Road Trip in the Fall

What a fabulous day we had yesterday!! We went for a drive to see the Oriase Gourge and Towada Lake. It was about an hour and a half drive to the sights and we enjoyed the beautiful Japanese scenery on our way. Much more eye-catching than the trip between Dayton and Indy or Columbus! I took several pics from the car...hence the glare from the windsheild!














The Oriase Gourge was very picturesque. We were driving up a winding and narrow road full of Japanese tourists and buses! There are so many beautiful places to stop and take pics but very little stopping/parking on the narrow road. Driving, or should I say dodging cars, buses, people, and bikes, was half the fun! The Japanese also built the road around trees and rocks, so occasionally there was suddenly a random tree in the road one would have to dodge too! Despite the extra challenges, we stopped several times to take pics of waterfalls and the streams.

























Lake Towada was equally as beauiful! It was very windy yesterday so the lake was full of white caps! We were with our pals Kourt and Missy and the 5 of us found a great camping site/park by the lake to have a picnic lunch and hangout for the afternoon. The leaves are starting to chnge colors here but will probably peak in the next week or so. It was a great day overall! Enjoy the pics!

Day At the Beach

We have been enjoying the beautiful fall weather here in Misawa! During the day the temps have been in the high 60's low 70's with nothing but sun. The evenings are comfortably chilly sweater weather. We took advantage of the beautiful weather to head down to the beaches in Hachinohe (a large city 30 minutes south of us)yesterday.

We had a great time with our pals Kourt and Missy. Although the Pacific Ocean water was chilly, Kourt put on his wet suit and braved the initial shock of the water temp to some boogie boarding. The rest of us enjoyed laying out in the warmth of the sun. By the look of these pics, Jacob loved sleeping on the beach and listening to the waves crash (an activity he inherited from his parents). Hope you enjoy our pictures as much as we all enjoyed our day!

I'm 2 Months Old!!!!!!

Hi Everyone! Well, Jacob is officially 2 months old now. What a milestone! He's getting so big. At his 2 month appointment this week he weighed in at scale tipping 11.5 lbs. (Congrats to those who voted correctly!)

Everyday he is more and more alert and interacting with his surroundings. He has remained a very happy and content baby, and he's so close to sleeping through the night, we can taste it.

We thought for Jacob's 2 month blog, we'd tell everyone the full idea behind Mr. Bear! To do this properly, we needed to add my Dad's side of the story. So drum roll please!!! Jacob is blowing kisses to thank Grandpa for his contribution. Please welcome our first guest blogger...........Robert Cook.

Koala and Mr. Bear by Robert Cook

When I was born in Washington, D. C., December 1944, my father was flying B-26s in the Pacific Theatre, World War II.

He had passed through Australia and purchased a Koala teddy bear, which he sent home to me and my mother. At that time, Koala bears were over-running Australia and were hunted to be turned into stuffed bears. They are now protected.

After I was born my mother took a series of pictures of Koala and me in the crib (Left photo-double click for larger view). The series of photos were mailed to my father to show him how much I was growing each month and what a good job Koala was doing as a young teddy bear.

Mr. Bear is a continuation of that family tradition. Koala, who is in remarkably good health for an old bear, spent several months with Mr. Bear mentoring him in the skills of a good teddy bear. When Koala thought Mr. Bear was ready, he assisted us in packing up Mr. Bear for his long flight to Misawa AB and Jacob.

Since then, Koala has been receiving regular reports from Susan and Jason concerning Mr. Bear’s progress. Koala has been very pleased with the reports.


Thanks Daddy!! As you can see from the sequential photos, Jacob has drastically changed from 2 to 4 to 8 weeks old.

Misawa is treating us well and we are very comfortable calling it home. We are, however, looking forward to our visit back to the States for Jason's conference in Louisville at the end of October. Enjoy Jacob's new pictures. Take care and see you all soon. J, S, + J

Jacob's Nursery!

We have been getting lots of requests asking to see Jacob's nursery. As we have been getting unpacked and everything organized, we have finished his room for now. We are still waiting on a dresser we ordered so we can put that on the empty wall and hang a darling airplane quilt that we received as a gift on the wall over the dresser. In our last shipment, we finally got some of the details we were waiting for to put in the nursery.

Jacob's bookshelf is now full of all his books, decorations, nick-nacks and sentimental tokens we have received or bought for him. He even has his first set of golf clubs from his Grandpa Massengill. All of the blankets that so many wonderful people have made him all have their own special basket as do all the toys and stuffed animals. Mr. Bear now has his own special chair to sit next to Jacob's crib while he sleeps. Mr. Bear was a gift from Susan's parents. He is the second generation of stuffed animals to be used as the control subject in monthly pictures next to Jacob to gauge how much he is growing for all to track back home. We hung the chandelier that Suzy bought from Arhaus before we left that even Jason now admits, looks perfect in the corner. Above his crib hangs the special map of the world we received from the Barnett's. The mobile over the crib is full of lovely pictures of Jacob's extended family who can't be here to watch him sleep. The needle point "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" prayer which hung in Jason's room as a boy is now in Jacob's room along with the parrot and "I LOVE YOU" blocks that once hung in Suzy's baby room. Jacob has a great view of the Base with the Flight Line in clear view so when he gets older....he will have a fabulous time watching the F-16's take off. The curtains bordering the window came from a Japanese version of Home Depo and they are beige and blue with teddy bears. Enjoy the pics!

