The NWA/Delta Family Day and the yakitori restaurant we went to afterwards! : )

Sorry you guys still trying to get caught up with blogging. : ) Anyway last Sunday, August 30th. We went to "family day" at NWA/Delta. This was for employees and their families. We all met up in the terminal, told them our names and they checked it with the list and then when all of us were there, we all got on 3 buses and went inside the ramp type area, where the airplanes are basically. : )

We saw a NWA airplane land and everyone cheered inside the bus. It was sorta funny.

It was a little different being on this side of the airplanes. Usually I am in the terminal or at the gate looking at the planes from the inside of the airport, looking out the windows and here I was looking from this way. Sorta interesting. : )

There was a section they had gated off for us. They were expecting us all Summer for this family day thing. : )

See the green fence all around the airplane? Since the ramp and or tarmac type areas are restricted, and since this is a major international airport for us to even be on here, they had to deal with customs etc etc. So, we were allowed only behind that green fence. Our little sectioned off area was pretty good though. : )

You can see the other 2 buses in front of us. There were about 110 of us total I think. So not too many people got to come. And only spouses and children allowed.

With it being an American airline. There are, American employees working at Delta/NWA. They're all living in Japan as well.

What big tires. : )

Hmm, what was all that stuff inside? You got me! : ) I haven't a clue. : )

Branden smiling, meanwhile Noah looking at someone else. Sometimes trying to take a pic with both looking at the camera can be a challenge. : )

Aha, so this is where all our luggage goes?! Interesting. I always wondered what it looked like inside there. : )

With the merger between NWA and Delta. It might have be finalized on paper late last year. But, it takes a whole lot longer to actually make the switch. These airplanes, are all taking turns to get painted and switch to saying Delta on them. About half the Narita NWA/Delta planes are now painted, yet half still say NWA. It just takes time to get them all painted because the airplanes must fly daily to get the revenue. So, yeah it's still gonna take some time. Flight attendant uniforms have been switched. The flight attendants for what it's worth, do love the new uniforms by the way, I talked to a few of the ladies myself about it, ha ha ha and they dig them. : ) Headphones in the airplane used to say NWA, now they're just plain. So it's a slow slow process, certainly not going to happen over night. And on that little blurb thing on my blog it still says "hubby works for NWA" eventually yes, after the planes all get painted and things look near complete, then I'll go and switch it and change it to "hubby works for Delta", I do know it still says NWA. Ha ha ha. : ) What changes do we personally have? Well, the flight benefits are still the same. We still get to fly unlimited, meaning as many flights we want. And no not all airlines have that. JAL for example does not have unlimited flight travel (one of my husbands dear friends works for JAL). That is probably not well known but it's true, not all airlines have the same benefits. They (JAL) work on a point system and I think they get like 6 flights a year total per family, which isn't much if you think about it. Something like that, don't quote me the actual # of trips but it was a low number and I was sorta shocked to find out their travel benefits were not unlimited like ours are. : ( But my husband's friend's wife still works for NWA so he uses the wife's NWA benefits since it's an easier system. Lots of airlines have limited pass travel, isn't that interesting. Likewise lots also have unlimited as well. It really just depends on the airline. Lucky for us, NWA and Delta both have unlimited. And for what it's worth, interesting little tidbit here... little unknown fact maybe : )..... Since NWA and Delta is a "Skyteam member" we can also fly with other skyteam airline for the smallest smallest fee. Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern Airlines, Continental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta, KLM, NWA, Korean Air, Air Europa,Copa Airlines, Kenya Airways, and we also can fly other airlines too, but just pay a small fee. Hubby flew Alaska airlines from Oregon or Washington once to fly to Denver and it cost him something like $11 bucks or so, I forget the actual price because it happened a few years ago but it was really low cost for him to fly Alaska Airlines, I remember. And the rest of the airlines, we are lucky enough to use a ZED fare since NWA/Delta is a ZED member and while not all airlines are part of the ZED ageement, many many airlines are ZED members the list is huge, and so many airlines are fellow ZED members just for example some of our ZED sister airlines are, like Air Canada, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways our fees or cost to fly these other airlines is quite small. Here's all the many many carriers we all share ZED with. So in a nut shell, our base airline, Delta/NWA we fly for free. And all other airlines that are our skyteam members or parts of ZED, we pay a really really small fee. The only only thing that changed for us personally..... Is that for NWA... employee's kids couldn't fly first class until they were 9 or 12 years old. Meaning nonrev kids. But at Delta, employees kids can fly first class from age 6 (meaning non rev kids). So, as soon as Noah hits age 6, we will be using first class for the rest of our lives for free. So that's the only change and it's a positive change at that. We have just 2 more years in coach, ha ha ha. : ) Anyway I am usually really tight lipped and quiet about the actual flight benefits we do have, but I figure people are probably sorta curious so I will share it here just this once. : ) And an other little interesting tidbit, yes, even when a person retires from NWA/Delta, say they got too old etc, their flight benefits are for life. When Noah hits 6, is when we would like to start travelling to Europe. Also there are no papers to fill out etc to travel, again a few other airlines, they need to submit in writing the trip they'd like to take and be approved which can take a while for the paperwork to go through, but at NWA and Delta..... Our pass travel is all electronic. We are in the system already, there's a private employee only website we log onto, I check the flight see how many seats available for whatever flight I wanna take from my home computer and if the flight looks good/open, we list ourselves up, easy peasy. Nothing needing to be approved or anything. So our airline has a really easy to use system. Anyway just thought this might be sorta interesting for some of you to read, that's all. : )

