Leaves, Rockstars & Reunions

Fall was crazy this year; the blur that was October through December felt about a week long. We got a ton of shows from the USO and Armed Forces Entertainment, which meant that my office was shuttling around all of the talent. It started right before Sara and I went to Akita with Trey Songz.

Sara and I had to squat so that we were shorter. Tall girl problems.

The concert was phenomenal, and was a great way to kickoff an eventful couple of months. A lot of people have asked me what he was like, and I can honestly say not only was he amazing, yet very shy, but his crew was dynamite. This was the most difficult show we had because he got stuck in Okinawa an extra day due to a typhoon, so our itinerary was blown to pieces. Our team pulled it off, with only a few hiccups. After we got back from Akita, Daughtry came to Misawa.

Another great show, and another great group to work with. They did a meet & greet for everyone, which is atypical, so around 300 people got to talk with the band. Just like Trey Songz, they were in Misawa for less than 24 hours, so we didn't get to show them a lot of Japan. Halloween was about two weeks after Daughtry, and this year we decided to take our shenanigans to Sendai for the weekend!

Not sure what the guy sitting on our lap was dressed as, but he sure was fun.

Sara and I went as Thing 1 & Thing 2, which is my favorite costume to wear with another Sara(h). When we first left our hotel, we didn't see a lot of people dressed up, since Halloween really isn't a thing in Japan. As we got closer to the bars, we saw a lot of people dressed up, and for some reason, we got stopped every couple of yards to take pictures.

"Picture, picture, picture!"

And right after Halloween, the best part of fall happened. After being deployed for seven months, Mark finally came home! It was exciting, and weird adjusting to sharing the house with someone again.

As soon as Mark got home, we went to the Hirosaki Chrysanthemum Festival, one of our favorite festivals.

So many colors - it doesn't even seem real.

We went the last weekend of the festival, so there weren't very many vendors or crowds. The leaves were still amazing, and Mark had a great time seeing something other than dirt. On the way back to Misawa, I took him to the 100 torii gates in Goshogawara.

Fields on the way to the 100 torii gates.

This was my second visit to the shrine, as I had taken Grant when he visited in May. Most of the leaves had already fallen at the shrine, but it was still cool to see it in a different season.

Mark was home for a few weeks before our next round of shows started. This time we had Five Finger Death Punch.

Five Finger Death Punch was one of our favorite groups. They were so down to earth, and ready to do anything. Luckily, they were in Misawa for a few days, so we got to talk with them about music, Japanese culture, and what it's like living in Misawa. While they were here, they ran drills with the K-9 police on base, wearing the attack suit and everything. The last group we worked with before Mark and I left for Australia was the Harlem Globetrotters.

And for once, Sara and I felt short.

The Globetrotters game was another challenging show, purely because there were so many people. They travel with the opposing team, so we had to wrangle a total of 26 people for a few days. Fortunately, they were all great to work with and had a lot of fun out in public.

Click here to see how many Globetrotters we could fit in a Japanese photo booth.

Once the Globetrotters left, we had a decent break in our entertainment hosting, which was kind of nice since we had been going non-stop for so long. The weekend before we left for Australia, we had our second annual Ugly Sweater Party.

So much delicious mulled wine!

Even the pups got in on our reindeer games.

We basically cleaned up our party, and hopped on the plane for one of my top bucket list destinations - Australia. Australia was the perfect vacation for such a busy fall.

Red, White & Boom: Celebrating Independence in Japan

Fireworks, beer, and grilling - these are the key components to the quintessential 4th of July weekend, and we were determined to celebrate the way we were raised. I suggested camping for the long weekend so I could bring the dogs with me since Mark was deployed. There is a group of lakes on the northwest coast of the island called the Juniko Lakes, which are known for their aqua blue color.

The celebration began with the Color Run 5K. It was a first time event for the base, so we were very eager to participate. This was also my first 5K, which was a big deal for me because I am not a runner. I brought Jackson with me and he had a great time! Many of the runners got a kick out of how colorful he was by the end of the race, and he loved all of the extra attention.

The most stoic Jackson has ever looked

After scrubbing off all of the color, we hit the road for the Juniko Lakes, located in Fukaura, Aomori. We had debated canceling the trip because it was cold and drizzling in Misawa, but as we drove further west, the clouds gave way to blue, sunny skies and temps in the 80s.

The road to the campsite. It is not a one way.

We drove through dense forests before arriving at the main office cabin of Refresh Village. We explained that we were interested in tent camping, since the area offered both cabin and tent camping. After about 15 minutes of a google translated conversation, we were on our way to setting up our site. 

We had the whole area to ourselves.

