So much for radiation exposure

Not to say that we want to go to a Ball at the Nuc. plant, but I am now not as concerned about the exposure.  My lovely little girl whom I am trying to protect from a higher likelihood of cancer in future years just received a head CT.

Zap.

We made brownies late last night and, in order to prevent burns from the big bad oven, I put Ioanna in a high chair with arms and pulled it up to the counter so she could not fall forward.  Instead she stood up and just fell off.  Flat on her face with a nice big bump on the temple.  She took the longest breath I have ever seen (I may have too), cried a second then snored (really) and passed out on my shoulder for a couple seconds.  Then she woke and screamed some more.  Jon got home just then (thank goodness) and decided to offer her a cookie to see if she would vomit (sigh).  Instead she watched the many pretty daddys circling around her, at least she really did not realize what the cookie was, or could not pick which one to grab at.  So off to the ER we went.

The nice thing about an ER visit during an evacuation departure...no wait!  There was one unlucky little girl there with a badly broken finger and us.  Io was very quiet for a while and then became quite giddy (at 10pm when she is usually quite grumpy if she is not in bed).  With the passing out, the giddiness, the height of fall and the bruise location, the doctor recommended a CT scan to check for bleeds.  Since the alternative was waiting for her to pass out and hence suffering further possible brain injury (with the hope she would not) I decided to go with the CT.

Zap.

So my kids are playing outside this afternoon.  (Actually the radiation levels have gone down and the base nuc. guys said it was safe enough.).  If she does get cancer later in life I can now blame it on bad parenting instead of natural and unnatural disasters.  At least I was able to put her to sleep for the scan so she was not sedated.  Yeah me!

Otherwise here is the current update.  DOD families are now cleared to leave, our paperwork is in and we are now waiting on orders which should come soon, today even.  We will see.  We are now likely to fly into New Jersey, but with no tickets I still cannot say for certain.  Jon is essential personnel and will be staying in Yokosuka.  Amusingly he was in charge of picking a team to go south to Sasebo and fix the ship we moved down there.  The selected Japanese gentlemen were happy until they found out Jon was not going down to be in charge.  Nice to know they like him. :-)  The ships are now gone so he is working normal-ish hours again, mostly doing paperwork.  The kids are actually seeing him before we go, which is very nice. 

Alexandra started back at school on Tuesday.  One classroom of first-graders of about twenty kids.  No homework and no 'teaching' just lots of playing, which she needed.  Many of the teachers have evacuated.  A's teacher did, but she is early on in a pregnancy, so she rightfully went soon after the radiation was detected.  Other teachers just left, which they are not suppose to do.  The teachers are essential personal, just like Jon.  They are not suppose to leave until the base is evacuated (or at least all the dependents are).  Right now we are have a voluntary departure and the teachers are suppose to be here to teach the children still here.

The main reason The Man okay-ed the departure was to clear out young (under age 2) children and expectant mothers.  (Also so shrill housewives would not be distracting their husbands with phone calls during the emergency.) It was not due to danger to adults.  There is still a commitment to the remaining students.  But some teachers have remained parents have been asked to step in and together they will keep the remaining students a-learnin'.

As for Alexandra, I was thinking of enrolling her in a school while we are gone, but since I don't know how long that will be and since we wish to do some traveling while we are stateside she is being homeschooled for the next month.  Thor graduated from preschool and is suppose to start Kindergarten on April 8th; they said they will hold his spot for our return.   (At least I think that is what they said, my translator left the day before.)
He has a orange hat now and is very proud of it, it is much better than the yellow hat.

We are packed and ready to go.  I even repacked everything.  I may repack the carry-ons again just because it is that fun.  All the chairs are lying on the floor so dizzy little girls do not fall from them.  Instead she can just trip over them like her mama.  I am trying to empty our fridge just enough to leave Jon with a usable amount of food but I have pretty much run out of meal ideas plus I have a hankerin' for some sushi so we may go out tonight.  The kids will probably get fried chicken, you know because that is what you go to the sushi joint for (actually they have killer fried chicken and french fries!)...  or maybe we will try a ramen joint...  or maybe both, the portion sizes are small here!

You may have noticed I spoke fairly little about the ship deployment and such...sorry I have bunches to say about that, but loose lips sink ships and whatnot.  Just ignore whatever sensationalist crap CNN has to say and you should have a basic idea of what is going on around here. 


Oh and for those of you wondering, the brownies are quite tasty.  Due to maternal guilt Ioanna has had some  and loves them!  Also, I have not yet found out why the Japanese man was in my friends apartment.


We'll be seeing some of you soon and sorry to miss the rest of you!

At least the Plum Blossoms were pretty

So Everyone hears about the cherry blossoms blooming in Japan.  Beautiful, relaxing, peaceful, blah blah blah.
  What they don't mention are the Plum Blossoms.  They are so pretty and everywhere and very unique looking and have their own festival.  Best of all I actually get to see them!   I have waited so long to go to DC and see the cherry blossoms and then made it to Japan first and now it seems I will not be seeing them still.  Next year I will see them.  Oh yes, I Will See Them.

The news as of now is that "voluntary  departure" has been authorized.  That means that the Navy will be evacuating departing non-essential civilians.  First go the military families then the DOD Families.  I am not sure how long it will take to get anywhere, one to five days?  I am also not sure where they are sending us to, but it is a 30 day min. evacuation departure.   I was thinking of enrolling Alexandra in a first grade somewhere, but now I think I may just homeschool her for a month or two.  That way we can take advantage of the unscheduled time stateside to visit both sides of the family.

Have I mentioned that the navy can run a war but not an evacuation.  Maybe that is a good sign, maybe it means we don't retreat much.  Either way I am disappointed and my confidence shaken.  Not that I ever counted on The Man to fully protect us, but it would be nice if The Man could make up His mind and #### or get off the pot.  (Sorry for the #### just a bit frustrated).  I understand that the sailors and the ships and then the relief mission are top priority.  That is as it should be, but a nice little "we assessed the situation and you are currently safe.  We will start our relief mission and then work on the base issues" would have been nice and gone a long way towards keeping the shrieking housewives happy.  What do you expect the wives to do when there is no information except what is seen on the news (when we can understand it) and there are young children at home and husbands leaving with very limited warning.  The Navy wives are used to that last part, but usually the threat to the family is not there...except ya know the typhoon in October and that whole N. vs S. Korea stand off...but still.

So we hang out inside, bags packed and waiting.  I just saw on Facebook that they are changing bag limits to 50 lbs for an adult and 30lbs for kids, but only if you are going to a specific airport.  So I would like to know...do you really expect me to repack and remove things and just how am I suppose to know what airport you are sending me too if you don't tell me squat???

Jon we be in Japan at least through Monday and then he does not know what to expect: perhaps a trip to south Japan, perhaps stay here and catch up on paperwork, perhaps a jump across the drink to the west coast. He is super-important so he gets to stay and be irradiated for a bit longer at least.  Lucky boy!  I'm glad we have skype though.  You old people had it hard with the letter writing and phone numbers with city names in them, good songs though...no offense of course:-) really!)  Man, now Pennsylvania 6-5000 is in my head...punishment for the above I suppose.  Sorry.  We are lucky to have all this technology (hmm but that does include nuc. plants a whole different blog)

Me, 2 Kids, 1 Baby, stroller, carseat, 3 checked bags, 5 carry-ons....Its an Adventure.  Perhaps we will see Korea or Germany or Washington State who knows a hanger in Bahrain?  Well, that may be unlikely.  What other disasters are waiting for us...I don't know if I can stand the excitement.  I 'm gonna go knock on some wood now.

tootles