Game Day, Fly-In Preparations and a little Christmas Decorating!

Flag football this morning.  Colin's team played at home and of course Ryan's was 30 minutes away at the same time.  We decided to watch Colin's this morning and will catch Ryan's game next Sat when he plays at home.

Some final words from the coach and they're ready.

Nice run!

And the ball was caught for a first down!

I got your flags!!

All sorts of planes flying overhead.

Colin playing center.

Some pretty intense play.  Fun to watch.

Time to get signs up...our fly boys are coming home tomorrow!

The chippy signs...names going on underneath.

Another squadron's signs.

Dave's the Commanding Officer for the Chippy's.  

The guys painted his car in Chippy colors and slogans.

We then brought the crates with the Christmas decorations from the Storage Unit and began to pull some items.  The train got set up too...right now on the train table but will be moved under the Christmas tree when it's up.  

Jill put on the chicken for the enchiladas for the single guys dinners tomorrow...lots going on around here!  We thought this was an excellent Chick filet ad!  There is a story behind the attire.  Once Dave became the Commanding Officer, Jill became a COW (Commanding Officer's Wife) and all the other Squadrons COWs threw her a COW party and she got all sorts of cow accessories...clothes, a teapot, placemats, hats, you name it and she's got it in lovely cow patterns.  Fun and exhausting day.  The jet lag is still catching up at the end of the day!

Happy Birthday Jill!!

Happy Birthday to Jill!  We began the day with Jill's English Class she teaches to four ladies.  It's located in a small craft shop...some beautiful handmade jackets, bags and other clothing and accessory items.  They had homework..."Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"  It was interesting to hear them read their answers and then Jill corrected their written sheets and talked about future tense as she was doing so.  Very fun.  We then stopped at a bargain shop and picked up a few items.  Great bargains!  Then home to Grandpa and the boys.  We finished picking up the few items left from yesterday and returned chairs and some plates and then headed to the xx Park, about 10 minutes from the house.  They had not been here before.  As always, it was a great park!  

Lots of great walking trails.

 This was a small waterwheel.

 The Japanese Maples are turning vivid reds.

 so graceful...

 great light on this grass head...

 beautiful...

 a wonderful variety of ducks in the pond...

 along with huge koi..they were 12-18"

Ryan and 

Colin, our rock hoppers!

Then up the trails by the tree and back across the bridge.

Then a trail that led to a scout camping area.  Jill and the boys had done a joint day event with Japanese cub scouts.  We assumed these were platforms for tents.  The sun was going down so we headed back to the car and home.  Changed clothes and then headed out to Buffetos Italian Restaurant for the birthday dinner.  The chef was Japanese but he had spent time in Italy training in traditional Italian Cooking.  Very Good!  

 The boys had ordered garlic bread.  It was toasted Italian Bread Slices and a large clove of garlic that you just rubbed across the bread...yummy.  The boys were watching the chef cook their dinner and he asked if they would like their garlic heads roasted.  They loved it!

Then a nice surprise...the XO's family had been eating there also and Jen had told them it was Jill's birthday so they presented Jill with this wonderful cheesecake complete with candle!  Nice dinner!

Grandpa and his boys heading home!  Great day!

Thanksgiving Feast

We both got a fair nights sleep, Jean better than John.  We were up fairly early and got unpacked before everyone else got up.  Jill is hosting a Thanksgiving Feast for the Squadron Officer's Wives and their kids.  The guys are still out on the ship.  We got busy making the food she was responsible for....

 Ryan and Colin were each responsible for one Pumpkin Pie!  yummy!!

Jill getting the Turkey pan ready...

sausage waiting for other stuffing ingredients...

 Ryan got dressed to the nines for this event!

Jill invited her Japanese friends Sumiko and Kenji.

They always come bearing gifts!

 Kenji had a great time playing with the kids!

 Megan, one of the wives is a chef so she did the gravy honors

in addition to dozens of rolls and pumpkin cheesecake to die for!