The boys got to sit on the edge of this engine. All the kids and families got a turn to take a pic like this. And the airplane was off and cold engines, ha ha ha obviously. : )

Do you ever wonder when the flight attendants go to sleep during the middle of an international flight, where they go and what do their sleeping arrangements look like? I'll show ya, if you like! : ) Me and my polka dotted ballet shoe going down the stairs. This is where they sleep.

These are the crew bunks. They are twin size bed type size. They are bunk beds if you can tell in the picture. Each bunk has a blankie and a pillow and drapes they can draw close when they are sleeping. There are about 6 of these down there. The pilots have their own sleeping area near the cock pit which I'll show you later down below somewhere. : ) But the pilots can snooze both places. But mostly the attendants just sleep down there.

Noah sitting on a crew bunk. : ) You know about 2 hours after we had family day...this airplane actually flew to the states. : )

On family day, we all were given lunch. Here's the boys eating their box lunch we were given. : )

3 different types of sandwich and chips, a Snickers bar and a Sprite. The sandwich in the middle was a roasted turkey sandwich. We all really enjoyed out lunches a lot.

They even brought this cargo plane next to us and they started up the engines. So loud!!!! Good thing they gave us all ear plugs beforehand.

It was raining off and on, Sunday August 30th during this family day thing. Good thing I brought their rain coats. They needed them. : )

Here's the pilots private room. His chair turns into a bed. This is right next to the cock pit.

You can see big fluffy blanket and pillow. There is also a meal tray and stuff. They can all rotate naps and stuff and still be close to the cock pit. : )

Ever since 9-11, all the cockpits have to be locked and only persons who know the code can get in.

Safety precautions.

Hi Noah! : )

Hi boys! : )

And by now the rain had really picked up. And it's funny it's just a coincidence but another NWA plain landed just as we were driving away. And the whole bus cheered again. That made me laugh. I thought how cute. : ) Everyone getting all happy like that. : )

A Delta plane side by side a NWA plane. Now the rain was getting even worse. Weather reports said the Chiba area would be hit with a typhoon on Monday. We believed it. Because the rain from Sunday was really picking up.

The "family day" at NWA/Delta sorta marked the end of Summer for us. In just 2 days B would be starting school on Sept 1st and Noah on Sept 2nd. This was our last thing to do for Summer. It was now really drawing near the end for sures. So we said, let's go and have some yakitori at a restaurant. So we did, we went to have yakitori in Narita.

