A Little Bit of November

Wow! Time is flying by and I have yet to post a single post about November. Tomorrow Shelby and I make our way back to Southern California. We plan on taking the bullet train all the way to Tokyo. It will be about a 7 hour train ride total to get there and then we fly out from Tokyo, straight to LAX. It will be a year and a half since I've set foot in the United States. I never would have dreamed that I would have this amazing opportunity to travel this much outside of the US. Anywho, here are a few things we experienced this month.

We went to Hello Kitty Land about a 3 hour drive North from here. It was a worn down park, but still pretty fun for those HK lovers. We ran a few 5k's on base and had plenty of dinner dates with our good friends here. We also had a wonderful Thanksgiving where we fried up 3 turkeys for about 20 of our closest friends. It was a fantastic holiday. Russell will be home shortly from his 4 month long deployment and we will miss him by about a day or two. Just our luck! Right now, the blog isn't letting me upload photos, so sit tight until I can figure that out.

Russell in Malaysia & Hong Kong!

During the deployment Russell has had the opportunity to see many different countries and places. Two of the last places he has visited were Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia & Hong Kong! Here are a few photos from his trips. Yesterday, while in Hong Kong, Russell celebrated his 30th birthday at Disneyland! He had a ton of fun, but wishes his family was there.

 

He's pointing to the sign that says Japan!

 

The fairy he had to take to get to the ship. It was a very rainy day out! He said that Hong Kong is HUGE and that it makes San Diego look like a little town.

 

In an alley in Hong Kong.

More Hong Kong Skyline!

 

The Mickey in front of the train station is made out of pumpkins!

 

Russell at Hong Kong Disneyland!

 

Holding up the planet!

 

His space mountain photo. He didn't know the person sitting next to him, but she has a funny face!

 

Happy Birthday Russell! Hey at least you got to be with another princess on your birthday, even if it's not the one you are in love with! Just a joke....

 

Pumpkin Carving with my Japanese Student

Today we had my Japanese student over that I tutor in English twice a week. Instead of her lesson, her mother and her joined us for some fun pumpkin carving! They loved getting to experince this American custom and couldn't believe that we put our hands in the squishy guts for fun! They did very well though and carved their pumpkins with terrific faces! While we were carving them, I stuck with the Groves tradition and made fresh pumpkin bread from our "guts" for us to share and for them to take home. I hope they enjoyed it as much as Shelby and I did!

 

Digging in!

 

Ewww!

 

Shion is always making funny faces for the camera!

 

All done!

 

Us with our pumpkins!

 

Happy Halloween!

 

Shion and her mom having fun!

All of our pumpkins! Mine is an anchor and Shelby's is for a friend that passed away this past weekend.

Our pumpkin muffins!

Akizuki Kimono Wearing Trip 2012

Once again this year we got to travel to Akizuki town in Fukuoka preficture (about 2 hours Northeast) from Sasebo to get dressed in a Kimono! Here are a few of the photos from this years trip.

 

 

While we were there there was a Japanese bridal magazine having a photoshoot! This was a very exciting experince!

 

The back of Shelby and I's Kimonos.

 

My friends are so crazy!

 

There was also a Samuri Warrior there!

BHR Supports Breast Cancer Awareness

Russell's ship did a pink T-Shirt sale to fund raise money to help support Breast Cancer Awareness. During the month of October, Sailors are allowed to wear their pink shirts as part of their uniform. This is a HUGE deal as a change in their uniform for any given reason is almost unheard of. I'm so proud of my sailor for showing his support. I'm one proud sailor's wife! Here are a few photos from their deployment in the Philippine Sea.

This is a photo from above the ship taken by a helicopter.

 

 

 

My handsome Corpsman hard at work!

Spider!

The day after my niece Shelby and I decorated our house for Halloween, we found this little guy on our lamp. It was like he knew it was okay to come out and play because it was his time to shine! I love Halloween! He makes the decorations look so much more awesome, she he is here to stay. Although, if he decides to move his web in my pathway, he might not make it until October 31st!

Fukuoka Trip with the Ladies

Today we went on a trip to Fukuoka (about 2 hours north from Sasebo) to go shopping at one of the big malls called Canal City. We went with our 3 friends and their little baby boys. First we took the base bus up to the area and then had to take the Subway to get to the actual mall area. This was Shelby's first time on a Subway! We found Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream and a few other stores. It was a great long day shopping and then we took the train home. It was a great experience traveling with the kiddos and I look forward to our next adventure outing together.


Shelby at the platform, about to get on the subway for the first time!

 

Shelby, Mary Kate and little Damien on the subway going for a ride!!!

 

The whole gang!!!

 

We made it to Cold Stone!!! Yummmy!

 

They had Halloween treats!!! I got the pumpkin ice cream with Oreos and Kit Kats in a purple sprinkled bowl. So fun!

 

Shelby shopping in Gap Japan!

 

After our long day, we sat around on the train platform waiting for our train!

 

Shelby and I on the train! It was her first time riding!

Guam!

Shelby and I, along with a few of our friends, flew to Guam to meet the ship for a port call. It was so amazing getting to see Russell half way through this deployment and to explore a new place. It also just happened to be our 3rd wedding anniversary! Since we have been married, it had just been our luck that Russell was always deployed. We were so lucky that we actually got to give each other a kiss and to actually enjoy each others company on this day. Guam is like a little mini Hawaii, only more laid back and full of life. We stayed at the Hilton for 4 nights and were in love with the pool and bar areas along with the very close beach access.

 

 

A little glimpse of Guam from the plane!

 

 

Shelby got the first hug here! It had been almost a year and half since seeing her uncle and she was beyond excited to see him.

 

Our 3rd anniversary dinner at Roy's

 

The night view of the Timon Bay from our balcony in our hotel room.

 

Russell and I enjoying the infinity pool!

 

The view from our room the next morning.

 

 

Russell and Shelby playing around in the bay in front of our hotel. They had so much fun!!!

 

We lived on tropical drinks in this paradise...

 

I lugged his guitar all the way from home! I got handsomely rewarded with a slue of new songs sung to me. Perfect anniversary gift!

 

The next day we rented a car and went on an adventure around the entire island. Our first stop was a place called Jeff's Pirate Cove. It had a restaurant in it and was on this gorgeous piece of land. They had a picturesque beach with an area to snorkel (Russell and Shelby saw in eel!) and complete with relaxing hammocks.

 

 

 

In front of the restaurant, they had these picture boards... We had lots of fun with them.

 

Almost all of the bus stops around the island have super cool paintings on them. We stopped to take a photo with this one because it had the Guam seal on it.

 

Hiking through the trees to see more pretty beaches!

 

We then made a random turn and found this old fort! Russell was in heaven! I just loved the view.

 

The next stop was little side of the road fruit stand. This guy was so happy to see us and I was in love with the idea of buying fruit from a local off his trees! First he (and I really mean took a big hatchet to it) cut open a coconut for us to drink the milk from and then shared a bunch of fresh starfruit, guava & sweet bananas with us.  

 

I loved every minute of this experience.

 

He then gave us a matured coconut for our trip home. Once we got back to the hotel, I bought a shot of rum and added it to it. So yummy!

 

Oh and I forgot to explain... The day before our trip around the island, we went out and bought super touristy items so we could "fit" in. Like Russell's Hawaiian shirt and our necklaces. They definitely made for great photos!

 

We took a picture of Shelby going down the water slide from our balcony.

 

It was wayyyy too short of a trip, but we were thankful for getting to spend the time that we did together and on such a gorgeous island. Can you see his ship pulling away through the trees?

 

The ship pulling away early in the morning.