The Express (Unaccompanied) Baggage is here!!

Fukuoka Soko...yep our stuff is in there

This little crate is our "express shipment"
It took 6 weeks to get here

Hard to read the crate, but it literally has all of our information on it
Macdonald, Camp Pendleton to Iwakuni, Japan
It even says how heavy the shipment was before they crated it, and after it was crated

This crate was "sealed" with about 50 nails, and that black plastic band
The movers literally pulled out every nail, and then cut the band

Yippeee...our stuff
That is a mountain bike

Ok, so my dad said they used "a lot of packing paper," no kidding
This is a flat screen tv, 2 broken down mtn. bikes, 2 mtn bike tires, 4 pillows, a laundry basket and a suitcase
Each item was individually wrapped in about 12 sheets of paper

Just the start of the boxes
Each box was labeled with what was in it

This was all that we packed as express
We pretty much forgot what was packed, so it was fun to open boxes

Yea our bikes...the movers put the bikes together before they left

Yippee..our first shipment arrived on Wednesday June 22 @ 1030am. The movers were very nice, and fast. From the time they opened the crate, to the time they left was 25 minutes. It was fun to open the few boxes we had, as we had both forgotten what we had packed.
On Friday morning, Jon checked his email, and we had a notice that our household goods shipment had arrived as well, and that we needed to call and schedule delivery. We were on the phone at 730am booking our delivery for Tuesday June 28 @ 1030. This shipment is literally everything we own...beds, furniture, golf clubs (yippee), everything!!
I will definitely post pictures of that.....the movers do not like "American furniture" as it is big, bulky and very heavy. Guess I will have to make the movers some cookies!!

Kintai Bridge & Iwakuni Castle

A lot of pictures from our hike from the Kintai Bridge to the Iwakuni Castle

"You are here"



Kintai Bridge over the Nishiki River
The bridge is 100% wood



Gondola's

Japanese warrior guarding the Kikkawa Cemetery
The Cemetery dates back to 1600

At the bottom of the hiking path

Spring water run-off along the hike. Note the cups hanging on the wall
This was taken on the way up the hill!
On the way down, we refilled our water bottles!!

Trying to take a picture in front of a waterfall

Over-looking the Kintai & Iwakuni

We both kept thinking "Gorillas in the Mist"
It was nice and cool while on the hike

Stage at the top of the trail

Seating for the stage at the Iwakuni Castle

Iwakuni Castle

Another view of the Castle

Cormorant Clock at the Iwakuni Castle

I have no idea why these statues have bibs, but it was cool looking, so I took a picture

Love it!! Someone actually knitted a beanie for this  Garden Buddha!!
I wonder where I can get this Buddha to bring home...he is cute!

Cool water feature

Yumm! Just what we needed after our hike.
Very interesting that when we walked up to the counter,
they immediately gave us an English menu!

Hahah, Hello Kitty is everywhere!!

Today we had a great hike of Mt. Shiroyama, and the Iwakuni Castle. We started at the Kintai Bridge along the Nishiki River, and started our hike. The hike starts off at a huge incline. We don't really know the elevation that we climbed, but we know that Iwakuni is at 2.1 meters above sea level, and the Iwakuni Castle sits at 761 meters above...2490 ft elevation climb. It took us about 45 minutes.
I would say that 95% of the trail is covered by tree canopies...makes it a lot cooler, but increases the humidity. It was very green and lush, with waterfalls every so often.
There were several places where people had left little trinkets or tokens, to whom, who knows!
Once we reached to top of Mt. Shiroyama, we had great views of the Kintai, as well as Iwakuni. The castle was interesting to look at architecturally. Inside the castle was a small museum, mainly samurai swords! From the top floor (4th floor), you could see over the canopy of the trees.
The hike back down the trail went fairly quick (it's all downhill). We did get some rain, but we did not care.
The canopy of the trees kept us dry for the most part!
After the hike, we walked around the Kintai some more, and had an ice cream. It was funny that the workers at the ice cream stand brought us an english menu. So glad they did, as what looked like strawberry was actually red bean! The Japanese are really into their ice cream, and will make ice cream out of almost anything!
After walking around a bit more, we finally decided it was time to call it a day!

The Macdonald Farm....minus animals!



 Lots of pictures of our little yard, I know this was taken at a funky angle, but it shows the front of the yard.
My little soybeans and chives are slowly growing, as is my new little plant.



Soybeans aka Edamame




We think these are beefsteak tomatoes, but we have no idea!




Another tomato variety, like little cherry/grape tomatoes.
Yep we pain 258Y for the plant, which at the time was $3.25



3 very happy tomato plants....guess Tracy will have to learn to eat tomatoes!

Cukie plant...this crazy plant has wrapped itself 3 times around the pole, and is reaching out to the next pole.
Is it bracing itself for a lot of cukis, or does it know that it's Typhoon Season!!

My first tomato!!

These hedges were pretty much dead when we moved in...amazing what a little water will do!

The corner of my flower garden...still need to put up my little fences!

So my little flower garden is now about 12 feet long



A few new pictures

Just outside our balcony...trying to get pictures of the rain

This puddle was after 2 minutes of rain....we had over 2 inches on this day (6/12/2011)

From our balcony towards the Freedom Bridge
Low lying clouds and poring down rain make it look foggy
Notice which side of the road the car is on!

Jon & I at FU-CA (nope I did not make it up)
This was before we got drenched in the storm!

New Table

 Our new table....after looking and researching tables, we finally broke down and bought one. This is a counter height table, that will seat up to 6 (thats when we make it big enough for 6).
Tracy and Jon put the table and 2 chairs together the night we got the table, and then Tracy spent the next day assembling the last 4 chairs....took forever.

Just another view of the table...its so nice!!

Sorry for the late update!!

Not much has gone on in the past weeks really. My camera battery died, so I did not have any pics to post, but its alive now (thanks to Amazon and speedy shipping). First, I will update you all on our cars. We managed to get 2, even though Tracy is the only one legal to drive right now. Jon has to wait 45 days (base rules) or until he gets a letter from the CO saying he can get a license sooner...we think 45 days will come first!


Tracy's Car...aka Black Betty
Its a Honda SMX



Black Betty's Butt
Notice the Funky License, the 500 is the engine size, and the Y is for Yankee

Jon's beast of a car, also known as the weather whore
Everyone in the weather shop has driven this car...hey it was free!!

Another view of the beast
This thing seats 8, like we really need something this big.

We are slowly getting used to living in our new house, we have started to add little touches to the yard. We will add a lot of touches to the inside, but we are waiting until our furniture arrives...whenever that may be.
We have done a few things to spruce up our yard. The fist thing Tracy did was figure out where her flower garden was going to go, and started working the soil for that. It was fairly easy to plan, as part of the yard is slightly sandy and very sunny, and the other part gets sun most of the day, and the soil was nicer.
Next up was figuring what to plant. Since this area is all new to us, we opted for what the locals plant...and no its not rice (too many mosquito's with that...yuck!)
We found a couple of plant places, and picked out way too many flowers, and some veggies. We decided to grow tomatoes, cucumbers (cukies as they are referred to here), soybeans or edamame and chives. This is just a start, until Jon builds planter boxes.

Far left is soybeans and chives, then there is the dying base housing hedge, and Jon's Tomatoes & Cukies

Jon's grill with Tracy's little flower garden

All it needs is a little fence border around it

Trying to grow a Japanese Lily

Soybeans on trellis and chives in between