We had so much yakitori! These ones were the all white meat ones. The ones for the boys and I. The boys also had fries, rice and Calpis drinks.

Yup Noah had a Snickers bar smudge on his shirt so I had a spare change of clothes in the car and he switched to a green shirt. We all enjoyed the restaurant a lot.

Hubby ordered yakitori 4-5 at a time. I think he had around 8-9 yakitori. He likes dark meat way better so he ordered whatever he liked. : ) He also had raw cabbage and dunked it in goma. He had a beer and I drove home. We did, "kanpai" and clincked our glases together the four of us. For us this sorta marked the end of Summer for us, being at this restaurant.

Hubby enjoyed many things while at the yakitori place. : ) We were there for about an hour and a half. Sorta just enjoying the mood. I asked my family, what was your best and favorite part about the trip to Hawaii? Noah answered, B answered, hubby answered. And I answered too. What was your best time while in Saipan? Again we all answered. B said the "kids club and the wave rider" Noah replied the ice cream cones! I am kidding you not! That was his answer. @_@ lol. Hubby answered and so did I. What was your best time about grandpa's stay, or about all our backyard pool days and slip and slide days? What was your best Summer memory altogether? And what are you looking forward to this Fall? We just sorta just chilled at the restaurant. Sitting, talking. Fondly remembering. Of course we grumbled in bits about the computer. But we mostly just enjoyed ourselves. Ahh good bye Summer, we'll miss you, see you next year! Bring it on Fall/Autumn let's roll! I think, we're ready! : )

PS: I am so behind with blogging you guys and for that I am sorry. : ( Anyway this post is over 7 days old already, so I am just going to publish it yet not allow any comments. Only because it happened way back on August 30th. : ) And plus I have 1 last post to do before I am officially caught up. So, I do apologize but it's just easier to just push this through. And then clean some house and hopefully do my other post sometime today or tomorrow at the latest. Also with undokai this coming Saturday, things around here are just a little crazy this week.. and the computer issues still aren't totally fixed yet either. And yada yada yada and the 1 post still to do yet. Gah...anyway sorry. : )

Our Guam trip, January 2009 (part 1)

The boy's exiting our flight after we landed in Guam! Branden always showing that Denver Bronco devotion with his backpack, ha ha ha! We are a football loving family! The flight was so awesome as usual! The boy's are at the easy peasy age and the movie screens in front of each of their seats kept them occupied for the entire flight. Even though we always have the mini DVD player in the carry-on and both their DS games. But Branden was watching a Disney movie and Noah was watching the Nickelodeon cartoons like Dora and Spongebob the whole flight. I meanwhile watched the entire movie of...oh what was it called. I watched. "Eagle Eye", it was a pretty good film, but wouldn't wanna buy the DVD for it and probably wouldn't rent it again either. But seeing it for free was pretty good. : ) Kept me occupied and that was cool!Had seen the previews for this and the previews looked awesome. It was a good movie, just not as good as I thought it was going to be at all. : )

Our room, the rooms are always so nice at the Hilton in Guam! And we used to pick the King sized bed until we realized the room with 2 beds when pushed together are actually bigger then the King size. And the beds are so heavy they don't separate not even a dot at night. They are so heavy it's actually nearly impossible to push them together that's how heavy they are but once together they won't separate at all. And the King size and the rooms with 2 beds are the same price, but just something we figured out a few years ago, is all. : )

Very large rooms and very large bathrooms with the separate shower and bathtub. The shower is in the see through glass and really nice. The balconys are big and nice to sit on and relax.