Opening Kickoff!!!

Colts 41 Saints 10

Big day here in the Massengill Home!! NFL Kickoff with the Colts (Jason's fave team and 2007 Superbowl Champs) vs the Saints. Today Jason was post call and he was pretty stoked to be able to watch the Thursday Night Football game (Friday morning here).

Jason has been waiting to watch football with Jacob since we found out we were pregnant! We had ordered Colts onesies for Jacob to wear for this opening game, but they have not shipped yet so we had to improvise to ensure Jacob was dressed for the game. Last year, my mom had made several scrub caps for Jason to wear during surgery. One of them was a Colts theme. Jason ran to the hospital this morning to get the scrub cap and as you can see....Jason custom-fit the cap to fit Jacob. Jason taught Jacob to cheer for the Colts, raise his hands to signal "Touchdown" and the general rules of the game.

Needless to say, all is well here in the Massengill home (execpt fot the minor typhoon blowing outside!) with a Colts win and a Father/Son bonding day. We even capped it off with Jason giving Jacob his first bottle (with milk I pumped). Guess what that means??? Jason can take a night feeding here and there!!!

Jason has some leave to burn, so we have 10 days together to hang out, unpack, get settled, and take more pictures. Stay tuned. Talk to you all later!

Moving Day

Well, it only took 2 months from the time our things were packed in Ohio to the time it got to us in Japan. Last Tuesday we finally received our belongings. And boy were we ready for them! It was so nice to sit on our own couch and sleep in our own bed. It was funny to think that the last time we saw our furniture, Jacob was still in Suzy's belly!! We were very fortunate to have another beautiful Air Force move. Our things made it to the other side of the world without a scratch. The only casualties were a broken Margarita glass and a broken Halloween trick-or-treat bowl. Not bad! The only real headache was the fact that there was a miscommunication regarding the furniture we had loaned. We thought they were coming on the same day to pick the loaner furniture as we received our shipment, HOWEVER, that was not the case. The lonaner furniture couldn't be picked up until 2 days later. SO, we were literally tripping and climbing over furniture. We had to start unpacking boxes just to create space enough to move around. HA! We went from no furniture, to too much!




As you can see, Jacob was a big help. He was truly the man behind the operation. He told the Japanese movers where to put all the boxes. It was hysterical to see 10 Japanese men ogle over Baby Jacob. He is such a ham! They couldn't get enough of him.

Needless to say, we've been unpacking this week. We have all the boxes unpacked. Now, it's just a matter of organizing everything and putting it all away. It certainly does feel more like home with our things here. We're hoping to get some more painting done next week while Jason's on vacation. We'll try to get some pics out of our finished rooms as we get them done.

Summer (Mikoshi) Festival

Festivals are a very big part of life and entertainment here in Japan. Almost every weekend, even during the winter, there is a festival somewhere in this region. Two weekends ago the three of us went to a Summer Mikoshi Festival here in the city of Misawa. The festival was all weekend long and had several diffrent types of parades, dancers, and vendors. The weekend ended with a firework display on the Pacific Ocean beach. They encouraged American military to carry floats, sing and dance as well.

We went to the "Portable Shrine Parade" Saturday night of the festival. It was a very diffrent parade than anything we've ever seen in the States. The participants in the Parade carried shrines that all symbolized something and chanted a diffrent phrase for each Shrine. (No, we're not sure what that symbolism was). Most of the participants were Japanese men...and they were all very, very drunk (which is socially acceptable during festivals). Behind each group was a truck that carried more than enough beer for them to consume. We compared it to a 4th of July Parade where the people on the floats are throwing candy. Then repace the candy with beer and that was atmosphere of the parade. Japanese drunks are very diffrent that American drunks. They were pouring beer on each other and chugging a beer each time they stopped. However, for as drunk as most the men were, they were not out of control and did not spill into the crowd. In fact, this was still a very family orientated even. Jason and I were sitting on the street curb watching the parade surrounded by Japaese families, most with younger children who came to watch the parade. The parade participants interacted with the spectators and gave Jason a beer if his was empty. This is a testament to their culture where they go about their business politely(drunk or not) without disturbing or bothering their surroundings.

Jacob was a champ as usual. He slept through all of the parade, even with the loud music and drums. Of course, the minute we were home and opened a soda can....boy, that woke him up! I have to admit, we felt very comfortable and at ease at the parade. There Jason and I were, sitiing on the curb, watching the parade with Japanese families, eating Japanese festival food (we had shish kabobs {they love their meat on sticks} and yakisoba {Japanese noodles}) with our chopsticks and Jason drinking three different types of Japanese beer that he was donated. We felt like we had successfully merged into the culture. Enjoy the pics!