We've Arrived!

Sorry for the delay in updating.  Let's just say I wasn't really... in the mood... to post yesterday when we arrived :)   Everything went really well and I have no complaints whatsoever about the flights, etc, but I hit a wall yesterday afternoon and was totally exhausted. However, after a good night's sleep and a nice hot shower, all is well again.

To recap, we toured Seattle on Wednesday before leaving for our flight and got to see the Space Needle, the Waterfront area, the world-famous Pike Place Market, etc.  It was really fun. Seattle seems to be a great city - I'd love to go back and spend a few days there sometime!

Wednesday night we went to SeaTac airport and checked in for our flight to Japan.  Seems there was a typhoon coming off Mainland Japan, though, so they changed our route a bit and ended up flying us into Anchorage, Alaska (now I can say I've been to Alaska!  I was sad I did not get to see Sarah Palin, though. )  and then onto Yokota, Japan (mainland Japan).We had a pretty hard time getting Wyatt off the plane because he fell asleep about 30 minutes before landing... so that was fun when he woke up.   Let's just say that is the biggest tantrum he's ever thrown in public.  Good times!

I got to take the cats out of their carriers for a few minutes in Yokota.  By that time they had been in there for nearly 20 hours, so they needed a stretch.  They flew under our seats so their carriers are SMALL. Then we went on to Okinawa, Japan, the island we'll be living on for the next 3 years or so.  By this point we were pretty much delirious, so I don't actually remember a whole lot about this part except that I was able to get the cats through Quarantine with little effort (I have to take them in on Tuesday to get their paperwork checked, etc., so it's not over with yet) and we eventually managed to get all our bags.

There was quite the welcome crew waiting for us when we arrived!  My friend Jen was there to great us, who was really the only person I was interested in seeing, but Tommy's sponsor from his unit was there as well and showed up with two of the other 2nd Lieutenants that Tommy went to school with in 29 Palms this summer.  I don't remember even really talking to them although I know there was some sort of conversation!

They loaded up the cars and took Tommy to check in to his unit, while Jen took me and the cats to Karing Kennels, where we have to board them until we get housing since there are no pets allowed where we are staying in temporary lodging.  Then we checked into the Westpac, which is like a nice motel on base where we'll be living for about wo weeks until we move into housing.  By this point Wyatt was totally exhausted, so he went to sleep at about 3:30 p.m. Japan time and didn't wake up until 3:30 a.m.!

Tommy and I weren't much further behind Wyatt. I was asleep by 6:30 p.m. but woke up at 2:30 a.m. and have been up since. I think we'll get our sleep schedule straight tonight though and should be all set after that!

Today we spent the day with Jen. She took me to visit the cats, to the commissary for a few food items (although his unit bought us a lot of great food... yummy!), and we ordered in Indian food.  It was great to catch up with her and see her house, meet her neighbors, and see some different types of base housing!

That's it for now.  Will post more later - we have a busy week ahead!