Some of the clearest and bluest water, we've ever seen! The weather was so hot and tropical! Gorgeous weather the entire time we were there! : )

Noboru as most of you know doesn't smoke anymore. He quit smoking on Branden's birthday, October 26th. So, that was about 3 month's that he has been a non smoker. He used to be like almost a pack a day. 3/4 a pack a day sometimes a whole pack. He never smoked in the house and never smoked around me or the kids. But he tried many times to quit and failed every time. This last time, he just quit cold turkey and he finally did it. Honestly, he still felt he wanted to smoke for 2 month's! Around January 1st or so, he stopped mentioning ciggies altogether or mentioning wishing to smoke completely. I think...I hope this means he stopped for good. Anyway why did I bring this up? Oh yeah the ash tray in the pic. Anyway, no smoking was had outside on the balcony but we did sit out there plenty of times. It was nice. : )

After checking into the room, we quickly changed to shorts and short sleeves. And we went to the mall to have a quick bite to eat for lunch. This meal of Taco Bell was Noboru's and mine. Not just mine obviously. : )

Noah had nachos and cheese and 1 taco without lettuce. I had 1 taco supreme and 2 bean and cheese burritos and Noboru had 3 taco supremes. We all shared a large mountain dew since it had free refills. : ) Branden had a KFC chicken strip kids meal.

After our quick lunch, we walked around the mall for about 25 minutes. I also went into my favorite eye brow waxing/hair salon there and the lady gave me some fabulously waxed eyebrows nice arches and everything (when I lived in the US, I would get them done every month like clockwork but now I live in Japan, I pluck them but get them waxed every chance I get still). Am loving my eyebrows right now! :D We went back to the hotel, and we soaked in the hot tub/jacuzzi for about 2 hours, we watched the sunset in the hot tub that over looks the ocean, watched the waves in the ocean ahhhh it was bliss! Me and my husband and our 2 boys and my cute eyebrows, lol! All resting in the hot tub. About 7pm, we went upstairs no showers or anything. We just popped on some clothes. And we went to the GPO, the other mall and had dinner. A nice yummy but affordable dinner. Couldn't believe Branden wanted KFC again. Noah had it too. And I had Korean BBQ and some delicious kimchi!!!! Noboru had Mongolian food. His food smelled so good, I had to take 2 bites, ha ha ha! After leaving the mall, we went to Kmart, and we picked up 5 bottles of fruit punch. some water, mango, snacks for the hotel and for the pool the next day and we went back to the hotel, and we took nice hot showers and got into out comfy clothes and we watched TV. Noah konked out first. Hubby next, then Branden. And I stood awake watching A&E and other good American channels I have been missing until about 11:30 pm.

Don't ask me how I could be the last to go to sleep and then be the first one to wake up??? Ha ha ha. But I was. : ) Hubby and the kids were dead asleep. I meanwhile got some coffee made in our room. And I went to go sit on the balcony and just enjoy my quite little morning all by myself. : )

I watched the ocean down below. Looked at the other hotels off in the distance.

If you look real close, you can see people on the beach. They must be early birds like me! : ) I sat watching them from afar. Wondering. Are they on vacation or are they locals? I sorta think they were locals since they were swimming where the local beach is, Ypao beach. versus where the enclosed or sectioned off area for us Hilton people or how it's sectioned off for the PIC people too, with nets and rope., etc. What kind of life do they have? Are they having a happy life or a sad one? I love to people watch and wonder and think stuff like this. I loved watching them quietly while I sat and drank my coffee from my balcony. As an optimist,I would like to think they are wonderfully happy and enjoying every second of life. I bet they are. :D Ahh life is just so short isn't it? :D

I watched down below and watched some locals claim the first BBQ pit and best spot Sunday morning. BBQ is pretty important in Guam. And it wasn't even 9am, yet the BBQ pit was saved and spoken for already. Well done down there you guys in the truck! Ha ha ha! Another family came about 20 minutes too late and got the #2 spot behind them. Ha ha ha. Again, I enjoy people watching so much. I always learn so much this way.

Sunday morning was a full beach and pool day. When the rest of the family got up. We popped on our clothes and headed to Mc Donald's. It was like 10:28, they asked us if we wanted breakfast or lunch. We were like right at the either way time. Ha ha ha. We picked lunch.

