Rodney's home from Thailand!

Rodney made it home safely from his 3-week "vacation" in balmy Thailand. Here are some of the pictures he took:

Flying first class 'cuz he's a "master."

Thailand from the non-air conditioned bus window

His room... and foot.

Inside a bus

Outside a bus

Food

Rodney eating food

Beer

Marines and Thai air traffic controllers drinking beer

Rodney drinking beer with Thai air traffic controllers

A mall

Rodney

Fish that is food

Rodney's barracks shower

Rodney's barracks toilet

More beer

Might as well throw in some work... ;)

There was (supposedly) a lingerie show in the middle of the mall one day.

Rodney went to the zoo. A Thai elephant.

Goats...?

Hippo

Giraffe

More mall

Tongue portraits

Dessert... mango ice cream

Bus ride on the way home

When he got home, we got gifts:

And Xan made him this:

Will is interviewed (again), while Peg and Jill star...

Will was interviewed by AFN again... this time about the cultrual trip we took to Hiroshima Castle in January. Peggy and Jill, as well as Xan and I, got the added bonus of starring in the video... see if you can spot us: http://www.dvidshub.net/video/280244/inside-iwakuni-news-strike-jan-28#.USbsC6WTwTY

Odds and ends from the week...

Rodney is still training in Thailand this week, so it has been just the kids and me. Saturday we went to Hiroshima, so be sure to check out my public blog for those photos. Here are some of the other things we have been up to:

I took a origami and calligraphy class Thursday,/ This is the origami doll I made, as well as my name in  hiragana.

A new nail tech has moved to Iwakuni and works out of her home. Hopefully these nails will last longer than those I was getting at the base salon. And, instead of it taking 2 hours, it took just over one.

The kids still love Japanese video games, although many of them are getting too short for Will.

Not sure if you can't tell , but Xan got hit near his eye... again. This is probably the 8th time this has happened. 

Monday was rainy, so to keep from killing each other inside the apartment, we headed off to the thrift store. We got all of this for $12.60.

And last, but not least, Rodney's promotion made it in to the Iwakuni base newspaper.

From 6 to 3 in the house...

Monday morning Rodney headed off to a multi-country training in Thailand. He says it's hot. So, I guess he's enjoying another tropical vacation. Just kidding...

Tuesday morning I dropped Peggy and Jill off at the Iwakuni airport a mere 5 minutes after we left the mid-rise. It is THAT close. The two weeks they were here went by incredibly fast, but we managed to pack in a lot of stuff, as you can see by the blog and Facebook posts. Here are a few photos that I hadn't had a chance to post yet.

Aunt Jill helped Xan make a Valentine Box for his class party next week. It was quite the masterpiece!

Saturday was a day out on the town... of Yanai, which is where Mister Max is, a Japanese equivalent to Wal-mart. Inside is a McDonalds, which is where we ate lunch. Everyone agreed that it tasted the same, but that the portions, especially the drinks, were smaller. In America the largest McNugget order you can get is 20 pieces. In Japan it is 15.

Because everything is bigger in America... especially Texas.

Checking out the Japanese refrigerators, which are tall and skinny.

Saturday night was meat-on-a-stick restaurant night. It is actually called Hakkenden,but Americans call it "The meat-on-a-stick place." Peggy is eating the teriyaki chicken.

Jill tried quail egg.

 After dinner we headed to Primavera for their pretty desserts and cute coffee. Rodney and the boys didn't really appreciate it, but I made them go since they had never been.

Rodney's cake 

My cake

Jill's cake

Xan and his ice cream

Peg's hot chocolate

Jill's designer espresso

 While Will earned awards for his straight A's and Rodney earned a promotion, Xan earned Student of the Month for Respect and got a pizza lunch. Luck would have it that Grandma Peggy and Aunt Jill were still in town to share the occasion (but not the pizza!) with him.