Illegal Times in Okinawa...

Because of our late arrival back to Westpac, following the latest failed attempt to get to Guam, we made the decision to stick it out a few more days to try and have some fun in Japan. So, I was somewhat surprised that everyone (with the exception of Amanda & I) went to the 0600 showtime for the flight back to Osan. Danicka called my room to let me know that she was the only one who didn't get on the plane & that the security forces guys wanted us to come in. NOW. Sure enough, I had a note by my door asking me to call them ASAP. Amanda went ahead and contacted them and was told we needed to come in to head to the dreaded DOJ.

We got organized and called the taxi. Again, we all squeezed into one car & headed to Kadena. So what do you think happened when we arrived at the gate? They wouldn't let us on...something about an unsafe environment for the kids. Argh. So we had the taxi circle around to the Visitor Center and let us off--with our kids, luggage & absolutely no strollers! We were still at least a mile from the terminal; so what did we do? We crossed over onto base & got in a different taxi. That is how ridiculous the whole thing was. Really, could we argue with the guy? It was an unsafe situation, but did he really think we were enjoying it? We had TRIED to get the heck out of there for days & it just wasn't happening. We finally show up at the terminal and Amanda & Danicka head to the DOJ while I stay with the kids...then, we swapped. They had us go in shifts so at least one mom could stay at the terminal because of the car seat situation. Poor Danicka had to wait for us that whole morning.

All the kiddos on my watch...

Abby & Beks hanging out in the playroom at the terminal

I was chatting with the security forces guy who was taking me over to immigrations, and found out that we are supposed to go to the DOJ if we are in country longer than 4 hours. Hmmm. I really wasn't looking for an international incident. They were really trying to help us by not taking 18 people over to immigrations and then on to customs. There was no good way to move that many people at once. Anywho, we got our official stamp taken care of...felt so good to be legal! Ha. Now I can prove I have been to Japan. I'm so cool.

Another day spent hanging out at the pax terminal...it was delightful. No flights that day, so we couldn't even kill 2 birds. We headed back to the hotel & what did we do? Oh yes, we had Macaroni Grill while Danicka made her first trip to the ER with Courtney. A baby with pink eye. Have I said yet that this trip wasn't exactly what we had planned? Oh, and Abby had the same exact symptoms as Courtney. Nice.

That's it. Kind of an icky way to spend another day. It was all erased by the delightful calamari, Ceasar salad, & Mushroom Ravioli Amanda and I shared while watching our children color on the table at Macaroni Grill...

Until next time,