 Meanwhile the kids had a good time making Thanksgiving turkeys.

Drinks are ready....

tables set...

a pot luck of abundant food....

a huge selection...

 great friends....only thing missing was the Dads..but home soon!

After dinner the kids went outside and played flashlight tag while the Mom's just chatted.  It was a wonderfully warm environment.  When it got late the kids came in and watched a couple of Charlie Brown movies while everyone else helped clean up.  John and I headed to bed before everyone left...we had both hit a wall.  These 14 hour time changes take a little time to adjust too!  What a fun day.  Good to see folks we had met on our previous visits and new ones too!  What a wonderful group of military families!  We should all be grateful and proud of the way these families carry on while the carrier groups are out for many months at a time!  They deserve all the thanks and support you can give them!!  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!

Off Again!! Japan here we come!

We spent Mon night at Gretchen's because there was a threat of freezing rain early in the morning when we would be heading to the airport.  As it turned out, it was fine, but great to stay at her place anyway.  Thanks Gretchen!  We got to the airport, checked in and headed to security.  We had a TSAprescreen on our boarding pass and had no idea what that meant, but we liked it!  They sent us to the far lane where we didn't have to take off shoes, empty pockets, take out computers.  We breezed through--it was wonderful!  We'll welcome that on our boarding passes anytime!  

Quick flight to JFK on a little American Eagle - three seats across.  Got into JFK and had a 6+ hour layover and walked past the Admiral's Club sign and John said let's give it a try.  Went upstairs and told them our story and eventually got an invite in.  Thanks American.  Helped make up for our screwy return schedule we got after you canceled the Haneda departure!

It was great not to have to listen to the endless announcements and the seats were a whole lot more comfortable.  Snacks were nice too.

 A couple of hours before we were leaving we headed downstairs and to our date.  The concourse looked quite festive with beautiful decorations.

Love those On Time signs.  The flight was only about 2/3 full so we ended up with a whole 5 seat row to ourselves...really made the trip much more pleasant.  14 hours is a long time!!  We both slept some.  The movies held no interest though the TV documentaries were interesting.  Food also mediocre but we got there on time so all was well.  We arrived at 10:36 pm Wednesday and Jill was waiting for us after we breezed through immigration and customs and we had a short drive back to their house.  We fell into bed not long after we got there.  Good trip though.

Last errands and Becky's for dinner.

Today we did laundry, visited the bookstore, Michaels and a couple of other spots and then just kind of relaxed.  It's been a very busy week and the old folks needed a little down time.  We enjoyed a nice day in the yard and all of us got in some exercise time.

Becky had invited everybody over to their house for fajitas.  She also asked if John would take a Christmas Picture of the boys.  Not sure if any were useable or not, but they sure had a good time!!  Sweet guys!

Lynn made beergaritas - excellent and EASY and John had picked up fajitas from one of the great restaurants so it was easy, fast and very tasty!   I got a tour of their new house from Dylan (the younger) that was quite delightful.  We had a fun dinner while watching football and then headed home before long.  Fun day!

Mission Trail, More Excellent Mexican Food!

Today we did the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park Trail and it was a beautiful day.  We did four of the five.  Will visit the Alamo when we do the Riverwalk on Monday.  This is an overview blog with detailed blogs for each of the missions to follow.  We did these Missions one other time several years ago but it was about 40 degrees with occasional rain and lots of wind so it was a very superficial visit--more to say we had been there and get our Parks Passport Book stamped.  This one was MUCH better...a delightful day for wandering and enjoying the intricacies of these historic Missions!

 Mission Concepcion

Mission San Jose

 Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission Espada

Much more detail and more pictures in the following blogs.

After we wandered the churches and ground of all these we headed for some Mexican food.  Made the 3:00 lunch cut off at a really nice restaurant the overlooks San Antonio.  It was a great day!