Our trip home for the holidays and then off to Japan!!

WHEW!!  So we've been in Japan for about a month now!!  CRAZY I say!!  So I'm gonna back track a little bit and talk about our trip home to Missouri for Christmas and then move right along to the flight here to Japan!

Home for the Holidays......So we departed Parris Island on December 21st to make our way home to Missouri for the holidays before embarking on our journey to Japan.  Let's see....the dog threw up a few times, the kids were asking when are we gonna be there every few hours, and we were pulling a u-haul behind our Suburban!  Justin drove the WHOLE way to Missouri. He really must love put up with me because for one I hate driving and two we were pulling a trailer.  Have you seen me drive??!!  Probably a good idea he drove the whole way.  In Missouri we were able to visit with most of our family.  My mother and father-in-laws house was our first stop.  We were able to spend Christmas with Justin's brother Jake and his family and my sister-in-law Megan and her family.  We were finally able to meet our newest nephew Ryan!!  He is SO adorable and cuddly.  I miss him already.  Then we were off to my mom and dad's house in Linn where we got to see the whole Ruettgers crew, which was nice.  I'm so lucky my mom married into Paul's family.  They are amazing.  I have the best step-dad ever!  We were able to see my sister Rita while we were there as well.  Then we made it to Megan and Brad's house where we got to cuddle with Ryan some more.  A few days later we moved on to my sister Sandra and Trent's house.  I got to see my nephew Dade there.  Boy has he grown.  He is such a happy baby and I love him so much.  We rang in the new year with my sister and bro-in-law in Kansas City!  We had a blast that's for sure. I even got Justin out to dance.  :)  See he does love me.  Here we sold our Suburban to CarMax (they rock by the way).  Then we headed back to the in-laws until our time was up.  Justin's cousin (my friend) Sarah came to visit with her girls and Justin's Aunt Dorothy.  It was so nice to see them and spend time with them before we headed overseas.  We've already talked about meeting up in Hawaii next year!  :)  It feels like we were in Missouri forever but really not long enough.  It was an awesome trip. I have to say Thank you to everyone who let us stay with them while we were there.  I didn't have to cook or clean or do anything.  It was a nice relaxing time for sure and we valued all the family time we were able to spend with everyone.

 


 

 
 

 
 


Our travels out to Japan.....So on January 8th we embarked on our trip out to Japan.  We flew right out of Springfield, MO which was awesome since that is where my in-laws live.  Now we had to take two cars to fit all of us and all of our shit luggage to include the dog as well!  I'm actually surprised we all made it here with everything and everyone.  Our first stop was Seattle, WA where we decided to have a layover that included a whole day so we could sight-see.  So Wednesday we ventured out into Seattle and went out to the Space Needle.  It was very cool to see a historical landmark like that.  The next day we had to be up SUPER early.  And by SUPER early I mean like we left the hotel at 1:30 am.  We wanted to make sure we were at the airport early so we could get the dog settled and all of our stuff loaded.  Again we had to haul all of our stuff from the hotel to the airport.  So I thought the kids would be an issue for us while we were flying...I mean they are kids and it was a long flight but guess what??  They did amazing!  I'm so proud of them.  Of course the kids and even Justin can fall asleep any where but I have a hard time sleeping in a car or plane.  So needless to say when we actually landed in Japan I just wanted to go to sleep.  They make you sit through a little brief and then our sponsor was there to pick us up and help us get to where we needed to go.  That was a FIASCO all in itself so we won't even get into that.  We made it to the hotel and the dog made it to the kennel.  :)  That's all that matters.  So our living arrangements were a two bedroom temporary lodging hotel.  It had a fridge and kitchen area and that was awesome.  We got food and got settled.  We learned the bus system on base very quickly and walked a lot in the COLD.  Have I mentioned I hate being cold?  Moving in the winter is no fun.  haha.  But at least it wasn't hot and humid right?  So timeline- we arrived late on a Friday, had our welcome aboard on Monday, enrolled the boys in school on Thursday, took our SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) drivers test on Friday, bought our Iwakuni van on Saturday, and moved into our house on Tuesday!  Talk about a crazy week and a half.  Needless to say we made it!!!

Time to Travel Maverick

 

  Flying into Japan


Iwakuni Van....Pimpin' it up in Japan

Okay so that was our trip home to visit and our trip out to Japan!  The next blog will have our whole first month in Japan and ouadventures so far!  Thanks for reading.  We love and miss you all.