Finally, here are some pictures. We are starting to get over our jet lag an enjoying our time in Misawa and our time with Patrick.

Patrick sleeps quite a bit of the time, but he is fun to hold and watch even when he is sleeping. His usual routine is a diaper change followed by a time of eating. After he eats he will sometimes stay awake for a little while and look around at the world and enjoy the people in his life. He likes to lay on his mother and be close to her. Sometimes he moves his arms and legs even when he is sleeping. Most of the time he eats directly from his mother. Sometimes he gets milk from a bottle. When he gets fed from a bottle, his father or grandparents can feed him. We enjoy doing that. He is an eager eater and takes his bottle easily.

Mike is a very good and very attentive dad. He loves to hold Patrick and help him. Mike is also cooking most of the meals and doing a lot of laundry. Babies need a lot of laundry. In addition to several changes of clothes each day, Patrick needs to have blankets and changing table covers and spit up rags and more and all of those things need to be washed each time they get something on them. Mike has been taking time off of work to care for Patrick and Rachel since Patrick was born, but today he goes back to work. He will miss having so much time with his son, but since grandma and grandpa are here, they can help with the cooking and laundry.

Misawa isn't a very big city, but the houses are all close together and the streets are not very wide, so sometimes it seems like it is a bit crowded. Everything is kept very clean and it is a fun place to walk around the streets and explore. For our first couple of days here, we are staying on the 7th floor of a hotel, so we can see over the tops of most of the buildings out of our window. It has been very warm, with high temperatures in the 80's and 90's and it is very humid. We seem to raise a sweat whenever we go outside. Most of the buildings are air conditioned, so it is very comfortable inside.

Because the air base is located in Misawa, there are a lot of people from America here. Especially close to the base entrance, a lot of the signs are in English with a mixture of Japanese characters in various places. The building across the street from the hotel has a karaoke bar in it and a great big, bright sign with lots of colors. It does not seem to be very busy during the week, but maybe it has more customers on the weekends. Most of the buildings are modern with lots of steel, concrete and glass, but they are a little different from many buildings in the Untied States. Many big buildings in the US have tall first floors, but this is not as common in Japan. The buildings seem to fit in their locations, with no space between them. Even though Misawa isn't a big city, much of the town is built as if it were a big city.

We have a lot more pictures and I may post more of them during our stay. Today we move into a different hotel on the base and perhaps I can post more pictures tomorrow.