Ben's Tokyo Trip Part 2, Yakota Air Base

Yakota Air Base is a busy place. There are flights of V-22 Ospreys, C-130 Hercules, C-17 Globemasters, C-5 Galaxys, UH-1 "Huey's" and various transient military aircraft, helicopters, charter airlines, and of course the Cessna T-41 Mescalero (172 H's and 172 M's) we are working on operating from the base. While we work, there is constant activity at the airfield. Before and during WWII it was a Japanese Base that was used for aircraft testing and due to several circumstances was spared being bombed into oblivion. It is again now owned by the Japanese Defensive Force, but operated as a US Air Force base. You can read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokota_Air_Base
 It is not uncommon to have C-130's dropping para-troopers and cargo in front of our hangar while we work

Or C-5's loaded with people, troops, and cargo coming in and out. They are so massive the ground shakes as the take off and land. Our hangar is near the explosives/dangerous cargo and ordinance depot area. Here is a C-5 that was just loaded near us then taxiing and taking off:

Here is where we are working and the Cessnas we are installing the avionics in

Ben's Toyko Trip Part 1

Rebecca had the great idea of putting this all on the family blog so it would be easier to share what is happening with with me while I work (and play) in Japan the Land of the Rising Sun. This is from my bedroom window:

Here is me minutes after arrival in Tokyo's Narita Airport. My butt hurts from sitting for eleven hours and I am punch drunk from not sleeping for 24 hours. *Click on photos to enlarge them*

As of 30 Oct I have been here for 6 days with 2 other guys from our shop. We are working on 4 USAF aircraft in which we are installing electronics. If you want your eyes to potentially glaze over, I can elaborate on the details some other time. But my guess is you'd rather see photos of what we have seen and done. Below are shots to prove that we are actually working and not secretly on vacation:

We are living in temporary housing on Yakota Air Base in Fussa, a far Western suburb of Tokyo. It is a large Air Force base! We have a 5 minute walk to our hangar and we get to look at Mt Fuji all day, if the clouds don't cover it.

On our first full day there we were jet lagged and trying not to sleep all day so we rented some bikes on the base and rode around the town. It was tricky because they drive (and bike) on the left hand side of the road here are some sights (sounds in a later post) of Japan:

I want to dedicate a whole post to Japan's awesome vehicles but here are a few of my favorites that we saw on the first day:

Well, most of you are probably waking up as i write this, so "Ohio" (Morning hello in Japanese) I will post more tomorrow, I am getting ready for bed. Arigato, Ben

June 2012 and now

I was looking back at this old blog of ours and noticed there were a few gaps in my journalling (to say the least). So, as I'm able, I plan to post my favorite pictures from those months that I missed, until I catch up.  We so enjoyed looking through the archives of this blog yesterday.  My kids loved seeing themselves when they were babies, especially the videos.  I hope I'm at a place in life now, that I can resume documenting some of our journey together.  In the process, I will update you on what life is like now for us.   

Phoebe couldn't go so sleep without grabbing my nose.

Love the rolls, on those thighs!  They're long gone now!

 What a silly watermelon girl! Where did we get her? Oh yes, Akron!

Not to be left out, it's the fearless, the amazing watermelon boy!  

That was then, and...

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....this is now!

This past month (February 2014), we visited the children's museum in Mansfield and had a blast sharing it with my mom, during her two week visit.  We are glad you chose to fly with Air Phoebe, if you would please stay in your seats and fasten your seat belt...

 We also spent lots of time in the snow in February, and January, and December, if I recall correctly.  It's been a long, cold Winter, we have definitely made the most of it, though. Ben took the kids sledding again today, and I love that they are becoming resilient, maybe not like in Norway or Iceland, but they're adapting to the weather well and anything above 30 degrees actually feels warm these days!  

 We're busy with homeschooling, drama, piano, weekly homeschool meetings for Classical Conversations and another group I organize that expounds on what we learn there.  Ezra has his first piano performance at a music club this week, he'll be wearing his bow tie and best duds for the occasion. 

I'm reminded, as I write this, how much I miss blogging...{sigh}