Since it was already late afternoon, we decided the best course of action was to set up the tents and then start drinking; it was 4th of July after all. Once we had a decent, and safely built, fire started the shenanigans truly began.

It started innocently enough with sparklers.

On the way to Fukaura, we had stopped by a Lawsons for chicken and chu-his and found bags of fireworks for about $10. Our camp was directly under some power lines, so we were a little leery about lighting off some of the bigger fireworks.

We dug deep inside and found the courage to light off the big boys.

After going through almost all of our fireworks, we ended the night with s'mores and hummus. Unfortunately, our sober selves had purchased the food for the weekend so our munchies were limited to carrots, hummus, and disgusting gluten free pretzels. Major party foul on our part. 

Lucy celebrating freedom.

At this point, we were ready for bed, but we hadn't inflated the air mattresses yet. After blowing fuses in both of our cars, we were finally ready to settle in for the night. The tent was supposed to  accommodate two queen mattresses. This was a lie, so we tried to make them fit. I was putting out the campfire, when I heard expletives coming from the tent. In trying to make the mattresses fit, we put a huge hole in the middle of one. Too drunk to care, we said screw it, and passed out on top of the deflated mattress.

One of the lakes along our hike.

The dogs (and birds), woke us up around 6 a.m. so we made some eggs over the campfire and set off to hike around the lakes. The area was heavily forested and not very crowded so the pups could run off leash.

Lucy took off to go swim immediately, and Jackson spent most of the morning making sure the group stayed together.

We spent a few hours hiking and exploring before heading back to the camp for lunch. Since it was sunny and starting to heat up, we decided to spend the afternoon on the beach. This was probably my favorite part of our campsite. It had the woods for hiking and the beach - can't get any better than that!

We drove back to where we thought we saw a good beach, but there was a lot of trash and the water didn't look too friendly. After googling for a bit, we found a swimming beach that was a little to the south of Refresh Village.

Our perfect little beach

The beach was beautiful with crystal blue waters, and the water was actually warm enough that we could swim in it. This beach was on the Sea of Japan, which is typically warmer than the Pacific, which is where Misawa is located.

Jackson hamming it up. He kept using Sara's boobs as a pillow.

When we returned to our campsite, we found that we would be sharing our area with a Japanese man. Kind of a bummer, but luckily for him, the previous night's festivities caused us all to have a calmer second night.

In the morning, we packed up our equipment and prepared to head back to Misawa. On our way out, we made a pit stop at one of the lakes to rent boats. In standard Asia fashion, we were not given any safety equipment or even asked if we knew how to swim.

Our only instruction was to not break the boats. Arigato gozaimasu!

We paddled around the lake for about thirty minutes before deciding we should have one more beach afternoon. Summer in Japan equals the most beach time we can possibly get!

Torii at the beach

The beach we found was further north than the one from the previous day, and was much busier. It was really hard to keep the dogs from running after people, though luckily everyone there seemed to think they were kawaii, or cute in Japanese. 

Japan's beauty is almost overwhelming at times.

At one point, Lucy took off swimming toward a small girl. We tried to stop her, but failed. The little girl was so excited and started playing with her. I'm so happy we didn't have any incidents with the dogs.

The whole weekend was a success. I couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate the United State's independence or a better group of girls to spend it with. Our weekend escapade was the exact recharge I needed.

Little Lucy Loo

On Thursday, we celebrated another first birthday in our house! Happy birthday to our little mini lab, Lucy!

She's a natural swimmer.

Much like when we got Jackson, we had planned on getting another dog, but hadn't anticipated going home with her on Black Friday. I was incredibly hungover, but we went to the pet store anyway because that's just what we do, I guess. And little Lucy was there, looking very meek.

Bat dog!

Since she was almost three months old, the pet store had her on super discount (though still very expensive). As the store owner handed her to us, she said calm repeatedly. And boy was she calm, especially compared to Jackson. We really had no choice but to bring her home, and hope everything would work out.

Lucy pup on the car ride home.

Lucy has grown up to be a wonderful pup. She's very small, weighing in at 48 pounds, but what she doesn't have in size, she makes up for in heart. Lucy will fetch until you get tired; she loves nothing more than working. She also is a champion swimmer, whining and crying any time we drive past a body of water.

When she's not working, she remains calm and quiet, preferring to play with her toys and look out the window.

Lucy with her two besties - Huck & Jackson.

She's much less destructive than her partner in crime, but she's ensured that we will be paying a hefty fine when we move out by digging a perfect square in the middle of the living room carpet. Thankfully, that's about all she's done.

So happy birthday, Lucy Goose! We love you very much and look forward to the years to come.