I had the southwest chicken sandwich combo. : )

Noah and Branden both had the same kind of happy meal. : )

When we came back to the hotel after getting filled up on Micky D's, our room was cleaned and 2 red envelops, one on each bed appeared, every room got them. It was Chinese New Year. Different day then how my husband's Japanese family celebrates in Japan. But we thought it was pretty cool to get something for Chinese New year!!! : )

In each of the envelops were 2 gold foiled coins with chocolate inside. The hubster and I each had one and each of the boy's had one as well. It was a pretty nice surprise! : )

By 11:10 am we were in the ocean and snorkeling away. We stayed at the pool that day until 5:50 pm or coulda even been 6pm, so a full day of the beach and the pool. Please double click this picture. You can see the almost see through fish in front of Branden! We saw so many fish down there.

Taking pictures of kids, as any mom will tell you is hard! Making sure everyone faces the camera and yada yada, HOWEVER trying to take a picture of fish is even worse. They don't mind us swimming near them but the second I whip out the disposable camera they take off like grease lightning!!!! Grrrrr! Ha ha ha. However this striped fish is in this pic. Clear fish, striped fish, blue fish and all sorta cool creatures down there. Just hard as heck to take pics of. We spent a good 2 hours snorkeling at the beach. And this trip was Noah's first time snorkeling. He did okay, he's got a lot to learn regarding snorkeling yet... but hey....he's only 3 years old for crying out loud and for that, I think he's doing fantastic! : D

After 2 hours of being in the ocean we decided to go to the pool! Good thing I brought that inflatable ball with us to Guam, because the kids and Noboru and uncle Jun and my niece loved that ball! It was a freebie ball we got years ago on another Guam trip, I have about 4 other freebie balls, I have at home as well. Gotta love those freebie balls, lol! : ) Noah is tossing the ball as they are all playing a bit of catch with the ball!

The hubster is laughing and having a blast with his sons! : ) And I am about to jump in the pool myself and have a go at the ball myself!

The infinity pool is our favorite of all the pools the Hilton has! And the slide is a fave too. : ) We were *just* snorkeling in that ocean back there!!! Ha ha ha. : )

I went down this slide about 15 times one day and about 15-20 times every other day after that. Branden went down geeze, 30 times a day. Uncle Jun went down about 5 times. Noboru went down about 10 times and Noah with hubby went down about 4 times a day. The weather was hot and tropical.

Noah you look so cute being under water! Not needing to hold and plug your nose or anything! You truly are a water kid! And at age 3 and a half, I find this fantastic! Right on kiddo!!!! You rock! : )

Here is Noah playing around and yes he's laughing hysterically at this moment, life in our family is always a laugh and lots of fun! : ) He has absolutely no fear of the water at all. He loves it, same as Branden and Noboru and I do! I think that is our family hobby. We love to do anything that involves water!

Giving a nice little relaxed wave!

Branden enjoying the pool! I love this picture! : )

Touching the tiles of the pool as he swims and plays!

Taking a rest! Yup that's what vacations are for anyways! Ha ha ha! : )

Ahhhh water on the head, eh? :D These kids had such a blast! We all did actually!

Noboru scooping out a flower piece out of the water and Noah at play! : )

Yup we ate Mc Donald's already but I brought a few snacks from our room for that midday hunger because you all know how swimming makies people hungry, right? : ) Nutter Butter's my favorite!!! Mango and some Lunchables! : )

Hmm, Noboru sure loved those lunchables, almost as much as the kids do! Ha ha ha! I snacked on some nutter butter's before going down the slide a few more times.

Father and son frolic, ha ha ha! Meanwhile B was going down the slide.

Then we went back to the pool we started in, in the first place. Took a few pictures like this one. And within 5 minutes uncle Jun and my niece and Satoe-chan came to the pool. It was about 5pm now or something like that. Yup we spent the whole day at the pool. They said they spent the whole day shopping. Which was cool! I am so glad they had fun, I really like them a lot!

