Just A-nerfer Birthday!

Another birthday has come and gone! I can't believe that I am 25! Ben and I were talking the other night, and we definitely do not feel that old- maybe 20! For my birthday this year, we didn't do too much! Ben had to work, so the kids and I spent the day at home, lounging! Then we had a quick dinner on base with Ben when he got off work. He bought me some new Nike shoes, that have a pedometer in the sole and connects to my I-pod, and while I am walking it knows how fast I am walking and how far.... I love this because it is so fun to see how far we walk during the day. Most days are around 5 miles!

(Mine are very similar to these)

We rode the bus home, and while we were on our way home, we were chit-chatting with some friends and didn't notice Lucy had bitten off a piece of a foam nerf dart and put it up her nose! (just like one of these)

She was crying and I had to hold her hands down at her side until we got home, so she wouldn't mess with it and make it worse. When we got home we got out the tweezers and Ben and I held her down and tried to get it out, but I think WE made it worse! it was so far up her nose we needed a flash light to look up her nose to see it- and even then it was hard to see!
The next morning I got and checked Lucy's nose, and sure enough, it was still in there! I got the kids ready and we went to the Emergency Room on base to see if they could do anything for us. The ear, nose, throat doctor saw us and he said that he could surely get it out!  He had to swaddle Lucy up in a sheet, I had to lay on her chest, a Navy guy had to hold her head still, and a nurse had to hold her legs while the doctor retrieved the piece of dart!  What a relief! I don't think she will ever do that again...hopefully!

Tokyo- Ginza

Ginza is a district of Tokyo, and has the most expensive shopping and reminded me a lot of Times Square in New York City. There were a ton of people walking around and the buildings were tall and seemed to be endless. Ben really wanted to go the the Sony building, which we did, and there were so many fun things to see in there. They had all their TV's, computers, cameras, phones, and other fun electronic things to test out!

We also went out to eat at a curry restaurant. It was fun to wear the bibs that they gave us, and it was a good thing too, because slurping up all those noodles sure can make a mess!

Mikasa Park

Right outside of the base there is a park with lots of water fountains! There is one fountain that has speakers around it and at specific times they place music and the fountains are synchronized with the music! it is pretty neat!

Yokohama

When we first got off the train, there was a big mall, and in it we found the looooongest escalator that we have ever seen!

In Yokohama we went to the Mitsubishi Minatomirai Industrial Museum, which was a lot like the Discovery Center, but not a lot of things for kids. They had different exhibits for Space, Sea, Automobiles, Energy, and Ocean. Ben really liked the energy one because they had a model of a nuclear reactor, just like the one on the boats. He tried to explain it to me, and most of it made sense, but if you asked me to tell you about it today, I would have no idea!! Good thing he knows!

We also went to the AnPanMan Children's Museum. AnPanMan is a cartoon character here in Japan that is very popular. We see him all the time on kids' backpacks, clothes, shoes, etc. Lucy has really become a huge fan. We watch him on TV sometimes, even though we have no idea what they are saying! So to say that Lucy enjoyed this place, would be an understatement! She loved it! And when she is happy, EVERYONE is happy!

 Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe

The last thing we did in Yokohama was go to Cosmoworld, where they had a GIANT ferris wheel that we rode in. While we were on it, they had a voice recording of all the things we could see out of the ferris wheel and some history of Yokohama... and lucky for us it was in English!

Inside the Ferris wheel cage