Homecoming!

Chris has been in Iraq since the first of October. The deployment went pretty smoothly, but getting home was the tricky part. Earthquakes, tsunamis, Libya, sand storms, a typhoon, an erupting volcano, mechanical issues (I know it sounds like I'm making stuff up, but it all really happened)... all things that helped turn a 6 month deployment into a 7+ month deployment.   But none of it matters now, because he's home!

Everyone was so excited to be welcoming the first group back from Iraq. We were all waiting in the squadron bar until we got word that we could walk out to the flight line.

Just a few of the wives... 

There were only nine jets coming in this wave, but there were so many people excited to meet them.

So happy to see Alison's husband coming in to land!

Laura took most of these pictures. Her husband arrived 2 days later.

This was Chris's 3-ship, coming up initial. Bohdi, the flight lead, was peeling off to land, and Chris was next. Such an amazing sight when you know your husband is coming back from 7 months away.

Taxiing in... 

Following him to his parking space...

Shaking hands with Col Rothstein (Misawa AB Commander).

Chris and Bodhi (wingman and flight lead) finishing the deployment like it started.  Except for the beer...

CP!

So happy to finally be heading home!

Home sweet home!

Huck almost forgot how to wrestle... he's getting better at it now.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Spring has arrived in Misawa! Well, to be a little more accurate, Spring is trying to arrive in Misawa. We still have some Winter days that are trying to sneak in, but lately Spring has been winning.

Last weekend was the Cherry Blossom Festival in Hirosaki. Hirosaki is about 2 or 3 hours away from Misawa, and I didn't want to drive out there, so I signed up with a few other girls to go on a group trip through ITT. I think Chris prefers to drive places on our own, but I like ITT trips. I like being able to jump on a bus and watch a movie until we get to our destination. I love not having to worry about where to park. I love the fact that I don't have to worry about vague directions that rely on landmarks or funny looking bushes or strange signs or counting stoplights to get me where I need to go. And perhaps most importantly, I love being able to plan a picnic that includes wine drinking without having to designate a driver (have I ever mentioned that the BAC limit in Japan for drunk driving is 0.02? It's 0.08 most places in the States). 

Note: I have no idea why, but none of the pictures are loading correctly today. I've tried everything I can think of (in case you're wondering, that means I tried to load the pictures twice, then gave up). Maybe it's just my computer, but if you also can't see any of the pictures on this blog, check out my Facebook album instead. 

My friends, Alison and Kerry, on the way into the park.

My dear friend Laura... How is it that you can go 7 months with your husband deployed and not know how to open your own bottle of wine with a regular corkscrew? This is unacceptable.

We are some classy ladies.

We took a small break from our picnic to see the sights. It wouldn't have been right to leave Hirosaki without a picture  on the bridge.

Another mandatory Hirosaki picture.

I really enjoyed the festival food. This is a green tea coated banana with sprinkles. Delicious.

This might be steamed rice dumplings with sweet red bean paste on top. Maybe. That was our best guess. Not quite as delicious as the green tea banana.

Why not put an entire quarter of a pineapple on a stick and call it festival food? I can't think of a single good reason!

This little bit of heaven is my new favorite festival food. Take a cob of corn, remove the corn in slices, dip it in tempura batter, and deep fry it to a golden brown... the Japanese are so advanced. I'm telling you, this was paradise.

Also good, but down one place in my rankings after trying the fried corn, purple sweet potato fries, sprinkled with sugar. I may have to go eat dinner before I can finish this blog post. My stomach is growling.

The rest of our picnic we enjoyed from beneath our umbrellas due to the light sprinkling of rain that was threatening to become more serious. Fortunately for us, the rain didn't get more serious, so we were spared from having to set up a shelter using only our tarp, leftover festival food sticks, and ingenuity.

We tried to get a group picture by propping the camera up on a tree root. Maybe the camera tipped, or maybe this was the camera's very intentional portrayal of how tipsy we were. But what a fun day, and what a short bus ride home when you're able to sleep the whole way!