Sydney's Job as a Model for Combi Mini

Sydney's modeling debut is finally in print! Back in September a modeling agency called and asked her to audition for Combi Mini...it's a clothing company here in Japan. They've gotten calls before, but either didn't get selected, we weren't available, or in Keanna's case, she had lost a tooth (or two, or three, or four). American kids attached to the bases here get called for stuff like this, so it's nothing out of the ordinary to those of us living here. The pictures from the shoot were taken on September 15th of last year. I was allowed to take pictures and video while it was going on, but couldn't post them anywhere until after the catalog came out. My friend, Sarah, was visiting from Hawaii so she came along too! Her husband served on board USS Los Angeles (SSN 688) with Bob.

She got a new hair style with each outfit...so about six or seven. I took some video of the shoot too, and it was so fun! She had her own "pit crew" that made adjustments to her clothes, hair and makeup; they also had staff there to entertain the kids (balloons, stuffed animals, etc) and keep them happy. It was amazing, truly amazing, and everyone was so kind to us! We were fed breakfast and lunch and were there from 8:45 am until about 1 pm.

If you'd like to see her pictures in the online catalog click here. About halfway down you'll see four catalog covers, click the one on the far right, Ribbon Casket (the cover is light yellow). A new window will open up and all you'll need to do is hit the arrow on the right to advance pages.

-Sydney is on the second page (with the map) above "Hollywood" and you can click to zoom in.
-On page 4, "Have a Fantastic Trip" she's on the left, and on the following she's sitting on the airplane.
-Page 7 she's standing in front of the Eiffel Tower holding the lunch box.
-Page 10 her "mom" is giving her bunny ears. This girl was 17 and European...Poland I believe. She was very nice and Sydney loved her.
-Page 11, top of the page, she's the second kid from the left.
-Page 21, picture on the top.
-Page 27, boxing gloves and holding the bus. They were throwing a balloon around for her to punch.

The campaign on the website has some pictures of her too...they can be seen here, and I've included a video I took with my little camera, so if you get this in your email you'll need to click here to see it.

USS Los Angeles Visits Yokosuka

Bob was the Weapons Officer on the USS Los Angeles (SSN 688) from June 2006 to January 2008. He was out to sea almost 10 months during the 2007 calendar year, and when they got back from WestPac (western Pacific deployment) in November 2007 his detailer called (the guy that assigns jobs) and said, "You're being split toured to Yokosuka and will go to this certain job at this certain command on this certain ship." A month later we packed out our house in Hawaii, Bob had to go to some schools in San Diego and shortly after we arrived here and started to get acquainted with the Surface Navy. Wow, completely different!

Anyway, the USS Los Angeles pulled in here last week on a port call, and Bob was disappointed about missing them. He told me a few of the guys would call, and when they did I would need to tell them I've got meat, beer and internet. Sure enough the phone rang, an email showed up and messages on Facebook arrived too. Three of the guys from the wardroom came over and hung out for about five hours. They grilled, I made sides and a salad, they relaxed, slept on the couch, used my computer, watched TV, called home and got a break from the boat for a little while.

When we went on base to pick them up I tried explaining to the girls who they were, how dad worked with them on the submarine and that they have met these guys before. Heck, they remembered the wife of one of them....Sarah, big shout out to you!

Keanna and Sydney loved the extra attention and Bob was able to call and talk to them for a while...he enjoyed it, and I know he really missed being able to see the guys.

Paper Making, Parrots on Our Heads and Waterfalls, Oh My...Again

We took another ITT trip to Nakatomi Washi Paper Village, Otodome Waterfall and Shiraito Waterfall and Kacho-en, the Begonia and Owl Park. We did it back in September and the girls and I had so much fun we decided to go back. This time we had Bob with us and my parents too! I'm not going to get into too much detail here, but will sum up our day.

Pictures from this trip are in my Shutterfly album if you're interested in seeing them. If you want to read more about it you can go to the post I wrote after our first trip.

First was the paper village and making paper to create a lampshade. A picture of our four completed lamps is below. After that we walked across the street to a grocery store, grabbed a snack and waited for our lamp shades to be done while others walked around the grounds and did some shopping. After that we stopped for lunch, and where we stopped had an absultely incredible view of a snow topped Mt. Fuji. Next was the Begonia and Owl Park, and again this was our favorite stop. For ¥100 (about $1) we bought a little cup filled with chopped apple for the birds to eat. As you'll see from the pictures and videos the birds loved it! Sydney had one fly and land on her arm last time, so this time she knew she didn't even want to hold a cup. Both Bob and my father were pooped on too, but Bob on his jacket and my dad on his shirt. The waterfalls was our last stop. The first was Otodome Waterfall. It reminded me of one we saw on Kauai. To get to the second one, Shiraito Waterfall, we had to go down 100 steps. It's an easy walk though and the kids did fine too. I slowed the shutter speed on my camera and got some beautiful pictures of the waterfalls. I was so happy I finally figured out how to do it.

We had a fun day together and my parents were able to bring home a one-of-a-kind souvenir. Below is a picture of the lamps we made; from left to right: Bob's, mine, dad and mom's. Bob's says "3 HOURS" and has a bus on it because that's how long it took to get up there. And another picture of the waterfalls since I'm so happy with how they all came out.

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Company from Connecticut

That's right, Nina and Ron, my parents, flew out from Connecticut to spend 12 days with us. We had a lot of fun with them and hopefully they enjoyed getting a small sample of what our life is like here in Japan.

Here are some pictures, and more can be seen here in my Shutterfly album. They range from a Christmas party on board the USS George Washington to walking around in town and seeing The Great Buddha (Daibatsu) and shopping, to eating out and having fun and laughing.

We went on an ITT trip too, and those pictures will be in my next entry.

The first video is my dad talking about ordering a coffee and the second is one of the highlights of the Christmas party in one of the hangars (of three) on the USS George Washington. As you'll see my father enjoyed the bubble wrap just as much (if not more) than the kids!
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