I love this picture of Noah! He's such a happy little boy! Both kids are so happy. : )

There's Noboru and the boy's plus uncle Jun and my niece Mia!

Noah passing the ball to Mia! They are all good cousins and play together really well.

This is probably my most favorite picture though of the whole trip. Because it has my whole family! Well not the whole family, but hopefully you know what I mean. : ) Noboru and Branden and Noah of course and a very happy smiling uncle Jun and my niece doing a cute little pose! I will make a copy of this picture and send a copy to my MIL in Osaka, I am sure she will appreciate it. : )

After even more swimming and a final soak in the hot tub we all decided to go to dinner together. We only ate together this one time, but it was really fun! We went to the Outback Steakhouse.

We all started it off with a blooming onion. Everyone had some except for Noboru of course who hates onion. Hmm, I love onion so I don't get it. Ha ha ha. But, he's a wonderful husband so, I overlook it. :D

My sil Satoe and my niece Mia! My sil is really really really nice! She used to be a flight attendant before she married Jun! She was a flight attendant for China Airways or Airlines. She's Japanese though. She flew from Narita to Beijing back and forth. She did not swim the whole trip. When we were all swimming she was fully dressed in jeans and a long t shirt. I didn't ask why or anything because it wasn't really my business. And I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable by asking. But she's wonderful, I really like her a bunch! And my niece is such a sweetie pie. : )

My happy smiling bil and my niece striking a poise again! LOL! :D

Noah observing the posing going on! Ha ha ha! : )

Branden eating his meal! : )

And here's my small meal! You know, I have to always be honest with ya. And I must say we were all pretty disappointed from the Outback Steakhousein Guam! First off, it's only fair to say, the Outback in Japan, especially the one in Makuhari are fabulous! They give great big hearty portions. I have never gotten a portion as tiny as this and the Outback in Japan gives 2 sides, like steamed veggie and potato, etc. And I have taken quite a few pics of the Outback meals in Japan on my blog and they are indeed bigger portions. And the prices for the Alice Springs chicken is about 1500 yen, so not too terribly bad, right? My Alice Springs chicken in Guam was about $26 bucks or so. Again, don't quote me to the penny on the prices, but a round about price is what I am saying. My sil's ribs were like $38 bucks. We had seperate checks, and Noboru paid near $100 for the four of us. We were shocked! Noboru got the special, I got the Alice Springs chicken, the 2 boy's got the combo's and the boy's drinks came with their meals. And Noboru and I each got an iced tea. We pay abut 5,500 yen for our family of four when we go to the Outback in Makuhari. And to get even smaller portions and not even veggies on my plate or anything. Hmmm. grumble grumble. I hate to complain but, honestly it had to be said. We will stick with the Outbacks in Japan from now on. They're excellent, delicious and very affordable.

After supper, we all drove to the hotel. We said our good bye's and good night's in the lobby. As soon as their elevator door closed, we hopped in line at the ice cream/coffee shop in the lobby of the Hilton. 3 nights out of the 4 nights we got some ice cream from the lobby. They have good Dreyer's ice cream and hubby gets a NWA discount on the ice cream too. Ha ha ha. : ) Branden, Noboru and I picked the coconut icecream with bits of pineapple in it. Noah picked chocolate. : )

I actually got a double scoop. One scoop of coconut and one scoop of blueberry cheesecake. Could have picked a cone, did the other days but this day I just got it in a cup. We went up to our room and enjoyed watchign TV for the rest of the night. The all day swimming tired the boy's out, they went to sleep as soon as they brushed their teeth and their heads hit the pillow. I meanwhile stayed awake as long as my eye lids stood open to enjoy all the current American TV, I could get my hands on. : )

Edited to add: I flipped the posts in a better order, post #1 should have been on top but was on bottom.: ( So, I didn't alter the times at all, well techinically yes but only switched time is a better way to look at it, meaning I swapped times with 2 of the Guam posts, I just switched the time I posted the "guam stuff" time and switched it exactly whatever the Guam #1 trip post time was. Now it looks in better order.