, balloons and plastic records with a Beatle hit on it. There was a full buffet line with soups, bread, cheeses, salads, seafood, prime rib, various potatoes, rices, and veggies and of course, desserts. We sat with our friends from base and a couple that they knew.
There's a video so you can here the band. We were told that we were lucky this year b/c this band spoke English beyond the words of the songs and would talk in between some of the songs. Last year, the band spoke no English beyond knowing how to sing the songs.
(The video upload is really bad, but you'll get the idea.)
Oh, and the hotel we stayed at each of the suites have a state's name. The OHIO one was across the hall from us and we could not resist taking the picture. (yes, it would have been really cool if that had been suite but it was the first time we had seen so it was still fun).










The next day before we headed home we went and checked out the park by the hotel.








Our Homeschool Field Trip

We were fortunate enough to get to see one of the helicopters as a field trip.



















E's School Zoo Field Trip (11/10/09)



E's teacher

"Do you need help....I can get my mom."



The name tags they wore around their neck.




My group reading the map and "leading the way"!

View from the Lion Bus





E did not care for the smell!



Time to go home!

Our New View







They are working on a new Child Development Center in the field outside our "backyard" where the kids use to have a playground and Nerf wars. I know I have more pics of this and will be adding to this post when I came across them. I know they are probably not very entertaining pics but they are significant to us for a couple of reasons. 1) we REALLY miss "our" field and 2) the NOISE!! for instance even during Thanksgiving dinner (on Thanksgiving Day) Enya was accompanied by the subtle beat jackhammering, pipe clanging, drilling, and the ra-tat-tat of nail hammering.

Let's try this....

Since I have been so bad about updating our blog, I have decided to try something new. I am going to start posting, but working our way BACK instead of forward. Trying to get caught up is too overwhelming for me (:~) so maybe this "new" approach will work better. If not, I am going to have a very hard time finding a new excuse (LOL)! At this point though, I think y'all are just ready to see some new pics (:~). Shall we begin.....
Lots of love,
The Francis 4

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Weekend trip to see Gundam Robot

The "glass" facing the sidewalk (the outdoor tables)
is actually open - this is a bad picture, it looked
a lot cooler in person
The "Japanese" Hummer
S.W.A.T. vans
This is a gas station - full serve and the gas lines
are hanging down from the ceiling. The yellow square
behind the car, is the car wash. I should have taken
a picture of the surrounding bldgs so you could
understand just how packed in this was!



S.W.A.T. vans
An entire showroom of them!
Sign on the train
SURE, you were scratching your nose....
Eli's always got to get an ear (he was wore out!)
My growing boy - I love his smile :~)
The train being passed by a car carrier truck
59ft Gundam Robot - it was very cool




Dakota picking up the 59ft robot :~)
We haven't seen the real one, but this was cool to
see in Japan!