"Halloweening"

Yes, that's a real word. Trick or treating here is called halloweening, and the base opens up to the public so the local kids can participate in "halloweening". I don't believe it's tradition out in town, but we did see a lot of halloween stuff at the Home store (Home Depot)...

Coop couldn't believe that all he had to do was say "Trick or treat" the

Kamakura/Hachimangu Shrine

This was our first time taking the train and it was sooo easy! We went to Kamakura which was the capitol of Japan in the 12th century. We lost the group during lunch and ended up wandering into a very tiny, very Japanese restaurant with a limited menu. The hostess was very nice and while we somehow managed to order food, I could not tell you what it was! Cooper was very adventurous and sampled a little of everything before settling on the soup, a radish (?) dish and rice. I think we could get used to taking off our shoes and maybe even sitting on pillows, but the smoking allowed inside the restaurant was intense. I guess that's one CA law that I will miss...
After lunch we were able to reunite with one of the small groups and their English-speaking guide. The actual location of the shrine was very busy! There seemed to be quite a few school groups there looking for English speakers to interview. Justin was a popular choice and received paper cranes (origami) for his time!
I've become an expert at "holding it", but my mom and some of the other ladies with us couldn't so they got to experience the joy of a traditional japanese toilet! Haha! My mom'll probably be annoyed that I included that since it's basically just a hole in the ground... :P

Allen 3.0

Our little guy is measuring big so, although the official due date is still 2/2/12, we can reasonably expect a stork visit in January! (=

"He fills my life with good things..." Psalm 103:5

SFO to Narita to Yokosuka!

What could have been a tough trip turned out to be easy schmeazy! I think it has helped that Cooper has flown so much because going thru security and getting on the plane was no big deal for him! He even sat still for take off! The flight was long (10hr 50 Mins), but it really didn't feel too bad. Cooper was well entertained by his new "plane toys" that we picked up, and the movies on his ipad. He was even able to take a 2 hour nap during the flight!

We left our hearts in SF

After leaving San Diego behind, we had just about a week to spend with our families in the Bay Area before our big move. It was the first time that all of the little cousins were together at once so the house was a zoo!! Gina and her lola made the trek up from SoCal to see us off, too. She's used to the Phillips madness so I think a great time was definitely had by all!