We're home and homebound!

Hey all, sorry again for the delay in posting -- we are now "home" in Japan! And happy to be so. But the bigger news tonight is....

Rick is homebound...right now!!!

As I type this, I wait at 10:45pm for the clock to reach 11:30pm when I'll head to the base to watch Rick land...at midnight! In true military form, they are sending our spouses back to us after nearly 8 months.....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. Which is WILDLY convenient considering we are all currently single parents with no babysitter willing to sit until they clear customs at "o-dark-thirty." No kidding -- we're told they land somewhere around midnight and should be ready to pick-up by 1:45....in the morning. Hannah Jane is coming with me which means tomorrow will be so much fun....I can't wait.

In all seriousness though, I'm grateful to be getting Rick back after not seeing him for eight months, and grateful that we're now rested and pretty healthy, and that our house here in Japan is still here! It turns out Misawa did lose both property and people in the tsunami, but the loss and damage was greatly reduced apparently due to the building (or lack thereof) Misawa did after a giant tsunami decades ago that took most of it's coastal property. Houses (and people) here in town were swept away but we did not have nearly the destruction they had further down the coast...and for that I am extremely grateful. There are still a number of volunteer projects going on to help with the clean-up and I'm looking forward to jumping in. But first, I'm going to go get my husband and just enjoy having him home for awhile.

Rick gets 2 weeks reconstitution leave and then at the end of June we'll go on vacation to Hawaii. Turns out Hawaii's a GREAT place to go just after a tsunami! It did reach the islands though I don't think it was too major, but the scare probably ran people off because we got a really nice place in Maui at a greatly reduced price! So we'll head there for a week with a jaunt to Moloki and then onto the Big Island and finally Oahu (mostly because Rick needs to be in a big city after living in a trailer and tent in the desert). Then at the end of July we're signed up to climb Mt. Fuji -- that is if the travel restriction gets lifted! Right now Rick, the active duty member, can't travel within so many miles of the Fukushima power plant -- which we'd have to do on our way to Tokyo. Stay tuned....

I promise to post some pictures soon to show you, we really are OK...in the meantime, thanks for checking in!
take care, Mary